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North
East Michigan Steelhead Fishing Report - Jan 21st
Winter is here now in North East Michigan with a
couple of good snows and some very cold weather
of late. For those that do not mind the
cold and like some solitude on the river its a
great time to get out and steelhead fish.
Even in the cold temps of the past week
steelhead fishing on the lower Au Sable has been
pretty good! With cold temps water levels
are very low right now and the amount of good
winter holding water does shrink but there are
some nice big pods of steelhead around.
Best bite of late has been in the late morning
thru early afternoon. Calling for a nice
warm up on Monday with even some rain and temps
around 40. With the lower Au Sable being a
short system look for a nice push of bright
silver fish coming in from Lake Huron. Right now
there are good numbers of steelhead throughout the
waters from Foote Dam to the mouth at Lake
Huron. Of late been catching many in
the 4-9lb range and also good number of 2-3lb 2
year old fish. Water temps are in the
middle 30's and fish are in the deep water this
time of year. Sand holes with some
structure around them are the best in the winter
months on the Au Sable. The mild winter
temps are ideal for the flows on the
lower river and keeping water levels above 1000 cfs at Foote Dam greatly improves the fishing
conditions. Hopefully this comes back
early this week with mild temps forecasted but
of late water levels have been much lower than
this. Top producing flies of late have
been lots of small egg patterns and they do need
to be fished deep. Still a few fish being
caught swinging big flies on sink tips - leeches, sculpin & bait fish patterns
right over the top of all of those logs.
But this bite is getting much slower now that
winter river temps have settled in.
We took
Michigan Out of Doors TV for a float down the
lower Au Sable for some late fall/early winter
steelhead fishing in mid December 2011. It
aired recently on there weekly TV show and can
be viewed online at:
http://www.michiganoutofdoorstv.com/shows.cfm?VideoID=169
 Jan 20th -
Dan and Jason with some very nice Au Sable River
steelhead. It took a while for winter to
get here this year but it was here today with
very cold temps starting in single digits and
warming to mid teens. Turned into a nice
day for some winter steelhead fishing as at
least the winds stayed down. Enjoyed the
float and even with the less than ideal
condition still had decent fishing with 4 nice
steelhead hooked. Great thing about cold
temps is you get the river to yourself as we did
not see another angler today.
  Jan 20th -
Fighting steelhead with the two handed fly rod
setup with an indictor rig and small egg
patterns. For having extreme cold, river
was in decent shape but levels were falling
today and water is very low right now.
Shelf ice is growing but not bad at all.
 Jan 18th -
Some great action this afternoon and I got out
for a few hours - hooked 6 and landed 4.
Been putting a lot more time into the winter
steelhead fishing on the Au Sable this year and
looking forward to doing more winter guide trip.
As many of you know there have been some rough
times in recent years for this section of river
but what a change starting this late fall.
With so many nice size steelhead and a few
different age classes coming back from the Lake
Huron now - the future is looking bright!
 Jan 16th -
Some very low water today on the lower Au Sable.
We put in the late morning when water started to
come back and had some pretty good fishing.
On the lower Au Sable very cold nights typically
means low water.
 Jan 12th -
Albert and Erik with some nice steelhead on the
Au Sable River! Good bite today just
before the heavy snows started. Last
night's snow did put some extra water in the
lower river and should be ideal for the fishing.
  Jan 11th -
Herb with a real nice winter steelhead on the Au
Sable. Got to love guys that put the
kind of time into winter steelheading like Herb
and been catching some nice fish this winter.
 Jan 8th -
Just a beautiful Au Sable River steelhead being
released like they ALL should!
 Jan 8th -
Albert with a nice steelhead on the lower Au
Sable while floating with Erik. The winter
steelhead fishing continues to remain pretty
consistent! Could use some good snow or
rain.
 Jan 7th -
Excellent winter steelhead fishing continues on
the lower Au Sable River! Fished just the
afternoon today and we put 5 bright ones in net
- just good steady fishing of late.
  Jan 6th -
Small flies have been the key of late on the Au
Sable. Typical in the winter our most
productive small flies are natural type nymphs
like Hex, Green & Cream Caddis, Hares Ear and
Stone Flies. These have been producing but
of late our micro egg clusters have been
producing most of our hook up. Been a
little surprise how hard they have been taking
these little flies!
 
 Jan 5th -
Adam & Erik got out on the lower Au Sable just
for the afternoon and went 4 for 7 with some
nice bright steelhead!
