Hey guys, just thought I’d post up a quick little life update before I head out tonight with Jake for our trip to Alaska. (Not a bad shop bonus for a guy who’s been doing such a great job for us! 😎👍) Our manager Jake, my business partner John K and I will all be gone until the 17th and then we expect to be rather busy going into the early King season right after that…
On another shop note, we have filled the position for the shop help we were looking for and are happy to welcome Monte Fisher aboard Team BBT as a shop sales clerk who’s responsibilities include (but are not limited too) quality customer service, answering phone calls, providing fishing reports, knowledge of the area/river, operating the POS system (register), booking reservations and, most importantly, just being a good person that you’ll want to come back and visit! We are excited about this expansion to the team!!! 😎👍🎣👊
The river was holding a decent temp for a while now, but once again we are in a period of hot weather where the temperatures are reaching dangerous levels for catch and release trout fishing during a portion of the day. Please be mindful of that and check the gauges or take a temp yourself if you care about it. (We most certainly do, but it has become apparent that not everyone shares the same sentiment…)
It’s 68.7 degrees at Bowman’s as I type this portion of the report, (3pm right now, but I tend to do these in bits and pieces over the course of a day sometimes.) 67.8 in a steep climb at Mapleleaf and just 64.8 at M37. I expect that the temp will be fine at least down to the mouth of the Baldwin all day, but below that is worth checking.
Hopper fishing (Really any kind of terrestrials.) and “Mousing” (Any large waking fly at night.) have both been top of the list in recent technique, good on some days and tough on others… A bit of a dice roll really, but we’ve been trying to give them a bit more of a break this summer in general having had so much warm water.
The local lakes are always a good backup plan as is the big lake and the guys from our shop have been playing in both. We took John R’s good ole’ boat on a short tip out of Ludington on the 15th and missed the great action by one day on either side of that but also had quite a few on that just came unbuttoned. (Wasn’t on fire that day, but it also gave us some time to talk over a new plan we’ve kicked around for a few years… 🤔)
Finally, had some water that was cool enough to do an evening float with my longest running client Paul. (Spring of ’92 and at least once but usually many more every year since! 👊) Temps were fine and Paul is an excellent angler, but the catching was slow. Still a great way to spend a day enjoying the beauty of our resources and a great friendship!
Another option we have out there is a simple scenic trip and John K and I did one of those on the 25th with a great family. Grandfather, father, mother and two sons all enjoyed the Pere Marquette without a rod in the boat on a hot summer’s day! Good times guys. Thanks for putting it together Hayes and thanks for the new referrals!
We all had big news to share on the 27th when Kam and Monica finally tied the proverbial knot up in Alaska! Congratulations to the both of them and we are beyond happy to officially welcome Monica to the BBT family… We will see you both up there on Saturday and can’t wait to celebrate! 🎉🍾
We took John’s old trusty boat out again on the 29th, had a great time and finalized some plans for the future…
John Robinson and I started shopping in earnest after that and after looking at several different vessels that didn’t fit the bill we stumbled upon this one up in Manistee…
This will be a brand-new venture for John Robinson and myself. (Got tired of cancelling so many trout trips due warm river temps the past few years, a trend we hope doesn’t continue. 🙄) We got her rigged up and ready to fish yesterday while waiting on the title then managed to get that transferred, get it registered and have it insured before taking a short shakedown cruise last night. 👍
We’ll just be playing around with it a bit this fall before we get busy on the river and put it in storage. Plan is to buy some new gear to charter with over the winter, but we will be taking reservations for the 2026 season soon. Look for that update here on our website and on our socials.
The boat definitely has some good juju! We only fished for about an hour if that (And that was before the “magic hour” because I had to get back.) but we never even got all the rods out and went 3 for 5 in that short time with our man Jimmy putting the first fish in the net for us!
Wish us luck and steer ‘em our way once we get rolling if you can. John has extensive/life long experience out there fishing in tournaments and just for fun as well as the boating and I’ll be learning much of the ropes out there from him, but I do have extensive experience myself in running larger boats in big water. (Besides, now I get to put my Coast Guard Masters license back to work! 👍😎🎉)
There’s still some great Salmon and Steelhead dates left for this fall on the river as well and some motel opening for anyone interested! Stop in or give the shop a call to check on dates or make a reservation! (231) 745-3529 8am – 6pm daily.
That’s all the news I have for you right now. I’ll be sure to post a report about our Alaskan adventure upon return, and we will start posting weekly staggered reports between John K and I right after that on the fall river run progress and trout.
Cheers!
Steve
