anyone fish belle river?

[medicman503]

Hey, I just got into fly fishing and I live near the Belle River just north of richmond and I am trying to find an access point to wade. Anyone know of any public access onto the river? would really appreciate it.

steve

[ESOX]

Isn't there a park right at the Belle River and Gratiot?

[medicman503]

i will have to check on that. have you ever fished belle river?

[ESOX]

I fish the upper river couple times a year in the area around M-53. Loads of carp, bass, a few hammer handle pike and some panfish. I usually target the carp, what a hoot in skinny water on a fly rod. Used to fish it near Big Hand Road for steelies with limited success. Have fished it near Riley Center with the same mix as the M-53 area. Public access on theat river can be a problem, I just happen to know people with frontage. I am not sure if it is considered navigable or not.

[Paul Thompson]

Memphis has a little city park, have seen people fish there allot. Rough fish is about all you will see. Some natural spawning salmon in the fall, not many.

[WILDCATWICK]

Are we to talk about this river and access points???

If we are than I'll chime in as I fished fairly often. Many of the bridges are accessable. There is a ton of gravel off of Big Hand road and several of the other bridges.

The park at Gratiot has a lot of suckers & carp, as does alot of the water. But there is some nice holes and quite a bit of structure.

The runs are fairly minimal thu. Becoming less all the time as they have started to reduce plantings on the Belle & Mill creek in order to increase the stocking of the Clinton River. As a result it has seemd to get fewer returns ever year.

There can be some good bassing in the belle too. If you can find away to get access by the Belle River golf course you will find a wide variety of fish in every hole. You can see themn while golfing!:p

The park in Memphis has some interesting water below it. Very wadable. But again your not going to find alot of steelhead or salmon but you will find fish. There is some structure in this stretch but not enough. Plenty of gravle and holes. But holes are just holes without structure.

The Belle clouds up alot after rain and takes a bit to clear out.

[stinger63]

Couldnt have described anybetter myself wildcatwick.Looks like a classic trout stream in stretches but no trout with a very small limited run of steelies and Salmon dues to Lake Hurons declining fishery.Stocked on occasion with steelhead and brown trout smolts at the access point off of gratiot rd although I have never found that little park yet.

[ESOX]

The park is on the south side of Gratiot, about half way between Werner and Bauman rds. This is several hundred yards east of where the river actually crosses Gratiot, the river parallels Gratiot for a ways there, actually flowing northeasterly. A bit confusing when you first get there. LOL

The "park" is really just a glorified paved turnout with a dozen or so parking spots.

[stinger63]

I might want to add a little other tidbit about this stream that I know.It runs through alot of farmland and pics up an extremely high amount of chemical fertilizer runoff(Liquid Urea Nitrogen).It has had affect on fish populations and have alot reports from locals that I have spoke with that the streams doesnt have good populations of rock bass and the large ones that it used to hold.Theres several smaller springfed cooler tribs that run into this river.They once held small native trout populations but not anymore that I know of.If the river was made into a stream that was more agraculterial friendly it has alot of potential to be trout stream.

[ESOX]

The section I fish up by M-53 actually looks more like a glorified ditch than a river. Straightened, channelized, bermed on both sides. Cattle on one side, soybeans on the other. Carp weren't a shock, but the number of pike and bass were.

[friZZleFry419]

i havent fished there since i was like 14, is there a place up the road still that has the buffalo, it was a bar forget the name but ,step dad would take me there and get bufalo burger,the fish were never that great there then either,alot of panfish ocasional cat fish, the only place i ever saw a soft shell turtle was there!

[WILDCATWICK]

i havent fished there since i was like 14, is there a place up the road still that has the buffalo, it was a bar forget the name but ,step dad would take me there and get bufalo burger,the fish were never that great there then either,alot of panfish ocasional cat fish, the only place i ever saw a soft shell turtle was there!

Emil's! The building is still there but they have been closed for quite a few years now:sad: A lot of history with that place. But I think it's history making is permanantly over.

True comments Stinger. Maybe someday in the future something can be done about bank stablization. The cows and tractors are killing that river. Even if that was done I don't know if there ever would be a cold water for trout to take hold. But they certainly could make it a put & take trout fishery, that would probably would get a ton of action because of it's locale. But there would need to be some serious organization to make that happen and I don't see that anytime soon.

[stinger63]

The section I fish up by M-53 actually looks more like a glorified ditch than a river. Straightened, channelized, bermed on both sides. Cattle on one side, soybeans on the other. Carp weren't a shock, but the number of pike and bass were.

