# Western U.P. Trout streams



## mike k (Feb 18, 2004)

I am thinking about coming to the Western U.P. to flyfish the trout streams there. I have heard stream conditions are horrible right now. Can anyone confirm this situation. Extremely low water levels, high water temps,etc,etc. I fish roughly in the Iron River ,Watersmeet and Kenton area. Any help would be appreciated. I am very familiar with this area as well. I haven't been there in a couple months though so I am not on top of the conditions on the streams. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks......


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## Sam22 (Jan 22, 2003)

Dunno that far west, but from the manistique watershed all the way to marquette is sickeningly low.


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## Moe (Jun 14, 2000)

Up here on the Keewenaw things are very dry right now.


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## Gaffle (Sep 14, 2005)

My father and brother were up during August. They went to the old spots on several rivers and caught nothing but chubbs. Water was WAY too warm and WAY too shallow. I don't know too much about the fisheries up there, but I am amazed my father couldn't pull one brookie out of any hole.


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## Garret (Aug 2, 2002)

Spent 5 days at my property in the west end the first week of September. The river through our land was as low as Ive ever seen in the last 20 years. It had to be the driest summer on record for the last 40 years? Thats what my neighbors stated. Leaves were already 20-25% color change due to the lack of water. I took a swim for only the second time in the last 10 years in the deep hole just below our camp so the water temp had to be up for me to brave the icy river. (Still a shocker!) It was also the first time in many years that I didnt catch a single trout. I only fished one morning (1/2 hour) and one evening (½ hour) but I catch and release at least one nice fish every time out. I didnt even see the typical 4-5 brooks, browns and rainbows that would usually follow my bait to the rivers edge? I assume they were hiding as deep as possible in any area where the water was deeper than 8". And that was hard to find.

Even our fishing hole thats typically 10 feet deep was only about 6-7. I wonder if the shallow water allowed for a larger Bald Eagle fish kill than in typical years? I had one perched above the fishing hole most of the morning. Hard to say? I can say, I was very surprised at the low water levels.

I do know there was a good down pour a few days ago but not enough to make a big difference in the water table.

My 2 cents


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## mike k (Feb 18, 2004)

Trout fishing was very slow managed 4 trout fishing friday evening(skunked) and all day staurday. Rivers and streams were extremely low. Worst trout fishing I have had in september ever. I have been doing an annual end of the season flyfishing trip to the U.P. for years. Did lose a few fish as well. On the bright side I had the streams to myself. Hopefully the rest of this year and next we get adequate rainfall, otherwise a long-term drought can really damage the trout fishery in the western U.P. Thanks for the info...


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## Shupac (Apr 17, 2005)

mike k said:


> Trout fishing was very slow managed 4 trout fishing friday evening(skunked) and all day staurday. Rivers and streams were extremely low. Worst trout fishing I have had in september ever. I have been doing an annual end of the season flyfishing trip to the U.P. for years. Did lose a few fish as well. On the bright side I had the streams to myself. Hopefully the rest of this year and next we get adequate rainfall, otherwise a long-term drought can really damage the trout fishery in the western U.P. Thanks for the info...


Gee, with a report like that, I'm glad I didn't waste my weekend fishing up there...NOT


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## WAUB-MUKWA (Dec 13, 2003)

Rivers are overflowing their banks now and the salmon are in bigtiime. 6-10 iches of rain fell all week.


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