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 
Luther,
It was probably about 8 years ago now that I first read your blog. I commented a few times back then, asked for some fishing wisdom.
The next few years completely changed how I trout fish. It was about this time of year I first read your blog about catching big trout throwing rapala’s and spinners. I caught a few large trout that fall and that next year from January to December I caught 20 trout over 20”. The next year it was 16, the following it was 24. The numbers don’t matter, except I don’t forget them. I had more fun on the stream than I’d ever had bc I began to understand the stream so much more from the perspective of a trout—bc I saw so many more fish each trip. I started with a rod I made from two broken halves of other rods—the tip I found in Crockery creek one December day, the top of a two piece ugly stick ultralight—and the base I dug up in a barn barrel my father in law had (chose it bc it was cork and I sawed it down to make a handle closer to the pictures of yours). It was ugly even after I epoxied the parts together and painted it all—but I used it for a year and caught a lot of big fish.
I meant to write you and let you know. Truly I meant to. I still read all your posts. Pretty soon I’d fished all the water you mention—and found a whole wealth of ones you haven’t but I bet you’ve fished—except the South Branch PM (I avoid Baldwin area in general, too many people in my experiences).
I wondered if one year I might just swing by opener camp and take a chance you and the Fichigan guys would be around. Thought maybe one day I’d round a bend and you’d be working a run under a big cedar. Hasn’t happened, but plenty of other great moments have and I hate to think I never did get around to letting you know your writing and advice mean a lot to me. Last few years I haven’t had as much time. Relationship changes, single dadding, such things as life sends down the current at us…there are times and seasons. I started tying my own lures eventually bc I found spinners and rapalas had some limits and I could do things with large tied streamers that overcame those. Besides, the way feathers and fur move is a kind of “Alive” that gets addicting in an of itself. For one whole year I only used streamers. Had some days I couldn’t hook a log, but learned a lot and pretty soon I found streamers on light tackle was my favorite way to fish and often the most effective. Still doing it with ultralight spin gear and casting like Grandpa taught you—or as I near as I can figure from your descriptions.
Caught so many big fish people started to know me for it. I still prefer time alone in the stream, but sharing what I learned with some others has been rewarding and a way to pay it forward for how I learned. My Dad who is 69 has had his best days ever trout fishing with me—he’s had me take a few of his friends who are lifetime trout fisherman and they’ve caught big fish they’d never seen before using what I showed them. My son, who is 20 now, has gotten pretty good in his own right and his own way and this spring we spent two weekends camped along the stream and I enjoyed just watching him fish. I hope that gives you a tenth the joy it gave me.
Anyway, this is getting long. Of course, I trust you understand the actual volumes of words that hundreds of stream adventures in the last eight years would actually take. Still hope I’ll run into you one day. Until then, always excited to see a notification that a new post is up. November is my favorite month to be on the water—and my two most successful days in terms of large fish happened in November, so maybe Natch’s plan is a good one. I lost a close friend tragically this spring…I’m sorry to hear of the loss of his father—I hope the stream will be a place of calming and healing for him as it so often has been for me.
Caleb, I’m a little speechless. Thank you for your inspiring story. This may not surprise you. I fished Crockery Creek maybe twenty years ago and saw what might be the largest brown trout of my life. I went back several times hoping to find him but no luck. (That’s the kind of thing that hooks you, not the fish.) It sounds like you went from learner to teacher quickly and that is a good thing. With so much good stream to fish in Michigan and so few trout fishermen taking up the call it sure doesn’t hurt to show friends what spin fishing is all about. I appreciate your kind words for Natch. He has been a true friend.
If I run into you on the stream sometime… don’t be surprised if I ask to watch you fish a streamer.
-Luther