Well… (Deep subject. 😏) Wish I had a better river report for you or even some recent trout pics to share, but unfortunately, I posted what I hadn’t in my last report and haven’t been out on the water again since.
More details and some science behind that later, but first, I want to take a minute to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for keeping the lights on here at BBT these past 29 years! That’s right, this 4th of July not only marks this great country’s 249th birthday, but it also marks our 29th having officially opened our doors to the public on Independence Day of 1996!
We’ve certainly had our share of ups and downs, but any way you slice it we’ve come a long way from that unfinished empty pole barn with the cement floor and a dirt lot that was constantly rutted out, muddy or dusty that my great friends Bob, JT and I bought back then. I had great partners in the beginning of this adventure and when John came into it on our 10th year to take their place in 2006, I got even luckier!
These days my wife Karen makes up more than the lion’s share of our combined contributions to the actual work involved in running the shop and motel, but I am ever so slowly working on that and a long-term transition plan back into more of it again as needed.
Water temperatures continue to be an issue for the better part of the day in most of the river’s corridor and we’ve made the tough decision to continue to not bother the trout during the only brief spells that they do have of relief until those spells become a little longer…
The “photos” below here are actually just non-functioning screen shots. They are only meant to show you what to look for, how to get there and how to use those pages or menus.
I actually had a guy on our Facebook page make the comment that we just don’t want unguided fisherman out there catching our fish and nothing could be further from the truth. John had a very full schedule of guide trips for these past 11 days as well as the next few and I had a nice lineup myself now that I’m starting to rebuild my trout clientele after so many Alaskan summers.
Between the two of us we’ve had to call off something like 14 or 15 trips now in total since Saturday the 21st having just cancelled 3 more and that hurts being a substantial part of our yearly income; Never mind all of the shop and motel business we’re missing out on by asking you to hold off to protect the fishery instead of coming here. We are actually thinking about the long-term and the next generations rather than a short-term bank account…
(In short, anyone who honestly thinks that we’re preaching all of this for some sort of selfish reason’s like that guy on our socials either really needs to have their head examined or just truly knows nothing about us at all. 🤷♂️)
Just to touch on “the science” for a minute, (Not that I’m any kind of scientist, but I do know how to research graphs and trends besides 33 years of guiding this river and seats on both the Pere Marquette Watershed Council as well as Pere Marquette Trout Unlimited boards.) contrary to some popular beliefs, hours of direct sunlight on the river plays just as big if not a bigger a role in water temperatures as air temps and water levels do. In other words, shade is the river’s best friend and the cold springs that feed it are its second.
The past few years you can see the spike right at or around the summer solstice (June 20 or 21) and then outside of a stray day or a few here and there it pretty much tapers off as the nights get longer and a little bit cooler… (I really hope and even “expect” that we will see our break soon. 🤞)
I’d like to tell you that this will all pass real soon, but I actually thought we were going to be OK for the evening hatch back on Friday and made the mistake of putting that out there falsely on social media then having to edit it so at this point all I can say is stay tuned to those links I’ve just explained to you as well as said social media pages and our web site. We will try to keep you up to speed…
If you do happen to be up in the area and want to take it easy on the trout don’t forget that we’ve got a whole bunch of lakes around here that fish pretty well also! Stop in and see the guys at the shop for more info on that or just grab your map and explore!
Till next time, be safe, be well, Happy 4th of July and thank you again from myself as well as everyone else involved with BBT past or present! We truly appreciate your support…
Steve
