Pere Marquette Steelhead Fishing

Last Saturday I had the great opportunity to go up north and fish on the Pere Marquette with my dad and fishing guide David Roller of Pere Marquette Outfitters. We started the day off bright and early. We were floating down the river by 6:30 a.m. in below freezing temperatures. At about 8:15, at our first fishing stop, I had the first fish on board. A nice chrome female, my first steelhead ever. I was beyond excited after catching her. Shortly after my dad hooked into a very nice male. We made our rounds to a few fishing spots after that and hooked into some more fish but couldn't seem to land them. As we were making our way to where we were going to eat lunch we spotted a nice active bed of about 5 steelhead. David quickly started rowing backwards and decided to jump in and pull us back to try to make as little noise as possible. After all of the commotion the fish were still laying on the bed. My dad hooked into the first one and caught yet another nice male. I also took a male off this bed after my dad. I hooked into one more fish on this bed and it took us for a ride! I hooked into the female of the bed and she put up a hell of a fight. She took our boat 100 yards down the river until she snagged up on a stick underwater and broke off. It was the best fight I have ever experienced. Memorable for the rest of my life. All in all we hooked in to 9 fish and landed 4. Not a bad day at all.

Big thanks to David Roller and Pere Marquette Outfitters for the great opportunity!

My first ever steelhead