Fishing The P-M, A River For All Seasons

Here’s a How-To, When-To for One of Michigan’s Most Storied Streams

By Bill Semion

            Doc Green’s and Birch Hole. Whirlpool. Rosebud and Jorgenson’s. And Merle T. “Simmy” Nolph. If you’ve ever slipped a wader leg into the swift, westward-flowing waters of West Michigan’s Pere Marquette River, you might recognize those names. If you haven’t, you should.

            The Pere Marquette, named for one of Michigan’s pioneer priest explorers and flowing cold and clear from springs to the east of Baldwin, is just as storied in its trout, and salmon history.

            It in the hearts of all trout anglers (or should be), because it was the first stream in the nation to be planted with brown trout, brought to Michigan by boat and wagon to Flint, then carted cross-country to be reared at a hatchery and, as Frank Willetts, the tallish ponytailed owner of the Pere Marquette River Lodge in Baldwin will tell you, planted into the river on a Tuesday in 1834. It was designated a Natural Wild-Scenic River in 1978.

            Willetts hosts anglers from across the country at his lodge at the start of the flies-only stretch, to fish those storied holes I named above.

             “It’s simply an awesome cold water fishery because it sustains a huge migratory fishery and having the top 8.6 miles as flies only also enables our browns to grow to exponential form,” Willetts says. “Along with those you get steelhead, salmon, and coho, and also white suckers, which are a huge food source for the trout.

            “Our winter steelhead usually start showing up around Oct. 15 to gorge on salmon eggs. The salmon start trickling into the river the third week in July, and in the ‘little man’ (Little Manistee, just a few clicks north of the lodge off M-37) the third week in June,” he said.

            Deciding on which of the river’s 22 public accesses to use in spring depends, of course, on conditions. Water temperature is key, he advises. “Forty-two degrees is optimum. Colder temperatures below 34 degrees make fish sluggish.”

            While I learned to fish the PM’s steelhead by sight, Willetts says most fish the holes with a strike indicator, which looks like a bobber. 

            “You should rig like this: fly, another (dropper) fly, split shot, then the indicator. Use a size 12 swivel,” he said. As for flies, there is only one real choice in Willetts’s book: an egg fly. “Egg flies, and possibly stonefly and hex (hexagenia limbata) nymphs. On eggs, use size 10 or 12 hooks and 8s and 10s on stones and hexes.”

             Winter steelies are primarily in the holes and spring breaks, they’re in center water on the gravel. So if you’re fishing the wrong spot at the wrong time of the year, you’re fishing empty water.

            “Winter fish spawn as soon as the water temp creeps up to 40 or 41 degrees. So as soon as you get warm-ups starting in March or even February you’ll see hen fish on gravel,” guide Ryan White said.

            “ Steelhead are our most coveted fish and I try not to rake gravel if I don’t have to,” Willetts explains.

           

When You Go

            The PM Lodge also offers a full-service Orvis shop and plenty of advice, as well as river maps and guides. The PM has excellent access for anglers on foot; however expect plenty of company especially in early April. Closest airports are Traverse City and Grand Rapids. The river is fairly swift, so you may need a wading staff. For information, call 231-745-3972, or go to www.pmlodge.com. 

