Manistee River

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Phone# 231-206-4117


Autumn Splender on The Manistee River, Manistee Michigan



9/05/09
The salmon are going strong on the Manistee River now. The biggest problem is the crowds over the holiday weekend. Try casting Thunder Stix at the log jams. For those of you anglers that prefer the Fly, Stop at Schmidt Outfitters and oick up some Salmon Snakes and that will be all you need for some heart stopping action.


Manistee Michigan Salmon Fishing


John with his first Salmon ever on the Manistee River.

8/30/09
The fishing on the Manistee River is doing better everyday, today we took 5 Salmon on the Manistee River on a 4 hour trip. The water levels are great and the weather was awesome.

Well it's official, the 2009 Michigan Salmon Run is on. The fish are hitting the Manistee River now more and more every day. We will be fly fishing as well as doing Tunderstick trips. If you have never experienced the strike of a Michigan Salmon on a stick bait then you need to do this. It is with out a doubt one of the most aggresive strikes you will ever see or experience.
Our dates are already starting to fill so don't delay. Reserve your trip now for only $100.00 or rate is $350.00 for up to two anglers and this includes lunch and all the gear. Come join us on The Manistee River for some great action catching Michigan's Mighty King Salmon.


Michigan River Salmon on the fly





Manistee River _

The Manistee River, also known as the "Big" Manistee, is a Lake Michigan tributary harboring resident Browns and Rainbow Trout with World Class runs of Steelhead and Salmon. It is a medium sized trout stream in its upper reaches and a large dynamic steelhead and salmon fishery below Tippy Dam. When the Trout fishing slows in late fall, ,the early King Salmon enter the lower River in great numbers. Steelhead numbers also pick in October - November.
Originating a few miles to the east of Mancelona the Manistee flows south for approximately twelve miles while paralleling the famous Ausable River which is just a few miles to the east. The difference between the two rivers is that after paralleling each other the Ausable turns east and flows into Lake Huron while the Manistee turns southwest and flows into Lake Michigan. The Manistee flows for nearly a hundred miles from its headwaters to Lake Michigan.


The best Trout water is found above Tippy Dam as well as the first mile and a half below the Dam. Salmon/Steelhead water is below Tippy Dam off of Warfield Rd. The size of the fish can vary greatly. The overall consensus is that the farther downstream you venture the larger the fish (There are very large trout found in the mid to lower reaches below Tippy Dam.

The Manistee River in the U.S. state of Michigan, runs approximately 232 miles through the northern Lower Peninsula, through the villages of Sharon, Smithville, Mesick, and enters Lake Michigan at Manistee. It is considered, like the nearby Au Sable River, to be one of the best trout fisheries east of the Rockies. The river rises in the sand hills in southeastern Antrim County, on the border with Otsego County, about six miles southeast of the town of Alba. These deep glacial sands provide it with a remarkably stable flow of clean cold water year round, making it a popular river for fishing as well as canoeing. Over the course of its length, it drops in elevation from around 1300 feet to 582 feet, with an average stream gradient of about 2.9 feet per mile.

History

The river's name comes from the Ojibwa word Manistiqweita, meaning "Crooked River".^[1] Historically, the upper river was renowned for its outstanding grayling fishery, among the finest in the world, as catches in excess of 1000 fish per weekend outing were commonly reported up until the 1880s, when extensive logging in the area ruined the habitat. Logging in the area commenced in earnest between 1880 and 1910, with peak production occurring in the 1890s. The rivers relatively large size, stable flows, and dearth of cataracts or other difficult passages made it ideal for the transportation of lumber. During this period huge numbers of white pine logs, some as large as six feet in diameter, were floated down the river to the port at Manistee and eventually on to the lumber markets of Grand Rapids, Milwaukee and Chicago where the wood was used to build the cities and towns of the Midwestern United States. Some of these logs became trapped at various points on the river, and can be seen today along the river bottom, vestiges of a bygone era.