Summer Camping & River Fishing in Michigan

Come on, bud. Well, welcome back to the channel, everyone. I'm Kyle with Adventure Chasing, and in this episode, I'm gonna be looking for my first ever trout on a dry fly. We have some swans just downstream from us, and look at this beautiful river. Ollie is ready to go. We're gonna get loaded down, and we'll start paddling upriver. We're making it, baby! All right. I have never caught a trout on a dry fly, so in this episode, I'm looking to cross that off the bucket list. I'm gonna fish my way all the way back down to the truck tonight, drive home this evening, and then tomorrow, Nicole, Ollie, Maya, and I are gonna set off for a two-night, three-day float trip. So this is the beginning of a multiple-day trip. Hope you enjoy. I'm just getting rigged up here, and we're gonna see what we can do. I'm gonna get a couple different flies on deck here. So what's hatching in Michigan right now, being early July, it's called a hex hatch. So you can see I have a bunch of different styles here, and I also have a different style of fly as well. Just in case there are no bug hatches tonight, which we'll clearly see and be able to identify, I have some mice patterns here. So if we don't have any bugs hatching, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take this fly that imitates a mouse in the black of the night, and I'm gonna work my way downstream, pitch them up near the banks, rip them across the surface, and wait for an aggressive, hungry trout to hammer this. Well, now it's just a bit of a waiting game. I'm gonna wait until either this rain stops and a bug hatch starts, or I'm gonna start working my way downstream once the black of the night settles in with those topwater mice and frog flies that I showed you. So we'll just see what the evening has in store. We'll hold tight and play our cards from there. ♪ Can't tell what you don't show me ♪ ♪ In the dark I see ♪ ♪ Cause it's not over ♪ Well, I don't know how well you can see it, but the fireflies are out in full force tonight, and the rain stopped just in time for a beautiful sunset. I have not saw any sort of bug hatch start yet, so I'm gonna let darkness settle in here, and then I'll start pitching my mice flies. But we'll just see what happens. Okay, here we go. And the games begin. All right, lights off. We're going stealth mode. Oh my God. I just had one hit this. Fish on. Fish on, baby. Big fish on, big fish on. Big fish on, guys. Big fish on. Ollie, stay back. We got one on the miles, baby. Oh my gosh, he's ripping. He's ripping, guys. Lot of wood right here. Oh, this fish is going nuts. This is a big fish. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, this fish is ripping. You can hear him jumping. I'm so nervous. Duking it out with this fish. Oh my gosh. Oh, we're getting him. Here he comes, here he comes. I'm gonna get him in this cold. Oh my gosh. Ollie, stay back. My first one ever on a mouse. I'm gonna get a quick look, and I'm gonna get this fish right back. But check that out. My first ever brown trout on the mouse fly in the middle of the night. I can't even explain how exhilarating that hit was. I heard that fish blow up on my fly about a dozen casts prior to when I hooked it, and my heart just, it stopped. It was so exciting. And then it came back, hit it again, and I stuck him the second time. Oh, right here. Look at the hex. Oh, the hex are starting to hatch. Just a big old meatball. And there he goes, back to his home. That fish tore up my fly a little bit, but that's the guy right there that got it done. I'm gonna clean him up, and we're gonna get him right back out. Check out this action. That's what our mouse looks like. Oh, look at the hex coming down too. I'm gonna have to put on some hex flies. We have a hatch going on here, guys. So I'm gonna pick a fly that looks exactly like this hex does that I just caught. Look at this. I'm thinking that guy right there. Let's put him on. Oh, oh my God. I just had one on the dry fly. I heard that fish sipping off the surface, and I missed him. I think I set the hook too hard. Let's go to the next hole, buddy. Hop in. Good boy. Okay, next hole. The fireflies are out so bright, the moon is shining down. This is an incredibly spiritual experience. I heard some big fish rising right in this corner here, but I couldn't really cast to them because it was so fast in the middle. Wanna hop up, buddy? Good boy. Hole number two, lights out. Hehehehehe. We're squirrel hunting back here, folks. Fish on, fish on. