Michigan

Overview

Michigan occupies a foundational place in American fly fishing history, with the Au Sable River near Grayling serving as the cradle of organized trout fishing in the Midwest and the birthplace of innovations that shaped the sport nationwide. The state's northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula together contain over 11,000 miles of classified trout streams, more than any state east of the Mississippi, flowing through northern hardwood forests, cedar swamps, and sandy glacial plains that produce cold, clear water ideally suited to wild brook, brown, and rainbow trout. The tradition of evening hex hatches on the Au Sable, fishing from flat-bottomed Au Sable river boats by lantern light, remains one of the most iconic experiences in American fly fishing.

The Au Sable River system, including the mainstream, North Branch, and South Branch, offers a variety of trout fishing experiences from technical spring-fed stretches holding selective brown trout to wider, faster runs where brook trout and rainbows mix in pocket water beneath overhanging cedars. The Pere Marquette River in the western Lower Peninsula is equally celebrated, renowned for its runs of steelhead, salmon, and its healthy populations of resident brown trout. The Manistee, Pine, Boardman, and Jordan rivers round out a collection of northern Michigan trout streams that would be the envy of any state.

Michigan's connection to the Great Lakes adds an entirely different dimension to its fly fishing portfolio. Tributary rivers draining into Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior receive seasonal runs of steelhead, chinook and coho salmon, and lake-run brown trout that provide outstanding fly fishing opportunities from September through April. The steelhead fishing on rivers like the Pere Marquette, Muskegon, and various Upper Peninsula streams attracts anglers from across the Midwest who swing flies and drift nymphs for chrome-bright fish that can exceed fifteen pounds.

The Upper Peninsula is Michigan's wild frontier, with hundreds of small brook trout streams winding through boreal forest and beaver-pond country that evoke a simpler era in American trout fishing. Rivers like the Fox, Two Hearted, and Driggs offer backcountry brook trout fishing of exceptional quality, with native fish rising to attractor dries in water that sees minimal angling pressure. The Michigan season runs year-round on many waters, with peak trout fishing from May through September and steelhead fishing best from October through April. The hex hatch on the Au Sable, typically occurring in late June, is the state's signature angling event.