3-30-11

With detective Terry and attorney Pat in my boat today, I really had to mind my  proverbial “P’s & “Q’s.”  Not really, of course; Terry and Pat are a delight to host: gracious, respectful and appreciative of the treasure that the Muskegon River is, and darn good fishermen to boot.  Both have had bigger number days with me, but today topped them all when it came to variety of species.  Our landing percentage on steelhead was less than we desired, but both guys put steelhead in the boat, along with a gorgeous brown trout Pat landed and Pat’s eye-popping walleye that yanked the Boga past the 10 lb. mark.  Toss in some more walleyes (they were all over stone patterns) and a Hoover; that was our day.  Action was fast all morning, but slammed to a halt with the water dropped and cleared shortly after noon.  Although it rose a bit later, the clarity of the water in the upper river seemed to put the fish off.

Steelhead are still in runs and pools but are moving ever closer to gravel as water temps rise daily, despite unusually cold evening numbers.  Walleyes are pouring into their usual haunts with some spawning already having begun.  Look for the DNR to arrive any day now to collect what we’ve learned will be a particularly large harvest of eggs since concerns about the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus have lessened.

The size and excellent condition of Pat’s brown prompted me to suggest to him and Terry that they consider booking a June trout trip since the quality of the trout we are incidentally taking while fishing steelhead is very good.  It’s a timely reminder to our readers as well:  consider taking a trout trip.  Eight hours of instruction, balmy temperatures, and, we trust, cooperative trout.

Thanks Terry and Pat for a most enjoyable day, made all the more memorable by my having received an email from the US Coast Guard that my captain’s license renewal application, first submitted in December, has finally been renewed.  In short, a great day all around!

Captain Tom Kuieck