Guide holding a bronze smallmouth bass just above the river

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Spring & Summer: Smallmouth & Pike

Topwater takes, hard fights, warm mornings. From May through August the Grand gives up its bronze brawlers — and the occasional toothy surprise.

The Fishery

Bronze, bold, and close to home

Smallmouth bass are the Grand River's warm-weather headliners. They stack on gravel bars, current seams, and woody cover from late May into August, and they eat a fly with genuine violence — surface poppers at dawn, streamers through the midday sun.

Northern pike patrol the same water. When a forty-inch torpedo torpedoes your bass fly, you will understand why our guides always keep a wire leader and a big flashy streamer within reach.

Angler holding a long northern pike streamside

What's included

  • Full-day (8 hour) or half-day (4 hour) float with a professional guide
  • All rods, reels, flies, leaders, and terminal tackle
  • Waders and wading boots in your size, disinfected after every trip
  • Streamside lunch, snacks, and cold drinks on full-day trips
  • One or two anglers per boat — never crowded, always personal
  • Flies that worked today, and the reasons they worked, so you learn
TripLengthRate
Full-day float, 1–2 anglers8 hours$495
Half-day float, 1–2 anglers4 hours$325
Evening topwater special, 1–2 anglers3 hours$275

How the day goes

01

Meet at the shop

Coffee at 7:30, wader fitting, and a look at the day's flies. We launch from the ramp that fished best yesterday — conditions decide, not habit.

02

Fish the morning feed

Poppers and divers along shaded banks while the river wakes up. Your guide rows you into position and talks you through every cast.

03

Streamers and lunch

Big flies through deep slots after lunch, with a standing wire-leader rod ready for pike. Off the water by late afternoon, home for dinner.

Prime smallmouth dates fill fast

Late May through June is peak season. Tell us your dates and party size and we will lock in a boat with the right guide for your crew.