a beautiful afternoon and a beautiful fish

this gator surprised us all, what a fight!

nice fish for Theresa

DRAKE BROWN!

Bob is wondering if her's is bigger

Well, the Muskegon never ceases to surprise.   Marginal trout fishery????  Not so sure about that.  Today was a lot of fun and full of good memories.  To hit good fish in the afternoon and throughout the day followed up by some nice fish on dries in the evening....hard to beat!  Thanks Bob and Theresa for the great day, you made guiding easier.

Jay Allen, guide

Drakes - 5/22,23/12

beauty and anticipation mosaic

wanted to squeeze this one like the horn on my banana seat bike

double your pleasure; two fish on calls for creative netting

sip...explode

drakes dropped early and Heather came w/ her game

trying to keep up w/ Heather

The past few nights have been great as drake activity seems to have become a bit more predictable...we hope.  Nothing like a gray drake spinner fall to let you know how many big fish live in a run.  If the fish we've seen the past few weeks are an indicator of how the season will play out, we are in for some great trout fishing!

Jay Allen, guide

Muskegon River Trout - 5/21/12

George w/ a gorgeous brown

this hard-fighting, healthy rainbow was no match for Charlie

Pat fooled this awesome brown

     Spent a great day on the water fishing with George, Charlie, and Pat.  Weather was outstanding and the fish were pretty cooperative.  We targeted hold-overs which meant fishing near sucker pods to big trout looking for eggs du jour.  George told me to put his number on speed dial and to call him once the suckers were on the march.  The suckers came in, the call was made, big fish were caught.  What a unique fishing opportunity we have on the MO and just one of many.  Looks like the sucker spawn is on the way out so we may be in the last week of it.  None to worry, great dry-fly fishing is on the wing.  Thanks guys for a great day!

Jay Allen, professional knot de-tangler

Muskegon River Trout - 5/16/12

not bad for one of Ron's first nice fish!

John kneading a nice bow

John + fly + water = fish on!

hold-over apparition

   If big browns, organic french roast coffee,  and sunshine finished with a piece of blackberry cheesecake sounds good, today might have been for you.  The fish showing up on the MO this season make you wonder how good it could get.  Spent the afternoon with good friend John and new friend Ron poking at as many trout as we could get to oblige.  Weather was fantastic, fish furious, and company a pleasure(even factoring in the A++ knot).  Thanks guys for the great day.

Jay Allen, guide

Muskegon River Trout - 5/15/12

with it's looks, this brown could have easily been caught out of a spring creek

Gavin doing what he does best

I believe this was anchor up material

this is how a rainbow is supposed to look!

...and with an oink he splashed his tail and swam away

    Today was a lot of fun.  Fishing several types of water with various techniques all of which produced nice trout.  Streamers, sucker eggs, and natural nymphs.  The only thing we were missing was a good emergence on the evening...but you can't always have it all. 

Jay Allen, guide

Caddis Emerging 5/13/12

 

   Dry-fly fishing on the MO has really picked up this week.  Cinnamon caddis started in a hurry and gray drakes are starting to swarm in the evenings which means some great fishing is about to take place.  Sulphurs and sulphur colored crane flies have also enticed some nice fish.  Based on some of the fish showing themselves the bubbler must have done a decent job carrying over trout last season!

Allen Brothers School of Fly-Fishing : Fly Design

Just something I wanted to get the word out on. Jeff and I are putting on a fly fishing school called:

FLY DESIGN: From Classroom to 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!

When: June 9 and 10, 2012

Where: Michigan’s legendary Muskegon River (near Grand Rapids) at the Muskegon River Lodge

You can get more details by clicking here.

We are very excited about it and sure that no one will leave without feeling more prepared to fish any water.  If you or someone you know is at a place in fly-fishing/tying  where the basics in tying have been mastered but are looking to take it to the next level … this is it.  


Nothing has helped me more over the years than getting out and learning from others what I am really looking for out in the river.   This is a chance to do just that and HANDS ON.  You can read all you want but it never really locks in until you know what you are looking for and do it.  


Fly-tyers have a distinct advantage to fly-fishing but only if you break away from the generic pattern guides and learn it for yourself.  We will be sampling, identifying, tying, and fishing patterns hot off the vise.  All of that accompanied with the knowledge of when, where, and how to fish them.   On top of that, staying at the MRL will definitely put you in the  right frame of mind.  Please forward this on to anyone else you know that might benefit from it.


Tight Lines,
Jay Allen

Muskegon River Trout - 5/2/12

Megan brought in this sweet brown

cast,mend,hook set,fight....Megan worked hard for this feisty rainbow!

Megan scored three fish on one cast(one fell off before the photo)

While today looked ominous, John and Megan decided to take their chances and go forward with the scheduled trip.  After dodging a few rain storms we were rewarded with a beautiful afternoon and some nice fish as well.  Fishing all subsurface flies was the ticket, fishing wets and caddis larva.  Megan's enthusiasm reminded me that it is never too early to start fly-fishing if you are into it.  Thanks for the great day guys!

Jay Allen, guide 

4/14/12 - Muskegon River Steelhead

Will with a fine fish

Another spring trip to the MO has put the Stewart boys a few notches up in the skill repertoire.  Fishing was good and the takes and fighting explosive.   Never a dull moment in the boat, fishing and otherwise....Found most of our fish in drop-back positions.  Fish were really putting on the feed bag for their trip back to the big lake.

Jay Allen, guide