The Manistee River (a.k.a., the “Big” Manistee) is truly one of Michigan’s premier  classic trout streams.  From its headwaters near Mancelona to it confluence with Lake Michigan in the city of Manistee, the river is in over 200 miles long.  Often times referred to as the ‘sister river’ to the Au Sable, the Manistee has not received as much historical attention but harbors some of the best trout, steelhead and salmon east of the Rockies.

Historically there is some confusion about the origin of the name ‘Manistee’.  It may have originated from an old Ottawa Indian word meaning the ‘spirit-of-the-woods’ or another Ojibwe Indian word meaning, ‘river with island’s at its mouth.’  In either case, the river proved important to early Indians, explorers, fur traders and missionaries, as a waterway to the interior of the state for several hundreds of years.

Like the Au Sable, the Manistee was a logging river from the 1840’s until around 1910.  The industry created many small hamlets, like Sharon and Deward that are now nothing more then reference intersections for travelers and fishermen.  As the logging industry ended so did the presence of the graying.  Michigan began to introduce the German brown trout to the watersheds in hopes of maintaining the fishing industry that had developed during the logging era.  Michigan’s efforts were a success --- the Manistee today is considered a blue-ribbon trout stream.

I devoted an entire season to fishing the 56 mile stretch of the upper Manistee, starting north of Grayling on Mancelona Road (C-38) and fishing all the way to the M-66 Bridge at Smithville.  This stretch of river is referred to as the ‘classic’ trout waters of the Manistee.  In this stretch of water the river teams with aggressive brook trout, and robust brown trout with a healthy population of rainbow thrown in as an added bonus.  The upper waters of the Manistee are also home to an occasional hybrid known as the ‘tiger’ trout (a cross between the brown trout & brook trout).  Our State record ‘tiger’ came out of these waters, weighing in at over 9 lbs., back in 1975.  My goal this season was to add one of these rare beauties to my creel.

Access to the Manistee is easy, with over 32 public sites posted in the guide books and another dozen or two non-published two tracks used by the general public and the canoe liveries.  Even a first-timer to the river will find access to the river effortless.

The Manistee River consists of silt, gravel and glacial sands.  It has a very stable flow of cold, clean, oxygen-rich ground water.  The banks are lined with birch, pine, cedars and assorted hardwoods.  The waters are loaded with all types of structure including logs, deep pools, overhanging branches, undercut banks,  sharp bends and swift runs.

From Mancelona Road to M-72 in Grayling the waters average 15-30’ wide and the wading is easy.  Light tackle is all that’s required. 

South of M-72 the river turns to the south-west.  The
river gradually widens (30-150’) and deepens (2-5’) but is still  wadable providing you use  caution.  It is this section of the river from M-72 down to the Sharon Bridge that is favored by the river guides.  This section is home to some very large browns.

Beyond the Sharon Bridge the water quickly deepens and widens to the point where it is no longer safe to wade.  The ‘classic’ trout waters basically end at this point.  The water slows and warms to the point where it no longer can support a good population of trout.  From here, all the way to Tippy Dam the boat fisherman take over.  The river produces excellent fishing for walleye, bass and pike.  South of Tippy Dam the river becomes a world class fishery for steelhead, salmon and lake-run browns.

The hatches on the ‘classic’ stretches of the river will not disappoint you, but keep in mind that the slightly cooler waters of the Manistee will result in the hatches being several days later than on the Au Sable.  The entire upper Manistee produces excellent caddis and mayfly hatches with some of the more impressive being the;  Hendricksons, Borchers, Cahills and Brown Drakes.  The Hex hatch on the Manistee is unsurpassed, sometimes so thick that casting an artificial is a complete waste of time.

A word to the wise on wading the Manistee.  Tread carefully and give some serious thought to using a wading staff.  Many of the public fishing sites are extremely sandy.  Sand bottoms are capable of shifting rapidly and can change consistencies from loose to firm.  Depths can very from a few inches to a few feet very rapidly.
I’ve been fishing the rivers of mid Michigan for over 25 years and I can truly say that the Manistee is one of the most majestic and beautiful rivers that I’ve ever seen.  I never did catch that tiger trout I was looking for … but over the years the river has given up some very beautiful and very large trout to me.  I hope to return many more times.

See you on the water…..

Tom Deschaine

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