# Little Man Salmon



## DrEw8716 (Jul 1, 2004)

Whats the word on salmon in the little man??? I know they problalby have at least a few strays but I was wondering if there are any fishable numbers??? Thanks in advance.


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## chrome_steelhead (Mar 21, 2006)

walk, walk, and walk some more. It's the only way to fish the little river this time of the year. 

It's not like the fall when you can go down there and catch your limit all the time. You need to know when and where those fish will be. If your expecting to catch lots of fish, your fishing the wrong time of the year. You probably won't find many people wanting to share there success this time of year with little fish in the river.


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## bigsablemike (Apr 26, 2005)

sounds like a good report along with some advice to me.very few fish,come later in the fall is what i got out of it.


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## catch&release (Jan 17, 2004)

I fished the Little for trout on Friday. I did terrible and there were absolutely no salmon anywhere in the 3 miles I floated in my canoe.

There were a lot of tubers, though. Plus I was yelled at by one cottage owner because I had anchored my canoe on a sandbar that ran to his shore. 

Not a good day. Wish I hadn't burned half a tank of gas.


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## colehatch (Jun 18, 2003)

I have to agree with the walk, walk and walk somemore...that's what I did. I was down there last week and personally it was a waste of time. I saw fish but never threw anything at them. The water is way to low and the fish way to spooky.


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

colehatch said:


> I have to agree with the walk, walk and walk somemore...that's what I did. I was down there last week and personally it was a waste of time. I saw fish but never threw anything at them. The water is way to low and the fish way to spooky.


Exactly. All you can do is walk, walk, and walk some more. Anytime you try to target Kings in late July/early August, it's a crap shoot. Water conditions, weather, wind, flow, etc all play the biggest part in it and those fish don't have to come upriver yet, so all you can do is go and hope for the best.


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## DrEw8716 (Jul 1, 2004)

Thanks guys, I ahve fished the little man lots of times so I know how it can be this time of year, I was just wondering if anyone saw fishable numbers in there???


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## bjm (Nov 25, 2003)

I went looking and saw none. I switched to a trout rig pretty quickly.


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## dsmithgall (Oct 10, 2006)

here we go already on this


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## steelslam (Apr 8, 2001)

hey C & R why did that guy yell at you? he sure doesnt own the sand bar an you weren't on his shore. an the river is full of canoes so it is navigatalbe.


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## Splitshot (Nov 30, 2000)

There are a few salmon in the Little River but with this low water they are deep in the wood and even if you find them, it's hard to get a lure or fly to them.

I have found over the years that fishing for anything when the water is this low is mostly a waste of time.

If we get a very good rain before they close the weir you can expect some to run up the river.


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## Emerald Shiner (Jul 5, 2007)

Floated the Little River for a little over 5-6 hours this passed weekend, and not much going on. Looked hard with the fish eyes, and did not see too much activity going on. The trout fishing was moderate to good. Then went over to the big river and saw more Kings/Steelhead hiding inbetween the logs. Not really worth the long drive, unless you like to trout/smallmouth fish.

Speaking of the weir, I heard rumor they might close it early this year, because the DNR does not want the potentially VHS contaminated salmon running way too far up river, and posing threat to other fish species. I tried to call & speak to a couple of DNR officials about this rumor, and they could not confirm it either. Can anyone confirm this? If not, I suspect they will close the weir using their normal routine.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

If you call the Cadillac office of the DNR, and talk to Tom Rozich, he will know what they intend to do about the timing of installing the weir on the little river. He is the onsite biologist, and probably makes the decision.


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## Emerald Shiner (Jul 5, 2007)

Fishndude said:


> If you call the Cadillac office of the DNR, and talk to Tom Rozich.


I was referred the number connected to Mr. Rozich. Left a message, but no response yet. This must be a good time of the year to take a vacation.:lol:


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

> Speaking of the weir, I heard rumor they might close it early this year, because the DNR does not want the potentially VHS contaminated salmon running way too far up river, and posing threat to other fish species. I tried to call & speak to a couple of DNR officials about this rumor, and they could not confirm it either. Can anyone confirm this? If not, I suspect they will close the weir using their normal routine.


The wier will be going in on Aug. 16th, which is the normal time frame every year. I e-mailed Tonello yesterday and asked him about it.


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## DrEw8716 (Jul 1, 2004)

Sorry I wanted to interupt with a quick question, I have a pair of Cabelas wading boots that are a lil tight, I was wondering if anyone had an extra pair of wading boots laying around that they might consider selling to me??? Size 10 1/2, 11, 11 1/2????


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## Emerald Shiner (Jul 5, 2007)

thousandcasts said:


> The wier will be going in on Aug. 16th, which is the normal time frame every year. I e-mailed Tonello yesterday and asked him about it.


Thanks TC. I kinda figured that might be the case with their normal routine.


There was a guy I talked to that one day over by the weir, and he must have been trying to just spread a rumor. We got talking about the whole chumming issue & the minnows, and it seems that certain sections of DNR management is not too concerned about the big fish spreading the disease through their natural spawning process.


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## Whit1 (Apr 27, 2001)

Emerald Shiner said:


> I was referred the number connected to Mr. Rozich. Left a message, but no response yet. This must be a good time of the year to take a vacation.:lol:


Due to past cuts in DNR personnel Tom is responsible for streams from the Muskegon R. all the way north to the Mackinaw Bridge. He is one busy man.


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## gunrod (Jan 16, 2001)

I floated what I consider the middle section (probably the upper section for those that don't fish the fly only water) and saw 15 salmon. 1 was dead as it had been dragged from the shallow water onto the bank by a critter. Most the salmon were in pairs and on the move. I did see 4 in a slot that seemed content to stay where they were. The water is very low and clear so the salmon see you long before you see them. I saw them only because they were spooked except for one that swam under my Dryfly. A couple were silver but most had already started to turn dark. I did see one spot of polished gravel but I think that was a mistake by a hen that started to make a redd during the night but when the sun came up she realized that it was only 8" of water and abandoned it. I'm sure it was pure instinct for her to do that and not the need to spawn now.

If you are looking for salmon in the Little Man don't drive a long way just yet since it's probably not worth it. Things are pretty dry up here and until there's a rain there won't be fishable numbers.

Even the trout fishing was poor due to the low water. Plenty of small fish (all steelhead smolt) but no browns to speak of. It's supposed to just keep getting hotter up here the next couple of days with the only chance for rain on Thursday (the last time I looked) and even that was a small chance.

Rob at Pappy's said that the big boat reports indicated salmon were moving in closer to stage for a run but he doesn't expect much until the rivers come up a few inches.


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## thousandcasts (Jan 22, 2002)

> Rob at Pappy's said that the big boat reports indicated salmon were moving in closer to stage for a run but he doesn't expect much until the rivers come up a few inches.


Not true. I have it from a good source, that all this years fish have been rendered sterile due to the VHS and thus, will not be running up the rivers. You heard it hear first, so stay home!


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