|
Welcome to RiverQuest Charters & Muskegon River Lodge
Greetings!
One of life's greatest joys and satisfactions is working with a team of guys who like and respect one another and enjoy great times on the water together. So it is with the RiverQuest guides: Steve, Dave, Don, Jay, and Tom. We all love fly fishing, of course, but sharing similar values about life and swapping information, techniques, promising trout holds, and lots of laughs enhance the quality of our service to you, our customers, and for us, enable our forays on the river to fairly fly by. The Muskegon River, its trout, and biomass teach us each day. Cracking the MO's coded secrets constitutes much of the allure and charm of our fly fishing, and when a new approach, technique, location, or fly prompts the MO to yield its bounty, it's "Tell the buds" time. We don't pretend to know even a smidgeon of the MO's secrets, but with the five of us passing on to one another what we learn each day, our time on the water with you is all the more enjoyable and productive. So, little wonder that we're totally excited, amped, geeked-whatever superlative works-for fly fishing the MO in June, that time when all the stars can align and trout rise to flies well cast and presented.
|
|
 Muskegon River Lodge
We are often asked by our guests "what cigar do you recommend?" Those of you who have been in our "cave," know, we have a lot of cigars from which to choose! Whether you're a fly fisherman waiting for a spinner fall on a quiet bend of the river or a guy just trying escape the bustle of everyday life while kicking back on our deck overlooking the river, the CAO La Trviata is quickly becoming a Lodge favorite. This is an easy cigar to enjoy. At first glance its size (6x52), seems like a big commitment, but rest-assured, this cigar will stay the course with little effort.
Need to get-away? Let us handle it all. For more information, please visit our website, send us an email, or simply call 616.293.0501. While you're on our site, stop by the Emergent Epicurean to see the latest culinary creations from Chef Heather or one of Steve's latest ramblings.
|
 RiverQuest Charters
This year, May featured extraordinary fly fishing for brown and rainbow trout on Michigan's Muskegon River. RiverQuest Charters guides, working out of the Muskegon River Lodge in Newaygo, themselves are marveling at the goodly numbers of carryover trout in the 15-20 inch plus class. The Muskegon is an excellent trout fishery, but what's occurring this year is special. Whether the cold water draw above Croton Dam, the mild winter, or other variables are responsible, who knows? This, RiverQuest guides do know; the river is fishing wonderfully, presaging a promising June and early July trout fishery as gray drake, Isonychia, sulpher, blue-winged olive, and caddis emergences rise to center stage. If you've yet to fly fish the MO-this western style river with its broad expanses, wooded bluffs, and clear flows-this is the year to accord it some serious thought. It's truly that good. Then, too, the July and August smallmouth bass fishery on the Muskegon is a great option--all on this national quality resource, close to home.
To join us on the river please call 616.293.0501or send us an email. Not able to make it out to the river but want to live through our daily blog and photos--visit our fishing report for the latest happenings.
|
Benthic Buzz by Jay Allen
June
As June arrives and water flows start to level out, look for some great new fishing opportunities. This is the month bug lovers covet on the Muskegon because trout will continue to increase their insect diet, making for some real "match the hatch" scenarios in some very clear water. Watching a big brown feeding on cinnamon caddis pupa so  | | floating cinnamon pupa #18 |
voraciously that you can tell if he's had an appendectomy is an awesome sight to behold. Caddis fishing will become more difficult this month because the fish have become very familiar with the cinnamons and their color (They are not cinnamon in color), size, and movement of the naturals. Keep in mind that careful observation (I'm speaking to myself as well) of a caddis feeder can be the difference between fooling a fish and playing the fool. Paramount rule: If a fish is feeding aggressively on/near the surface and you don't see any bugs, they are eating pupa. Remember that caddis can be very active emergers so a dead-drift twitch can often fool a movement selective fish. Of other importance should be mayflies such as Isonychia, gray  | | Isonychia Dun* |
drakes, and light cahills. Look for Iso's primarily from Thornapple boat launch down to below Newaygo and the others as possibilities on most stretches of the river. Keep in mind that you don't need to see a large number of Iso's to get big trout on the feed. Another thing to be looking for are sucker fry which can produce some great fishing at times. Any area that you might have seen large numbers of suckers spawning at in May are likely candidates for dead-drifting and/or swing small fry patterns. Sucker fry patterns should be tied small(#14-#16) as the fry first emerge from gravel and have a gold eye which is very prominent in the natural. Nymph fishing in general should pick up as well for larger fish this  | | sucker fry #16 |
