Sunday, July 20, 2014

Rainbow Trout-East Branch, Ontonagon River (Houghton County, MI)

This quite remote, one mile stretch of the Ontonagon River (East Branch in Houghton County) produces consistent catches of beautiful Rainbow Trout, and to a lesser extent, Brook Trout. The mosquitoes have finally subsided enough to allow for mindful concentration on short and accurate placement of the fly or bait. This is a small, but fast stream with a lot of obstacles to casting, including tag alder, downed trees, and forest canopy that hugs the river. I am always amazed at how patient I can be with all of the snags and re-tying that goes into fishing in this habitat, when in other aspects of my life, patience is not a virtue. This is the time of the year to fill the freezer downstairs to get through the long seven months of winter. Eric and I will both take a deer with the crossbow in October, to add to the winter food supply.

1 comment:

twiensch said...

Some of those fish are baby steelhead that, if not killed would swim to lake Superior and come back weighing 3-10 lbs. Others are brook trout. That river used to be one of the rare rivers that produced "coaster brook trout" that swam to lake superior, got quite big, and returned. Because people eat them when they are little, that doesn't happen anymore. Please consider catch and release.