 Jan 1st -
New Model in from Abel with their Chrome
Steelhead finish. The Super 9/10N is just
the ideal model for the longer steelhead rods!
Size and weight is perfect (4.2" diameter & 8.2
oz) for switch rods & small two handed rods.
Reel is large enough to hold any of the
steelhead lines for these rods. I have
been fishing this one on my 11' 9" 7wt TCX and
11' 8wt Z-Axis - my new favorite steelhead reel.
Will be keeping one of these in stock along with
a good stock of other Abel's with their fish
graphics finish.
 Dec 31st -
Strange to be fishing the last day of year with
no snow! Had some good fishing today and
landed 3 nice steelhead on lower Au Sable.
 December
24th - Good steelhead fishing today in the lower
Au Sable! Small flies down deep has
been producing the best of late. Lots of
different egg patterns - nuke eggs, glo bugs,
micro clusters.
 
Here is the
before and after graphs - above Dec 2009 before
auto flow system was installed and below Dec
2011 with flows running smoothly with the
current conditions.
What a positive change it has made to the river and the steelhead fishery and hopefully it continues!  
 December
23rd - Corey and Craig with a couple very nice
Au Sable River Steelhead - Good action
continues!
 December
16th - Jordan Browne from Michigan Out-of-Doors
TV came today to film some steelhead fishing in
the lower river. Lots of changing weather
of late and it did seem like the bite was sure
not as good as the past few days. Still we
hooked 6 and landed 3. Hopefully Jordan
will be able to put together a nice piece for
one of there up coming shows this winter.
 December
15th - Feel like spring had come today with
morning temps in the middle 50's!
Excellent fishing today with some nice chrome
fish around. Here is one being released
like they all should be on the Au Sable.
A nice
article that Eric Sharp wrote about steelhead
fishing on the lower Au Sable River and
improvements of our fishery.
 December
8th - David with a bright silver Au Sable River
Steelhead! Starting to feel like winter
today with high winds and cold temps.
Small egg patterns produced the best today.
 December
7th - David with a nice Au Sable River
steelhead!
 December
6th - Greg with some excellent steelhead fishing
on the Au Sable River today!
 December
4th - Tom and John with some nice Au Sable River
steelhead today! Bright silver steelhead
above just crushed a sculpin pattern being swung
on sink tip. Recent rains and warm up were
just ideal for this fishery. Lower River
is in great shape right now and steelhead
remains pretty good!
  November
28th - Excellent steelhead fishing in the lower
Au Sable the last couple weeks and double digit
hook ups today! With warmer than normal
November we have had this year river temps are
still in the lower 40's and fish are very
aggressive with some great fights. Changes
in the steelhead stocking and improved flow
management at Foote Dam sure seems to be
working.
  Nov
11-19th - We just got back from steelhead
fishing Alaska's Situk River and had good time!
Conditions were not as planned and we got pretty
much buried in snow. Cut into our fishing
time but what a beautiful river and some great
looking steelhead. Will be posting more
photos in the next couple days.
  Sept 28th
- Alex with just a huge lake run brown trout!
Been seeing a number of these lately coming from
Lake Huron tributaries in North East Michigan.
Look for steelhead to start very soon!
 May 5th -
Ben with great looking Au Sable River Steelhead!
Had some pretty good fishing today putting 6 in
the net. Still bright silver fish entering
river and should have a couple more good weeks
of spring steelhead fishing.
 
 May 1st -
Scott with nice steelhead on the lower Au Sable
today! Fishing just continues to keep
getting better and finding some nice adult
steelhead now. With the high water and
some larger fresh run fish getting them in the
net was the probably today. Hooked over a
dozen today!
 April 30th
- Scott with a very nice fresh run Au Sable
River Steelhead!
 April 29th
- Some beautiful Au Sable River Steelhead and
some excellent fishing this evening! I
have cancelled float trips on the lower river
since Tuesday due to nasty weather and flood
conditions. Went down late this afternoon
after flood gates were closed and river is in
great shape. Fishing has also excellent!
Hopefully more of this continues for the month
of May!
  April 29th
- The water clears quickly below Foote and is in
great shape now. One of the best high
water steelhead rivers in the Michigan!!
 April 24th
- Craig with cool looking Au Sable River
steelhead! Water was on the rise today and
had some great action.
 April 21st
- Tom and Tom with a couple of nice bright
silver steelhead on the Au Sable. Numbers
of steelhead in the river continue to increase
everyday of late! These guys had a great
way to enjoy the Au Sable - steelhead one day in
lower river and next day trout in the Big
Waters.
