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Welcome to RiverQuest Charters and Muskegon River Lodge
Greetings!
What a steelhead season we have enjoyed! Starting last mid-October and running through the end of April, the Muskegon River blessed us with national quality fly fishing for steelhead in memorable proportions. Taking limelight now, though, are our resident trout, smaller than steelhead, to be sure, but no less satisfying to pursue. If you are new to fly fishing or have limited your fly fishing endeavors to steelhead or Pacific salmon, we invite you to grow your fly fishing skills and enjoyment by wading into the world of trout. You'll learn by doing how to read the river, match the hatch, and manage your cast and line. Tackle is nearly feather light, and you'll present your fly to the trout with classic "River Runs Through It" false casting and delivery. Toss in late spring/early summer temperatures and sunshine, and you have the makings of a most pleasant day and evening on the river. Your RiverQuest guide will provide you with premium-grade tackle, put you on the trout, teach you and your guest what you need to know to experience success, and give you a great time-all the while you're gaining new knowledge, skill, and appreciation for our sport, river, and the out-of-doors. Eight to nine hours of instruction and coaching, with a grilled streamside meal to grace your experience all the more-it's May and June fly fishing for trout.
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 Muskegon River Lodge
The kitchen at the Lodge continues to roll out some absolutely irresistible creations. Under the direction of Heather Allen, our kitchen has been exceeding customers' expectations and sending them home needing some time in the gym. Sure, we still let you have your way in the kitchen if you prefer, but really, you owe it to yourself to sit back and relax and let us  take care of everything. To keep things simple, Heather has taken your favorites and created a new abbreviated gourmet menu (1 & 2) that's sure to leave you asking, "Why haven't we done this before?"
To find out more  information about the Muskegon River Lodge, please visit our website. While you are there, swing by the Emergent Epicurean and see whats been going on in Heather's kitchen or with one of Steve's random ramblings. You can also reach us by email or by calling 616.293.0501.
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 RiverQuest Charters
The fast-paced steelhead season is now behind us. Resident rainbow and brown trout now take center stage. Trout fishing the Muskegon River during the month of May offers some of our best opportunities at trophy-sized river trout. Although once-in-a-lifetime trout such as the Muskegon River prize taken earlier this year and pictured above certainly isn't the norm, May and June enable anglers to connect with extraordinarily large brown and rainbow trout. Magnum-sized streamers on heavy tips beat along cover is the approach best suited for these special fish. Of course,spring is the season, too, for dependable mayfly and caddis hatches. Caddis, followed by sulphers and drakes, provide the daytime and evening angler quality dry fly fishing. With trout not yet educated, these first days of dry fly fishing can be pretty special.
Don't forget as well the "sucker hatch." Spawning suckers, the last fish to spawn in the spring, excite big browns and rainbows. Coursing back and forth below the spawning suckers and feeding actively throughout the day on their roe washed from the redds, the trout often are visible to the fly fisherman. Sight fishing trout, some of which exceed 20 inches, with a four weight rod is a flat-out trip! We often need to pull anchor or get in the boat while wading to chase the fish down river. No way 5x or 6x tippet with #16 or smaller flies will bring some of these fish to hand without pursuit. Never been on the river in the month of May and June? You're missing some extraordinary fly fishing. Grow your skills and make some memories by chasing resident trout with us this spring.
To join us on the river, drop us an email or simply call 616.293.0501. To see whats happening please visit our reports page or check us out on FaceBook.
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| Benthic Buzz by Jay Allen
May
May is a month long awaited by many anglers. During this month, those who relish trout fishing anticipate the first consistent bug activity of the year. While we have had some good days fishing dries during stonefly egg laying, it won't compare to the number of fish that will start taking notice of "bugs" this month. Caddisflies are one of the major players that will take the stage in May, and the trout of the Muskegon River will begin utilizing this amazing protein resource as steelhead eggs are no longer available.
The hyropsyche caddis of the Muskegon will be very important to know and imitate. The common name for the most prolific hydropsyche caddis on the river is the cinnamon caddis. The first, and of great importance, stage an angler will need to imitate is the larval stage. Since the cinnamon caddis is so prolific, trout tend to spend a lot of time feeding on them, and they spend much of the time eating the larvae. Hyropsyche larvae are net builders but also periodically drift for purposes of redistribution and benthic food utilization. What this adds up to for the fly-fisherman is that trout eat a bunch of them, especially in a river that is brimming over with them such as the MO. With that in mind, the complete angler should come prepared to fish larval imitations during the morning hours and well into the afternoon.
