We hooked 8 nice fish, and boated 7. All from deep runs using the tried-and-true chuck and duck technique with egg patterns and small nymphs, tick-tick-ticking the bottom. The river was beautiful in its winter garb. A fresh fall of snow hung on all the branches. The Muskegon at Newaygo is big, wide, and still very complex with big bend pools, riffles, and shoals. The snow-covered high banks give a beautiful backdrop, and you are guaranteed to have that whole big river all to yourself when you go fishing this time of year.

From Jon's fishing report log entry for 12/10, sounds like we lucked out with our good day of fishing. When the water is this cold, low, and clear, guess it's just always going to be a crapshoot. A cloudy, calm day with temps hovering at freezing or above so your line guides don't ice up is what you hope for.

In between the steelhead hits, we caught a hawg-size redhorse sucker, a big painted turtle, and had the thrill of a 5 foot-plus sturgeon hover under the boat for more than 10 minutes. A bald eagle jealously watched us fish one hole trying to figure out how we could catch such big fish like that (I think I recognized him as the same one that stalks fishermen trolling Crystal Lake at Woodland Springs on chapter outings).

This is the second steelhead trip I've taken with Jon Kolehouse. Nancy Spence referred me to him the first time in spring 2003. I fished the PM with Jon that time, and it was an equally banner trip. I think he could catch fish in the Sahara, and I recommend him highly. Quite a day of fishing to wind up the year. Who says you have to put away your fly rod for the winter? You don't have to wait for the springtime spawning run for steelhead to bite.