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, this fish is going bananas. This fish crushed it, absolutely crushed it in front of this log jams. That might be an eater right there, baby. We might be cooking this up over a campfire tonight, baby. Look at that one, guys. Nice, little bit smaller. That's gonna be a perfect size to eat. Another one on the mouse, baby. Oh my gosh. That's gonna be a perfect one for dinner right there. Oh yeah, we're cooking his ass up, buddy. We're cooking him up, buddy. I see a set of eyes over here on the bank. I think it might be a coyote. Oh, it is, it's a coyote. There's a coyote on the bank right there. You can hop up, buddy. Good boy. Okay, we've arrived. What a great night. Well, with my trout here tonight, I'm gonna gut this fish, and then we're gonna eat him on the river tomorrow night when we camp out. I was gonna camp tonight, but everything was so wet, and I really wanted to just have that full float trip with Nicole tomorrow, so that's the plan. I'm gonna clean this fish, and we'll see you guys tomorrow. Okay, round two. Nicole's here this time. We're going to get him. Good boy. Good girl. The crew is loaded. There we go, yeah, baby, woo-hoo! Look at this, we're gonna float right underneath this bald eagle here. Yeah. Okay, well, I think we have a beautiful campsite here. Look at this. We even have a fire pit with a little bit of trash somebody left, but we'll pick that up, a nice flat area, and we are gonna call this home for the next night. You think, Maya? Is that our guy right there? And then for number two, we're going with our mouths once again. The fireflies are out in full force. Oh my gosh, look at this. One hell of a bushwhack in the dark. Okay, we'll start here. I'm starting to hear some fish feed on the surface, and we have a hatch going on, so I'm gonna go with my dry fly. Lights off, baby. Fish, fish on. Oh my gosh, fish on, baby, fish on. Fish on the dry fly. Oh my gosh, look at that. It's a rainbow. It's a nice little rainbow. But that is my first ever fish on a true dry fly. See you later, buddy. He bit my wings up, oh no. Let's do it again, one down. Fish, fish on. Big fish, big fish, big fish. Man, this fish is fighting so hard. Oh my gosh. Look at all the bugs hatching in my light. Oh, he's not huge, but he's a nice brown, it looks like, guys. Yes. That is a beauty. Oh yeah, baby, look at that guy. Oh my gosh, he's a beauty. Oh my gosh, beautiful brown trout. Look at this. That's the fly that I just caught this fish on. Right there is what's hatching right now. That's a hex. And that is exactly what these fish are feeding on. Well, I can start to smell the campfire, so I gotta be getting close. Oh golly, my. Honey, I got dinner. I got him on the true dry fly two, three. I let two go smaller ones, but. Wow. Look at that guy. Beautiful. I was so pumped. I missed, I missed a bunch too. Really? Yep. I heard him jumping out here. You did? Yeah. Oh my God. A couple, it's not a lot. Well, Nicole has some big juicy hamburgers going. Now I'm gonna filet up this trout, and this is gonna give us two trout to cook tomorrow, and we're gonna have a delicious lunch here on the river. We were gonna cook them up tonight, but it's getting pretty late, and Nicole has the burgers already made, so we're rocking with that. But tomorrow, it's gonna be a little catch and cook action. Look at that. Boom. To end a great night, we have campfire hamburgers. It has a nice smoky campfire char to it. Medium rare. That is a burger. Ollie. Maya. All tipped up, ready to sleep. Well, that was another great night. Caught a few fish, had some delicious burgers, went for a beautiful paddle. We're gonna get some sleep, do it again tomorrow. What a great way to wake up in the morning. The birds are chirping. We have morning doves, heard an owl, all kinds of different birds, and the river flowing, of course. So we're gonna let these crazy dogs out for a very rambunctious this morning. We'll do it. Woo! Oh! I've never flipped a dually before, so you're gonna be doing this with me for the first time. And do a little shake. Oh, perfect. We did it. Ladies and gentlemen, my first ever hobo pie. Here we go. Cheers. She knocked it out of the park once again. Wow, is this delicious. He's never had a hobo pie. I had to break him in. I can't even explain how good this is. It literally tastes like a crunchy, crispy apple pie. It's so good. Oh! No, good boy. Well, we just had about the best summer day at camp that you could ask for. We went swimming about 10 times in this beautiful hole here. Ollie's had a continuous game of ball going all day. Had our hobo pies, had a great nap in the hammock, and now we're gonna set sail downstream and paddle to our next campsite. We're gonna get set up and get some food cooking. We're both pretty damn hungry. What do you think, girl? Oh yeah, ready to eat, ready to swim. Ready to swim. It is hot out here. Let's pitch a camp. It's really important to stay hydrated. As you can see behind me, I have my hang bag that I filter water with, and then I'll throw some of these little packs of Gatorade in my pouch, and it helps me stay hydrated, gives you some good electrolytes, and it tastes pretty darn good as well. A little