fly fishing Lake Michigan Archives

We’ll Settle for the Iron Fish

June 18, 2025June 12, 2025 by Jeff

After yesterday’s outstanding flats fishing for smallies on the Old Mission Peninsula Lighthouse flat, I planned to return today and let Granny catch a few more. Instead, we opted to keep exploring this gorgeous region on the east side of Lake Michigan and we checked out some recommended carp flats on the Leelanau Peninsula. Though … Read more

Smallmouth on the Lake Michigan Flats

June 15, 2025June 11, 2025 by Jeff

Granny and I awoke at our amazing campsite on the Rudbeckia Farm on the outskirts of Petoskey, Michigan and over coffee planned our Day 2 pursuit of Lake Michigan carp on the flats. Yesterday we couldn’t find a single carp up north near the Mackinac Bridge but today we were further south and there was … Read more

A Ruby Van Road Trip Starts with Carp

June 12, 2025June 10, 2025 by Jeff

Granny and I left Hayward about 6 pm last night in the Ruby Van starting a ten day road trip to take part in the Scientific Anglers 80th Anniversary party which takes place Friday and then over the weekend we’ll travel somewhere near Pittsburgh to pick up a Clackacraft Drift Boat that’s being given to … Read more

Rain Hinders Fish Bite on the North Shore

June 17, 2022June 11, 2022 by Jeff

The north shore of Lake Michigan isn’t as wade fishing friendly as the east. Granny and I crossed the Mackinac Bridge into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan around 8 AM and began sniffing our way westward. At that time it was a beautiful day but the clouds were coming. We stopped at a lot of … Read more

Fly Fishing for Carp Bahama Style

June 16, 2022June 10, 2022 by Jeff

After a year of moving chaos, I feel like Granny and I are getting our groove on. We’re camping from the new van and getting our fishing feet back on the ground. This little stopover along the eastern shores of Lake Michigan enroute back to Wisconsin has been a blast. Today Granny and I waded … Read more

Flats Fishing for Lake Michigan Smallmouth Bass

June 14, 2022June 9, 2022 by Jeff

One of the many great things about being in the fly fishing industry for nearly 40 years are my affiliations with the top anglers, guides and companies. As Granny and I made our way towards Lake Michigan yesterday, I rang my friend Joe Wolthuis at Scientific Anglers. SA is based in MI so I figured … Read more

Fishing Our Way Back to Wisconsin

June 13, 2022June 8, 2022 by Jeff

We made good time zipping the Ruby Van from NH to the Midwest. Yesterday I drove us nearly 800 miles from Wolfeboro to Toledo, OH. We stopped around 10 PM. Today we got up at 4:30 AM and made a much shorter jaunt into Michigan. To the north east shores of Lake Michigan to be … Read more

Contact Jeff

I started fly fishing at age 7 in the lakes and ponds of New England cutting my teeth on various sunfish, bass, crappie and stocked trout. I went to Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, where I graduated with a Naturalist Degree while I discovered new fishing opportunities for pike, muskellunge, walleyes and various salmonids found in Lake Superior and its tributaries.

From there I headed west to work a few years in the Yellowstone region to simply work as much as most people fish and fish as much as most people work. I did just that, only it lasted over 20 years working at the Jack Dennis Fly Shop in Jackson, WY where I departed in 2009. Now it’s time to work for "The Man", working for myself that is.

I pursue my love to paint fish, lecture on every aspect of fly fishing you can imagine and host a few trips to some of the most exotic places you can think of. My ultimate goal is to catch as many species of fish on fly possible from freshwater to saltwater, throughout the world. I presently have taken over 440 species from over 60 countries!