Thats up around riley center and just a tad north if I remember correctly.I have also fished and explored that section of the river.I havent been up much further north than that though.I would someday hope to explore further into the headwaters of this stream and Im hopeful that I might find some trout in these sections.This is a very long menandering river.The lower sections of the river north of Memphis access park have some interesting runs of water where the stream runs over hard rock and gravel.Its private access there and is actualy a driveway but I spoke with the owner and said I could get out and explore if I wanted to since I told him what my intentions were.

[ESOX]

Thats up around riley center and just a tad north if I remember correctly.

M-53 is VanDyke. That's just south of Imlay City, and it is the headwaters.

[pike-pwner]

i fish belle river park, memphis michigan alot....i mean alot... accually i am the one who fished it out, i practice catch and release, so i let go all fish 1 caught there but 2 small mouth bass (legal) and i let them get stocked in my pond...but anyway, belle river has potential, i mainly fish there instead of going on my dads boat because i love fishing for pike, its just so fun... and there is a pike who lives there, who i have caught twice, i named him mini-owner, because he is only 18-19 inches long...if you catch him i recomend you release him.:fish::fish2:also has anyone fished the gravel pit, right down the raod from the river? i wana try there.

[pike-pwner]

oh and also, there used to be trout in the river by the park, a few steel head every once in a while, but they were fished out years ago, along with all the big pike, the problem is, rock bass are like blue gill, when there arent enough predators, there growth gets stunted. so there isnt as many large rockbass as there used to be....pike pwn!!!

[ESOX]

Fished the upper Belle today. Found a pod of big carp lolling about in a hole. They ignored everything I offered to them, including my most prolific producers. Then the water started to get dingy, I noticed some a cow standing in the river about 3/8 mile upstream, with a half dozen on the south bank that had previously been on the north side. I was awakened from my acute awareness of my surroundings by my line tightening in the rod guides.:lol: After a 5 minute tussle I landed a nice carp I would estimate at 13-14#. The water stayed dingy as the cattle were still moving around upstream, and I landed a couple more smaller ones. That bite ended and I started to move up to the next hole closer to the cattle. After negotiating all the electric wires and soon after I reentered the river I discovered why all the cows had moved. The bull was out, and he was in a foul mood. He saw me from a couple hundred yards and started coming towards me, not too fast, but faster than I cared for. :SHOCKED::help:
I got a refresher course from the fence that graphite is a good conductor as I beat my retreat :tdo12: and headed downstream to another section I have permission to access from land. Hit a few holes and came up with a 12" pike and a few nice gills. By then the kids were done riding and I went and got them, they proceeded to give the old man a lesson on the effectiveness of garden hackle on carp.

[sweet tree]

not too many fishing stories end with being chased by a bull...Outstanding!

[WILDCATWICK]

Having cow's chum a stream can work wonders on getting the fish on the feed!!!! Nice story. It's always good to hear of success on those rivers that don't get much attention.

I hope to hit the Belle and Mill up while I'm at my cottage. I will probably try to fly fish in the big lake between sand bars. The salmon and cat's should be cruising in between sand bars anytime.

Has me thinking of Trout/Rondevouz..........any one hear from him lately??

[ESOX]

I haven't heard from Trout, but I have a few tidbits to offer on the flies for cats. I have been getting a decent bite going on the channels in Halloway lately when I can't find any carp to stalk. My best pattern has been with heavily weighted pigboat type flies tied clouser style, and with a bit more flash than you would use on a typical carp fly. Bounce it off the bottom a few times with short strips, then give it a good 3' strip. repeat. Forget watching your line, they seem to just SLAM the fly. Pretty dang feisty too. Even a little 14"er gives a great accounting of itself on my saltwater 6 wt. 20" and more and you are in for at least five minutes of tug of war. Seems like most fights end with the fish trying to screw you into the bottom as they keep circling you round and round.

[cmwilson2308]

Hey, I live in Richmond and my dad, girlfriend, and I fish the Belle River from Memphis to Marine City in a variety of spots. My dad and I really got into it a lot beginning last December and I landed a 4-5lb steelie the first time out. I have had two others hooked, but I lost them. I'd include the picture but I haven't figured that out yet. I've landed a few northern pike, numerous smallies, a few largemouth, lots of suckers, rock bass, sun fish, bluegill, and chubs. I have seen big fish (pike, largemouth, smallies) but they have been elusive. I catch and release everything. My dad and I landed a bunch of really small rainbows this past spring. My dad, who knows way more about fishing than I, guessed that someone had planted them. I have been mostly wading the river this summer and probably will this fall and winter. If the weather stays simliar to last year, my dad and I will be fishing the river well into January looking for steelhead. I'd dare to say I fish this river more than just about anyone, but I am still learning it as well. Most of what I know about it comes from my dad who has fished this river for almost 50 years. Lots of good spots to be found when wading.