seasoning first, salt, pepper combo. Then we'll throw a handful of onions in there. A little red pepper action. All right, trout number one, trout number two. But to go with our trout, we're gonna throw some corn on the cob on the fire. Well, I just did some scouting, and we have some really nice looking holes. Not too far from camp here, but it's gonna be another beautiful evening. The moon is shining down. It's the 4th of July. Our fish is just about finished cooking. It'll be time to throw down, and then we'll be headed off to do a little fishing. Oh my goodness. Cooked to perfection, baby. It's time to chow. Trout number one. That'll get the job done. Not too bad, folks, not too bad. And dinner is complete. I'm a lucky girl. We only have one fork. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna eat a piece of corn on the cob since it's so hot with my knife, my butter-filled knife, and this glove. And she's gonna dig into the trout first, so let's see what we're working with here. Wow. Corn is sweet, perfectly ripe. You can't beat corn on the cob in the summertime. Cooked over a campfire with a couple fresh brown trout. I've never had brown trout. It's my favorite fish that we've caught together so far. Really? Wow, those are strong words. We've cooked whitefish, we've cooked walleye, we've cooked lake trout, and we've cooked salmon. And this is her favorite fish. And halibut. Oh, we can't forget the halibut. This is her favorite fish. So that speaks volumes. This is so good. So what the plan is tonight is we're gonna paddle upstream to a nice-looking hole. We're gonna start there, and then we're just gonna listen until we start to hear trout feeding. Over the last couple nights that I've fished, I've learned so much, and I'm gonna keep putting those little pieces of information together, and it all fits into a puzzle to help you become more successful. We're gonna let darkness settle in, we're gonna let the bugs start hatching, wait to listen until we hear trout feeding on the surface, and then we'll hunt them. Okay, you ready, sweetie? Ready. Let's get them. Let's go. And we are off, folks. That's our guy. Look at those fireflies right there. I can just see that fly skimming across the surface, coming right underneath the log right now. We're waiting for a big brownie to come slurp him up. As the darkness settles in, the trout rise. Fish on, fish on, baby. We're hooked up with our first one, baby. Holly, stay in the boat, buddy. Holly, stay in the boat. Let's see what we have. Looks like a nice little rainbow trout to start the night. First one, had a couple takes so far, but the night is off to a good start. I'm gonna get this guy right back. Fish, big fish. Got that big one. I think it's a decent one. I heard this fish feeding for a while. Oh, it's a nice brownie. Really nice brownie, I think. Oh, it's a beauty. We got him in the net, baby. And look at all the hex hatching in my light here. Got one. We got him, we got him. Look at this fish. Beautiful brown trout. He rose on my fly a couple different times. I missed him. But finally that time, I stuck him. I'm gonna give you a quick look and I'm gonna get this fish right back. What a fish. Look at the colors and the spots on this guy. I heard this fish feeding for about 20 minutes and finally got him. I'm gonna get him right back in the water. There he goes, nice. Everybody's sleepy. After you, sir. This was the first year I've dedicated any time to hex fishing and dry fly fishing for trout at night. And I have to say, I'm absolutely hooked. Unfortunately, this will be the last night I probably will be able to get out for them this summer. We have some big trips planned, but one thing I know for sure is that next year, when this time of year comes around, I will be so excited and ready to rock and roll. We're gonna get some sleep. We'll see you guys first thing in the morning. Look at these two. Morning. Morning snugs. It's coffee time. Coffee, water, essentials. Campfire coffee. Oh, there we go. Wish them luck. Coming together. We're gonna go on a journey. We're going in with the pie iron. That's what we're after. Breakfast grilled cheese. We have Nicole's homemade sourdough with sausage, red pepper, onion, mozzarella cheese as a hobo pie. Let's give it a try. And I have to say, between the apple pie we had yesterday and now this breakfast burrito one, we'll just call it that. This is one of my all-time favorite camp meals, thanks to her. And we'll definitely be making these many more times in the future. All right, Maya, let's go. Come on, guys. Well, we had another beautiful morning at camp. We're getting packed up. It's only about 10 a.m., but the heat is already blistering. So we're gonna get loaded down and begin our journey downstream, back to our takeout. Good boy. Great trip. Maya doesn't want to leave. Me or Maya? Come on. In. In the boat. Good girl.