Brown Trout were first introduced into the Baldwin River in 1884. This historic stocking made Lake County the first in North America to receive the brown trout from Germany, forever making the Pere Marquette River one of the most sought after streams for fly anglers in the United States. The brown trout is one of the smartest and most difficult fish to get your hands on in Michigan. A brown trout taken on a fly is a great reward that does not come easy. These beautiful fish live in the river year round and are known to live in the same general area their entire life.​

​

January and February when the weather breaks brown trout can be taken on stripped streamers.

​

March and April winter begins to loosen it's grip and steelhead begin to spawn. Egging/Nymphing near spawning steelhead can lead to some of the most productive days of the entire year for brown trout fishing. In March we also begin to see salmon fry hatching, a stripped or dead drifted fry pattern works well.

​

May and June are my favorite months to fly fish in the state of Michigan. Stripping streamers, nymphing, dry flies, and skating mice after dark. There are many fun opportunities to catch brown trout this time of year. The famed hex hatch is typically the last 2 weeks of June, in which we will be casting large dry flies for rising trout all night long.

​

July and August the mouse fishing continues on the dark moon phases. If the moon is bright the mousing is usually a bit slower. If this is the case we'll throw dries and nymphs during the day (streamers if the water is conducive) with a bit of fishing after dark.

​

September and October trout can be found near spawning salmon and taken using egg flies. This time of year you can also find aggressive pre-spawn browns on the streamer. 

​

November and December I am usually targeting steelhead but these are great months to strip streamers for brown trout as well. Likely to catch a hungry post-spawn brown or find an angry fall steelhead willing to eat your streamer.

​