Ah, the U.P... You know the place, don't you? That subarctic wonderland of sweeping forests, craggy granite ridges, and creeks full of chunky brook trout that snap at any fly that comes their way?
I've actually found myself in that mythical UP of fisherman's dreams a few times, and I thought I was returning to it last Monday. But apparently I took a wrong turn somewhere along the way.
Monday a week ago I drove up to Kenton in Houghton county, smack in the middle of the brook trout waters of the Ontonogan River system. I spent the week prowling the middle and east branches of the Ontonogan, besides a small unsung creek. For the most part, the fish were not too cooperative. Fishing was generally slow, morning, noon, and night.
I arrived in time last Monday to get a good evening of fishing in at Sparrow Rapids on the East Branch. Much of the East Branch around Kenton (at least the parts you can acccess) is slow and troughlike. At Sparrow, site of a Forest Service campground, the river widens and rushes over a quarter mile of frothing riffles and stair-stepping falls interrupted by a couple of deep bend pools.
(A short fall near the head of Sparrow Rapids)
Though the bite was slow, I did manage to pick up a few nice rainbows (probably juvenile steelhead) by drifting caddis emergers along ledges bordering the deeper holes. At sunset, I saw some feeding in one of those quiet bend pools (just below the downed stump in the riffle below) and took another half-dozen rainbows on a tan dry caddis.
I returned there late the next morning, just as a light drizzle was settling in. Fishing stimulators with a hare's ear nymph dropper, I managed about 10 trout, mostly in the same spots as the night before. Early on the nymph got all the attention, though an hour in the fish were whacking the stimulator with gusto, despite no other visible surface feeding.
Sparrow is a nice location, though the Forest Service could do more to maintain the campground. Just look at these weeds growing between the cracks of a stairway.
I took most of the afternoon off and, after an early supper, went to the Middle Branch. I got on the water here.
This bend seems to be a dividing line. Below, the water is mostly quiet with a steady current, gentle riffles alternating with deep, wood-strewn pools. Classic trout water. Just above here begins a very long, roaring riffle. Just how long I don't know. I headed upstream (since I had some good luck in that stretch one day last summer) for nearly two hours and never saw an inch of flat water. Around every bend, nothing but another long climb through whitewater. Very hard wading, though I got 5 10-12" brookies for my trouble. A stimulator, the hare's ear, and caddis emergers got the fish. Here is one.
There were quite a few tan caddis on the water after about 8:00, and a large spinner flight of sulfurs occurred around dark, though none fell.
Not a bad start to the trip. Unfortunately, the going was about to get harder.
Tags: Fly Fishing; Fishing
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