Silver Bullet 2005 Fishing Reports

This year my father and I decided to put in for our spring turkey licenses and instead of choosing area T that is for the Tuscola, Huron, part of Saginaw, and Sanilac Counties we put in for area A. Area A is Presque Isle, Montmorency, and Alpena Counties. It is also a three-hour drive to area A but lucky for us we have a glorified version of a tent we call a cabin near Millersburg. The game plan was to go up early and scout for turkeys then spend a little time fishing on an undisclosed location on some random river we happen to know that had steelhead in it.

So we made our way up north later than we had originally planned which is normal because by heredity keeps us from being on time trust me on this. We get there get unpacked screw around for a while…another genetic problem, and eventually make our way towards the state land that I have seen turkeys on in the spring before. We crossed a portion of that random river and decided to check to see if there were any fish and of course I had my mouth call in at the time, it only comes out when I eat during this time of year, and I made a few calls as I was walking up to the river. To our surprise five gobbles came from the tree-lined ridge in front of us. We quickly ran back to the truck and waited. We watched from the truck as one nice long beard and a few good-sized jakes came down the hill right towards us. I called a couple more time to see if they would answer again and they did.

They game planned changed now that we had spotted birds, we could go fishing. All we needed first was to get permission from the owner. So we grabbed our gear went to the gentleman’s house that has given me permission use his property to get to the river. It was a beautiful day the sun was shining, bad for steelhead fishing, it was warm and as soon as I got to the first high bank I spotted fish on a gravel bar. I looked at my dad and told him we will leave those fish for the trip back because there was good water upstream we needed to work first. In my experience on the river if I could see fish generally I would be able to hook at least one. If my dad hooked one we would land that fish. The reason why I say this is according to Mike Kern my dad uses piano wire instead of fishing line so there is no chance for the fish to get away.

We did see a few fish upstream but they were moving in and out of a hole and were not very interested in anything but themselves. We made our way back to the fish we spotted on the way out. They were still sitting there, about four fish in all. In order to make a decent cast with my fly rod and to keep my silhouette out of the fish’s sight I had to cross the river, make my way to the inside of the bend, fight through some trees, and not make a big splash as I got in the water. Believe it or not I did so without letting the fish know I was there. My dad stayed on top of the high bank to spot for me incase the glare on the water prevented me from seeing the fish.

I was fishing with an egg fly to start out with after watching the hen turn on her side a few times I felt pretty confident that this would work well seeing the three males behind her. After about a thousand casts and no luck I noticed during cast five hundred and eighty six that there was a small trout that kept swimming through the bed. Each time this little trout came through the males, mouth open, would chase the little guy away. So after turning off the light bulb above my head, didn’t want to spook the fish, I decided to through a streamer on about the size of that trout and swim it across the bed. I could see the fly come through the water so each cast I got closer and closer to the fish with my fly. The money cast swept through the gravel past the female who had other business and right past a large male, who like with small trout earlier, chase with mouth open and inhaled my streamer. Fish on. There is a deep hole down stream of the gravel with no logs or trees to work around so when he wanted to go that direction after I hooked him I gladly let him go that way (I really had no choice). This is where the fun began. While fighting this fish I did not have any clue that the reel seat had loosened. I was just about ready to try and beach Mr. Steelhead when my fly reel fell from my rod and landed softly at the bottom of the river…I was so happy at this point. I quickly grabbed the reel kept pressure on the fish, put the real back on, and continued to fight the fish. Yes folks I did beach that fish and I have pictures to prove it.

It was my dad’s turn to catch one so we let the river settle down I gave him one of those streamers I was using and remember the fact that he as using piano wire I figured there was a one hundred percent chance that he would screw it up getting to the fish and never get his piano wire in the water. To my surprise he made it and began to cast to the fish. So I sat down on the bank and told him how close his fly was coming to the fish. After about seventy “one more casts Sammy” he finally hooked one. After a short tussle he had a nice twenty-two inch male on the shore. With two nice fish in hand, mine was the biggest at twenty-eight and a half inches, we decided to go grab some food and scout the rest of the evening for turkeys.

The rest of the trip we spent looking for permission on private land to hunt seeing as how that’s where all the toms were. We drove every last back road we could searching for that long beard but sadly all we saw were hens on state land. I called and called and called but apparently I did not sound sexy enough for a tom to answer unless of course it was on private land. In the end it was a great fishing trip and the only turkeys we got were the ones riding in my red truck on the way home.

June 26 – 30 Hex Hatch Week on the Manistee