Cold wet weather and a big crowd did not slow Eric and his dad, Steve, down today. We bounced around wherever we could and hooked a steelhead or two in almost every spot. Steve got us started right away with a 13 pound chrome male that put up a great fight! It ended up being […]

Fishing is getting better near Tippy Dam every day. While most of the fish are still in the middle to lower parts of the river, there are groups of fish every day showing up in the normal holes on their way to the dam. Most days we are fishing the middle sections of the river […]

As a result of being unable to guide or fish out of a motorized boat due to COVID-19 pandemic, I have not been on the Big Manistee River since April 8th when I had my son out for a few hours. The colder weather that we have been having has the river temps in the mid-40s. […]

The Big Manistee River is running warm just like the Muskegon River is currently. If we get a little cold spell, we might be able to get out after some trout; but if not, there are smallmouth bass around and biting. King Salmon season is just around the corner starting next month so don't wait […]

Water temperatures are on the rise and water levels are coming back down to normal. This is a fun time to be on the river as there are fishing staging near spawning flats and fish in the holes with new fish moving up. The cold mornings have been a little slow; however, after it warms […]

With the warm weather that we have been having, I took a break from ice fishing and spent the day with good friend, Mitch, on the Big Manistee chasing steelhead. Being 50 degrees out and a Sunday, there were a few other boats and shore fishermen out. We fished around a little bit up by […]

Fishing has been good for both steelhead and salmon, with steelhead on the up-swing and kings on the down-swing but still a lot around. The best steelhead fishing seems to be the middle section of the river (Rainbow to High Bridge) with some fishing moving in behind the spawning salmon. Bob and Jim fished with […]

King salmon fishing is going well with fish in the holes and runs near their spawning grounds and a lot of fish on redds. If you like sight fishing for kings, the next couple of weeks are going to be good! There is probably about a week’s worth of skein fishing for kings left. Eric […]

Fall finally feels as though it has arrived here in northwestern Michigan and the fish are liking the colder weather. Jerry, Robert, and Jake fished with me today and we started the day by making a little boat ride down river to our first spot. Jake got our first bite of the morning but did […]

The rain that we got last week gave the river a slight stain which help the fishing out and got the fish moving up towards their spawning grounds. There is a little bit of spawning activity starting but the majority of the fish are still in the deeper holes and runs throughout the entire river […]