The Pigeon

The Pigeon has two distinctly different sections.  The upper section is in the Pigeon River Country Forest, due east of Vanderbilt, and is a wading-only trip.  It's beautiful, clear water that switches back and forth between sand and gravel.  It's mostly easy wading with the water going from ankle to waist deep.  The downstream section I float is just east of the Wolverine/Indian River area.  The top two thirds of the float are slow and gentle with moderate depth.  The bottom third becomes very shallow, fast-flowing water over mostly gravel and mid-sized rock.  The river has enough width to make casting relatively comfortable, and it can produce some nice daytime fishing with decent numbers of smaller trout that rise to dry flies.  The high hillsides and hardwoods on the lower Pigeon often make me feel like I'm fishing a western freestone river.  Flowing into Mullett Lake, the Pigeon can produce some nice steelhead fishing in the spring.  The fish are much smaller than those you might find on rivers flowing into Lake Michigan, but there are also fewer anglers.  It's a pretty special place to catch a 16-22 inch steelhead with no other person in sight.