 April 19th
- After a slow start to the spring steelhead run
finally starting to see some fish! Water
temps finally hit 40 degrees and all ice is off
Foote Pond.
 April 16th
- Long time Au Sable angler Aaron Mastro with as
bright of a steelhead as they come!
Numbers have been a bit low of late and love
seeing this great Lake Huron steelhead released
back to river.
  April 12th
- These young steelhead have become a very
common sight since this fall. Spring of
2010 the stocking location was brought back up
to Rea Rd at the top of the steelhead water.
For the first time in over a decade these fish
stayed in the river till mid to late May with
out those nasty cormorants eating them.
Past cormorant harassment projects worked so
well numbers of birds did not come into river
and let hope the same for this year. Not
really a surprised the number of this sized
steelhead shot right up. These fish should
be released because they are the future.
Stocking starts this week and the same plan as
last year is going to happen. Very high
water on the river today and starting to see
some nice chrome adult fish in the river also!
 April 12th
- Foote Pond is still completely frozen and
keeping the steelhead water very cold in upper
30's. When this ice is gone typically the
best numbers of steelhead enter river.
With the very late spring look for Steelhead
fishing to last most of May.
 April 13th
- High and still very clear in the top of river
below Foote. As you go down stream it does
start getting a bit dirty. Water was still
rising yesterday after I took this photo.
Should be ideal levels late this week.
 April 10th
- Here is what we are looking for! A
bright silver fresh run steelhead. Should
be bunch more of these around in the next week.
 March 24th
- Alex with a nice North East Michigan steelhead
and winter is sure back this week. There
are a number of smaller streams that feed the
northern portion of Lake Huron that do get a
nice run of steelhead and typically you will not
see another angler this time of year.
Going to have to search these streams out on
your own as I cannot post these on web!
 March 15th
- Fighting an Au Sable River steelhead with our
indictor method on 11' 9" 7wt custom Sage fly
rod. Lower river is still ice cold and
very low water of late. The use of small
floats is ideal to get a perfect drift in and
around all of the logs in the slow deep holes.
 March 14th
- Water levels are very low right now in
lower river and hopefully with the warm temps we
get some good run off very soon.
 Feb 25th -
Spring steelhead fishing is here!
 Feb 20th -
A bright silver Au Sable River steelhead!
Ideal weather today before the snow storm
started and fairly good fishing - hooked 3 and
landed 2. Spring is not here yet but it is
coming soon! We are coming into one of
favorite times for lower Au Sable late
winter/early spring. This time of year you
can have all kinds of different weather from
bitter cold winter to a nice spring day.
Great time to find bright silver steelhead and
not much fishing pressure. We are booking
spring trips now and peak spring run would be
considered mid March thru early May.
 Feb 18th -
Enjoyed the morning steelhead fishing with Abbe
on the lower Au Sable River! She is
growing up so fast and becoming such a good boat
dog. She was with me for a week of fishing
in Arkansas and now going just about every time
on the Au Sable.
 Feb 18th -
Here are my typically setups for steelhead
fishing this time of year on the lower Au Sable
River. Two Handed 12'6" 7wt TCX with a Rio
Skagit Flight line & T-14 sink tip for swinging
streamers, 11' 8wt Z-Axis switch rod with a Rio
Switch floating fly line for indicator rig, and
10' 7wt Z-Axis with Rio shooting line for deep
water nymphing. Could also add a 9' 8wt
Xi3 or BII-MX with a Rio 250 DC 24' sink tip for
streamer fishing the very lower end near Lake
Huron.
Jan 31st -
The last 4 years there has been a lot of
complaints about how hydro dams have been
operated on the Au Sable River and how they
negatively affect the conditions for steelhead &
trout fishing on the Au Sable River. In
the past most discussions have all been based on
justifications for the current plan of
operations but today our Michigan DNR is
sounding a bit different! Talks of truly
looking into the flow problems, looking into how
past hydro operations have changed the Au Sable
River, and looking for some solutions for
improvements. Received this letter today
and maybe this is a sign of good things to come
for the Au Sable River!
