The Manistee River runs approximately 232 miles through Michigan's northern lower peninsula, through the villages of Sharon, Smithville, Mesick, Wellston and enters Lake Michigan at Manistee. It is considered to be one of the best trout fisheries east of the Rockies. The river rises in the sand hills in southeastern Antrim County, on the border with Otsego County, about six miles southeast of the town of Alba. These deep glacial sands provide it with a remarkably stable flow of clean cold water year round, making it a popular river for fishing as well as canoeing. Over the course of its length, it drops in elevation from around 1300 feet to 582 feet, with an average stream gradient of about 2.9 feet per mile.

The Manistee River is one of the finest steelhead, salmon, and trout rivers in Michigan and the Great Lakes area. Known as the "Big Manistee," or just "The Big," because of its neighbor the Little Manistee, the Manistee is one of the most diverse fisheries in the country. A pre-imminent river for the migration of Lake Michigan steelhead and salmon, it is also a quality trout stream.

The Pere Marquette River

The PM as it's called, is historic in other senses as well. It was the first river in the country to be stocked with the Brown Trout from Germany, the German Brown. While that fish is still present in numbers, and offers great fly fishing challenge, the river is nearly as well known for its seasonal migrations of Steelhead and Salmon.

The PM was an important river during the logging era (1860-1900) offering transportation of logs and people to the mills down river. Today the PM is designated a National Wild and Scenic River as well as a Sate designated Natural River. This river is the playground to paddle sports, anglers and naturalists.