After a month + of bad weather, too much rain, swollen rivers… I finally got out Sunday morning for the first time since I moved back to MI.
The Gun River is a glorified creek which runs from W. side of Gun Lake (Shelbyville) to the Kalamazoo River, in Otsego.
To my surprise, it’s a designated trout stream.
Except, according to one of the owners of the boat and tackle store by my office, it’s a terribly mis-treated trout stream; being cleared of trees and such every spring for ease of use in irrigation, to the point where he used to catch his limit in no time, every time, and now he struggles to catch 1-2. Oh, and he hasn’t seen it so high in 20 years…
But hey, if you want to try it anyhow…
Hit it close to where it drains into the Kalamazoo, around 7:30 Sunday morning, armed with ultralight rod and reel, and ½ dozen spinners, sized 1/12th to 1/8th oz.
No shortage of trees and bends and holes in this stretch, at least.
I was very respectful of the “No trespassing, firearms in use!” sign on the opposite bank….
Was throwing a 0 size mepps (1/12 oz) in belt-deep water when I landed my first fish. My first trout since moving back to MI was an 11 inch…. Bass.
Soon after, lost that spinner to a submerged tree, and switched to a black spotted 1/8th oz panther martin, and worked my way back upstream, past my point of entry, under the bridge and another 10 yards upstream.
Where I really did catch my first trout. 7-8 inch brook trout. I was more excited about it than you'd think a 7-8 inch brook trout would warrant. It was my very first brook trout in MI... ever.
Followed soon after by something large enough to put a good bend on my ultralight, before spitting the hook after 30 seconds.
Followed soon after by a dink bass.
Not bad for 80 or so minutes of total time out of my car, probably an hour or so of actual bait-in-water fishing.
Certainly good enough for a return trip, as it’s less than 10 minutes from my house. Need to come up with some really small spinner alternatives, to get into the deeper holes with heavier cover in the swift current….
The Gun River is a glorified creek which runs from W. side of Gun Lake (Shelbyville) to the Kalamazoo River, in Otsego.
To my surprise, it’s a designated trout stream.
Except, according to one of the owners of the boat and tackle store by my office, it’s a terribly mis-treated trout stream; being cleared of trees and such every spring for ease of use in irrigation, to the point where he used to catch his limit in no time, every time, and now he struggles to catch 1-2. Oh, and he hasn’t seen it so high in 20 years…
But hey, if you want to try it anyhow…
Hit it close to where it drains into the Kalamazoo, around 7:30 Sunday morning, armed with ultralight rod and reel, and ½ dozen spinners, sized 1/12th to 1/8th oz.
No shortage of trees and bends and holes in this stretch, at least.
I was very respectful of the “No trespassing, firearms in use!” sign on the opposite bank….
Was throwing a 0 size mepps (1/12 oz) in belt-deep water when I landed my first fish. My first trout since moving back to MI was an 11 inch…. Bass.
Soon after, lost that spinner to a submerged tree, and switched to a black spotted 1/8th oz panther martin, and worked my way back upstream, past my point of entry, under the bridge and another 10 yards upstream.
Where I really did catch my first trout. 7-8 inch brook trout. I was more excited about it than you'd think a 7-8 inch brook trout would warrant. It was my very first brook trout in MI... ever.
Followed soon after by something large enough to put a good bend on my ultralight, before spitting the hook after 30 seconds.
Followed soon after by a dink bass.
Not bad for 80 or so minutes of total time out of my car, probably an hour or so of actual bait-in-water fishing.
Certainly good enough for a return trip, as it’s less than 10 minutes from my house. Need to come up with some really small spinner alternatives, to get into the deeper holes with heavier cover in the swift current….