Outstanding

Fantastic day on the Pere Marquette on Friday with my friends Jon and Dan and guide Gene. The more time I spend on that river, the more I appreciate how special it is. Truly a beautiful setting with some amazing fishing.




Day started out COLD -- standing in the parking lot waiting to meet the guide at 5:30 it was maybe in the high 30's. BRR! But once we got on the river and the sun came up, it quickly warmed.


We fished from Green Cottage, down to Gleason's Landing. All in the flies-only, catch-and-release zone. This was a real plus, as I've only done from M-37 down to Green Cottage, so it was all new water for me. And most of my fishing has been walk n' wade. A boat was real treat to get to more spots.

Slow fishing much of the morning -- bright sunny day had the fish skittish. And the guide said spawn was slow to get rolling. But around lunchtime, we really hit it on one special hole. Within twenty minutes, Jon got a steelie, Dan a brown, and I got a teeny Rainbow! As we were finishing lunch a nice sized steelhead jumped right next to it -- so back at it! Jon hooked up, but after a dramatic jumping fight, she got off the hook.

Saw a few more, but no hook-ups most of the afternoon. Then we found a prime spot late in the day. Our guide, Gene, scouted out a great location with some active fish. I made a few casts, snagged up and lost flies, so Jon jumped into the spot and quickly hooked up on the nice buck pictured above. He put on a textbook perfomance playing and landing this great fish.

A fantastic day on a great river with good friends!

-Sean-