Rainbows were introduced in Michigan in 1876. They came from California and the Sacramento / McCloud/ Crooks creek systems. Many went to the Great Lakes and evolved to be freshwater steelhead. Today on my home waters of the large Muskegon tailwater, the rainbows are beautiful and grow large and very surface oriented for dry fly fishing all year including winter. Our river has an Eagle Lake California strain rainbow that has amazing spotting and tremendous selective surface preferences duringall the hatches
Our rainbows really come into the highest dry fly and wet fly swinging capacity when the caddis hatches of late summer and fall kick in. Here they act like fussy Henry’s Fork rainbows that can be stalked “head hunting” on long upper river flats loaded with vegetation and insects – one giant spring creek environment.