Grayling. Home to two of the Midwest’s top canoeing streams. Grayling. Home to arguably the top freestone trout fishing streams east of the Mississippi. Grayling. Home to a state park that tells the story of the forests that re-built Chicago after the Great Fire. And home to other outdoor fun, from downhill and cross-country skiing in winter, to mountain biking and just kickin’ back in summer.
Is it any wonder that this north central Lower Michigan town, about a five-hour drive from Chicago up U.S. 127 is revered by so many? Here’s some of what this small town has going for it:
Take a canoe trip from several hours to several days on either the Au Sable or Manistee rivers, within a few miles of each other here. Liveries in town will outfit you for day trips, or prepare you for an overnight trek on the Au Sable, up to 150-miles to Lake Huron, or on the Manistee west to Lake Michigan.
Don your waders or hire a guide like retired teacher Bob Andrus for a trip through the famed Holy Waters flies-only stretch of the Au Sable, where the national conservation group Trout Unlimited was conceived, or in the more rustic Manistee, in a historic Au Sable River drift boat (contact him by calling 989-275-2814). He’ll tell you what to use. If you want to wade, get advice on where and what flies to use at Gates Au Sable Lodge, (gateslodge.com) where there are great riverside rooms, a great fly shop and a restaurant.
Or, try the river on your own at one of the many public access sites, some of which also feature rustic state forest campgrounds. The river hosts lots of mayfly species hatching throughout the late-April-through September season.
Six miles north of town, visit 10,000-acre Hartwick Pines State Park (www.michigan.gov/dnr. See how 19th century lumberjacks lived at the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum. The Michigan Forest Visitor Center tells the story of lumber in Michigan’s past and present.
Walk the park’s trails through its redwood-like virgin white pines, with a canopy so thick that little vegetation grows below. Step inside the contemplative Chapel in the Pines and drive the park’s interpretive trail, or pedal its mountain bike trails, open for cross-country skiing in winter. Or, try downhill skiing at Skyline Ski area, or nearby Boyne Mountain (see accompanying story).
Stop at the Grayling Fish Hatchery and walk the 1914-era raceways to see huge trout. Take home a bit of the town from Goodale’s Bakery, home of the best cinnamon bread you’ve ever tasted, and unique English muffin bread, shipped nationwide.
In nearby Roscommon, stop first at the Fifth Street Market (989-275-7300) which has the best wine selection in North Central Lower Michigan. Then choose from several canoe/kayak liveries in town for a float down the Au Sable’s South Branch. Or, don your fly fest and waders and head for this area’s other Nirvana of trout, the 4,500-acre Mason Wilderness Tract, about three miles north of town.
Given to the state by the widow of an auto company magnate, fishing access sites are tucked into the woods along a two-track road here (it’s best to go in with a GPS so you can find your way out again if you’re not with a local) that runs the length of the tract. Expect real wilderness stuff, including a roaming black bear or several, and some say even cougar.
Some of the best brook and brown trout fishing in the eastern U.S. isreaches its height here in June and early July with the “hex hatch,” the appearance of the giant Michigan mayfly, or Hexagenia limbata. These three-in-long mayflies are active at night, bringing out the biggest brown trout in the river to feed with wild abandon as the flies hatch out or blanket the river in a spinner fall.
Don’t let the river fool you by its placid looks on a sunny summer afternoon. The trout know the dinner bell rings evenings that time of year. Earlier in the season—which always starts the last Saturday of April—best action will be in the afternoon on Henrickson mayflies, caddis and stoneflies.
Fly shops in Grayling (oldausable.com), will have information on the progression of hatches.
While you’re waiting on the fish, the river is also a great kayak adventure. You’ll be maneuvering around “sweepers,” skeletons of cedar trees that swoop over the river and up. The Mason Tract hiking and cross-country ski trail also parallels the river for 12 miles. There’s rustic camping at the north end, at Canoe Harbor State Forest Campground.
Nearby, relax during the day at what are considered two of the best inland lake state parks in the state, on Higgins Lake. Families love the Higgins Lake South State Park (michigan.gov/dnr) especially, as it’s knee-deep nearly 700 sandy feet into the water, perfect for keeping an eye on the kids. Higgins Lake is so impressive, it was named the world's sixth most beautiful by National Geographic.

When You Go
Closest major Michigan airports to the Grayling-Roscommon area are in Saginaw, about 90 minutes south, and Traverse City, about 90 minutes northwest. Accommodations include Gates Au Sable Lodge along the river, the Ramada Inn in Grayling, as well as resorts on both Higgins Lake and nearby Houghton Lake.
Contact the Grayling Convention and Visitors bureau for more, at 800-937-8837, or www.grayling-mi.com, for Roscommon, www.hlrcc.com, and for Houghton Lake, www.visithoughtonlake.com. For camping, go to www.michigan.gov/dnr, then to the camping and recreation link. There are private campgrounds in the area as well. Contact the visitor bureaus for lists.