Betsie & Platte River fly fishing photos from September & October 2006

 

  Excellent salmon fishing on the Betsie & Platte River this fall!  Here are some of the September and October photos.

 

 

For information and photos of upcoming fishing - updated December 21st (click here)

 

 

Oct 10th - Rob Tankersley with a couple of real nice fish on the Platte River.  Had the mixed bag today - Chinook, Coho and Steelhead were all landed.  Look for fresh Coho Salmon to keep moving into the river throughout October.  Late October and November is the prime time for Steelhead on this river.

 

 

 

 

Oct 10th - Salmon are starting to thin out in the upper Betsie.  There are still a number of them around but it's time to start fishing for steelhead on this river.

 

 

 

Oct 3rd - Eli Berant with a huge Chinook Salmon (above) and Coho Salmon (below).  These are fresh run fish just in from Lake Michigan.  For these fresh run salmon larger flies will work - egg sucking leeches, woolly buggers, muddlers and baitfish patterns.  Heavy rains and north winds last night should bring more salmon into the Platte and Betsie Rivers.

 

 

 

 

Sept. 29 - John Bellinger with a Platte River Chinook Salmon that has just moved into river from Lake Michigan.  Had good fishing today - spent the morning on the Platte and the afternoon on the upper Betsie.  Still good numbers of new salmon coming into the Platte River everyday.

 

 

Sept. 29th - John with a Betsie River Chinook Salmon.   Right now there are big numbers of salmon in the upper Betsie!  With all of the new rain and cool weather look for a few more weeks of good salmon fishing.  Steelhead numbers are starting to build!  Look for best steelhead fishing in late October and November.

 

 

Sept. 29th - The Platte River is just a perfect place to fly fish for salmon and steelhead this time of year.  Fall color is starting and I would think next week there would be full color.   There still should be some big runs of Coho Salmon coming into river over the next couple of weeks.

 

 

 

Sept. 24th - Bill Graw with a couple of very fresh run Chinook Salmon on the lower Platte River.  Had excellent fishing today with some huge pods of Chinook and Coho Salmon moving in from Lake Michigan.  Extreme high winds did not help the casting but it did bring some great looking salmon into the river this morning.  Leeches and Woolly Buggers were our top flies today.

 

 

Sept. 24th - The lower Platte is just a great place to float this time of year.  Typically there are big numbers of Coho Salmon but today we found lots of big Chinooks.  As of today about 6,000 Coho have been passed at the lower weir and are on there way up toward the town of Honor.  Three or four times this many salmon typically come through this weir so there should be good salmon for another few weeks.  Starting to see a few steelhead around.  By mid October look for good numbers in the river.

 

 

Sept. 22nd - Bruce Hambel with a couple of big Chinook Salmon from the Betsie River.  Excellent fishing today!  Recent rains and cool weather has been just perfect for salmon fishing.

 

 

Sept. 22nd - Marvin and Bruce each fighting a Betsie River salmon.  Today doubles were common!  Big numbers of salmon are in the river now.  Look for good salmon fishing till the middle of October.

 

 

Sept. 22nd - Marvin Hamons with a couple of big Chinook Salmon from the Betsie River.  Not sure what the total count was today on fish landed but somewhere in the middle teens!

 

 

 

Sept. 21st - Here is a Platte River Coho that hit a conehead Lite Bright Minnow and one of the finest reels on the market - Abel Super 6 with a platinum finish.  We are now a Abel dealer for those looking for these fine reels.   The past week around 4,000 Coho were past over the lower weir on the lower Platte River and are on there way upstream toward the town of Honor.  A great place to look for these Coho Salmon now are right around Platte Lake.  This fish will hit streamers as they past through Platte Lake on the there way upstream to spawn.  With the cool weather and rain of late look for more Chinooks and Coho to be moving into the very lower river.

 

 

Sept. 19th - A fresh run Chinook Salmon on the lower Platte River that smashed a 6" long Fire Tiger Streamer.  Salmon was caught by Chris Johnston and we had excellent fishing landed a number of Chinook and Coho salmon.

