Whimsically Wandering Westward

What could compel a person to just get in the car and drive from New York to Michigan? It could just be my adventurous soul acting rationally (yes, rationally)... or maybe I'm just crazy. All I know is that every minute spent in that car was well worth it. After all, I was heading to the tributaries of Lake Michigan and the salmon were running. Come to think of it, that doesn't sound crazy to me at all, so I'm going with the adventurous soul school of thought.

I drove into East Lansing Thursday, which took me about 11 hours. From home, the trip was about 715 miles. We put in just above the small town of Newaygo, which is another hundred miles from East Lansing.

I wound up leaving early thursday morning, well before sunrise. I hit one of my favorite central PA haunts on the way there. It's a small winding stream where you take this road for about 6 miles just to get there.


The stream is by no means a secret, but I'd say I was the only one fishing there 95% of the times I went during my college years... and I went there a lot. I didn't waste any time at all, rigged up and hiked down. I went to my favorite spot and began casting.

It wasn't before long when the snow came flying down, and I was not dressed for the occasion. I toughed it out for a little while, and I was rewarded with the little guy below, caught on the batman, my go-to small stream nymph.


I decided to head back up to the car after that since I was freezing and still had a long drive ahead of me.


After driving through pouring rain for well over 400 miles straight, I pulled into East Lansing around 6 pm. I was visiting a good friend who goes to MSU, where we went out for a night on the town. For anyone who has never been to East Lansing by the way, it is as good of a college town as you will find anywhere. I put it right up there with State College. We stumbled in around 3am, where I furiously chugged water in an attempt to avoid the hangover that I was almost certain would be in full force when I had to wake up two and a half hours later. Man, did I luck out. Maybe it was because of sheer excitement for my first salmon fishing trip, but I felt like a million bucks. After taking the miracle potion that is five hour energy I was off on the two hour drive to Newaygo.


After meeting my guide and pulling up to the Mighty Mo (Muskegon River), I immediately understood where it gets its nickname from. That river is MASSIVE. The scenery was incredible, and this was what I first walked out on.

There were already 3 or 4 boats in when we put in, and the river wound up being pretty packed throughout the day. It was nothing of Salmon River proportions (judging from the pictures I've seen), but the guide was shocked at how crowded it was, as it was still relatively early in the season.


If you asked me, I would have told you that the river was loaded with salmon, but according to the guide this years run has been smaller than usual, and he expects it to stay that way throughout the season.


We hit a couple spots where we saw considerable numbers of fish, with no luck at all. We could not turn any heads whatsoever. Until...


Around noon, the sun came out, and instantly the fish turned on. After casting in the same spot for a little while, pretty much the second the sun appeared I got my first hook up of the day. This would turn out to be one of the two fish I actually landed on the day. I wound up fighting him for about 20 minutes, and this was the end result... my first salmon.

16 pound Chinook Salmon

I landed one more on the day, slightly smaller, but didn't manage to get a picture. I probably hooked up 7 or 8 times on the day, only to lose them... some after a lengthy fight.


I saw some trout come up to the surface as well, as there was a decent caddis hatch going on. Unfortunately I was just a little too early for the chrome.


The Muskegon gets its fair share of goons as well. I saw one guy literally swing his foot in a kicking motion to guide his catch into his net.He took a real nice spill into the water immediately after that however.


I drove home Sunday, and was hoping to hit Penns Creek for a bit on the way home, but I turned out to be way too late. Luckily though I'm heading back that way next weekend for my alma mater's homecoming and I'm planning on finally making it back there then.