Fishing Articles

When a salmon river warms and drops, low and clear as air, the skein train pulls into the station. Big kings can be seen sulking abjectly in the deepest, slowest pools of the river. Petulant and lazy, they simply move aside, letting every presentation we try slide on past. They refuse crankbaits, flies, and plastics. They watch hair jigs dance overhead without moving. Indifferent kings will even turn their snouts up at 12- to 14-mm beads, which I was ready to anoint successors of bait as the most consistent producers of river kings a couple years back. But the title...

Each autumn, as the leaves begin to tint and turn, Chinook salmon—also known as kings because of their great size—leave Lake Michigan by the tens of thousands in search of natal rivers all along Michigan’s west coast. Within weeks the fish will spawn and die, but until then they provide some of the best fishing of the year for inland Great Lakes anglers. And adding to the fishing bonanza in those same streams are steelhead, lake-run rainbow trout known as “steelies” or silver bullets. Guiding anglers to both salmon and steelhead on Michigan’s Muskegon River is a longtime fishing guide...

Michigan’s steelhead streams are as diverse as America itself with one exception: They are all crowded in the spring. From March through May (and even into June during those years when spring arrives late) it’s almost like you have to take a number to get a good hole. During the rest of the steelhead season, which typically begins around the third week of October, the crowds are more subdued, but by no means absent. Catch a warming trend in winter—when the only other angling option is drilling holes in the ice—and you’ll have plenty of company on the better-known rivers....

On the West Coast, it’s called a “tyee.” In the Great Lakes, a 30-pound king salmon has no special designation, but it’s probably destined to hang on a wall somewhere. A 30-pounder might look small on the Kenai, but it’s a big salmon almost anywhere else. With some species, it’s possible to target the biggest specimens. Trophy bass, walleyes, and pike can be selected for with bigger baits, or targeted in bodies of water where genetics produce titans. But, with some species, it’s next to impossible to target only the biggest specimens with traditional techniques. Most people feel king salmon...

  A long time ago I attended school like everyone else. I must admit Math was not my best subject. Especially when all I could think about was getting back on the river and fishing. But through the years I’ve often said fishing is mathematics and it’s all about the angles—no matter what fish species you fish for or target. Fishing is just a series of math problems. Let’s discuss and point out a few math problems you calculate every time you’re out fishing. Depth The most important thing great fishermen pay attention to is the depth to fish your...