Little Manistee Weir, Michigan DNR Facility

I took a trip to fish the Manistee River for King Salmon. I took a small side trip to check on the Weir on the Little Manistee River. This is the facility where the Michigan DNR catches King Salmon in the fall and Steelhead in the Spring to stock other rivers in Michigan and even supply Kings and Winter Run Steelhead to Indiana! If you time it right, this is a great place to view Salmon and Steelhead on their upstream journey. You can get within feet of the fish and can really see them up close and personal. Additional information about the Weir can be found here: www.michigan.g...

[@markbardusk9516]

Never fished the Little Manistee. However, I have herd those fish wether Steelhead, Salmon and resident trout are all 100% wild. That in itself is pretty cool. When you were there I was on the P.M. fishing. Another Natural Reproducing stream. Thanks for the video I'll have to go and check the little M.

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

I believe that they do stock Kings into the Little Manistee, but they do not stock any other species. From what I understand, they stock Kings to keep the returns to this river really high so they can do the egg collection every year. Most of the Coho Salmon, Steelhead, Rainbows, and Browns are all wild with the exception of some stray stocked fish from other rivers. You should definitely check it out. What a neat place! Wish it was closer to home...

[@markbardusk9516]

@IndianaKayakFishingJournal Thanks Kyle! Happy Thanksgiving!

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

I hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Thanks!

[@PikeLeeProductions]

Caught my PB brown trout in the little man below the weir mid august. Many early kings in there the following week

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

How big was the Brown? The fish were in thick when I was there last year. Always amazes me seeing all of the Kings in these small rivers.

[@PikeLeeProductions]

@@IndianaKayakFishingJournal I got two that day, one a 21" buck and the other a 19 in hen. We went back the following week and saw a good amount of fresh king pushed in. No browns. It was almost like the browns flushed out or were in deep hiding with the giants running in.

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

I don't think that the resident Browns like the Kings very much, until that start dropping eggs! Glad to hear you got some nice Browns. I will have to try there one day for them. I did fish a small stream up there on the last day of "trout season". I ended up catching some wild Brook Trout and Rainbows and had a blast.

[@ZacksRealAdventures]

I better make my way further north. Been fishing Berrien Springs with little success. Looks like a lot higher concentration of fish in the Manistee. Those were some nice looking fish. Good catches.

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

The St Joe doesn't seem like it gets even a fraction of the Salmon that the more Northern rivers get. If you are looking for Salmon, I would definitely suggest heading further North. Thanks for watching!

[@ZacksRealAdventures]

@@IndianaKayakFishingJournal the Joe is a tough body to fish. It's too deep and wide. I'll be going further north forsure. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

Sounds good! I hope you can get on them next year!

[@casting4chrome]

This season was definitely tough here in Indiana after all of the constant North winds blowing the warm water to the mouths of our tribs

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

I heard it was tough. Glad I didn't spend any time chasing Indiana Salmon this year. Michigan was awesome. I would highly recommend traveling North if you have the means and the time. Well worth the time and the money.

[@casting4chrome]

@@IndianaKayakFishingJournal I bet it is, thanks!

[@choscar6120]

Planning on getting o it for Indiana trib steelhead soon?

[@IndianaKayakFishingJournal]

I should have an Indiana trib video up in the next few weeks. Had a great day a few days ago. Stay tuned!