MIBowhunter
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Drift fishing for river-run salmon
By Kevin Long
Larry Raney is a river bum. That’s not a put-down, quite the contrary. It’s a compliment from one fishing nut to another. Larry spends 300 to 325 days a year on the river, mostly on the Big Manistee. When he told me this, his wife was shaking her head in the background in the standard way. Most guys get the head shake for fishing twice a week. She has to dig his angling prowess to put up with that many days. There are few like her, and fewer like him.
Larry is the head guide at Schmidt Outfitters, a catch-and-release outfit out of Wellston. Larry’s favorite way to catch fall salmon is the “down-and-across swing,” which he enjoys purely for the challenge. But for something that might help more inexperienced fishermen, including yours truly, I asked Larry about the easiest approach to catching fall salmon in rivers.
“The most productive way to catch a salmon in any river in northern Michigan is drift fishing,” Larry said.
Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of this technique.
The tackle needed to play with fall salmon revolves around a 9 1/2-foot, 9- or 10-weight fly rod.
“Use a large arbored reel (bigger spool), a running line (non-tapered fly line) and a 15-foot leader with 4 to 6 feet of tippet and a little lead,” Larry says. He says he uses very little lead, maybe a small split shot or two placed above the fly to barely tick the bottom.
“When you chunk the bottom, you can’t tell what a fish is. Using very little weight will also help prevent you from foul-hooking fish,” he explains.
Larry uses 8- to 10-pound test line. “You are not going to stop a fish with 6-pound test,” he says. With 10- to 20-minute battles, and a river strewn with logs and other snags, this is sound advice.
The main flies fished for fall salmon are caddis patterns, eggs, and stone flies. For fresh fish — those recently arrived silver psychopaths — Larry suggests a baitfish-type pattern.
“Once there are spawning fish close to you, and there are some eggs floating around, it’s good to fish an egg pattern,” he says. In deep pools, he suggests black or purple patterns, and says a black stone fly can be deadly.
The method in drift fishing is pretty simple. Cast across the current at a 90-degree angle and follow your bait all the way downstream, ticking bottom along the way, to the end of the swing.
The “swing” is an important part of the presentation. This happens when your bait is ticking along in the current at the same angle downstream as your line. Just before you’re out of rope, the bait makes a sharp turn until it’s directly downstream from you.
“A lot of times the fish is actually following the fly. The change of angle at the end of the swing will often provoke a strike,” Larry says.
He prefers to wade because it puts him at the same level as the fish, but he says, “At the beginning of each day I will ask my clients what they want out of the day. Wading, using a boat, drift fishing or using another technique are all options.”
Fall location for salmon is pretty basic.
“I don’t concentrate on salmon around gravel. Once they start to spawn, I leave them alone,” he says.
This approach is the opposite of most people, because fish around gravel are easier to see, but also easier to foul-hook.
“I concentrate my fishing in pools that are staging areas for salmon or have fresh migrating fish,” Larry explains.
Salmon are in the rivers now. Take a day off work and enjoy the thrill of drift fishing for a river-run Great Lakes bruiser.
Contact Larry Raney at Schmidt Outfitters, (231) 848-4191 or riverbum@kaltelnet.net.
By Kevin Long
Larry Raney is a river bum. That’s not a put-down, quite the contrary. It’s a compliment from one fishing nut to another. Larry spends 300 to 325 days a year on the river, mostly on the Big Manistee. When he told me this, his wife was shaking her head in the background in the standard way. Most guys get the head shake for fishing twice a week. She has to dig his angling prowess to put up with that many days. There are few like her, and fewer like him.
Larry is the head guide at Schmidt Outfitters, a catch-and-release outfit out of Wellston. Larry’s favorite way to catch fall salmon is the “down-and-across swing,” which he enjoys purely for the challenge. But for something that might help more inexperienced fishermen, including yours truly, I asked Larry about the easiest approach to catching fall salmon in rivers.
“The most productive way to catch a salmon in any river in northern Michigan is drift fishing,” Larry said.
Let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of this technique.
The tackle needed to play with fall salmon revolves around a 9 1/2-foot, 9- or 10-weight fly rod.
“Use a large arbored reel (bigger spool), a running line (non-tapered fly line) and a 15-foot leader with 4 to 6 feet of tippet and a little lead,” Larry says. He says he uses very little lead, maybe a small split shot or two placed above the fly to barely tick the bottom.
“When you chunk the bottom, you can’t tell what a fish is. Using very little weight will also help prevent you from foul-hooking fish,” he explains.
Larry uses 8- to 10-pound test line. “You are not going to stop a fish with 6-pound test,” he says. With 10- to 20-minute battles, and a river strewn with logs and other snags, this is sound advice.
The main flies fished for fall salmon are caddis patterns, eggs, and stone flies. For fresh fish — those recently arrived silver psychopaths — Larry suggests a baitfish-type pattern.
“Once there are spawning fish close to you, and there are some eggs floating around, it’s good to fish an egg pattern,” he says. In deep pools, he suggests black or purple patterns, and says a black stone fly can be deadly.
The method in drift fishing is pretty simple. Cast across the current at a 90-degree angle and follow your bait all the way downstream, ticking bottom along the way, to the end of the swing.
The “swing” is an important part of the presentation. This happens when your bait is ticking along in the current at the same angle downstream as your line. Just before you’re out of rope, the bait makes a sharp turn until it’s directly downstream from you.
“A lot of times the fish is actually following the fly. The change of angle at the end of the swing will often provoke a strike,” Larry says.
He prefers to wade because it puts him at the same level as the fish, but he says, “At the beginning of each day I will ask my clients what they want out of the day. Wading, using a boat, drift fishing or using another technique are all options.”
Fall location for salmon is pretty basic.
“I don’t concentrate on salmon around gravel. Once they start to spawn, I leave them alone,” he says.
This approach is the opposite of most people, because fish around gravel are easier to see, but also easier to foul-hook.
“I concentrate my fishing in pools that are staging areas for salmon or have fresh migrating fish,” Larry explains.
Salmon are in the rivers now. Take a day off work and enjoy the thrill of drift fishing for a river-run Great Lakes bruiser.
Contact Larry Raney at Schmidt Outfitters, (231) 848-4191 or riverbum@kaltelnet.net.
