Wedged in between all of that was a day spent with Captain Steve Martinez of
STM Outfitters on a steam nearby his home. He was test driving a
two-person drift boat for the first time and figured there were still a
few steelhead (lake run rainbows, if you prefer) in the system. I’m
usually pushy with Steve about messing around with a glass two-hander
and swinging flies but on this trip, told him that I’d fish however he wanted
me to. That meant a glass 8-weight with an indicator running a set of beads underneath. I can’t say it wasn’t effective since through the day we tangled with a few steelhead, along with a mix of rainbow and brown trout. I guess everyone in the stream can’t resist an egg…
We came around a long bend in the river and could see several steelhead moving around in a shallow riffle. We anchored above them and I laid a cast a bit upstream, made a mend, and as the tandem beads were passing nearby the largest steelhead in the group, it banked to the left and opened it’s mouth to take in the egg. Both Steve and I saw the visual take and I raised the fly rod to come tight. A few moments later, Steve slid the net beneath the fish. I finished fishing that run while Steve unpacked his small propane grill and as I stepped into the drift boat, he raised the lid to reveal a stash of homemade tamales warming along with a foil pack of rice and a couple pork chops. These tamales were the last from the Martinez Christmas holiday tamale making session and warmed up in the grill with a splash of hot sauce, were an absolute treat.
We continued downstream after lunch and stopped at a long deep riffled run where we caught one last steelhead before making our way to the makeshift takeout. Such a stellar way to spend a spring day in Michigan on a somewhat impromptu trip with a lot of moving parts. I’m glad we were able to make it work out. Time in the boat with Steve is always well spent.
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