Kelly, I wanted to give you a brief update on where we are at this time in dealing with the issues on the AuSable River. I spent quite a bit of time last week reviewing the AuSable gauge data along CPCo operations information and it is pretty clear that there are some very odd readings coming from both Red Oak and McKinley, given the geology and overall hydrology of the AuSable River. The question is whether these readings are part of the natural river hydrology or the result of man-made perturbations such as historic logging or peaking (Mio was a full peaking operation until 1969). We are going to look at the historic record both the early surveyors' information for channel width information and a series of historic aerial photos to see what we can determine on the root cause of these issues. As you have pointed out to us, there is a lot of unexpected instability in cold water flows that we suspect are the result of an over-wide channel from previous human activities. Since these readings are the root cause of the rest of the system instability and if human-caused, we will focus attention and efforts to move these channels back to something more natural to the system. If human-caused, we will work to get the channel back to a more natural and normal stream shape which may make a large difference in the hydrology of the system as a narrower channel is not as likely to freeze up as the current channel does. We are starting this background work now and will keep you updated as we go. Your observations really helped to point a key hydrology issue that could help the whole system. I would also like to know from your perspective what the specific habitat issues when the flows are low below Foote Dam. Are there particular areas that have problems that we can focus on? We intend to take a detailed look at this reach of river to see what can be done to improve conditions there and really can use your insights to help focus our efforts. This is being driven by the knowledge that the AuSable River does not have a lot of stream power (flow and gradient equal power) to move sediment in the channel from the many, many years of peaking abuses, thus there is a lot of material in storage in the channel and given the lack of stream power, it will take a very low time for the channel to come to equilibrium. We maybe able to take some measures to increase the channel efficiency in moving sediments, increase deeper water even in lower flows, and move the stream to an expected future equilibrium point quicker. We would appreciate your help and knowledge in this area. Finally, we are also working on some fine tuning measures for the flows below Foote. These will not be wholesale as some have suggested and we need to make sure they are doable. I should know more in the next few days and we will try to get them implemented quickly. We know that the forecast for the week is for very cold temperatures which will create more of the same issues for anglers. I will let you know more here as I do. In summary, we intend to tackle the channel issues that you and others have pointed out to us. We also will try to make some improvements to the flows in the interim. Your observations and thoughts have been a great help and we will need your detailed experience with channel conditions in the lower AuSable River so we can be focused in our efforts. Gary E. Whelan MI DNR Fisheries Division P.O. Box 30446 Lansing, MI 48909
 Jan 26th -
Here is one angler that sure knows how to catch
winter fish - Herb with a very nice Au Sable
River steelhead! After some nasty flows
last week river is running good right now -
steady at 1200 cfs of late. This is ideal
for winter fishing and hopefully it continues.
 Jan 24th -
The Au Sable River and it anglers deserve
better! Two years ago automatic system for
Foote Dam was discussed in public meeting in
Oscoda with concerned anglers, Consumers Energy,
Michigan DNR, and other oversee agencies.
Consumers Energy stated erratic flows were
caused by manual operations and predicting the
water coming into Foote Pond. Installing
automatic controls on Foote Dam was explained to
us as way to greatly improve problem. What
a load of Bull Shit that was! Automatic
system was attached to the most erratic gauge on
river and what happened? Now flows are
more erratic and it happens everyday in the
winter months - all by design!
Anglers that are sick of this abuse need to
voice your feeling - we deserve better.
Whelan,
Gary (DNRE)
[WHELANG@michigan.gov]
Kruger,
Kyle (DNRE)
[KRUGERK@michigan.gov]
Borgeson,
Dave (DNRE)
[BorgesonD@michigan.gov]
Here is
more info on this issue from the past couple
years:
 January
15th - Swinging flies on the lower Au Sable for
steelhead. Of late this method has been
producing some nice fish. Rio Skagit
Flight fly line with a 12' sink tip of T-14 has
been ideal setup of late. Below are 3
sculpin patters that have all been producing.
 Here is
link to a youtube video of fighting a nice
winter steelhead on the lower Au Sable with two
handed rod.
 December
30th - Erik with just a perfect Au Sable River
steelhead that was caught swinging a sculpin
pattern on a sink tip. Had good fishing
today hooking 4 steelhead and putting 2 in the
net. Water condition were very low but
fish were very active and all fish today were on
streamers. Hopefully river gets a little
new water this weekend and should continue to
bring these bright silver fish in from Lake
Huron.
 December
30th - Two handed fly rods are ideal for
swinging streamers and the 12' 6" 7wt Sage TCX
is my favorite. Here is rod in action
today!
 December
30th - This rust colored sculpin pattern has
been hot of late and out fished our nymphs and
eggs of late! Last 2 floats it has hooked
5 steelhead.
