Chris Izworski, reporting from Michigan on the current state of the Menominee River this Saturday morning in late June. The gauge at the Highway 8 crossing reads 3,760 cubic feet per second with a height of 10.4 feet, which puts the flow in that workable summer range where the big water remains accessible without being pushy. This is a border river, the Menominee, shared with Wisconsin and known less for classic trout water intimacy than for its size and mixed character. Trout are here, mostly browns, but they share the corridors with smallmouth and walleye, and the angling reflects that broader taxonomy. The weather this weekend offers what late June should: sunshine today reaching eighty degrees, a clear night dropping to the mid-fifties, and similar warmth tomorrow with light variable wind. Conditions favor evening hatches if they materialize, and the low pressure of recent days has given way to stable air.
The Window This Week
The Menominee does not fish like the Au Sable or the Manistee. It is wide, powerful, and less forgiving of vague approach. You are looking for structure: the seams behind boulders, the soft edges where current slows against bedrock shelves, the pocket water below Piers Gorge where the gradient drops and trout hold in predictable lies. This is wading with intention or floating with a guide who knows the access points. Smallmouth dominate much of the main flow, but browns concentrate near cooler tributaries and spring seeps, especially in the stretches above and below Menominee itself. The trout here run larger on average than many Michigan rivers, fourteen to sixteen inches common, with occasional fish over twenty. They do not see the angling pressure of southern streams, and they are correspondingly less leader-shy, though in low clear water that advantage diminishes.
This week the river has settled after mid-month rains. Visibility is good. Wading is manageable in the slower sections, though you will not cross the main channel anywhere without serious consideration. Mornings have been quiet. The action, when it arrives, comes late, after eight in the evening, and it holds until full dark if the hatch supports it.
What Is Emerging Now
Brown drakes are the headline insect at this latitude and calendar point. Ephemera simulans, the big mahogany mayfly that brings trout to the surface with a recklessness they abandon the rest of the year. The emergence here does not match the intensity of rivers farther south, but it happens, particularly in the slower pools and along gravel margins where silt accumulates. Expect spinners between nine and ten at night, the females returning to lay eggs in fading light. A Brown Drake Spinner in size 10, tied with a dark thorax and pale trailing shuck, is the pattern. Fish it dead drift in the film. The takes are deliberate, often audible.
Isonychia are also active, the slate-bodied mayflies that emerge sporadically through the afternoon and early evening. These are faster-water insects, and the Menominee’s pocket runs suit them. A Slate Drake Comparadun in size 12 or an Iso Emerger fished just subsurface both work. The fish that take Isonychia tend to be opportunistic feeders, not selective risers, and they will often move several feet to intercept a well-presented fly.
Caddis remain present, smaller tan and olive species that hatch inconsistently but contribute to the overall surface activity. An Elk Hair Caddis in size 14 or 16 serves as a searching pattern during the midday lull.
The Practical Read
Access on the Menominee requires either launching a boat or hiking into public land where the river touches state or county holdings. Piers Gorge, managed by the Wisconsin Electric Power Company, offers trail access to dramatic pocket water, though it is technical wading and not for beginners. The stretch near Stephenson Island provides slower water and easier approaches. If you float, plan for a long day. This is not a river you casually navigate without scouting or local knowledge.
Leaders should run nine feet to 4X or 5X. The fish here do not demand the fine tippets of spring creek trout, and the structure argues for strength over invisibility. Bring a headlamp if you plan to fish the drake spinner fall. The darkness arrives complete, and the walk out over uneven ground is not trivial.
The forecast holds stable through Sunday. No rain in the immediate window. The flow should remain steady. If you are on the water this evening and the drakes do not show, do not assume failure. This river rewards patience and specific placement more than it rewards waiting for a blanket hatch. The trout are there, feeding subsurface on nymphs and emergers even when the surface stays quiet. A Pheasant Tail or Hare’s Ear in size 12, swung gently through the seams, will find fish when the dry fly does not.
For live flow updates, additional reports across the Upper Peninsula, and the full Michigan trout river network, visit michigantroutreport.com. The gauge data refreshes hourly, and the conditions change with weather systems moving through the basin.