The second stage of the cinnamon caddis is the pupae stage. Emergence usually starts mid-to-late afternoon. This is one of the most challenging stages to imitate because fish can become most selective when feeding on them because they must be imitated by pattern and movement as well. Observing how a trout is feeding on pupae can be the key to catching a particular fish. Splashy, aggressive rises usually require movement of your pupal  imitation (such as a Leisenring lift or slight modification). Slower steady bulges near the surface indicate fish keying in on pupae that are stuck in the film or struggling to emerge. The largest trout will often feed this way, and fishing a pupae pattern that sits below the water's surface is critical.
The final stage (really two, but I'll lump them together) is the adult stage. Imitating freshly emerged, egg layers and spent (dead) caddis can be covered by two basic patterns. The cut-wing caddis is perfect for imitating the newly emerged and returning egg layers because of its excellent wing silhouette. A quad wing style spent caddis is the other pattern you will want to have along. As you fish through the emergence, one of the challenges you will face is when to switch from one stage to the next. Always keep an eye on the surface of the water for clues as to when the trout may have switched from adults to spent adults.
Make sure to spend a few days on the river this May enjoying this most amazing hatch. If you need any advice or instruction, drop us a line or better yet, book a trip.
Jay Allen, Guide
To purchase any of these flies or to see any of Jay's other works, please visit his online store.
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 Presents: Fly Design--From the Classroom to the River
A two-day course spent on the river and at the tying vise, taking a deeper look at entomology, and how to translate what you are seeing into REALISTIC PATTERNS THAT CATCH FISH!
 | | Jay Allen, RiverQuest guide and Allen Brothers master fly tying instructor |
June 9-10, 2012
Location:
Muskegon River Lodge
Do you want to take your fly tying and fly fishing to the next level? Allen Brothers believes that what separates those who "fish" and those who "catch" is being able to read the water and respond with the right flies and techniques so the fish are presented what they want. In this two-day intermediate course, you will learn entomology basics and river reading techniques, so you will be able to properly seine a river for insects and predict what types of feeding activity fish will be keyed in on.
Then, you will take those skills to the classroom where tying techniques will be taught so you can accurately interpret and imitate those insects.
The culmination will be taking the patterns you have tied back to the river so you can test them out, which will include instruction on presentation. With an instructor/student ratio of 4:1 and a maximum class size of 8, you are guaranteed to get highly personalized attention and service.
The class will be held at the Muskegon River Lodge, an absolutely ideal location with its 400' feet of river frontage, large instructional seminar and fly tying room, recreational lounge, deck overlooking the river, and Mother Nature's beauty all around. We're excited about this our first year of offering the class at the Lodge, and we believe the class could fill quickly, so contact Jay as soon as possible to learn more.
For more information please visit the Allen Brothers website or drop Jay an email.
