PERE MARQUETTE RIVER

The Pere Marquette River is a premier destination to some of the finest trout, salmon, and steelhead fisheries in the Great Lakes region. This is a fantastic tributary flowing towards Lake Michigans renowned east shore. Brown trout fisherman from around the world flock here with dreams of landing a fish of a lifetime. In most cases, that dream becomes a reality.  You can also pursue this rivers magnificant steelhead run from early fall to early spring.  Salmon arrive and begin to move upstream in late summer, and can be caught throughout the middle of the fall. Quality hatches of mayflies, caddisflies, and stoneflies exist on this river, providing tremendous dry fly fishing for the river's resident trout.


Starting in Marlborough Michigan, the Little South and Middle Branch join to become the Main Pere Marquette River. As you continue down south, the Baldwin River joins it and flows in on the North side, while the big south branch joins in a few more miles down river. The river provides almost 35 miles of prime time fly fishing accessable by all.


There are catch and release regulations that exist for approximately 8 miles on the upper Pere Marquette river, in which artificial flies and lures only is in place. You can find it starting from M-37 on, and it is true heaven.  There are permier examples of pools, riffles, and runs that hold some trophy fish waiting to be pulled up from the deeps. Wading is easily accessible for both locals and travelers from out of the area.  


The major flow of the river averages more than 50 ft across and gets even wider as you proceed below the Baldwin River. But the middle streches of the Pere Marquette provide awesome opportunites (and are some of our favorite) for mid-width (30 ft. or so) gravel and sand bottom trout fishing.  Lots of fallen trees and several large boulders create pockets and seems for brown trout up to 24 inches. Please note the part about "lots of fallen trees." These trees have been known to collect more than a few big browns once they are hooked. They seem to know exactly where these trees are and run right for them, resulting in lots of break-offs.


Once you get south of Gleason's Landing the fishing changes. The river starts to become way deeper and gets stronger with flow. Drifting a black stonefly nymph or an egg pattern behind a fallen tree or in a deep run here, could produce a fifteen pound steelhead or a twenty four inch resident brown trout! The potential of this river is enormous, and anglers should be on top of their game with every cast. The speed of the river increases dramatically here, and wading is very challenging. Most anglers choose to grab a boat and a guide, and float fish this area. 


The hatches here are ridiculous, this is the midwest....they have lots of bugs!  Starting in May and lasting into July, hatches are the envy of every dry fly fisherman or women around. Mayflies on the river include Hendricksons, Sulphurs, Blue-winged Olive, Gray Drakes, Brown Drakes, and Hexagenia's.  Stoneflies include a variety of species with Little Black Stones being most popular especially as nymphs for steelhead.  The "Hex" hatch is pretty epic, especially when targeting larger fish.


Steelheading is best done with some egg patterns, black stones or some dedicated  steelhead flies in your various shaded of green, browns, and pinks.

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