Pere Marquette River Lodge — Hotel in Pleasant Plains Township

‘Disappointed and not going back’ I have been a loyal customer, fishing and lodging with the PERE MARQUETTE RIVER LODGE for the past 10-12 years, referring many friends and associates. I wrote a 5 star review 4 years ago. This year the experience was much different. I called on the way to the lodge to confirm a late check-in to find out that my favorite guide of many years had left, which happens. I was told they were setting me up with a guide that was a sub and not an employee guide of the shop. My past fishing experiences for the salmon run were to fish the catch and release/no motor section of the river and use fly rods and salmon eggs on the gravel beds, always with success. The new guide took us to a catch-and-kill section that allowed motors. We didn’t travel more than ½ mile each way of the launch all day and didn’t see any fish until the last ½ hour. He told us he didn’t fish the up river gravel beds with fly rods and eggs because it was ‘un-sportsman like’ and most of the people snagged fish that way. He said that if someone wanted to fish that way he would tell them to book another guide, which we couldn’t do at that point as we were on the river. In addition, he made us fish with baitcasters. This was the worst day fishing I’ve had there, especially disappointing for my 14 yr old son as he had great success and fun the year prior. The next morning when I went to pay the bill, the office staff showed no empathy or concern. I relayed my frustration about the fishing and told the guy at the front desk that if I had to fish with the same guide next year I would not return. His response was to look up from his computer and only say “understood”. The slightest bit of concern could have gone a long way, but there was none. The woman next to him was also working on her computer and never raised her head to look at me. No response at all when I said I’d been coming there for 10-12 years or as I paid the $1,000 bill. There obviously has been some type of management or ownership change that is causing these culture and operational issues. If you value your time and money, I would not recommend doing business there, as I’m confident this treatment wasn’t exclusive to me. I have hunted and fished all over the world, and this was the most disappointing experience I have had at a high end lodge. I won’t...

My son and I fished with the PMRL from 2020 -2022. We were scheduled to hunt whitetails at Legends Ranch in late September of 2020 and were informed that the King Salmon would be running in the nearby Pere Marquette river during our stay. Needless to say we immediately made reservations to fish with the PMRL following our whitetail hunt. Well, after some “on the river” fly fishing lessons with lodge owner Frank Willets, we spent the next 3 days in a King Salmon fishing paradise! Guide Uber (Chris Raines) led my son and I on an incredible father/son fishing adventure during which we brought an incredible number of hard fighting King Salmon to the net. My son also managed to catch a fall steelhead with the help of Uber. When the Kings take over the river, an amazing opportunity to fish for some of the heaviest, hardest fighting salmon in the world with fly fishing tackle presents itself. Needless to say, we were “hooked”. We came back the next 2 years…a bit earlier (mid September) in order to catch the migrating Kings when they were fresh (freight trains!!). We also came in the spring for 2 years to fish when the steelhead were running. Steelhead are more challenging to catch but present a unique and incredibly rewarding fishing experience. Our next objective is to visit PMRL during June to fish for brown trout. As we came back from year to year, we discussed other potential fishing adventures with Frank and our guides and as a result have ended up fishing in Alaska. We are also considering Belize and other potential destinations. I can’t recommend PMRL enough as a fresh water fly fishing destination. Great customer service, accommodations...

My son and I fished with the PMRL from 2020 -2022. We were scheduled to hunt whitetails at Legends Ranch in late September of 2020 and were informed that the King Salmon would be running in the nearby Pere Marquette river during our stay. Needless to say we immediately made reservations to fish with the PMRL following our whitetail hunt. Well, after some “on the river” fly fishing lessons with lodge owner Frank Willets, we spent the next 3 days in a King Salmon fishing paradise! Guide Uber (Chris Raines) led my son and I on an incredible father/son fishing adventure during which we brought an incredible number of hard fighting King Salmon to the net. My son also managed to catch a fall steelhead with the help of Uber. When the Kings take over the river, an amazing opportunity to fish for some of the heaviest, hardest fighting salmon in the world with fly fishing tackle presents itself. Needless to say, we were “hooked”. We came back the next 2 years…a bit earlier (mid September) in order to catch the migrating Kings when they were fresh (freight trains!!). We also came in the spring for 2 years to fish when the steelhead were running. Steelhead are more challenging to catch but present a unique and incredibly rewarding fishing experience. Our next objective is to visit PMRL during June to fish for brown trout. As we came back from year to year, we discussed other potential fishing adventures with Frank and our guides and as a result have ended up fishing in Alaska. We are also considering Belize and other potential destinations. I can’t recommend PMRL enough as a fresh water fly fishing destination. Great customer service, accommodations...