 December
26th - Even in cold weather steelhead will just
crush a streamer at times! Natural sculpin
patterns are the most productive streamers right
now. Most productive method of late has
been fishing egg & nymph patterns fished down
deep under a float. Been seeing more
steelhead in the lower Au Sable River that last
few days and more nice sized adult fish.
Should have some good fishing with warmer
weather forecasted late this week.
 Dec 21st -
We went as far downstream as you could go today
on the Au Sable River and fished right thru town
and out into Lake Huron. Still good
numbers of young steelhead holding in the deep
holes right now and some good action.
Adult fish have been tough to find of late but
we will keep looking! This time of year is
just a great time to steelhead fish for those
that like to enjoy the winter months outdoors
and looking forward to more days on the river
over the next couple weeks. Water levels
are back to being more stable after very poor
operations last week - this should make for
better fishing over the next week.
 December
17th - Back to some extremely poor operations at
Foote Dam and the lower Au Sable's steelhead
water. These fall outs have been a major
issue the last few winters and in so many ways
have been address very poorly by Consumers
Energy and our Michigan DNRE. New
automatic system at Foote was installed a year
ago and was supposed to make improvements to
these major flow swing problems during the cold
weather months. Has it made improvements
in this area? Not in the least bit! Did
the current system have a chance at
improvements? Never had a chance and those
setting it up knew this. What new system
has done is smoothed the curves out some and
dams on the Au Sable do seem to follow each
other better which is a good thing. Over
the last couple weeks our DNRE has assured me
they are finally working on some changes to this
system at Foote that would really address flow
issues. Sounds to me like they truly are
working on problem right now and have stated
should have a new plan very soon. But will
there be changes done this winter? I sure
hope so because the lower Au Sable River and its
steelhead anglers deserve so much better than
what is happening currently!
 December
15th - Here is what happens to our river when
Consumers Energy is allowed to operated Foote
Dam as they see fit. Time for those
oversee agencies to step up and demand change!
 December
10th - Took Abbe on first trip in boat down the
Au Sable steelhead fishing today. She did
very well but got a little excited when
steelhead started jumping around and did ended
up going for a swim. At least she was
smart enough to head for shore after realizing
she could not get back to boat. Fishing
has pretty good and hooked 3 nice fresh run fish
in just a couple hours of fishing. Sure
looking forward to more winter steelhead after
this weeks storm blows thru!
  December
4th - A young steelhead that just crushed a
Conrad Scuplin in the lower Au Sable River.
There have been good numbers of this size
steelhead around this fall. There are some
nice 8-10lb adult steelhead in the river now but
numbers are low. Did hook one real nice
one today! With the colder weather
settling in, look to the deeper sand holes to be
holding the most fish. Water levels
are pretty low right now but at least they have
been stable this week which is typically good
for the bite. If the cold weather sticks
around this week it is time to break out the
nymphing rods.
 November
26th - Many are asking what happened to the
lower Au Sable on Wed. It is very simple -
Consumers Energy made believe it rained on
Tuesday and ran higher water at Foote to
generate power. Too much water was run off
of Foote Pond and then the collapse happened.
All of November operations have been piss poor
by Consumers Energy on the lower Au Sable.
There have been almost daily discussions on this
issue this month with personal from our DNRE
that are in charge of oversee these operations.
All can be assured they are extremely clear on
my views and how this is having a huge negative
effect on the lower Au Sable steelhead fishery.
Yes lack of rain has sure not helped this issue
this fall but it is not the cause. The
last month Consumers Energy has been releasing
data on the levels of the ponds above Foote Dam.
It clearly shows throughout the month of
November water has been increasing in these
ponds and yes Foote Dam has been set too low
most days. Then when the first bit of rain
comes flows are turned way to make power -
regardless of if it really rains or not.
This is clearly violating license agreements on
how Foote is supposed to be operated.
Some do not like it when I state this but I can
not help it if the truth hurts some peoples
feelings. Time for those oversee agencies
to step up and protect our steelhead fishery on
the Au Sable River. Steelhead numbers have
increased nicely this fall but without proper
water levels fishing will be very slow.
Will post more info as soon as I have it.
 November
19th - A beautiful steelhead from the shoreline
of Lake Huron. These fish are very
aggressive when you find them and top streamers
have been goby and baitfish patterns. With
the lack of rain this fall the shoreline of Lake
Huron is a good place to look for mint silver
steelhead! If we get some good rains look
for river numbers of steelhead to increase.
