Michigan White River - White River Steelhead guide, Trout & Steelhead Flyfishing on the Muskegon River, White River fishing and Pere Marquette River "Flies Only"

Guided Fly Fishing Adventures on Michigan's White River for Great Lakes Steelhead, Salmon, & Trout. Drift Boat Fly Fishing Guides for Michigan's White River Steelhead! (231) 519-7348

White River Fly Fishing - Hesperia, Mi
The White River offers anglers a chance at a trophy Great Lakes Steelhead. The White River is home to a wild strain of Michigan Steelhead! Trophy West Michigan Steelhead.
Dennis holds a gorgeous Buck Steelhead from the White River. Floating with a driftboat guide makes for a wonderful day of Fly Fishing!
Muskegon River Fishing Report Michigan Winter Steelhead.
Winter and Spring are prime months for the White River. This river receives a large run later in the year.
Muskegon River Fly Fishing Michigan Spring Steelhead.
Due to it's small size, the White River is easily waded. Wading makes for a very enjoyable day.
Pere Marquette River Fly Fishing

White River Hatches.
Hatches on the White River coincide with hatches on the Muskegon River and Pere Marquette River.

Michigan's White River
A hidden treasure among rivers!

Located in Hesperia, Michigan, the White river is a hidden treasure among rivers! The White is about 20 miles from Newaygo and is nestled right between the Muskegon and the Pere Marquette Rivers.

This quaint little river is fairly shallow and easily waded. The bottom contour is similar to Au Sable or Pere Marquette River with shallow gravel riffles with holes and runs in between.

Michigan Spring Steelhead.
~ White River Steelhead ~

The White is generally waded; drift boating is difficult due to the normal low water. It is mostly suited to rafts and Wading.

We generally guide the White when the Muskegon is too high or a new batch of chromers has just shown up!

Species in the White include Steelhead from November through May, resident Trout year-round but primarily May and June, Salmon in September and October. Other species include Walleye and white suckers.

Gray Drake Outfitters.
~ White River Trout ~

Hatches on the White include Sulfurs, Gray Drake, Ephrons, and a plethora of Caddis and Stone flies! Stone flies emerge in late February and March. Primary hatches are in May, June , July, and August.

Click here to contact us for more information about guided fishing trips, rates and availability on the Muskegon, White and Pere Marquette Rivers!

White River Brown Trout.
The White River includes many large resident Brown trout, Native Steelhead, and Chinook Salmon. I also supports a large number of walleye in the lower sections near Whitehall and White Lake.

White River Fly Fishing - Hesperia, Mi
White River during the Winter months offers fantastic Steelhead opportunities on an intimate small stream.

Betts Guide Service
(231) 519-7348

Guide Chad Betts
PO Box 608
Newaygo, MI 49337
www.bettsguideservice.com

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Winter Steelhead out Procuce the Skamania Strain (Summer Run Steelhead ) on The St. Joseph River

Anglers catch summer steelhead as frequently as winter steelhead if they are fishing offshore, but not so on Michigan rivers, according to a new state study. Winter-run steelhead dominate the streams. "We have clear findings," said Jory Jonas, a research biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Great Lakes Fisheries Research Station in Charlevoix. "In the open lake, they are not very different. But in rivers, during prime fishing season, the winter run outperformed the summer by far."

The 13-year study examined the return rate of the two steelhead hatchery strains, the Michigan steelhead, which runs in the fall, and the Skamania steelhead, which runs in the summer. Anglers caught two to seven times more winter steelhead per 10,000 of either fish planted. Those results reinforce what Michigan fish managers have known: The Skamania steelhead is popular with some summer anglers, but its returns might not justify returning to a full-scale planting program.

The Skamania was named after its hatchery of origin in Washington state. They were brought to Indiana waters in the 1970s and to Michigan waters in the early '80s. They were introduced to provide an additional summer river fishery. Anglers liked their brutish fight and the long, torpedo-shaped fish became the subject of river mythology.

"The fall steelhead gives a good fight, but Skamania are better," said captain Ken Neidlinger, owner of Silverking Sportfishing Charters, in St. Joseph. "I've seen them come out of the water nine times once they are hooked."

Michigan's Skamania program ramped up from 1984 to 1990. More than a dozen rivers around the state were planted with summer-run hatchery stock. The fish were put into rivers each year, including the Au Sable, Betsie, Muskegon, White and Pere Marquette. "We didn't see the fishing effort, and the returns were not what we wanted," said Gary Whelan, the fish production manger for the DNR. "Based on that, we later made a decision to only use them in a couple of places." Jonas' study began in 1996, comparing angler catches on specific rivers where both strains still were planted. Coded wire tags embedded in the snouts of the fish helped biologists track the fish's life history.

Paired plantings (Winter and Summer Steelhead Strains) were made at three sites along Big Manistee River through 2000. The St. Joseph also got paired plantings at five sites along its length. The study examined whether upstream or downstream plantings made a difference.

Indiana, which maintains the Lake Michigan Skamania hatchery broodstock, plants 160,000 7-inch Skamania steelhead in the St. Joseph River each spring. Another 80,000 5- to 6-inch fish are planted in the river each fall. Indiana trades its summer steelhead for coho and chinook salmon raised at Michigan hatcheries. Skamania Steelhead are planted in Barrien Springs.

"It provides us with a resource that others don't have," said Stu Shipman, the northern region fisheries supervisor with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "We will continue Skamania for the near future, but the questions we have are fundamental science."

When the summer winds blow right at St. Joe, pushing warm water out and letting cold water in, the near-shore fishing can be phenomenal for summer steelhead. But when it blows wrong, or not at all, it can be a bust.

Jonas' study found the summer steelhead catch at St. Joe was elevated slightly near shore in the fall steelhead strain, but only during one month in the summer. They were equal in the offshore fishery.

Creel studies of the river catch, however, turned up 15 winter steelhead per 10,000 fish planted, compared to two of the summer run per 10,000 plantings.