Fishing Report
August 26, 2025
Fishing Report August 26, 2025
Salmon:
Salmon, it’s on everyone’s mind, we have been getting many lately because in years past we would’ve seen them moving upriver, in fishable numbers and even up to the dam by now. To answer the question though, not yet, at least not in pointed fishable amounts. That should change quickly though since the weather this week changes big time, as in much colder temps are headed our way, 30s at night at 60s during the day, compared to daytime 80s and 60s at night! This will help with more consistent pushes of fish! So just hang on tight for another couple days, north winds are on the way as well. Cooler temps and that north wind will have them screaming up stream!
The Little Manistee River closed its gates on August 13th meaning that fishing above the weir will at this time produce little, as fish cannot pass the weir due to the egg take process.
Manistee Lake and PM Lake: folks have been out and reports are they are being seen jumping the surface but hook ups have been hard. Although just like the river this should change any day now!
So how can you hook into one of these migratory heavy weights? Thundersticks, Rapalas and spinners. Fly wise? try stones, woolly buggers, egg sucking leaches, wigglers and hot butt hackles. We provide all of the abovementioned gear in store along with local knowledge on day-to-day changes and works working best! Make sure to follow us on social media at Manistee River Lodge for day-to-day updates!
Trout:
We are still sitting around 69 degrees for river temps. The Pine River is still the exception, faster flows and cold-water creeks set the Pine apart providing cooler water temps, in favor of trout. Hopper season is still in effect along with beetles and anything buggy and twitchy! Reliable patterns include “dry skunks”; tied with chenille, rubber legs and some deer hair. Cinnamon Ants, Clod Hoppers, Chernobyl Ant, Damsel Flies, DK Hopper, Tarantula and Bionic Ants. If you’re looking for under water action, try Prince Nymphs, Pats Rubber Legs, Wolly Buggers and small baitfish patterns. Streamer fishing in streams with cooler temps should start to pick up. Slower retrieves may yield better results as fish may be reluctant to chase past the sun line of the water. Strip fast with longer pauses, or slower long strips with an exaggerated twitch. Some rain came two weeks ago but those effects have come and come, rivers are starting to low and clear. We have been seeing an average of 75-80 degrees for the last two weeks (depending how close to the lake you get; it can sway up to 10 degrees). This all changes this week though! This is also a good time to stock up on your small spinners like Panther Martins 2/46 and Mepps 1/6 oz in gold, red/gold, black/gold, blue and a Rainbow trout’s personal favorite, silver.
Make sure to follow us on social media at Manistee River Lodge for day-to-day updates!
Fly and Tackle Shop Hours
- Sunday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Monday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Tuesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Wednesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Thursday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Friday - 7 AM to 6 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 6 PM
Fly and Tackle Shop Extended Hours
- March 15 through April 30
- September 1 through November 15
- Friday - 7 AM to 7 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 7 PM
Stop by and and get the gear you need at the Manistee River Lodge Fly Shop!
June 27, 2025
Fishing Report June 27, 2025
It’s officially bug season here in northern Michigan! Nymphs, emergers and dries are all the rage right now and the trout are showing us just how much they love this time of year. Fish are looking up! In the early morning as the sun is starting to come over the tree edges you can bet, they are starting to pick off nymphs hanging on the rocks in the cooler water closer to the river bottom. Although we are off to a great start when it comes to bugs and weather, we really could use some more rain. Our rivers are sitting a little low and clear, plus we’ve been experiencing high sun, no clouds and temps in the 80/90s. This will play a role in the mid-day bite, making it tougher to see active fish. Several rivers are in trout kills temps sitting at 70 degrees! Please keep fishing to evenings if your planning on trout fishing. However, late afternoon and evening fishing is when things turn on! Fishing when the day is cooling down is safer for trout streams and fish are much more active and aggressive. At this time, you can expect to see tons of Stoneflies right now, just have a look down on any rock and you’ll see them crawling around. Caddis, Isonychias, and Sulphur’s are around as well. Plus, the Hex are hatching steadily. The Pine is just down the road from our shop and is a great fishery for all things trout and it always has a variety of hatches going on.
