Worth the Trip!

When a son hops a plane from his home in San Francisco to fish steelhead on the Muskegon River with his Dad and four of their friends, it’s only fitting that he be rewarded! And so it was for Nick, who boated this fine brown trout, much to his and Dad’s delight. Dad hooked and lost steelhead, but it was pretty evident to yours truly, which Dad later acknowledged, that the sting of losing steelhead (one of which just before I was to net it,  the leader failed due to abrasion that I didn’t check!) was pretty much erased by Nick’s landing and releasing the brown trout.

This is my 19th year commercially guiding on the Muskegon River, and, I, too have never fished spring steelhead with the river flow so low. A 25 year record low to be precise. As a result, navigation, even with a jet boat that draws scant inches on plane, receives the guide’s fullest attention. At this point, too, when compared with similar dates in past years on the calendar, the number of steelhead in the river is low. Fly Fishing conditions thus are challenging to say the least, and with the water glass clear, both guide and fishermen need to work especially hard to find success. Wish we could have gotten the steelhead Nick’s Dad hooked into some pics, but for both Nick and his Dad, I am truly happy!

Captain Tom Kuieck