Michael Exl
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I have fished Lake Michigan quite a bit. I have fished the area around river mouths using sinking lines and streamers for steelhead. Most of this has been the water of Indiana, and a little bit by the mouth of the St. Joe, but I plan on hitting Michigan’s lake shore really hard over this fall through spring. I really want to fish up on Lake Huron for there lake run browns. I know mid November is supposed to be prime time. I’m trying to find out as much as I can about lake run browns right now, there really isn’t a ton of info out there, but who can pass up the chance of catching a brown that can be as much as 15lb. 😮 I will be hitting all the harbors and warm water discharges this winter since the brown will be after the bait fish that come into the warmer water. I also think I will be heading up to Wisconsin in search of browns as well.
I also want to hit the slime line out on the lake, I have heard about guys taking 20-30lb kings on dries along with monster steelhead. The thought of that brings shivers down my spine.
All my rods are Sages, so here we go 🙂
4wt. VT2 with a 1.5 Ross CLA with Rio Grande
5wt. XP with a Sage 2550 and Rio Grand in camo
6wt. Z-axis with a Tibor Light Backcountry Wide with Rio Versi-tip, Sage Equator II for bonefish
7wt. Fli with Ross Rythem 3.5 with Rio coldwater clouser line
8wt. Xi2 with Tibor Everglades with Rio Versi-tip for fresh, and Sage Equator for salt
8wt. Z-axis switch rod, Nautilus CCF 12, with 400gr. Skagit and 10wt. Rio Outbound with type 6 head for Lake Michigan.
10wt. Xi2 with Bauer Super Lite 5, with the blue splash paint job 😎 and Rio Tropical Versi-tip
12wt. Xi2 with Billy Pate Tarpon reel and Rio Tropical Versi-tipI bet that was a blast.
I use my 6wt. Z for everything now, I picked it up just for fishing smallie originally, then it just started to take off from there the species I went after. I have went after bonefish with it and landed one that was about 5lbs, have landed around 50 carp on it,one was about 35lbs this summer, hundreds of smallies, a nice summer run steelhead, two flathead around the size pictured above,and tons of trout.
You would be amazed the pressure that you can put on a fish with a light rod, its all about the angles. That big carp above only took about 5 minutes to land. I wish I would have took a pic of the carp I landed on the 4wt. my body thought I was crazy for going after the fish with that, but you have to have fun every now and then.
Zach, I actually took that flathead swinging a crayfish pattern to him. I saw him sitting under a log, and on the first swing, hell broke loose. We had a drought in central Indiana this summer, and I was standing where a little feeder creek came in and dried up,so thats why the back ground looks like no water. My brother is actually standing in the big creek taken the pic, you can see the waters edge at the bottom of the last pic. I assure you it was a legit take. Not to mention I wanted to keep the area a secret since the cats tend to stay in one spot so someone didn’t go down there and get dinner. The pic that is two above them is of the general area, about 3 weeks before, so there is water there.
Thanks Tim.
Also all fish were taken on a 6wt.
Tim,
Nope, it was heavy though I caught one that was bigger then that, but the photo was crap, little hard to focus a camera in the dark. Any guess on the weight? I’m 5’9” to give some perspective. That guy was a fun fight though, I landed him in about 4 minutes. He came up and jumped about 6 times, I wish I could have seen him do that.
-Mike
Steelhead are not on the redds just yet, there are not that many in the systems yet to the best of my knowledge. It is a very common for some steelhead anglers to fish behind kings that are on the redds, more they likely their is a steelie there waiting for a free meal of eggs.
I was just curious to
I’ve never really fished for salmon before and I had one of my buddies going up there that was looking for a fishing partner, so I had to try it at least once. The crowds were not that bad when I went, I know what you mean about not fishing for them, I live in NW Indiana so I know the people it brings out, that being said it was a good trip none the less. Steelhead are my favorite species, plus the nice thing once the salmon die off,
CHROME!!! I can’t wait for it to really kick off down here in Indiana, Â Here is one of several kings I took up on the Manistee a couple of weeks ago.
Love the hat by the way.
It would be really interesting to see the data from the time before A River Runs Through It, was released and two years after. Bet there are some peaks and valleys there.
The Z is faster then the XP, but it does have a softer tip, I was informed that this was done due to the XP having too fast of a tip and popping the lighter tippets. Not a good thing for trout anglers.
Welcome to the board. The Z-axis hands down. I own the 691-4, thats the one with the fighting butt. I have done everything with this rod, I have used it for nymphing, dries,and streamers. I have landed so many different species with this rod ranging from 5lb bonefish to 30lb carp. It is a great casting rod. It loads very easy and handles sink tips with ease. It is an awesome fishing fighting rod. I don’t think I have come across any fish that I couldn’t handle with ease. Also I was amazed with the line control you can have with the rod. The rod can also handle huge streamers on it as well, I have some huge articulated bunny streamers that I swing for smallies and it cast them like they were a size 8 bugger.
I got a pair that I have used for almost two years now. Have had no problems with them. I love the fit of them as well. I have used them on all sorts of river bottom without an issue. I also use them in the winter and had no problems with icy and muddy banks.
Mark, you should be fine on your actual size, I also have their Marlwalkers and use the same size as my standard shoe. However you will want to check the thickness of your neoprene stocking feet, this will have an impact on the size of boots you need. Plus remember its best to have some room so that your feet can breath.
Yeah, I’ve fished them, thats where I really started fly fishing for steelhead. I only fish them if I want to get out for a while when I’m back home. You are right on the ditches part, but it sure is fun have a skamania jump 3ft. out of the water in a 10ft. wide creek 🙂 I just avoid them this time of year, the salmon run brings out the worst in people.
Tim, I’m studying Organizational Leadership and Supervision with a minor in Management. I’m form NW Indiana so I hit the St. Joe
Thanks for the input guys, I really appreciate it. I will be using a skagit line mostly when using the flies. I like those flies, I might have to tie some of them up for the smallmouth by me.
The 6wt. E2 is a perfect smallie rod. My buddy who guides for them here in Indiana uses an E2 all the time when out guiding. I believe he has a versi-tip on it, so to answer guestion it will handle them just fine.
Thanks for all the replies, but I feel that I may have to clarify what I am trying to accomplish a little bit more. I will be using this on the Lake Michigan lakefront, and will not be do much of or any spey casting with the line at all. I only plan to use the line on Lake Michigan, because I have a 400gr. skagit with tips cut back to 13′ for all my spey work and swinging streamers.
I will be stripping streamers, I guess the best comparison would be fishing for stripers in the surf.