 November -
Here is assortment of the patterns that I swing
for steelhead in the lower Au Sable. We
will adding these to our online sales section in
the next couple days along with a bunch great
new steelhead patterns.
 November
- Above is excellent two handed rod that I
fished last week on the Au Sable River -
Redington CPX 13' 3" 8wt. Was very
impressed with this rod and it is an ideal two
handed rod for our Great Lakes steelhead rivers
and at an affordable price. I fished it
with a Rio Skagit Flight fly line and 12' & 14'
sink tips of T-14 - casted just beautifully!
Rod was balanced very nice and just the right
weight for a big steelhead. We are now
stocking this rod along a number of other two
handed & switch rods below - Sage TCX 12'6" 7wt,
Sage TCX switch rods, Winston BII-MX switch
rods, Sage Z-Axis 12' 9" 8wt, Redinton switch
rods and more. If interested, any
questions, would like to cast or fish one of
these just let me know at:
kelly@michiganstreamside.com We do offer
free shipping anywhere in the world on all of
our products!
  November
16th - River is very low and clear today making
for some tough steelhead fishing conditions.
It is about time for some good snows also - any
kind of precipitation would be a big plus for
the river!
 November
7th - Dale with a nice Au Sable steelhead.
Fishing sink tips and swinging sculpin &
baitfish patterns has been the most effective
method of late. Fishing was a bit tougher
this weekend as river dropped a bit more and
bright sunny conditions. River is still
very warm for this time of year and steelhead
numbers should continue to build with more
wet/cold weather.
 November
5th - Tom fighting a nice steelhead and below
releasing it back to the Au Sable! Had
real good action today and put 6 in the net.
  November
5th - There sure have been a lot these size
steelhead in the Au Sable of late! So good
to see and should be excellent for our future
fishery. This one above just crushed a
natural sculpin pattern. Below are some of the
flies that have been most effective of late.
  November
1st - Brad with a very nice steelhead on the Au
Sable River that just crushed a scuplin pattern
being fished on a sink tip. The two handed
& switch rods are very effective with time of
year and just ideal to swing flies with the Rio
Skagit lines and sink tips.
  November
1st - Fred fighting a nice steelhead this
morning before the sun came up and it was bit
cold with temps in the teens this morning.
Early start paid off with 2 in the net from the
first hole we fished!
 October
31st - Ross and Greg hit some steelhead on the
Au Sable today!
 October
29th - Recent rains and these younger 2 year
olds were just everywhere today! Great to
see more of these this fall and a great sign for
the future.
 October
26th - Nick is working some deep pockets behind
some gravel looking for steelhead. Storm
was coming fast today with high winds and rain.
Fishing was a bit slow today. Still mostly
younger steelhead in the river.
  Oct 18th -
Had a great day on the lower Au Sable with some
good steelhead fishing and river duck/goose
hunting today!
 
 November
steelhead fly fishing is coming real soon on the
lower Au Sable River. If we get some good
rains and cool weather look for fall runs to
start in lake October. Photos above are
all November steelhead from the past couple
years and this is considered prime time for fall
fish. Steelhead are very aggressive this
month and swinging leeches, sculpins and
baitfish patterns can be very productive.
When the big flies are not working egg patterns
and nymph are always top producers.
Photos below from Spring 2010, Fall 2009 and
the past Winter
 April 22nd
- Fighting a steelhead in clear waters of the Au
Sable River.
 April 22nd
- Eric and Mark with some very nice Au Sable
River steelhead! The morning started out
very slow but had a good afternoon of fishing.
 April 21st
- Joe and Larry had a good day of steelhead
fishing on the lower Au Sable River. Water
levels have been very low of late and the small
nymphs & egg patterns did the job today.
  April 16th
- Summer like weather today and we hooked and
landed a couple nice steelhead. As you see
water levels are getting very low and river is
need of a little rain. In the low water
swinging leech & sculpins patterns on sink tips
can be very productive this time of year.
Should be at least a couple more good weeks of
steelhead fishing in the lower river.
 April 9th
- Good rains with higher water and some
excellent fishing today on the lower Au Sable.
Double digit hookups!
 Cormorants
(flying rats) will be coming very soon to the
lower Au Sable! This picture is from last
spring but look for an early migration due to
the early spring.
The last three springs USDA Wildlife Services
and the Michigan DNR have setup a cormorant
harassment project to protect these young
steelhead. This project will be going
again this coming April and volunteers are
needed. To protect the steelhead
volunteers are stationed throughout the river
where the birds really group up.
