pere marquette river fishing report

Tougher weather and fishing on the Pere Marquette River.

guide — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 19:50:15 +0000

“The Pere Marquette River is an almost entirely wild or non-hatchery fishery. If you want the fishing to get better you have to release fish so that they can spawn and make new fish.”

At this point we are unable to keep this site updated but you can find even better info that is updated daily on our blog Third Coast Fly.

Level – high (1260 cfs and falling)
Temp – 40s to 50
Color – colored to dirty
Fishing – steelhead ok, trout good

Rough weather moved over the Pere Marquette the past week, with the worst being snow and wind. The water level has headed back up with the bottom 3/4th of the PM high and dirty, the flies only is perfect. Steelhead fishing has slowed from the previous week but good trout fishing has helped fill in the gaps. I think we will see another good wave of steelhead for next week.

Many of the nice trout have bit streamers and large nymphs versus eggs, while the steelhead have been all over the eggs.

Pere Marquette River steelhead.

Steve with a nice brown trout from yesterday.

More snow on the PM River from last week.

Michigan Steelhead Perfect

guide — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:01:35 +0000

“The Pere Marquette River is an almost entirely wild or non-hatchery fishery. If you want the fishing to get better you have to release fish so that they can spawn and make new fish.”

Third Coast Fly is updated daily with area fishing reports, articles, videos and other information.
Indigo Guide Service has a weekly fishing report that covers the areas rivers, lakes and Lake Michigan.

Level – average (913 cfs and falling)
Temp – 40s to 50
Color – some color
Fishing – steelhead very good

The Pere Marquette is fishing very well with lots of steelhead in the system. I would expect good fishing for the near future but it is impossible to tell how long or how good it will get. There were rumors of a big run of steelhead moving through the lower river a few days ago. With the warmer water temps some of the steelhead are crazy once you set the hook!

Smaller flies and lighter leader for the clearer upper river but medium eggs and bigger stuff has worked best lower. I’ve had good luck on the Pearl Jam Shrimp and bead-head leech pictured below, both patterns show up very well in off-colored water. Great to see the suckers back in the river again, we caught three yesterday. Kevin

A dark steelhead from the Pere Marquette River.

This steelhead went for a bead-head leech.

Nice to have the suckers back in the river.

Trying for a steelhead, brown trout or possibly a salmon near Ludington.

high and dirty but heading toward perfect.

guide — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:10:23 +0000

“The Pere Marquette River is an almost entirely wild or non-hatchery fishery. If you want the fishing to get better you have to release fish so that they can spawn and make new fish.”

Level – high (1620 cfs and falling)
Temp – around 40
Color – heavy color
Fishing – steelhead good

The Pere Marquette has good numbers of steelhead and I’m sure many more are on the way up through the lower river. Water levels in the fly water have dropped to about perfect with the middle river heading quickly toward perfect as well. It will be a while until the lower PM is in good shape, it just crested last night at almost 1700 cfs, that is a lot of water for the little PM.

Eggs, large nymphs and small streamers have produced best all week. In the high and dirty water the flies needed to be big and bold or they weren’t going to be seen. The big trout have been pretty aggressive with the higher water. The black stoneflies have been active everyday, they should be a good choice as the waters clear.

Ted’s Slingshot Caddisfly, tying directions and recipe.

Nice Michigan brown trout from the Pere Marquette River.

An easy Michigan steelhead caddisfly pattern.

Sunset after a day of steelhead fishing.

Cold last week but the steelhead fishing is getting better each day.

guide — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:52:57 +0000

“The Pere Marquette River is an almost entirely wild or non-hatchery fishery. If you want the fishing to get better you have to release fish so that they can spawn and make new fish.”

Level – average (918 cfs and falling)
Temp – around 40
Color – colored
Fishing – steelhead good

The PM River is back to normal after a week or more of high water and cold weather. All indications are that good numbers of new steelhead have made their way upstream and we are expecting good fishing for the upcoming week. Egg flies and egg beads have been producing best. The nymph bite should get going again with warmer weather predicted. We’re still getting a few steelhead on streamers.

A great Pere Marquette River steelhead from last week.