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Muskegon River Lodge Spey Casting School  September 6-9, 2012
RiverQuest Charters and the Muskegon River Lodge are pleased to offer a three day Spey casting school. Designed for fly fishermen who desire to learn to Spey cast from top Spey casting instructors and then imbed the skills they've learned so that at the close of the class, the fishermen are river ready, the Muskegon River Lodge Spey Casting School is a unique learning experience. With two instructors, one of whom is a nationally recognized Spey casting teacher and the other a professional fly fishing guide who teaches Spey casting on the Muskegon River and with a limit of six (6) students, the school seeks to give enrollees a level of Spey casting expertise beyond that produced in day schools. Spey casting is challenging, but with three days of instruction, coaching, and on stream practice, students will finish the class competent and comfortable with the Spey rod - just in time for the fall steelhead run on the Muskegon. For more information visit our school web page, call 616.293.0501 or simply send us an email. |
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Book Review by Glen Blackwood
In the sport of fly fishing, nothing is more important, but paid less attention, than the cast. We focus on rods and reels, flies, tippet type and diameter. We look toward equipment to help us land more fish. That said, but without a proper cast, all other points are moot. I describe fly fishing as a PhD level calculus equation with more variables than Carter has liver pills. The one variable that I know for certain, though, is that your best chance to hook a good fish- or any fish for that matter-is on your first cast. I believe all the RiverQuest Guides would agree. For example, you are on the Muskegon, and a nice trout is feeding on Gray Drakes. Steve has the boat settled 35 feet upstream and slightly outside the fishing feeding lane. Your cast has to land above the trout five feet or so above the rise form and drift into trout's line of sight. That is all you have to do, right? Easy, nothing to it.... But, wait: the wind is picking up; trout fever strikes; the boat is rocking, and your cast is too long or short; too high or low; you get drag; and you try again. Hopefully, the fish is still rising. In woodworking, it is smart to measure twice or three times and cut once, but in fly fishing, we need to make an accurate cast to maximize every opportunity that arises. I am not suggesting that you won't eventually hook or land a fish after the first cast; we all have. What I am saying is it is becomes more difficult to elicit a take with every errant presentation we make. In my mind, a proper fly cast is a thing of beauty, like a model on the red carpet. The lines are firm with a taunt curve or loop. Poor casts remind me of WWE wrestlers at an "All You Can Eat" lunch buffet-sloppy and wide. How do we move all of our casts toward the starlet side of the analogy? The answer is three-fold. First is understanding how the fly cast works. Second is instruction. The third is practice. All three of the essentials are answered in Joan Wulff's latest book, New FLY-Casting Techniques. Joan Wulff is the matriarch of American Fly Fishing. She and her late husband Lee have done more in the realm of fly fishing and casting instruction than any team in history. Joan's resume as a tournament caster speaks for itself with her winning one international and seventeen national casting championships in sixteen years. It is with the fundamentals that enabled her tournament success that she has created her newest casting title. Published by the Lyons Press in soft cover and illustrated by David Shepard, the book details casting in 32 concise chapters. Joan discusses both single and two handed casts as well as topics that are based on water issues, not just theory. Chapters 17, 18, and 19 are three of the best. In these three chapters, she discusses: "Pick up and Presentations," "Getting out of Trouble," and "Wind"- all issues we deal with every time we go to the stream. Chapter 29, "Casting with a Handicap," looks at how to cast properly with hand, arm, and shoulder ailments as well as leg and wading issues. This is a topic that I found extremely helpful since my father is 76 and is now wading on a replacement knee. The author has included a helpful glossary of casting terms, and the line drawings are clean and well done. This title that retails for $24.95 is value. Armed with this book and a little practice, your casting will improve; your first cast will be the best; and the fish will have one less reason not to eat your fly. Enjoy the bugs of May and the fish that feed upon them! Glen Blackwood To purchase this book from Glen or any other previously reviewed books please give him a call at 616.866.6060 or simply send him an email. |
Fly Box
by Micheal Schmidt
CDC Softie
Hook: TMC200R
Body1: Vinyl Rib
Body2: CDC
Body3: bead
Body4: UV Ice Dub
Body5: Hungarian Partridge
It is the time of year that mayflies are emerging from the stream bottoms and becoming food for trout laying in wait. Targeting fish that are on duns and spinners is fantastic, but you can have quite a day on the water before that by fishing subsurface. This CDC Softie can be tied in the appropriate color and size to match the hatching mayflies. Fish it at a dead drift down stream then allow it to swing out at the end of the drift and hang on...fish love to hit it as it begins its upward swing. As an added bonus, in a pinch, it can be dressed with floatant and skittered across the surface as a caddis.
To purchase this fly or see all of Mike's flies, please visit his website. If you are a blog follower you might also enjoy his news-feed publications.
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RiverQuest in Print
Last year, Steve and I were commissioned by Eastern Fly Fishing Magazine to write an article about our Grand Traverse Bay carp fishery. That's right; carp on a fly rod. Wary and spooky to the max, carp are among the most challenging fish we chase with the long rod. We were honored by the request and are happy with the result, which is in the spring issue of the Midwest Edition, available in most sport shops. Current issue and subscription information may be found at: Eastern Fly FIshing Magazine. Steve and I had a great time putting the article together and hope some of you, our Fishing Report readers, get a chance to check it out. 
RiverQuest Guide: Tom Kuieck |
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