Flare-type guns are used to shoot pyrotechnics
to keep birds on the move. When birds do
get very heavy USDA personal do come in and
remove some birds with shotguns. The last
3 years steelhead have been put in the river
very close to the mouth and this year some
changes are being made to the stocking process.
Stocking pens are going to be used to hold a
good number of the steelhead in the lower river.
With the use of these pens young steelhead are
safe and will grow & get imprinted to the Au
Sable. A good portion of fish will
not fit in the pens and they will be stocked
just below Foote Dam at Rea Rd. With
stocking these young fish 10 miles up from the
mouth the cormorant harassment will have to
change from past years. Now the problem
will be in the upper portion of the river to
begin with and volunteers and fisherman are
needed to help. Young fish are
supposed to stocked in the second week of April
and I will post dates when I have them.
I would like to really thank our DNR, USDA, and all volunteers who have helped the past 3 years! So far this year there has been an increase in the number of steelhead returning to the Au Sable and we are seeing larger fish. Not letting these young fish get eaten is huge and hopefully this year goes even better. Those that would like to help or want more info just email me at kelly@michiganstreamside.com  March 29th
- A beautiful Au Sable River steelhead.
Water levels are low right now and good rain is
really needed. Even in the low water
we have been getting some nice bright silver
fish in the deep runs and holes.
 March 19th
- Ron with a very cool Au Sable River steelhead!
Some say it is a little early for steelhead on
the Au Sable. Other say it is prime time
right now! We have been hooking some very
nice steelhead each float down the river of
late. If you're looking for some bright
silver steelhead in the deep holes in a gin
clear river with no pressure now is the time.
 March 19th
- I just love this photo of Ron releasing
steelhead back into the clear waters of the Au
Sable. You want more steelhead to catch
and larger fish - then do not kill the ones we
have!
 March 16th
- Matt with a bright silver Au Sable River
steelhead. Just a perfect day on the river
today! Got to love seeing fresh run
steelhead like this one. River is in great
shape right now - up a bit and running very
clear.
 March 16th
- Went to shoreline of Lake Huron this evening
and had some good action with two steelhead on
streamers. Right now is the time to fly
fishing the river mouths and shoreline of Lake
Huron for these big trout - Steelhead, Browns
and Lakers.
 March 6th
- Kris Walley with a very nice Au Sable River
Steelhead. Such a nice day on the river
today. Perfect weather for March with temp
into the middle 40's, almost no fishing pressure
and a few nice fresh run steelhead! The
river is still running very low and fish are
holding in the slow deep water. Today we
fished switch rods (Sage 11' 8wt Z-Axis) with
floating lines, floats and small nymphs/eggs
down deep. Top fly producer were Great
Lakes Shrimp and our Streamside Hex. Warm
weather is forecasted for the next few days.
This should bring water levels up a bit and some
fresh run fish from Lake Huron.
 Sage
Switch rod in action fighting an Au Sable
steelhead! These 11'ers are just ideal
rods for the early spring steelhead fishing.
Float lines and large indictors (just coming out
of water in photo) with these longer rods work
extremely well for slow deep pools. This
time of year that is where the fish are.
 Here are
some of our most productive steelhead nymphs of
late on the lower Au Sable of late. From
left to right: Impossihex is new pattern
we got this winter from Michael Schmidt and it
has been very effective in the clear water of
the lower Au Sable. Great Lakes Shrimp,
Streamside Hex and 20 incher Stone are all long
time favorites for winter and spring steelhead.
 March 1st
- There have been a lot of young steelhead
18-20" of late caught on the lower Au Sable
River like the one above. These fish are
the future of our steelhead fishing and need to
be released. The last few years the
Michigan DNR has been trying to improve the
stocking process by putting stocked fish in
earlier in the spring and lower in the system.
Also volunteers have worked the last three
Aprils to protect these young stocked steelhead
from the nasty Cormorants that try to eat them.
It is so good to now see more of these 2 year
old steelhead in the river and hopefully it
means more adult fish in the future.
 Feb 24th -
A very nice fresh run steelhead on the lower Au
Sable. There are some nice steelhead
around right now and fishing is pretty good for
winter fishing. After fishing the very
lower section by Lake Huron and I went upstream
and hit a couple holes. Hooked two nice
adult steelhead in a couple hours using floats
and small hex nymphs & egg patterns. I ran
into some buddies from Alpena and they had put a
couple in the net with this nice chromer above
that Chris caught. Spring is coming soon
and typically what kicks spring steelhead run
into high gear is a good flush of water - which
I'm sure is not far off. Weather is
looking pretty nice for the coming week with
highs in the upper 30's!
