March and April are the most promising months for fishing for steelhead on Michigan rivers, and the Pere Marquette here has been one of the top destinations for years, especially for fly anglers who want the ultimate challenge.

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The spring spawning run generally reaches its peak during March and April, which makes it one of the best times of the year to pursue steelhead trout, one of the more aggressive and beautiful fish in Michigan waters.

I got the chance to do some fly fishing earlier this month out of the Pere Marquette River Lodge here with Bob Gwizdz, the outdoor writer for Booth Newspapers' Lansing Bureau.

Our guides were Brad Turner and Ed McCoy, two young men who are self-employed fishing guides who contract their services through the Orvis-endorsed lodge.

They are among the 23 lodge fishing guides who fish more than a half-dozen rivers in Michigan, including the Au Sable, Pine, Big Manistee, Little Manistee, White, Jordan and Betsie rivers.

We spent a long day on the river in two drift boats manned by McCoy and Turner, who did a great job of finding steelhead in all the hot spots along nearly nine miles of the fast-flowing river. They know every bend, hole and spawning gravel in the river, and that kind of local knowledge is what makes a good fishing guide so invaluable.

We were fishing a section of the river, immediately downstream of Baldwin, that is strictly catch-and-release, flies only.

Those kinds of restrictions may be one of the major reasons why the Pere Marquette is so good; it is not uncommon to see vehicles from several states parked in public access sites along the river every weekend in March.

Gwizdz ended up catching a nice 8-pound female and several brown trout, all of which were immediately released. I had a nice-sized female hooked up for a five-minute, back-breaking brawl that ended when it broke off during its second charge upstream towards me. The two guides also landed several fish.

Turner is only 29, but he has been a professional guide for 12 years. His earliest memory, dating back to when he was about 6, was going fishing on the Pere Marquette with his father. He started his fishing career as a guide in Alaska for two summers, and has been fishing ever since on Michigan's west side.

Last year, he spent 133 days on the water with his clients and another 150 or so days fishing by himself or with friends.

"I've had lots of wealthy clients, and many of them envy my job," he said. "I've always told myself that I didn't want to work at a job I didn't like."

Turner said the key component to successful steelhead fishing is presentation of the fly.

Turner likes to fish with two egg-pattern flies suspended under a strike indicator, with the flies adjusted to the depth of the water so they are within that narrow window where a steelhead can see it properly.

"You have to keep that fly above the fish's head," he said. "The biggest reason why steelhead get spooked is that too many people put their fly right in the face so often they get line shy."

Turner is a big supporter of the new owner-operator of the Pere Marquette River Lodge, Frank Willetts. Willets owns the lodge with two college buddies.

Together, Willetts said, they have invested more than $100,000 in the last 14 months restoring and refreshing the old lodge, which lies on the north bank of the river just south of Baldwin.

Turner said he believes Willetts is sincere in his desire to restore the reputation of the lodge, which was run for several years by a largely absentee owner who reportedly allowed the business to run down.

Before that man's tenure, the lodge was owned by Tom and Jim Johnson, two men who are well-known in the Flint area. Tom Johnson, along with his wife, is now the caretaker of the famed Flint Rainbow Club on the Pere Marquette, not far from the lodge.

"He (Willetts) is doing a fine job restoring the lodge's reputation," Turner said. "He is a serious angler himself and he has a lot of fresh ideas. He likes meeting new people and being part of the business."

Willetts, 39, grew up on a lake in the Union Lake area near Novi and spent his summers at a family cabin on the Au Sable River. He has been an avid angler for years.

Willetts spent 18 years in the automotive supply industry, the last five years as the general director of a company's Latin American branch, all in Mexico. He said he retired from that business in 2003 because he wanted to try something new, and eventually decided to get involved in the fishing lodge.

Willetts is proud of the fact that the Pere Marquette lodge is one of four Orvis platinum dealers in the state, which is the highest level for Orvis-endorsed dealers. He points out that the lodge, which includes 10 guest rooms, five cabins and two houses, is open to all kinds of family and corporate events.

"We want to ensure that we are one of the best fly fishing destinations possible," he said.