I was lucky to be able to spend a few hours on this trip with two great guides in northern Michigan. It was really what made the trip worth while. Keep in mind, this trip wasn’t a fishing trip, but a vacation with my family where I was able to steal a few hours here and there to go fishing.
First, I went on a morning float on the Jordan River with Brian Kozminski of True North Trout. My first thought was how much I liked the boat we were using. Koz has an Adipose from Montana. The low sides made for easy access to the water and the stability while moving all around the boat was excellent.
This time of year is a good time to throw ant style dry flies, like the Amy’s Ant and Chernobyl. The fish had a thing for the Amy’s Ant on this particular day. It made me a believer in the pattern, because I had never used it before.
While on a more open stretch of river, Koz had a rod loaded with the new Sharkwave line by Scientific Angler, so he let me try it out. I liked the way it casted. I thought it felt smooth running through the guides and I felt I could shoot line easier.
Another product that Koz had in the boat was Frogs Fanny floatant. This is a powder based floatant and water would just bead up on this stuff. It was awesome! Check this video out to see what I mean.
Later in the week I met up with Alex Cerveniak of Northern Michigan Fly Fishing. I had my step-son with me this time and he is a novice fly fisherman, so I was just hoping Alex could put us on some fish, any fish. He did just that. To our delight, when we arrived at the river, fish were rising. Alex was great with my step-son. Since it was a narrow river, we needed to do a lot of roll casting, so Alex showed him how and he was catching fish soon after.
One of the exciting things for me was the chance to catch my first brook trout. I’ve caught many brown and rainbow trout, but have never caught a brookie. I was surprised to learn the main species in the stream Alex chose was none other than brook trout! I was anxious and a little shakey because I wanted to land one so badly. I missed several rises and bites because of this. (either that or I just suck, LOL) It wasn’t until I switched to one of Alex’s flies called the Otsego Ant that I finally caught my first brookie and it felt amazing. We fished into the darkness, taking turns and catching several more brookies.
Alex showed me a casting technique that I had never seen before. It is called the bow and arrow cast. It can be used in very tight quarters which makes it handy to learn. Plus, it’s just plain cool! Check out this video to see how it’s done.
