# Ontonagan River Question



## michiganmaniac (Dec 9, 2008)

Hi there all, I am looking for a bit of advice. Here's the story.

I am from the lower peninsula and am used to fishing larger rivers for steelhead. Plugging for steelhead was always one of my favorite pastimes. I moved to marquette a few years ago and it is annoying to have to drive at least 4 hours to get to a river where I can plug. I fish with other methods around here but my favorite way is to pull plugs. I have tried the chocolay and it is possible but a pain.

So here is myquestion, I have fished the ontonagon further upstream on the west branch and it is not boat water, however downstream further it appears the river gets much larger where the branches converge. Do the steelhead ever hold downstream in the bigger water? Would plugging be worth it? Or do they just shoot up through that water? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


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## Swampbuckster (Nov 28, 2010)

michiganmaniac said:


> Hi there all, I am looking for a bit of advice. Here's the story.
> 
> I am from the lower peninsula and am used to fishing larger rivers for steelhead. Plugging for steelhead was always one of my favorite pastimes. I moved to marquette a few years ago and it is annoying to have to drive at least 4 hours to get to a river where I can plug. I fish with other methods around here but my favorite way is to pull plugs. I have tried the chocolay and it is possible but a pain.
> 
> So here is myquestion, I have fished the ontonagon further upstream on the west branch and it is not boat water, however downstream further it appears the river gets much larger where the branches converge. Do the steelhead ever hold downstream in the bigger water? Would plugging be worth it? Or do they just shoot up through that water? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Not knowing or seeing the system, seems to me you may find a few throughout the winter holding in the lower end. I wouldn't see why it would be different from any other river system.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

I believe there is a bait shop in the town of Ontonagon I have been wanting to visit, I would ask them. There is a pretty good shop in Kenton, and though that guy is fare more into hunting, he might also at least know the basic details you need.

Most of the West Branch is above the Victoria Dam - no Steelhead.

The East Branch is planted heavily and some years has good natural reproduction as well.

The bigger water in the system is regularly silted up with clay; the entire northern half or more of the watershed flows through clay substrates. The upper reaches on the Middle and East branches do flow clear. Boating can be treacherous when you can't see the logs, I understand, and access points are very, very few - probably from the town of Ontonagon only, perhaps one near Greenland/Victoria, maybe one at Military Hill / US 45 crossing but I don't think so. 

Though overall I can't advise much on the big water in the Ontonagon and am still learning how to read & understand silt levels in clay systems - big problem for me, further west on the South Shore, right now - even the water in Superior along the beach is full of clay.


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## michiganmaniac (Dec 9, 2008)

Thank you for the correction, I meant the middle branch.

I called the bait shop in ontonagon and the guy said he never hears of anyone fishing the lower river except for walleye and smallmouth. He said it was slow and muddy, which I was afraid of knowing how silty the river can get. I had a hunch it might all settle down there. I have never actually laid my eyes on the lower ontonagon however so i will have to take a drive and see it next time I'm over there. Maybe i will start a new trend but I'm not counting on jt.


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## Gordon Casey (Jun 13, 2017)

B.Jarvinen said:


> I believe there is a bait shop in the town of Ontonagon I have been wanting to visit, I would ask them. There is a pretty good shop in Kenton, and though that guy is fare more into hunting, he might also at least know the basic details you need.
> 
> Most of the West Branch is above the Victoria Dam - no Steelhead.
> 
> ...


Mr. "B"
Damn, I enjoy reading your posts. You must have the worlds best job cuz it appears you spend most of your time searching, analyzing and fishing every stretch of moving water in the UP. Your writing skills are exceptional, you should be writing outdoor books. It appears that your a brook trout guy, I'm a St. Mary's and Canadian Superior north shore fish chaser. I have some great fall coho small river stories to tell but if I say too much I will be banned and shunned by my Canadian buddies. Fishing is a "blood sport" by most hard core Canadian fishers. They would not share any information even with their mothers. Over the years I have been able to fish my friends "honey holes" and have had some unbelievable experiences--how about 15 atlantics in about 4 hours of casting and trolling and an unbelievable number of actively feeding coho's on the superior tribs .


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

I have a very basic schedule. If it rains, I go fishing. If it doesn’t rain, I go to work. So sometimes work really cuts into the fishing, unless there is fishable water right close to where I am working. For most of July & August, my camp was within a mile of a west-Ontonagon-system creek said to hold Brook Trout, and was a new 10 limit segment even. It was a beautiful piece of water, and I fished it often with a spare hour here or there but it barely held any Brook Trout at all - way too warm. I did find a better one eventually, and got 2 rain days on it, one each late in Aug. & Sept. 

In October, I think I averaged about 3 trips to the Superior shore per 2 weeks, despite all the rain. The monsoon week essentially shut down both fishing and working for several days. I do recommend fishing on a rainy day anywhere - less other people fishing & fish more active. 

Normally, I love Opening Day of deer season. I call it Steelhead Day, cuz I can’t work that day, no matter what, cuz the orange clad idiots are just too unpredictable. This year, I am stuck on my cousins couch with a possibly blown truck engine and a long, no fishing future in front of me until the week after Thanksgiving at least. The Wisconsin rivers closed the other day but I had already figured out several shoreline points to fish...Coho jacks said to be schooling in-shore this time of year in Chequamegon Bay. 

There is a drift boat on the Pere Marquette with an empty seat waiting for me if I can finish a job and get home before that buddy pulls his camp for the winter. Not looking good. I love my self-employed Forestry job but it is a long ways from being lucrative yet.


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## slowpaya (Oct 23, 2011)

not about money tho


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## Teggs (Mar 20, 2013)

About 7 miles from the falls a umentionable flows into the O and from there down the river is clay run off and very stained water. I have only fished the clear sections though, mostly browns not many steelhead but some.e Plugging superior streams you will find extremely frusturating. While effective all winter long on lake michigan and huron tribs you will find superior fish run much smaller, rivers are smaller, no alewives here so many dont feed entirely on bait fish, and often spook or ignore plugs. I have seen some dandys caught though so dont rule it out. Winter Ice fishing plugs can be effective on the small streams once they freeze over completely but thats the only time we run them. You can also try the breakwalls, piers, and deep river mouths chucking them way out. Never know what you will get.


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