Manistee Michigan River Guides

The Manistee River is one of Michigan’s premier fishing floats. Clear, cool water, and excellent wildlife watching can be found on your fishing trip year round.

This 30-mile stretch of the river runs from M-37 above the town of Mesick to Tippy Dam in Wellston Michigan.

There is a good chance of viewing bald eagles from the footbridge across the Manistee River below Hodenpyl Dam it links the Manistee River Trail on the east side of the river with a bit of the North Country Trail on the west side. This creates a 20-mile hiking experience where wildlife and bird species are abundant.The bridge itself also allows for great viewing of fish.

To reach the bridge, go west from Mesick on M-115 two miles to Hodenpyl Dam Road, then five miles west to the Hodenpyl Dam entrance, then one half mile to Upper River Road, and then south to the bridge. Just beyond the Upper River Road turnoff is Hodenpyl Dam with access to fishing below the dam.

During the three to four hour float between Hodenpyl Dam and the Coates Highway bridge or Red Bridge not only is there some awesome fly fishing in this stretch but you may see eagles, river otters, red tailed hawks, deer, and even black bear along the river. closer to Red Bridge, which also serves as a connection for the river hiking loop. Here, where the Pine River joins the Manistee, stairs lead to a walkway on the Cooley Bridge spanning the river – chances of viewing bald eagles a short ways downstream are excellent in spring and early summer.

Another two miles west on M-55 you get to Tippy Dam Road follow it north to the dam. Here you can view the Tippy powerhouse from an overlook or follow the stairway down to the river below the dam, where anglers pursue the awesome salmon and steelhead runs along with viewing the white sturgeon that spawn in the early spring. The fishing below tippy dam is remarkable throughout the seasons with Brown trout, salmon, smallmouth bass and summer run steelhead and cohos showing up in early August, and the winter steelhead fishing on the Big Manistee is better then any of the other northern rivers.