You never forget your first steelhead on a fly rod and especially when your first just happens to be 34-inches of twisted crimson red steel tipping the Boga grips at 19 pounds! Congrats Ethan! Well done. Incredible fight!
Okay. So, you want to learn steelhead fishing with a fly rod? Cast here, tight line going thru this brush pile, wait for the “hard stop / take” on the other side. And that’s exactly what Ethan did. Spot on cast, smooth drift, and perfect hook set while battling this mammoth steelhead with precision, finessing it ever so carefully out of a log jam.
Ethan swung this massive bull out of the log jam to the middle of the river where the fight was now on! Then dropped back with it in the boat to a 15 minute drag blistering battle finally bringing this giant steelhead to the net! Not bad Ethan, especially considering this was your first ever steelhead taken on a fly rod! This is exactly what big game fly fishing is all about! Welcome to the club Ethan!
Steelhead can be found in pockets. New chrome hens continue to enter the river system. One spot one day has no fish. Next day they’re all over it. That’s the beauty of the Mighty Mo, it keeps producing. Last river to start the migratory runs of big game fish in Michigan and the last river to end.
post by: jon fortuna