On the rare days when I don’t have paid guide trips with my two busy fishing businesses, Traverse City Bass and Manistee River Salmon, I like to go fishing.
For me, a day off from a paid guide trip doesn’t necessarily mean a day off of the water. I use these days as scouting trips where I try to learn new waters or refine tactics. Fishing Grand Traverse Bays or an inland lake, even on a day off, means staying current with the smallmouth, and is a key component to being a successful fishing guide. The same holds true for fishing the Big Manistee River, exploring what the current has done from day to day, and salmon and steelhead movements. This recon is especially important because the river’s current can change pools, eddies and current seams by moving logjams and sandbars with ease.
Fortunately, as a guide with customer trips almost every day, staying current with fish and their daily movements is made tremendously easier because I can stay on top of the fish much more readily than having to continually search and hunt for them.