Fishing with Nick

As most people know, with the recent rain and run off most rivers and streams are experiencing flood stage water levels. fisherman hope for coming rain and warm weather to induce the push of migratory steelhead. A little bit of rain and run off is a good thing but a lot of rain and runoff isn't. In the past week, rivers like the Manistee, Rifle river, Meskegon river, White river, Kalamazoo river,  and the Grand river all are experience extreme floods. With an inch-two of rain that fell over nearly the whole state, combined with the plentiful snow amounts and a frozen ground preventing filtration the odds of a flash flood were very high. Why are floods good? Floods and higher water conditions not only clear out reminding shelf ice in some rivers but the rising water levels and temperatures trigger a fish's response to swim up into a river in search of spawning grounds which they either spawn on or hold in the river to await optimum water temperatures for their spawning ritu...

Dues to the Fish I remember being 12 years old going into my local fly shop craving knowledge about fishing and how to be a better fisherman. I would ask the big questions, questions like “How do I catch more steelhead” or “How do I catch bigger brown trout” and could remember hearing honest answers referring to different flies and tactics but one reply I was a little too young to understand the power behind it, “If you want to catch more fish, go fishing more, you’ll learn the rest if you pay your dues”. Me being twelve years old I pushed that comment to the side and kept digging for more than people were willing to give. They put the hard work to obtain such knowledge and it only made sense to make me do the same.   Everyone can watch a video or hear a story as a source of knowledge but the first-person experience is unbeatable. In a video, you see what they do, what they use, and how they do it, but what It lacks is the whole experience. Sight, sound, touch, smell, an...

           Fishing is what gives my life meaning. Something about the ability to spend the rest of my life improving myself and expanding my horizons in many aspects of fishing nearly promises happiness for the rest of my life. The second someone believes they know it all is the second they proved to be foolish. Michigan alone has 10,000 lakes and 10,000 barriers for me to overcome. To learn every single one in Michigan would take many life times to achieve. A fisherman could spend their whole life learning one body of water and will never know everything there is to be known. The area for growth is endless.               My love for rivers has to do with the fact that if you stand in one spot for any given time, the water in front of you is continuously rejuvenated. With new water comes new change. Sediment is deposited, and sediment is carried away. The river is always chang...

                                                                 January 26 Normally this time year I would be on the Saginaw River fishing walleye or on Wixsom lake fishing crappie and bluegill through the ice but because of the recent warm ups it has caused a lot of snow melt creating faster current and dirty brown water conditions. These conditions reduce the fish’s ability to see your lure under the ice. In these conditions it can cause some very difficult fishing conditions. One system may fish like crap but there’s always another that can fish well during these weather conditions. These weather conditions led me back in search of winter steelhead Friday morning I headed to the Pere Marquette with buddy in search of winter steelhead. Today’s temperatures started very cold with a morning starting in the 20’s but...