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Photos from our 2007 Salmon float
trips on the Betsie River.
August 13th - First float on the Betsie River
this August. Sunday's rain got a few salmon
moving into river from Lake Michigan. Forecast
is for cooler weather this week and more much needed
rain which is ideal conditions for August river
salmon. There are a few nice pods of fresh
Kings around right now! These fresh run August
Salmon are the sometimes hard to find but some of
best fish of the entire year. This time of
year look for slow deep sand holes to be holding the
most fish. Great time of year to streamer fish
for these big silver Kings.
August 20th - Mike Kmita with a Chinook Salmon in
the lower Betsie River. Our Great Lakes
Deceivers were the the top producers today -
grey/white and chart/white. These early Kings
are very aggressive and will smash these big
streamers fished on a long sink tip. Our
favorite lines are Rio 200 & 300 grain DC 24' sink
tip.
August 22nd - Mike Sargent with beautiful bright
silver King Salmon on the Betsie River. Light
rain this morning and more fish are on the move into
the river from Lake Michigan. For these fresh
run Kings streamer fishing is the way to go.
Top streamers have been our Great Lakes Deceivers,
Fire Tiger, Conrad Sculpin.
August 23rd - Mike Sargent with a King Salmon on
the Betsie River. Light rain today but river
is still very low. We found a few fresh salmon
in the upper river today but still only small groups
of fish in the river.
August 24th - Tom Olenczuk with a fresh run
salmon caught streamer fishing in the lower Betsie
River. This is great time of the year to cast
streamer for these big silver Kings. This
morning we hit three big salmon and landed two all
on our Fire Tiger pattern. No crankbait flies
needed here!
August 24th - Kris Walley with a beautiful bright
silver King Salmon. Lots of fresh fish on the
move upstream today.
August 26th - Eric & Jeff with some fresh run
Betsie River salmon. Had a good push of silver
king salmon move into the upper river today.
Today we hooked around 20 fish and landed 7.
Top flies were nuke eggs, muddlers, leeches and hex
nymphs.
August 29th - Greg Miller with two fresh run King
Salmon on the Betsie River. Had a good rain
today and good number of salmon were on the move
upstream. Finding fish was pretty easy with
some huge pods in the sand holes. Greg, Mario,
and Marcus landed about a dozen today.
August 30th - Barb Myckowiak with a big Chinook
Salmon on the Betsie River. Had a very nice
float on the river today and put a few fresh salmon
in the net!
August 30th - Scott Mychkowiak with a couple
beautiful fresh run salmon on the Betsie River.
August 31st - Tom Olenczuk
with bright silver King Salmon on the Betsie River. After a big morning
of streamer fishing down near Lake Michigan we went for a float in the upper
Betsie and found a few huge groups of fresh salmon. Hooked and landed a
bunch today! This time of year that is the perfect trip - streamer
fishing the very lower river in low light periods and then float the river
during mid day.
September 3rd - Tim and Rob
with a couple of real nice King Salmon. Excellent day of salmon fishing
today! Landed around a dozen and lost a bunch of other fresh run
fish. Egg patterns, muddlers, green caddis, hex nymphs were the best patterns
today.
September 3rd - A beautiful
Betsie River rainbow trout! There are not lots but there are some nice
rainbows and browns in the Betsie River.
September 6th - Bob Spence
with a couple of fresh run Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River. Good
numbers of fish in the river today! Bob and Jim Jameson had hooked a
bunch today but did not have the best luck getting them into the net.
Top flies today were nuke eggs and small muddlers.
September 8th - Bruce and Mark Jansen with a huge day on the Bestie River! Rain brought good numbers of new fish into the river. Double digit numbers of Chinook salmon were put into the net today. Top flies today were nuke eggs in light pale colors.
September 9th - Bruce and
Mark Jansen with a couple big Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River.
Cloudy and cool today with lots of fresh fish on the move today up the
river. Should have some excellent fishing for the coming week!
September 10th - Paris
Fleezanis with a big chrome King Salmon. Rain today and fall like
weather has good numbers of Kings moving into the the Betsie River.
Look for excellent fishing this week!
September 11th - Paris and
Nick casting to a big pod Coho Salmon on the Platte River. These Coho
can be very aggressive when they first enter the river. Egg sucking
leeches, flash flies, alwive patterns are all top patterns. If fish get
spooky egg patterns are also productive.
September 11th - Nick
Fleezanis with a big Chinook Salmon and a Platte River Coho being released.
September 12th - Dan and
Jerry with some fresh run King Salmon on the Betsie River. Excellent
fishing today with a bunch of salmon put in the net!
September 13th - David
Frizzell with a couple of huge salmon on the Betsie River. Excellent
fishing today with big numbers of salmon in the deep slow holes. Landed
6 today and lost a bunch of others. With the clear low water small
flies have been working best of late. Today nuke eggs and green caddis
were by far our best flies. Rain and cool weather is forecasted for
tomorrow and look for new fish to be on the move.
September 15th - Big pods
of salmon like these were common on the Platte River today!
