Lower to Walhalla

[dgawlak]

Spent the day (Sunday) with two great guys and not to shabby fisherman on Sunday, Alldone and Jimv. When we arrived at BBT the hardest thing is deciding-"Where to go"? After some coaxing we decided to take the big run, Lower to Walhalla. I was suprised, living a couple of hours south, how much snow is still around and even more surprised on the water level. It was pretty clear and a somewhat "normal" flow to it compared to everything to the south (Rabbit and Kzoo). I couldn't find my thermometer but based on standing in it for hours- I would guess it was around the mid thirties.

The first stop Alldone was Indy fishing and bagged a nice brown on his Indy rig and his favorite fly the chartreuse egg (sorry no pics). Nice way to start the day. The weather was perfect, we had a few light snow flurries in the morning but not bad enough to put on any hoods or coon skin hats. On our way to the next spot we saw a couple of steelhead moving up stream and we also noticed some pretty bright gravel. What we found out during the day and much to our surprise was the gravel was being worked by Coho. Pretty late in the season for them. The float started to remind me of a fall Salmon float but only with snow on the ground:eek: . There were quite a few of them around.

On the steelhead front I had the opportunity to watch Alldone work a run from a high bank. As he was working his Indy rig I watched him miss a nice steelhead. Later in the afternoon stoneflies were starting to show up on the banks and a few buzzing the surface. We were fishing above Barothy's and swinging a wooded run when one hit my sculpin and just exploded on it and then spit the hook. As far as angling pressure there really wasn't any. We saw one shore angler right at the start of the day, a group down by the Maple Leaf area, one by Barothy's, another Clacka drifter and a Hyde.

It was a fun day. On the way home Jimv received a text-picture message from his nephew. He was out casting in Lake Macatawa and landed a Lake run brown (we think) about 31 inches full of milk. I will try and post the pic of that fish. Wow what a weird spring-spawning browns and Cohos...:cool:

[coltblaze]

dgawlak thanks for the brief report I was 80% on going today now I am 100% thanks :D

Michael

[Troutbum64]

sweet, I'll be up there tomorrow to give it a try. Thanks for the report, was going either way, but now I'm more optimistic, plus the weather is looking up. Hopefully it will be overcast all day for the next few days.

[TCSTEELHEAD]

We floated that section on Friday, two nice browns to the boat and a coho. We did locate a section that was holding at least 30 coho:eek: but they were very tight lipped. Nice day to be out. Saturday we floated tippy to highbridge and got the old skunk. The bait guys did get a few, it was windy and cold.

[dgawlak]

Colt and Trout bum good luck and let us know how it goes.

Here is the pic of that Brown:

http://i681.photobucket.com/albums/vv179/dgawlak/Brown032011.jpg

[PDS]

...just finished spawning last weekend up at my place on the Little Manistee River; of course, it's now closed to fishing!
Surprised me, too. I am told, however, that it isn't that abnormal.

[titus]

thats a nice brown,,,,,man the boys on here are gonna fill their pants that u harvested that fish.......watch out

[dgawlak]

Jimv's nephew caught that fish and he said they released it, in a text message.

[footballguy]

Jimv's nephew caught that fish and he said they released it, in a text message.
hope it wasn't released after having those ham hands jamed into its gills.

[Fishbitch]

Nice brownie

[dgawlak]

hope it wasn't released after having those ham hands jamed into its gills.


I was worried when I saw that as well. :(

[titus]

and the street lights and shed are right on the stream, and he fishes without any fishing gear on, no waders, no coat, hell it was cold out, just admit he ate it or had it stuffed........

[jimv]

Fishing off a dock in a lake michigan harbor lake, with a daredevel and having a few brews with buddies, sorry .......cought a trophy, took a few pics and let it go.

I appreciate the release and find no reason to critcize, big daddy will be OK.

Nothin wrong with that in my mind, that's the kind of deal that makes fishing a passion,keeps us interested and brings us back to the water.

[fishrmac]

To each their own. Everyone pays for a license (or I hope so) and if people want to keep a fish so be it. They are hatched, they swim, they die. I keep 1 or 2 each year for the grill...my wife would beat me if I didn't bring some dinner home. So whether that brown was ate, stuffed, or tossed back, at any rate thats a sweet fish!

[JoeRx]

sweet fish for sure! I'd love to land one like that.

Joe

[Salmon Slayer]

When do the Coho spawn? I had always landed a few in October when chasing kings. I did not know that they spent the winter in the river.

[plaid shrew]

Thats a beauty of a brown...a wall mounter, in my opnion.

[dgawlak]

When do the Coho spawn? I had always landed a few in October when chasing kings. I did not know that they spent the winter in the river.

From the DNR website:

Although coho do spawn in Great Lakes tributaries, present fish stocks are maintained mainly by fish culture and stocking. There simply aren't enough streams available to produce all the fish the Great Lakes can handle. Coho spawing runs up tributary rivers occur from early September to early October. Females excavate a nest in a tributary stream's gravel bed. Both adult die soon after spawning. The next spring the eggs hatch and the young remain in the gravel for 2-3 weeks. When they emerge (March to July), some migrate downriver almost immediatly. Most, however, wait a year or longer before descending to the lake.Once in the lake, they stay near shore for a few months, then seek deeper waters.

Young coho eat greedily and grow rapidly. Most coho spend about 18 months in the lake, then return to their parent streams to spawn (at age three or four). As soon as they are large enough, young coho begin to eat smaller fish, mostly of other fish species. In the Great Lakes, larger coho feed on smelt and alewives. They compete primarily with steelhead for food. Coho are preyed upon by predatory fish and birds while they are small, and residual numbers of sea lampreys also take their toll of coho populations.

[A_S]

Although coho do spawn in Great Lakes tributaries, present fish stocks are maintained mainly by fish culture and stocking. There simply aren't enough streams available to produce all the fish the Great Lakes can handle. Coho spawing runs up tributary rivers occur from early September to early October. Females excavate a nest in a tributary stream's gravel bed. Both adult die soon after spawning. The next spring the eggs hatch and the young remain in the gravel for 2-3 weeks. When they emerge (March to July), some migrate downriver almost immediately. Most, however, wait a year or longer before descending to the lake.Once in the lake, they stay near shore for a few months, then seek deeper waters.



I agree on the Sept/Oct START, but the bulk hit the rivers in November and last into Jan/Feb, or in the case of this year, March. They also don't die off immediately, especially any spawning from December on. On the small stream I fish them, they mostly stay buried way up in the jams by day, and hit the redds/migrate at night or very early in the morning. This past run was a good one for numbers and size.