Looking forward
June and July brings one of the greatest hatches Michigan has to offer, the Hex hatch! The largest mayflies in North America, and the chance for anyone to catch a trophy Brown Trout. These bugs can be over 2 inches in length with a notable yellow body, large wings and long tails. We begin to watch for these nighttime giants to start showing up early to mid-June. However, they are very weather dependent, and they hatched late this year so we should see them lasting longer on the flip side. They thrive when water temps are at or above 60 degrees. Nighttime is the right time, appearing in the skies at dusk you may be able to catch the clouds of Hex’s traveling the tree line like a highway. Just adding to the excitement and accomplishment you’ll feel while waiting in the dark, listening for trout to sip them one after the other. If you’re looking to fulfill that nighttime urge before the Hex, mousing is always an option. In the dusk and into the night, twitching a mouse pattern along the grass or stump lines can also get you hooked up to a giant! Hoppers and terrestrials should be coming in the next few weeks, if we keep up these hot temperatures. An example of a great set up for that time is a Chubby Chernobyl fly alone or make it twice as nice and tie on a small nymph or soft hackle about 18-in below that. The hopper fly works on its own or as an attractor fly and an indicator all at the same time!
Stop by all your gear needs and advice! 231-848-4844
Fly and Tackle Shop Hours
- Sunday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Monday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Tuesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Wednesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Thursday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Friday - 7 AM to 6 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 6 PM
Fly and Tackle Shop Extended Hours
- March 15 through April 30
- September 1 through November 15
- Friday - 7 AM to 7 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 7 PM
Stop by and and get the gear you need at the Manistee River Lodge Fly Shop!
May 22, 2025
Fishing Report May 22, 2025
Conditions
-Manistee River at Hodenpyle: 1460 CFS – Water Temp: Almost at 59
-Manistee River at Tippy Dam: 2370 CFS – Water Temp: 57
-Pere Marquette River: 801 CFS
-Pine River: 451 CFS – Water Temp: 50
Lately
Over the last week or so the trout fishing has been productive from midday throughout the evenings with small streamers and dry fly opportunities! Also, you can hit the river at first light for some decent streamer fishing if your target stream isn’t currently blown out from the heavy rains the last 2 days we’ve had. Before the big jump in flows we saw a smorgasbord of bugs on the surrounding rivers. It felt like a little bit of everything, small dark tan caddis, small black stone, yellow sally stone fly, Hendrickson mayfly, maybe the last of the BWOs, large stone fly daytime, and few gray drakes if you’re in the right areas and even a couple early hoppers along the bank when it was 85 degrees for a few days!
Brown Trout from Capt. Jack Kopec
We have been playing with small streamers in the 2-4” range for daytime action. Yellows in the bright sun and some small olive woolly buggers did okay for us. On the overcast day black fished well for us, and I switch to white in the late evenings so my fishermen could track their streamers better for the visual take. Nighttime fishing is just starting up and should be on the uphill trend with the seasonal warming nights and water temps. After the rivers settle from this last rain and predicated rain starting this upcoming weekend, we will start to mix in some nighttime mouse fishing. Till then take advantage of the extra water and fish the hunt for browns stripping streamers. On fair weather days be prepared for midafternoon/evening dry fly opportunities. It would be hard for me to show up with just a streamer in hand if I was out during the evenings, bring that spare floating line spool and a gray drake. If you get into some yellow Sally’s a size 12-14 yellow body stimulator did the trick for us the other day, trout prefer these guys as a nice snack!
To get dialed in with what flies to fish with during the local hatches, stop by the fly shop and we can help you select some productive patterns.
Catch a Big One!
Fly and Tackle Shop Hours
- Sunday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Monday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Tuesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Wednesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Thursday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Friday - 7 AM to 6 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 6 PM
Fly and Tackle Shop Extended Hours
- March 15 through April 30
- September 1 through November 15
- Friday - 7 AM to 7 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 7 PM
Stop by and and get the gear you need at the Manistee River Lodge Fly Shop!
May 3, 2025
Overall
This week the Big Manistee River is clear, but we have had a few late pushers of steel come in if you cover water and put your time in hunting for the fresh ones. They have been grabby with warming water temps. Lots of fry and stocked trout smolt in the system as well.
A few days this week we spent some time swinging streamers and it was productive. An abnormal time of the year to think of spring swing but it was worth attention. We fished smaller streamers, smolt and sculpin flies in natural color ways with a hint of steelhead flash to them. Swinging flies seemed to outperform stripping streamers as well.