 

 

 

Sept. 19th - A huge pod of fresh Chinook & Coho Salmon on the lower Platte River just in from Lake Michigan.  Today's weather is perfect for bringing new fish into the river - cool, windy and rain.  Excellent fishing this morning!!

 

 

 

Sept 18th - Excellent fishing today on the lower Platte River.  Big numbers of fresh run Chinook (above) and Coho (below) Salmon.  These fish are just in from Lake Michigan and will hit big flies.  Best streamer today was chartreuse and white Half & Half.

 

 

 

Sept. 17th - Audrey and David Acquist with a couple of real nice Betsie River Chinook Salmon.

 

 

Sept. 17 - Fly fishing the Betsie River for Chinook Salmon.

 

 

Sept. 15th - Robert Aiello on his first salmon trip landed two real nice fish today!

 

 

Sept. 15th - Paul and Robert Aiello with good size Betsie River salmon.

 

 

Sept. 13th - Chinook Salmon that smashed one of our Great Lakes Deceivers down in Betsie Lake just up from Lake Michigan.  If your looking to streamer fish for these big Kings this is the place and time to go!  For more photos of streamer fishing for Kings go to lake fishing web page report.

 

 

Sept. 12th - Bruce Mansfield releasing a Betsie river salmon and Al with his first caught salmon.  Had excellent fishing today!  Last nights heavy rain brought river up and lots of new fish into the river.   With the recent rains and fall like weather we should have excellent salmon fishing for a while now.

 

 

Sept. 11th - Bright silver Coho Salmon on the lower Platte River.  The last few days good numbers of Coho Salmon have been moving into the lower Platte River from Lake Michigan.  These salmon are aggressive and will hit small flashy streamer.  The weir on the lower river has begun to past fish so it won't be long until fish are up near the town of Honor.

 

 

 

Sept. 10th - A huge pod of Coho Salmon moving up the lower Platte River.  Excellent fishing today!

 

 

 

Sept 10th - David Frizzell with a couple of fresh run Betsie River Chinook Salmon.  David fished with guide Ted Kraimer and had a great day on the river today.  Lots of new fish were on the move coming up the river.  Fall like weather and cold nights are perfect for bring new salmon into the river.

 

 

 

Sept 9th - David Frizzell fighting a Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River.  Today fishing was a little on the slow side.  Yesterday the Betsie River was treated to kill Sea Lamprey from the Homestead Dam down stream.  I'm not sure what happened but a good number of salmon were killed by the treatment. This made for some slow fishing the past couple of days from the Dam down stream.  With the current fall like weather and lots of salmon out in the mouth of the river look for fishing to improve in the next couple of days.  Right now there are good number of salmon above the dam and they were not effected by the Sea Lamprey treatment. 

 

 

Sept 7th - Jim Jameson and Bob Spens with a couple of big Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River.  Had a excellent float trip today and landed some very nice salmon!  Look for excellent fishing on the Betsie for the next month or so.  Best flies the last few days have been Hex nymphs and Nuke Eggs.

 

 

Sept 7th - Here are couple more that were landed today!

 

 

 

Sept 6th - Dan O'Hara and Jerry with a couple of big Chinook Salmon.  Excellent fishing today with a bunch of fish brought to the net!

 

 

 

Sept 5th - Waldo and Don Stilson with some good action on the Betsie River.

 

 

 

September 2nd - Steve Szemak with big Chinook Salmon on the Betsie River.  Had a real nice float trip today on Labor Day Weekend.  There was a few more anglers around but still landed 5 big Chinook Salmon and lost a bunch more.  Water levels have dropped and cleared all week and more rain is needed.  Rain is forecasted for the next few days which should bring in a new batch of fish from Lake Michigan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lake Huron & Lake Michigan brown trout, salmon and smallmouth photos from the 2005 & 2006 season  (click here)

Steelhead photos from the 2005 season  (click here)

Trout photos from the 2005 & 2006 season  (click here)

 Trout photos from the 2004 season  (click here)

Lake Huron brown trout photos from the 2003 & 2004 season  (click here)

 

       

Michigan fly fishing opportunities this season include: