Fly Shop Friday

What better day to remind people of the great fly shops around the country than Friday? 

Baldwin Bait & Tackle (BBT) in Baldwin, MI is one of my personal favorites. They sit across from the Pere Marquette River, which is one of the most diverse fisheries in Michigan. It has it everything a fly fisherman could want in a trout stream. First of all, it gets a wild run of steelhead and salmon (both Coho and Chinook) that can be targeted easily with spey rods or nymphing alike. That of course is what is most popular with fisherman of the area, but myself, I go to the Pere Marquette for the trout. Whether it's stripping streamers from the log riddled banks or walking around in the dark throwing bushy hex and mouse patterns for massive browns that go "plomp!" in the night (seriously, their rises sound like bowling balls being thrown into the water), it's a river you soon will not forget. 

With hatches like this, no wonder the trout are massive.

BBT is THE shop for fishing the Pere Marquette. They have the flies, gear and knowledge to help you find fish regardless of what time of the year it is. So give Steve a call and let him know Hip To The Sip sent you. 

Photography By Steve Fraley 

Baldwin Bait and Tackle

9331 S. M-37

Baldwin, MI 49304 

Phone (Toll Free): 877-4-BALDWIN 

fishbaldwin.com

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Stumptown

 Early winter fishing in Oregon can oftentimes be more about telling stories, drinking Rainier's and taking in the scenery than actually hooking steelhead. I had a day off while traveling through Portland and a couple of good buddies took me out to do just that. We spent the day shooting the shit, casting, and talking about spey rods. Can't wait to make it back to the Northwest again, such an awesome place.

Catching Steelhead is just a good float spoiled.

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Michigan Rainhead Party

Pure Michigan

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China Cat Sunflower

Sorry for the delay on my posts. I have been running all over the great state of Michigan fishing for steelhead, eating Thanksgiving with the folks, and ultimately driving the point home that pinning is sinning. I caught a few fish and had an overall awesome time. The last day, I got tricked into fishing out of a boat with two guys (who were fun as hell to fish with) who were fishing centerpin rods. I had seen these funny rods plenty of times as a kid and always hated them because they screwed up things for me as a fly fisherman. Needless to say, because of how the boat was always set up and the fact that I had to fish an indicator rod in the only water available to me (the top of runs, only after they ran spawn bags through) made it very difficult.

I still enjoyed fishing that day, but I learned a valuable lesson. If you want to catch fish with a specific tactic (for me, swinging big flies on a two-hander), go fishing with people employing the same tactics. Don't try to convince yourself that "you can make it work", because you ultimately wont. Pick guys that are doing the same thing or go alone. That way you will be on the same page from working the boat to types of water you fish. You also will be able to avoid smelling like bait.

Whatever.... I'll be in Oregon this weekend swinging for steelhead with like-minded friends. All will be right in the world again.

Reports from both will be on the horizon. Stay tuned, kiddos.

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Lucky Bastage

Lucky Man from Richard Harrington on Vimeo.

My buddy Rick won this trip at Spey Nation to head up for a ridiculous trip up to Boundry Spey Steelhead & Salmon Lodge. Thanks for bringing us along ya lucky bastage. (Don't forget to turn off the playlist on the bottom right.)