Martinez's Psycho Stonefly

Trying for something big and silver at the Ludington lighthouse.

warm rain, high water and then a snow storm

guide — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 19:42:23 +0000

“The Pere Marquette River is an almost entirely wild or non-hatchery fishery. If you want the fishing to get better you have to release fish so that they can spawn and make new fish.”

Level – above average (1370 cfm and stable)
Temp – around 40
Color – high and dirty
Fishing – steelhead good

The fishing on the Pere Marquette River was good last week but then the weather changed twice. First we had warm rain and the river level surged up, this has been followed by colder weather and a thick layer of fresh snow-slush. As soon as the water level and weather stabilize we are expecting good fishing with lots of fresh steelhead. Remember, big and bright presentations for high and dirty water .

The Pere Marquette River still has coho salmon.

A nice Michigan steelhead near Barothy Lodge.

This Pere Marquette brown trout took a large streamer.

Bunny Hex, a great Michigan hex fly.

You can get the recipe for the Bunny Hex as well as dozens of other flies on the Indigo Guide Service Michigan Flies page.

snow is melting, stoneflies are crawling and the steelhead have hit the gravels

guide — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:20:22 +0000

“The Pere Marquette River is an almost entirely wild or non-hatchery fishery. If you want the fishing to get better you have to release fish so that they can spawn and make new fish.”

Level – above average (936 cfm and rising)
Temp – around 40
Color – perfect color
Fishing – steelhead good

The snow is melting, stoneflies are crawling and the steelhead have hit the gravels. The upper half of the river has spawning steelhead as well as steelhead in the holes and pockets, water temp, level and color is perfect. The lower river was fishable yesterday but may be too dirty today and into the weekend. The past week showed slower fishing in the lower river, though this higher and warmer water is just what we need to trigger a large push of fresh steelhead. There are still some lake run browns and cohos around but not as many as last week.

A Michigan black stonefly warming up in the spring sun.

A Michigan lake run brown trout that took a large tube streamer.

The nice lake run brown getting returned to finish its spawning mission.

Steelhead, coho salmon and lake run brown trout, in March?

guide — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:46:35 +0000

“The Pere Marquette River is an almost entirely wild or non-hatchery fishery. If you want the fishing to get better you have to release fish so that they can spawn and make new fish.”

Level – average (658 cfm and rising)
Temp – mid/high 30’s
Color – light color
Fishing – steelhead, good

The steelhead fishing on the PM River remains good, fish are ending-up in the net everyday. We’re still hitting fish on streamers and plugs but egg and nymph combos are more consistent. Hex or wiggler patterns are producing best for us, you can find a couple hex recipes that we like on our Michigan Flies Page. We’ve also observed bait fisherman doing very well.

A weird twist for 2011, the Pere Marquette River is thick with both lake run brown trout and coho salmon. While this is common for late fall and early winter it is certainly not normal for March. Does this mean kings for April? Whatever the cause it sure adds a lot of bonus action to a days fishing. On a trip last week Steve was something like 11 for 23 on cohos! Kevin

Michigan lake run brown trout.

Michigan steelhead with a big streamer.

Phil Cusey's Easily Stoned, recipe on the Indigo site.

Feb 28th: steelhead fishing is good

guide — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:59:41 +0000

Steelhead fishing has been great over the past 4 days. Egg patterns are best, but we’re catching fish on streamers as well.

Click here for a full PDF version of the latest report.

And remember to check out Third Coast Fly for daily updates and the more regularly updated Pere Marquette fishing reportson Third Coast Fly.

Feb 18th: snow melt

guide — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:35:44 +0000

Remember to check out Thirdcoastfly.com for regular reports and more. And here is a link to our Pere Marquette fishing reports on Third Coast.

Big warm up this week. Fishing has improved. See a PDF version of the full report here.

January 20th: it’s cold

guide — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:24:08 +0000

Remember to check out Third Coast Fly for daily updates. And here is a link to our Pere Marquette fishing report posts on Third Coast Fly.

We’re in the middle of a cold snap. Shelf ice and slush are becoming a problem. It looks to warm up close to freezing on Monday.

Click here for a PDF version of the complete report.