The last Saturday in April… the Michigan Trout Opener… The rites of spring… OH, THE JOY!!
Best of luck to all the Michiganders out there! Soak this spring up like a sponge, it is always gone to quickly. May all your skys be full of Hendricksons this weekend!! 
I AM ALIVE AGAIN! GOD I LOVE SPRING!!
I am along side you on Saturday; at least in spirit.
Is there a web site or something so that us colonials can drool along with you and dream?
You’re on it, 8)
Very good, very good my man.
Somebody better get up some pics soon then so I can see what I am missing. There’s always next year…
Jim;
You’ve brought back some fine memories of the Trout Opener on the Little Manistee at Bear Track Camp Grounds. Not many “Wild Unstocked Rivers” down here!
I’ll fish the Duck tomorrow just to be with you guys in spirit. Who knows, I may close my eyes and when I open them find you, Bill & Jean DeSavage, Glen & Aaron Weaver, Karla Anderson, rainbowchaser, and Bob Burgess fishing just up stream of me! That would be a grand time!!
Despite high muddy water and the expected overcrowding of the rivers I went out today. There were bugs all over but no rising fish anywhere. I persisted unitl I caught a trout ( O.K. a six inch planter on a wooly bugger) and then came home with one short delay on the way back to the parking area to untangle a kids rig that really called for a knife and rerigging but he didn’t have enough line on his spinning reel for that. There were a dozen cars in the parking area and things were no better at the next two bridges. On the bright side most of those people were within sight of the bridge slaughtering the planted fish that were dumped in there sometime in the last week.
I had a great day! At the last minute last night a friend from church and I decided to head up to Thompsonville near his folk’s place. We checked out an old beaver pond on a little brook trout stream, had lunch with his folks, went mushroom hunting, and then fished Bear Creek southwest of Copemish. The fishing could only be described as “lousy”, and we only found five mushrooms, but the day was great! Spent a beautiful day with a friend, enjoyed the hospitality of his parents, who are just as nice as can be, and fished two places I had never fished before.
I had the same situation Rainbow, for the second weekend in a row. Perfect water conditions, 52-55 degree water, more than enough hatch activity to get things moving, but too much sun, and hardly any rising fish. Caught a couple of fish last weekend on the Rogue (very low for the weekend before the opener) and only one little steelhead smolt today. Tried a nymph, but that didn’t work either. Did see two nice size steelhead, hauling fin upstream on the Bear, but otherwise the fishing was off. But I still had a great day and I look forward to it every year. It is the official end of winter for me and the beginning of spring. Have I mentioned I love spring?! Lord willing, next year’s opener will be the best yet! It will be my son Jon’s first official opener! He will be seven and I am going to build him his own rod and outfit him with his own waders, vest, etc. I will be on cloud nine!
Rainbow, when are we going to get together to fish the White? Maybe we can shoot for a Saturday or something during the Brown Drake hatch? Would be open to other suggestions.
Jim, pick a weekend and I’ll be ready to fish the White or any river in reasonable driving range. Look at your family’s schedule and let me know when your free. I try to fish at least one day every weekend all season long and often manage to do better than that. You have my e-mail address, don’t you?
Looking forward to spending some time on the spring creeks of Michigan. Fishing is getting tough down here. The TVA is trying to fill the lakes so the water skiers and jet ski’s can enjoy them. Thus, with the lack of rain, the release from the dams is minimal, water temps are up and the fish are down deep. The Elk is cruddy as no generation is going on. It’s like fishing an alge covered farm pond!
We need rain and lots of it!
Took one trout today on the Duck above Courtner Mill in 60 degree water! I’m getting out the 0.030 lead wire for the next batch of Flymphs and Spiders, fill the hook to get down deep!!
See ya all on the cool, sweet waters of the AuSable in a couple of months!!