The Last Stretch in October
The last couple of years I met the guys up at Burnt Clutch, a remote camp spot up near the Pigeon River. It has been tents instead of trailers and lasted a weekend. I kept hoping for the perfect tenting weekend but it didn’t happen this year. Cold and rain seemed to blow in every weekend. I did want to take one more shot at the Pigeon so I drove up there yesterday. When I arrived the sun was out, the temps in the sixties, and when I drove by burnt clutch camp on the way to the river I had a moment of regret – it seemed like perfect camping weather.
I parked at the end of a long trail and walked about a half mile to the get-in spot. The sun was out and that helped me keep my direction through some thick cedars and swamp to the stream. The stream was muddied up just a bit but very wadable. I started with a Walleye-pattern Rapala, then a #3 gold Mepps spinner, then a 3-hook Silver minnow. I worked that first grassy stretch slowly, placing good casts, switching lures, and seeing nothing. Not even a flash. In the course of ten minutes, the sky clouded up and darkened. I heard some rumble of thunder and within a few more minutes it started sprinkling. Perfect. Rain usually means more trout. I hadn’t bothered with my rain jacket. I figured if it rained it was in the sixties and I would stay warm enough.
I had a good fish on almost immediately. It might have gone twenty inches and I watched it shake off the lure right in front of me. It headed downstream. Moments later I hooked a small brown, maybe 14 inches, off the left bank. I caught one other small brown further up. On this stretch of the Pigeon you can only keep rainbow trout after the regular season. I had a rainbow on briefly and that is a guess – it was silver and flashed like chrome in the water. It hit my lure twice. I didn’t see the familiar rainbow coloring.
When I reached the normal get-out spot for this stretch I heard a lot of thunder but wasn’t seeing lightning. Still, a little disconcerting, like a warning. Plus, I was soaked, so rather than push upstream further I headed back to the truck. The whole stretch was no more than two hours. I drove three and a half hours to fish it and had the same drive back home. I know. Pretty crazy. I was tempted to get a hotel room in Gaylord and fish more in the morning but figured if it kept raining the river would flood and that meant difficult wading and less chance of a fish seeing my lure. So I headed home.
Natch is talking “November Camp.” It will be a first for the Fichigan crew if it happens. The Pigeon will be open yet and I think small game season too, so we will see. A sad note, Natch’s father passed away this month. From everything Natch has told me he was a remarkable man and great dad. I hope he followed this blog… he would have been proud to see his son catch so many nice trout.
Fichigan 