month. Muskegon River scuds(#16-#18), sow bugs(#14-#18), caddis larvae(#12-#18), and pheasant tail nymphs(#16-#20) are good choices when working a riffle or pocket-water section. Fishing scuds during low-light (morning is usually best) periods should become excellent. As the aquatic grass thickens, larger trout will feed in increasingly shallower water. This is due to their feeling less wary because of the newly provided cover and the high food production (i.e., scuds) found within them. If you've never tried fishing the bio-drift, you need to. It can be some of the best subsurface action you'll get. Make sure to get out and enjoy the Muskegon in June. This year should be a special one. Jay Allen, guide |
 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. |
|
|
|
 |
Book Review by
Glen Blackwood
Enjoy Fishing Enjoy Living As in life, the basis of angling is faith. Wow, coming from me that may sound deep, or you may be thinking Glen's about to get on his soap box again. Bear with me as I try not to. Faith is a much bantered about word. Mainly we think of faith in regards to Sunday mornings, but in truth we need faith every day, especially those tough days on the water. My grandfather once royally set off my grandmother by taking me fishing on a small freestone, brook trout stream in central Pennsylvania. The day was a Sunday morning in June. Bugs were hatching, and we were bypassing the weekly service. When she asked, "Why are you going fishing and not to church?" He softly told her, "I have always been closer to God on a trout stream than on a hard wooden pew." Away we went to Wallace Run. I just returned from my boyhood haunts in central PA and visited his old deer camp, Wallace Run, and his grave on Memorial Day. While I was there, I fished with my father. My father has been ill, and his angling the last two years limited at best. He has developed a lung ailment that has taken his wind and with that goes your stamina. So we fished in 30 to 40 minute sessions and then sat and talked until he could give the river another try. He landed a Brook Trout, a wild healthy fish that you couldn't call 11 inches but sure looked it because of its girth. When he held it, joy welled in his eyes, and he mumbled that, "Faith is what allowed this." He landed a Brown Trout the next day on Spring Creek with the same results. On the ride home when I queried him on his comments, he told me he had faith not only in the heavens, but in his doctor. He also had faith in himself that he could still wade and cast after months of being homebound. He laughed and said he even had faith that I had tied a good knot after all the bad ones he had seen me tie over my formative years. Faith on multiple levels allowed him to spend much needed time on the stream. Dad ran out of steam in the late afternoons, and we spent the evening sitting in a room we call the library, reading. One evening, while it was gently raining, I pulled out Maury DeYoung's newest book, Enjoy Fishing! Enjoy Living! Maury, a pastor as well as an ardent outdoorsman, founded Sportspersons Ministries International. This faith-based ministry focuses on outdoor activities mainly angling and hunting in their work across the United States. This book, although small in format-only 122 four color pages-is large in message. The chapters are only a couple of pages in length but seem longer as you contemplate Maurie's thoughts. This is not a fly fishing book but a look at fishing along with a faith- based message. Chapters titled, "Boat Launch," "Minnow Bucket," "Tilt and Trim," and "Quicksand" each give the reader a angling story with a life lesson. This paper back volume retails for $15.00 and the four color photographs are of the quality of a much more expensive volume. The biblical verses the author has chosen to accompany each chapter fit the tone of each, no fire or brimstone, only poignant scripture. As the gentle rain turned into a torrential downpour, I began to ponder the next days fishing. The creeks would be high and dirty. Moving too fast for my father to wade, where could I take him on our last day. I asked him, "What do you think" He replied" Have faith, we'll find some clean water up on the mountain" I turned the page of Maury's book and the next chapter was "Light Mist" I could only chuckle. ENJOY FISHING! Enjoy Living! Should be a mantra or way of life not just a book title. Take some time and read Maury Deyoung's newest work. Whether you read before a fishing trip or after one, while the sky is open like a faucet you will enjoy the words, pictures and message. In this I have faith. Glen Blackwood To purchase this book or any of our previously reviewed literature, please call Glen at 616.866.6060 or simply email him.
|
Fly Box
by Micheal Schmidt
Foam Drake
Hook:Daiichi 2487
Tail: Moose with marker
Body:Closed cell foam with marker
Post:Calf tail
Hackle:Grizzly
Spent wings:ZLon
It is the time of year that fishing the hatch means coming home well after dark...or even as the sun us starting to come up. Drakes and Hex are on the menu. This is a pattern that is made easier by using the detached body pin system from J:son & Co to create a batch of tails, and then assemble the rest of the fly. The best part about this pattern, aside from the fishiness, is that since it is primarily foam it is nearly impossible to sink. Tie it up, tie on on, and fish until you drop!
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.
|
Support Our
Regional Fly Shop
Affiliates  | | Chicago, Illinois |
 | | Indianapolis, Indiana |
 | | Rockford, Michigan |
 | | Columbus, Ohio |
 | | Dayton, Ohio |
|
|
