Got the pleasure of spending a couple days up in beautiful Marquette, MI this weekend.
Per usual while I was up there, I planned some time to get some trout fishing in - hard to say no when you're surrounded by some of the best trout water in the Midwest
I ended up staying right next to a little tiny creek called Silver Creek in Harvey, MI - just on the southeast edge of town. Its a tributary of the Chocolay river and its about as clear as anything you'd see coming out of a bottle or your faucet.
its so thick back there that you cant really cast, plus the creek was barely wider than my 7'9" fly rod in most spots so I was basically jigging for trout more than fly fishing. The prize of my morning came out from under the log in the pic above - feast your eyes on this beautiful brown!
not too shabby for "fly fishing" with only about 4' of leader out of the end eyelet on the rod ;D
a late morning fog rolled in off lake superior so I decided to take a break from the water to have some lunch.
afterward I wandered up to Presque Isle Park on the northern end of town by the upper ore docks. the bedrock foundations up there are like walking out on the moon!
went for my afternoon fish down to the Escanaba river downstream in the tailwater fishery of Booney Falls area.
the mayfly hatch was full on, and I don't think I've quite ever seen so many fish rising on a stretch of the river as I have there. Its an amazing stretch of water, unusual for the UP as its more like fishing the big water of the Pere Marquette, Muskegon, or other large rivers in NW lower Michigan.
its a unique fishery as its partly managed by the Escanaba river association which also grants public access to the river on the edge of their ground. The streambed is 100% bedrock, which was a new expierence for me, and they've done some dredging to help make the habitat better, as well as dropping in large boulders for underwater structure in the dredged areas to improve things even more. You can keep fish on this stretch of the river, but 14" minimum and only two per angler per day. I lost several more fish due to breakoff's - I had one that snapped my leader about as quick as he grabbed the fly it was so vicious! truly an exceptional trophy water fishery!
on top of the beautiful fish, I was graced with an absolutely postcard perfect sunset!
I don't know if these panoramic shots will show up well or not, but here goes nothing
this is the river at sunset - its almost straight as an arrow here, so the "bend" is an optical illusion of the sweep panoramic shot.
this is the point of Presque Isle park
I do truly love being able to wander around Gods Country up there. Its out of this world!