September 15th - David
Frizzell with some bright silver salmon on the Platte River - Chinook (above)
and Coho (bottom). Excellent salmon fishing today! With the
recent fall like weather big numbers of salmon have been passed at the lower
weir and are heading upstream. Loon Lake & Platte Lake are the next
stopping place and look for these Coho to show up in the Deadstream Swamp of
the Platte River in the next week. Clear sink tips with mid size
streamers like flash flies, egg sucking leeches and muddlers were top
producers today. When salmon get spooky go to floating lines with egg
patterns and nymphs.
September 16th - David
Frizzell with a Betsie River salmon. There were a few less salmon
around today but still put a couple of real nice fish in the net. Of
late seems like every few days a new batch of salmon move up stream from Lake
Michigan.
September 17th - Steve and
Carl with a double header of bright silver Kings on the Platte River.
Look for best fishing on the Platte during low light periods. Today
there was bright sun and still pretty good fishing. Looking like a big
year for Coho Salmon in Platte Bay and in the river!
September 17th - Steve and
Carl with a bunch of Salmon today. Spend the morning floating the
Platte River and the afternoon floating the Betsie River. Found
some nice silver Kings and Coho Salmon on the Platte and big numbers of Kings
on the Betsie. There was a new push of Kings up the Betsie last
night and fishing was excellent today!
September 18th - Greg and Mike
with a bunch of big Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River. Big numbers of
fish in the deep sand holes today with some excellent fishing. Had
excellent fishing the past two days floating with a great bunch from PA and
NY.
September 19th - Oscar and
John with a couple of Betsie River salmon. Nice day on the river and
landed a few salmon! John's Coho was the first one we have landed on
the Betsie this year. With all the Coho in Platte Bay this year should
see a few more in the Betsie.
September 20th - Eric and Ken with a couple of Betsie River Salmon. Summer like weather today is not the best conditions for salmon fishing but still had a pretty good day. Look for big push of fish with the next rain which is forecasted for tomorrow night
September 21st - Bruce and
Marv with a couple of salmon from the upper Betsie. Warm and sunny
today with summer like weather. Rain is needed to get some new fish
into the river.
September 22nd - Brian
Henderson with a beautiful silver Chinook Salmon on the Platte River.
The Platte has been getting waves of new fish in from Lake Michigan with
every cold snap and heavy north winds.
September 26th - Still some
fresh run Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River. With the weather turning
back to fall like temps and the recent rains some new fish have moved in from
Lake Michigan. Right now there are lot of spawning salmon in the upper
river but still a good number of fish out in Lake Michigan. Look for
new pushes of fresh fish for the next couple weeks with every rain.
September 27th - Streamer
fishing for Coho Salmon at the mouth of the Platte River on Loon Lake.
Just a beautiful portion of the Platte River system and one of first staging
areas once the salmon leave the lower weir.
September 29th - Matt
Philippart with a nice big Betsie River salmon. Good numbers of fish
around today in the upper river and still a bunch that have not spawned
yet. Should have a couple more weeks of good salmon fishing.
Starting to see a few steelhead in river now but no real numbers.
Looking for steelhead best action typically starts in late October and peaks
in November.
October 3rd - David
Frizzell with a couple good salmon on the Betsie River. Real good
salmon fishing today in the upper river! Hardly no other anglers and a
bunch of fish made for a good day on the river. Rain from early in the
week brought in some nice fish and still good numbers in the pools & runs
around the gravel. Water levels are still pretty low and small flies
are working the best. Nuke eggs, green caddis, muddlers, and stones
flies have been working the best of late.
October 4th - David Frizzell with a big Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River. It did not feel like fall today more like the middle of summer! We have had good fishing all week but numbers of fish in the river are dropping now and more are spawning. Should have some good fishing with next rain and cooler weather. Coming week lots of rain is forecasted and hopefully it shows up.
October 7th – Gary Smith fighting salmon on the Betsie River. Hot bright weather is not the best conditions for salmon fishing in October but still had some pretty good fishing today!
October 7th – Jake Wagner and Gary Smith with some nice
Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River.
Extremely low water today with small nymphs working best. Top flies were black stones and green
caddis. Good numbers of salmon in the
river today with best action in the deeper holes.
October 8th – Greg Macdonald with a couple of
nice Betsie River salmon today.
Weather stayed very warm and bright today but new fish keep coming
into river. Cold front and some rain
is forecasted for the next few days which should bring some new fish into
river.
October 10th - Joe & Larry Swantek with some nice salmon on the Betsie River.
October 19th - Fred Isaacs with a real nice Platte River Chinook Salmon. Windy and rain today made for some pretty good fishing. Did see a few steelhead sitting behind salmon and one hook up on a egg pattern. Did find a few good salmon - Chinook & Coho.
October 19th - Peak fall color today! Just a great time of the year to fly fish Northern Michigan.
October 19th - Lots of wind & rain this afternoon on the upper Betsie River. Salmon numbers were pretty limited but did have some good action. Found one good steelhead and a number of Chinook Salmon.
November 7th - Still some excellent Coho Salmon around! These late run Coho can very aggressive and will hit large streamers. Top patterns today were big black bunny leech and chartreuse/white Conrad Sculpin. Also did find a couple of steelhead and had best luck with small pale colored egg patterns. |
