As the spring air comes across the great lake of Lake Michigan the steelhead follow. Making their long journey up stream to pass along their genetics for future generations. Traveling thousands of miles to reach peak spawning conditions. You may also know them as the rainbow trout. Steelhead are known as anadromous, meaning they spend part of their lives at sea before spawning in freshwater rivers inland. While rainbow trout spend their lives entirely in fresh water reservoirs. As the steelhead tend to grow more in size and differ in color variations they are generally the same species. With Michigan's vast amount of lakes, rivers and reservoirs it's no doubt a state well known for its fishing. With the mitten state being a place known for several trophy fish species such as smallmouth, salmon, northern pike, walleye and sturgeon, the steelhead always seems to be the talk of the town.
Every spring thousands of anglers flood specifically to the west coast of Michigan. Where the fish make their route from Lake Michigan to the inland rivers to spawn. Swimming so hard that thousands of fish pass away from the severity of the journey. Decomposing slowly as they swim up river till there is hardly anything left of them. Resilient, would be an understatement to say the least. The west coast tends to be the hot spot for these die hard steelhead anglers. With the towns marketing and design for the anglers needs. Gas stations, diners, bars and restaurants all focused on targeting these fishermen with sales and esthetics. Just about any bar or diner you go in you will be reunited with the anglers you came across with on the river. Several tackle shops and stores to get your daily necessities to restock on the gear you lose, and yes, you will lose a lot of gear. If you dont you are fishing these techniques wrong.
Don't forget to practice your knot tying skills. Since the fishing techniques and rigs you will be using tend to make you break off fairly often. If you aren't snagging/breaking off on rocks or logs you are doing something wrong. These fish like to hold tight to cover like trees and rocks along the bottom. Locate and target gravely bottoms or ditches and avoid the sandy spots, while there can still be fish in the sandy bends they prefer gravel beds to lay their eggs and feed. Since the eggs hold better in the current on top of gravel beds. If the spawn ends up going down river there is a slim chance they will evolve from eggs to fish, since trout are a cannibalistic species that will eat their own spawn. The two most basic rigs of fishing these trout is the float technique and bottom bouncing. Where bottom bouncing is dragging your spawn bag or bead across the bottom till the trout picks it off the bottom or using a float/ bobber to lift your spawn up attempting to put it right in front of their face. The float allows you to make bigger drifts along bends and easier to detect a strike. While the bottom bouncing gets the bait closer to the fish and tends to approve hookup and land opportunities.
As this trip has become an annual tradition for most Michiganders and even some out of state anglers. The comradery and kindness is very important to keep the traditions respected. Anglers helping net strangers fish and supplying gear to another when needed. Keeping the rivers and banks clean from pollution. Not being selfish to locations or fish. While you still will always have some people who don’t care to respect anything, the majority follow and respect the unscripted rules. Such as not casting over someone's lines, sharing river bends, not stealing someone’s banked fish and sharing local fishing information. If you are looking for the local and recent fishing reports the best spots are the local tackle shops. As most owners will love to help you key in on the recent fish activity. If you are ever in western Michigan make sure to hit up Andy Tackle Box. He has everything you will need, will help you learn anything you need to know and he's just overall a good guy. Open 7 days a week to supply all the local anglers.
With such a short window for peak fishing time you must really be on your A game everyday. On average you maybe have a three week window to get a good pattern of fishing. The difficulty of this is that this time of year in Michigan is never consistent. From March to April it can be anything from 75 degrees and sunny, rain storms, 20 degrees in a blizzard or like this year a little bit of them all. So it's ideal to pack heavy and prepare for anything. Makes patterning these fish on a daily basis extremely difficult. Having to constantly change tactics and locations to locate the fish. From river dams, sandy bends, small creeks and even the delta from the lake to the river can all have fish. The morning and evening seems to be the highest time of activity but the fish are active all day and night. The dams tend to be flooded with headlamps and flashlights at night with fisherman looking to get on that nighttime bite. Most would use this time to recharge and prep the gear for the following day.
You can expect to fish three different ways. Either you can fish from a boat casting down current, you can find a good dam or bend to hang at for the day, or you can load up that backpack and hike down river for miles and miles fishing each deep hole. Each will have different results and it's good to be ready to do either of them depending on the fishing conditions. For the fisherman who wants to relax in luxury and fish, the boat is the way to go. With several local guides available that will almost guarantee you to catch fish, like my friend Kyle at XXL Chrome Chasing. A young angler with a lifetime of experience and knowledge. If hiking is not your thing, head to the dam or a popular bend where you can set up base camp, have a bonfire and spend the whole day at that spot picking off passing fish. My cousins and I prefer to chase the fish down river looking for new holes to explore and things to learn about each river. As all younger men we don't like to sit around and wait for the fish to come to us. My cousin Casey is the most driven and passionate steelhead angler I have ever met. From daylight till after dark he will be in that cold water fishing. Cold or wet he is too stubborn to give up until he gets his daily fish catch satisfaction. Learn quick or get left behind becoming the guy that nets all the fish for him.
With only about 10 days of fishing total over a four year period, I don't have much experience under my belt. Learning most of what I know from my cousin Casey. The one who got me all started four years ago. Each year learning more and more while also being more prepared. The first few years were an absolute mess for myself due to not having the right gear or being prepared, Having the right type of boots, waders and clothing will either make or break your trip. Always check your waders for leaks before any trip because it will cause you an absolute nightmare if they leak. No matter how or where you learn to fish, the best teacher is experience. To keep at it learning your mistakes and successes each day. You will learn from your mistakes very quickly fishing for steelhead in Michigan because many can be lethal. Hyperthermia and downing are only one slip away and you are headed down river with full waders pulling you to the bottom of the river. Just because you don't see a fast current don’t mean it's not a strong one or even a current you can't see. The river is an unforgiving force that will humble any man's ego. Once you learn the river's ways you can start mining for that valuable steel.
