# Need info on Yellow Dog



## Apache Trout (Feb 5, 2002)

I am thinking of doing a trout trip to the UP in August and I really want to hit the Yellow Dog (well I have wanted to for a really long time). I am thinking of tossing hoppers but I don't have any idea how well the Dog fishes in August. Any information would be greatly appreciated. PM me if you don't want the info posted for everyone to read. Thanks.


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

It can be a difficult fish in August. The trout will be in nasty narly deep jams that are hard to present to. San Juan worm may be the ticket if there has been some rain. Below the waterfalls is usually good too. IF you fish into the evening you will be much better off that time of year on the Yellow Dog. Classic river and no people. Have fun!


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## Apache Trout (Feb 5, 2002)

Thnaks for the response Wildcatwick. Its been on my list to fish for a long time and since August is the only time I can get away, August it shall be. How does the headwaters fish - I am thinking it should hold native brookies but it will probably difficult to cast?


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## WILDCATWICK (Mar 11, 2002)

Headwaters are tough to even get to. There are only two three true access points IMO. The first two being bridges and the third one is closer to the lake about 3-4 miles in where a road parallels the Dog. So either you will need to do some hiking or four wheeling &/or fish around those three areas. THe casting is fine in those three areas. It's such a beautiful spot you'll have fun no matter what. 

There are brooks throughout the whole system until just before the big lake. What ever you do make sure that you cap off your gas tank in Neguanee or Big Bay depending on what way you go in. Too many people get turned around and then run out of gas. :lol:


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## HemlockNailer (Dec 22, 2000)

I am leaving sat. for a week at Big Bay. We will be lake fishing but will hit the Dog as well. Have not been there in quite a few years and am looking forward to the trip. Will post when we return.


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## foxangler (Feb 1, 2005)

The best access point is from the North along the AAA road. I would not advise trying to come up through the Mulligan. Thats all high ground mud, rocks, and expert 4x4 terrain. August is when those trails start to get real nasty. I know friends who have fished the Yellow dog and have pulled nice brookies and suckers ta boot. heheh have fun.


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

foxangler said:


> The best access point is from the North along the AAA road. I would not advise trying to come up through the Mulligan. Thats all high ground mud, rocks, and expert 4x4 terrain. August is when those trails start to get real nasty. I know friends who have fished the Yellow dog and have pulled nice brookies and suckers ta boot. heheh have fun.


Here's a pic of a spot on the Yellow Dog in the area foxangler is talking about. Because of the policy on up streams, all I can say is try and find a old wash out bridge in the high country. I know I have thought to my self this area looked fantastic for fishing and out of reach of most who want "easy" access. Best of luck and let us know what you find and how you do. Riverman








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## Apache Trout (Feb 5, 2002)

Thanks for the wealth of information. I will probably be PM some of you for more information. I will give a detailed report after my trip.


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## foxangler (Feb 1, 2005)

yeah thats the Yellow dog, here is the mulligan creek in mid january

Very bottom 3 pics on page http://members.tripod.com/balabuska_61/id44.html

Also, I'll be up there in mid july so i'll check it out. and see whats happening.


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## dryflyshaman (Aug 2, 2005)

hello all, 

im posting this here as it pertains to the yellow dog.

ill be arriving manistee county probably saturday afternoon. will be with a group, but no ride as im flying in from texas. trip is ten days. the occasion is simply a gathering and campout of internet folks but there is none of them into flyfishing. 

soooooooooooooooo, flys for the region?
im pretty well set up with the standard stuff, got plenty hoppers too. anything i would really really need outside the standard fly guys box?

im not lookin for no trophy trout. jeez, the chance to fish the UP this year for a few days is plenty enough for me!

will mention there are jeeps in the group and the others seem interested in taking me whereever i can fish. theres a lot of interest in the waterfalls in the area also.

if i had all summer id find my own honey holes with topo map and a compass and lots of hours of driving and casting, but i dont have that luxury.

this texas boy dont get much chance anymore to hit michigan rivers and feel that cold cold water on his skin.

so if anyone cares to ill gladly take suggestions on flys and locations

being in texas is death to a trout fisherman.
cheers!


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## dryflyshaman (Aug 2, 2005)

have returned.

had a blast, did some casting, got a bear and a wolf on game cam. 

caught some brookies out of the yellow dog and some other tiny streams. tromped through mulligan creek where the rock dam is, what a lovely spot!
unfortunately i left the rod at camp, thought we was just gonna jaunt over into the ridge there south of the yellow dog and we wound up crossing over into mulligan..plains? swamp? marsh? whatever its called

question:

rainbows well above pinnacle falls?

caught one about seven inches long a good ways up the river upstream from a bridge off AAA. very faint parr marks, maybe steelhead?

i didnt know there were rainbows in the upper yellow dog around the plains.

hoppers, light cahills, adams, and hendricksons all did well in the tag alders. it was like coming home to crawl upstream through those thick, thick alders!

one of the buddies proposed to his girlfriend on top of big falls on the huron river(beautiful place, well worth a look). (think it was huron, will have to check!)

by the time we left the area the maples were already beginning to turn. the second day a tiny front blew through with some rain and after that it seemed the heat was broken, nice cool mornings, comfortable days, beautiful sunsets and fantastic evenings around the campfire. 

i saw a lot of places i did not fish, being with a pack of nonfisherman impatient to see the next waterfall. reckon someday ill be back.

on the way over to taq falls i got to fish the FOX for about an hour also!!! woohooooooo!!!!! ok , i got skunked there, lol. 

spent two days down by mckinley on the ausable below where the aluminum hatch takes out, river kicked my hiney there, been a long time since i waded the bigger waters and i got spooked a couple itmes out in the current.

was a good michigan trip overall, cant wait to get back in march for some muskegon river steelys.


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## dryflyshaman (Aug 2, 2005)

wanted to add to the above that we saw bear tracks to no end up there in the upper yellow dog area. only saw one and just its hindquarters zipping into the brush at the edge of the road.

blueberrys were abundant and quite tasty!

ate my first wild raspberrys(ok, they told me it was raspberrys and i didnt die, so i guess whatever they were are not poisonous!)

one thing of note was a group of folks up there with small derricks drilling into the ground, id assume for core samples. we heard a lot about sulphide mining operations proposed for the yellow dog plains. there seems to be a very vocal outcry against the proposal in the area. 

the (unfounded) rumor was the mining would bring in a LOT of jobs to the area.

balance that against spillage into the yellow dog plains and into the river.

the plains there are by no means pristine, not much area is i guess. obviously there has been extensive logging operations for years and years.

the land CAN recover from that. things grow, trees grow, the wildlife adapts. its never the same as virgin growth of course, but the earth itself exists in flux, things change naturally as the years go by.

of course we would all love to have vast areas of unspoiled wilderness around, but the fact of our presence is the first bespoilment. 

i see both sides of this issue, coming from a poor rural area where logging and oil and gas drilling has been the life blood of the locals for generations, yet out there in my east texas thickets i see the piosoning of the land from the drilling and the silting of the streams when everything is ripped out and nothing holds the topsoil in place. 

im not screaming one way or the other about this mining issue, just saying for you up there to maybe look into the facts presented and voice your opinion when the time comes.

cheers all!
shaman


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