I, Al Harper, joined Denny Garner, Alan Blair and Mike Dwyer for a trip to the Pere Marquette River in Michigan to pursue King Salmon moving inland from Lake Michigan to spawn. We were continuing a pattern that has worked well for previous FATC groups as well.
The river isn’t large but the salmon are and catching them requires angling skills different from those we’ve honed to land Missouri and Arkansas bows and browns.
But we each enjoyed success thanks to helpful tips from our hosts, Scott Hayes and his son Asher of “His Great Outdoors” ministry. FATC members who have fished small creeks and rivers where thick flora and fauna push in will have a good idea of the intimate nature of the Pere Marquette. Michigan has strict regulations about how much of the trees and vegetation can be cut back, even along riverbanks that are privately owned. This results in sections of the river that one member of our group described as being almost like a forested tunnel. Add in clusters of brilliant fall color that have started appearing up in the northland and it makes for a beautiful float.
The uppermost reaches of the river can only be navigated by kayakers and even the sections farther downstream that we floated offered scant room for maneuvering our drift boats.
The female salmon are “hens” and the males “bucks”. Many hens lose coloration on the lower parts of their body whipping out beds, or redds, in the rocky river bottoms. After this occurs they are called “whitetails”. We witnessed the vigorous spawning activity underway, sometimes from the elevated viewpoint of the driftboat. We targeted big bucks preoccupied with spawning. Using the technique of sight fishing, we worked hard to earn a strike because eating seemed more like a distraction from their more urgent reproductive efforts.
The heavily weighted egg flys we used had to drift very close to these fish which were at the end of their lifecycle and seemed to have lost a lot of interest in eating in favor of a solitary goal. The bites were subtle and getting a good hookset on a massive salmon took some practice. But once it was accomplished and the angler’s cry of “fish on!” was heard, it set in motion a frantic scramble to get downstream with an oversized net. Sometimes the net man watched helplessly as a powerful fish bulled its way upstream or careened across the river while anglers did their best to steer them in the right direction.
The tackle was heavy duty: 9 weight rods with oversized reels with drags set so taut that squeezing the line against the rod handle wasn’t necessary. The 24 lb. leaders
and strong fly lines allowed us to put some serious pressure on the strong, fast fish. The stiff rods held up well under some radical bending. Salmon in the 20 to 25 pound, 30” plus range that launch themselves out of the water is a dramatic sight and a real thrill for the angler.
The town of Baldwin where we stayed and from which we launched our boats for one of the days of fishing, is home to the manufacturing facility where Stealthcraft driftboats and other watercraft have been made for almost 30 years. A boat Scott piloted was made there. We saw other drift boats on trailers around town and the state maintained access points were choked with vehicles belonging to the many anglers hoping to land a big King, or perhaps a brown trout.
A little more than 70% of the 13,000 acres along the 66 miles of the Pere Marquette is privately owned while about 17% of the land is owned by the Federal Government and the rest by some clubs. One club bought a large block of the land back in 1925 and now has a waiting list for prospective members. But the river is all navigable and fishable. The “salmon run” up the river is a popular event in Michigan. It lasts from mid-August through October and many anglers line the banks. Catching salmon and steelhead in Lake Michigan from which they enter the river is popular as well and according to Scott that effort requires fish-finding electronics and different types of watercraft.
In addition to the fishing and fellowship, Scott, a full time minister led us in a three part inspirational faith based program that culminated with an evening around a nice campfire. It was a rustic but peaceful ending to a very satisfying excursion.
More info about the ministry can be viewed at hisgreatoutdoors.org
