#9 Jetboat Chrome and the Mighty Mo

As we all know last winter was a nasty SOB. With the early November dumping, Decembers Snowmageddon, and the big thaw we were in for a long Steelheading Jones til spring. I had been following some Muskegon MI River guides online for a while and had an itch to fish that river. After our season closed we were naturally feeling somewhat shorted and as if we had lived through half of winter already. The MO guides were banging huge fish and decent numbers of them regularly and it was really becoming hard to read the reports. I threw the idea by Norland fully expecting him to tell me to GFMS when he bit. That is when the emails started between Jeff Stuhan of Mykissmaniaoutfitters and myself. We agreed upon a day and made the trek over to Newaygo to go Jet Boat Steelheading. All we really knew was that Jeff had a great boat, lots of balls, and a river full of big fish. We really weren’t sure what to expect but I had a feeling we would find a few fish. Michigan has always taken care of me. I don’t think I had Norland completely convinced that this was going to be one of those days but he needed a day away from life and agreed to give it a shot. Well as it turns out the rest was history. We launched the boat under ramp conditions that few would ever consider using. In fact we were the only ones on the section of river we fished that day. I could tell Jeff was not quite sure if us two Canadian Float fishermen would be able to catch any fish with our “Bobber’s” but he was quick to discover that he was in for a hell of a ride this cold January day.
We managed a few little fish at Jeff’s first spot and a couple more here and there until we floated down river to a section with a well defined current break and slack water drift. This is where #9 came from. This Muskegon Giant had us in chase down the river. She was ahead of the boat then under the boat then behind the boat and eventually into Stuhan’s well placed net. The pictures pretty much tell the story but there were three grown men in the middle of the Muskegon River screaming and hollering like 10 year olds. She was a very grand fish and I will never forget that day. I will never forget that spot on the river either. We made numerous passes over and over again each time picking up fish after fish. At one time Stuhan got on his radio and called a fellow guide buddy that was fishing high in the river by town and informed him “the Canadians are rippin em up”. I sincerely believe Stuhan had as great a time as us on the river that day. LOL!!! It was such a fun day and nice to see Gene really enjoying the trip. I think that trip was a turning point for Norland. After that I think he really started to side with my passion for the West Side Rivers of MI. If the stars align and temps hover around freezing we just may find ourselves on the Big Mo in the coming weeks. Here's hoping...