Kelly Neuman of Streamside in Northern Michigan joined MFFC in July talking about “Chasing Big Brown Trout & Smallmouth Bass in July and August.” He started his presentation with a larger than life technicolor photo of Club member Elmer Jantz, with a very large Smallmouth.
“Fish Thunder Bay,” said Neuman. “There is a whole structure of rivers off of Thunder Lake.”
For July and August use a minnow pattern “tied in trout attractor colors. Smallmouth like to eat trout. Tie them like rainbows and browns.” Said Neuman. Use the JD Special, “tie small streamers in bright colors to look like bait fish, cray fish and sculpin. Use a Jointed Deceiver, or poppers.”
“Most of the Bass come into shallow water to feed. Fish smallmouth in the afternoon and lake trout at night. This time of year, most of the big trout fishing is at night,” said Neuman. “We joke you have to do a day of smallmouth fishing to catch a brown trout.” (The heat in the summer makes the fish inclined to feed later after dark.)
“Hex hatch into the night,” said Neuman. “There is a lot of feeding going around in the summer. Late night mousing is the way to go. The mousing can be very unpredictable. A warm day with much sun, a dark night, but not too dark, nor too light.”
“Mice…you don’t want to work them too hard,” said Neuman. He suggests the Glow Mouse. “There it is right there,” he said, “otherwise who knows where your fly is!”
“You hear frogs this time of year too,” said Neuman. “People talk about fishing a mouse with slow drag on the surface…just like frogs. When a mouse hits the water, it slides off the bank and swims like crazy to get to the other bank!”
“Mouse fishing starts now (early July) and goes until September.”