Fishing Michigan

With all the lines available to salmon fisherman these days,  what are your options before heading north?  Quite a few actually,  and very few of them are a wrong answer.  Some will have their time and place, while others will be used in a combination.

When fishing spoons your best choices probably are still monofilaments.  In most cases when using a spinning reel, I would go with a limp line like Trilene XL.  It just comes off the spool nicer all the way around.  When it comes to river fishing,  you almost have to bulk up and go with a line that will resist abrasions and trees.  You can still use the XL,  but for spoons, 17 and 20 lb test will be the best bet. Maxima makes a good line, and you could get away with 12 lb, but 14 lb would be better.

For flies and spawn, you can still go with the heavy stuff, but you will need to drop down to a 10,12 or 14 fc line for a leader to the bait.  Not only for the fish, but for your benefit as well.  You can snag up with this rig a little easier, so its good to have a little less poundage down there.  Better to break off the fly than your rod snapping.  Another good way to rig this is make  a short dropper line with weight on it.  When the weight snags, the split shot normally will just peel off the line and come free.

You can also use the super lines for spawn and flies,  15 lb Power Pro, or 14 lb Fireline are good choices.  Rig the same way with the fc lead.  Going with different hi-vis colors helps to watch the line as the rig is carried downstream by the current.  There are lots of hi-vis mono’s available too.  Pink Maxima is a crowd favorite as well.