Trout
We hope everyone had a great trout opener if you got to get out and experience the perfect temps and awesome rivers in the area! We got a bit of rain in the next couple days that didn’t impact anything much, rivers are clear again and at normal flows. The Pine River is pretty chocolate milky as we say, meaning that because that river is mostly made up of a clay bottom, when rain comes it stirs up that clay up and it takes a while to clear out, compared to other rivers with a gravel/sand bottom. We are seeing quite a few BWOs bouncing around! Rapalas and small spinners work great as well, especially when the clarity is down, and you need to get deep. Looks like we are in the clear until later this week as far as rain goes! Salmon Fry or small streamer patterns work well this time of year. Along with Buggers, Leeches, Stones both dry and nymphs. Hatches have started, as mentioned before, and a great example is up at Hodenpyle there is a pretty good number of Little Black Stone Flies, last year was crazy abundant with them and this year looks to be the same! I spent the last few days up there the body bait bite was great! Smaller sizes still when it comes to streamers and jerk baits. Focus on nymphs and emergers right now for the best bug bite action! Hendrickson’s haven’t made a big appearance this year, but we have seen BWOs (Blue Winged Olives) and Stones so far. With hot days and muggy rainy nights, this should make for an absolutely BUGGY year!
Flies to use:
Size 18/20 Blue Wing Olive Mayfly
Size 16/18 Slate Wing Mahogany Mayfly
Size 12/14 Dark Hendrickson Mayfly
Size 16/18 Little Black Caddis
Fly and Tackle Shop Hours
- Sunday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Monday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Tuesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Wednesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Thursday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Friday - 7 AM to 6 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 6 PM
Fly and Tackle Shop Extended Hours
- March 15 through April 30
- September 1 through November 15
- Friday - 7 AM to 7 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 7 PM
Stop by and and get the gear you need at the Manistee River Lodge Fly Shop!
April 22nd, 2025
Fishing Report for April 22nd, 2025
Real Steel
This week, in years past, we would be about to wrap up steelhead season, BUT with the first real winter we’ve had in years, that means cooler temps for longer, which is a good thing! Cooler water temps held off the spawning run and fresh fish moving into the rivers. The way things were years ago! So that is great news for us. Our guides have been out every day, and the reports are “there are so many fresh chrome fish that are moving into the system, a surprising amount of hot excited fish” We are going strong on guided trips! We have dates open through the end of April and beginning of May. The big river is colored up from the last rain but that’s not a bad thing, steelhead green is what we call it. There are fish throughout the system and large pods holding in holes and on gravel. Some of the smaller streams have had a few good pushers come in if you cover water and put your time in hunting for the fresh ones. They have been grabby with warming water temps. The big man is hovering around 47-degree water temp and 2400 CFS. Lots of fry and stocked trout smolt in the system as well.
A few days this week we spent some time swinging streamers and it was productive. It was an abnormal time of the year to think of spring swing, but it was worth attention. Fish smaller streamers, smolt and sculpin flies in natural color ways with a hint of steelhead flash to them. Swinging flies seemed to outperform stripping streamers as well.
Trout Opener
Saturday April 26th marks the opener for trout season regulations and opens a lot of Michigan’s small streams and rivers that have been closed all winter. Expect to see anglers on foot and boat quite a bit this weekend, it is nearly a national holiday for many locals. We are excited to add an additional focus on trout this season and our beautiful surrounding streams that we offer drift float trips or drift and jet style fishing. The best way to focus on fishing and to enjoy the watershed can be by boat on a half or full day trip with our professional guide staff here at the shop.
If you are planning on trout, I would focus on stripping streamers, maybe swinging a few soft hackles at midday if the bite is slow and sunny. Keep a sharp eye out at midday and evening for hatches of caddis and Hendrickson mayflies. I have seen Hendrickson’s flying mid-day till mid evening in very small batches. If you’re lucky enough for some spinner fall action I’d recommend keeping a dry fly, leader, flotant in the fly vest handy. Till you see the bugs flying, have fun with the streamer hunt and take advantage of cloudy days and shade cover on the sunny days. If your trout fishing a stream that has salmon or steelhead fry maybe think about twitching tandem fry on the swing to get the action going. We have several Hendrickson and fry patterns in the shop, come talk trout with us at the fly shop!
Fly and Tackle Shop Hours
- Sunday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Monday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Tuesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Wednesday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Thursday - 9 AM to 5 PM
- Friday - 7 AM to 6 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 6 PM
Fly and Tackle Shop Extended Hours
- March 15 through April 30
- September 1 through November 15
- Friday - 7 AM to 7 PM
- Saturday - 7 AM to 7 PM