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Hodenpyl Streamer Fishing
"Targeting Big Trout with Streamers in the Hodenpyl section of the Manistee River"
While most Michigan Fly-Fishermen are still excited about the up and coming spring steelhead run, continuing to fill their nymph and egg boxes to the top like putting bullets in magazines. There are those that would put away the 10’+ Switch, Spey, or single handed steelhead sticks and replace them with faster action, shorter rods for firing around flies as long as a two year old steelhead smolt. Normally we, the greater guide community, start daring each other to go Strip & Rip for the first time around the time the snow starts to break. Though limited in numbers, the fish on the prowl that early in the year will likely be very big and with any luck still naïve!
While fishing pressure rises in areas where water temps spark certain migrations and spawning events, other sections or even rivers for that matter, will yield some of the best brown trout fly-fishing all year long here in Michigan! If it is post Trout Opener there are sections of the Manistee and Ausable that open up and give up some of the biggest fish of the year.You can't beat the element of surprise to those fish that haven't seen anything in over 7 months!! In other areas, where trout aren’t the primary inhabitant or target species, you are able to engage them outside of trout season. Though the PM Streamer bite in the spring is fantastic and certainly client friendly, if you looking for a Donkey you should focus on the bigger tail-waters wherever you can engage them. In doing so you will likely have a section of river all to yourself versus the almost Rush Hour Traffic of boats found around any section of river with gravel and steelhead in the same watershed!!
The Hodenpyl section of the Manistee river is one of our favorite areas to hunt pre-season donkeys. It is a humbling section of river that yields few fish to even those that would say they know it. You don’t go to the Pyl to catch allot of fish, nor do you go to the Pyl to catch a few good fish,,, you are going to the Pyl because you are just flat swinging for the fences. Where upper sections of the Manistee may trump the Hodenpyl in overall numbers and quality of fish, the Pyl makes up for it by offering a rare but generally very large brown trout that pull for the floor harder than any other brown I have tangoed with to date, save one! |
Not only do you have to know where to focus your attention, this section of the river being massive and long, but you also need to be able to cast and present massive flies in water that has a higher CFS then anything else in the Lower Peninsula. Bottom line is only the ELITE need apply for this one, if it is your first time streamer fishing, the PM, Upper Manistee, and even the Ausable will be a bit more your speed. Even good casters are baffled and physically beaten by the overall depth, speed, and unpredictability of their adversary in the Hodenpyl.
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| Sink-Tips up to 400 grains are not out of the question, nor is a leech as long as ruler; these fish are different and veracious and are accustomed to eating Chestnut Lampreys almost as long or Planter Trout as long and meatier! These same fish are likely not interested in Yellow Sallies or even Larger Mayflies most days or nights of the year, but I bet they favor all the fish that would be! Big Browns become alligators by a certain point in their life and will begin to feed strictly during a High Protein, Low Effort events. Whether that is a crayfish molt in later summer or the DNR truck dumping planters in sounding the dinner bell, these fish feed by opportunity and don’t snack as much as they gorge. |
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Once they are full, catching big fish in the Pyl becomes tougher, (VERY TOUGH), they fill up on the more or less the sardine sized planters fast, so early is better. Knowing where you want to focus your attention during certain water level or temp events will increase the likelihood of you seeing a couple instead of none. Having the right guide really pays off because no matter how good you think you are and how much you don’t need a guide’s help, someone has to back-row all day as this is not a walk and wade section, you would likely die trying!! |
After catching steelhead all fall and winter, most of us die-hards have fully punched our steelhead fun cards, while most fair weather fisherman are coming to punch theirs. During this time of year you can take advantage of an otherwise High Fishing Pressure Season and trade it in for a day of solitude and the POSSIBILITY of a couple large trout; or go with a guide and can trade it in for the LIKELIHOOD of a couple large trout!!!
Hawkins Outfitters has the best group of guides put together anywhere in this state Hands Down, and likely the Midwest and though all of our interests vary during the course of the year, all of us seem to come together during one happening, and that is the Early Streamer Season here in Michigan. We realize not only how much we missed targeting our favorite adversary, THE BROWN TROUT, but also the likelihood of scoring BIG with a brown that will likely wise up after the first 20 boats go by in a given season. You think you have what it takes to be a Rock Star with a fly rod while people are fishing gravel and fighting over boat positions??? Give us a call and put a date in the book. We are talking “Eye of the Tiger” fishing here,,, are you That Guy?!?!
Tommy Lynch |
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