 Feb 24th -
This is still a bit early but with the mild
February went looking for one of those giant
Lake Huron Brown Trout at the mouth of the Au
Sable River this morning. No luck today
but mouth of river is in very good shape and it
will not be long now. There was some some
chuck ice blowing around in the lake but it was
not a problem to fish around. This area
can produce some quality trout on streamers in
March and April - Steelhead, Brown Trout, Lake
Trout and even the occasional Atlantic Salmon.
Top flies are baitfish patterns (Great Lakes
Deceivers, Alewives, Perch) and goby imitations.
 January
25th - Good winter steelhead fishing continues
on the lower Au Sable River! Today I had
the entire river to myself and landed 5 nice
steelhead. Deep water nymph fishing with
strike indictors produced all hookups today.
Hex nymphs, Great Lakes Shrimp, and micro egg
patterns all had some action. The river is
in great shape right now for winter steelhead
fishing. Water levels of late have been at
a very normal winter level and did rise a couple
inches today from the recent rains.
Water temps are very cold right now and bright
sunny days have been producing the best fishing
of late. There are a few slightly warmer
spots in the river and hitting them in the late
morning till mid afternoon has been productive.
  January
16th - Lisa & Ron Matthews with some very nice
Au Sable River steelhead today! Last week
finally some much improved flow management at
Foote Dam and now much better steelhead fishing.
So nice to see those like Lisa & Ron, that care
so much about the lower Au Sable, enjoying the
river and some good winter steelhead fishing.
  January 16th - As you can see
from graph above flows sure started to change
last week at Foote Dam. Removing these
sharp extreme flow changes has sure improved
fishing the last few days! Automated
system is up and running now at Foote and after
the fine tuning it seems to be doing a better job
of handling the flows.
 January
14th - A bright silver Au Sable River steelhead.
Much improved conditions today on the river!!
River was running a very normal level and found
a few nice fish. Mild weather is
supposed to continue thru the weekend and into
next week. These winter thaws typically
bring more fish and hopefully better fishing
continues.
 Jan 4th -
Water flow was basically turned off yesterday in
the lower Au Sable ending any chance for winter
steelhead fishing for a bit. Consumers
Energy continues to operate Foote Dam in a
manner that is very destructive to the our
steelhead fishery.
Here is
update I got from Consumers today (Jan 4th) on
the automated system at Foote. Along with
this came a very lame explanation for recent
water levels. Hopefully some improvements
later this week!
On December 21, 2009 the hardware for the Foote
auto-control system was installed. During the
remainder of that week the individual components
were tested and accepted. The system however
was not activated. The control system requires
operating data from the existing Hydro
Monitoring System and this interface has not yet
been tested. Due to the limited availability of
personnel during the Christmas Holiday we
decided not to activate the auto-control system
because we wanted to ensure adequate coverage in
response to any glitches encountered during the
start-up period. Consumers will begin the final
connections and testing on Tuesday, January 5
with the expectation that Foote will be
operating with the auto-control system by
Friday, January 8.
 Here is
water flow graph from Foote Dam in December.
We were told last year Foote Dam is suppose to
simulate "run of river" operations - to mimic
flows of the upper river as if the dams were not
in place. This is not even being
attempted!
 Dec 31st -
Finished out the year steelhead the lower Au
Sable. The river is in great shape right
now but fish numbers are low. Had a little
action today but no adult steelhead.
Fished the bottom few miles of the river all the
way to the pier heads at Lake Huron. Did
hook one very large Northern Pike on a bait fish
streamer but he bite me off right near boat.
Above is my new favorite two handed steelhead
rod - Sage 12' 6" 7wt TCX. Loaded up with
the new Rio Skagit Flight line (550grain) it is
the ideal setup for heavy sink tips and big
flies.
 Dec 28th -
A beautiful winter steelhead! The high
water from rain on Christmas day has brought a
few new silver fish in from Lake Huron.
 December
21st - Water levels have been a big issue the
last two winters below Foote Dam in the
steelhead water of the lower Au Sable River.
The past two weeks it has not been good - up and
down with some huge spikes and drop offs.
This leads to very inconsistent steelhead
fishing and that was been the case of late -
some days very good but other days you can not
find a bite. Hopefully some changes are
finally coming!!! A new automated system
has been installed at Foote and system will
start be used very soon. Here is report
from Consumers that I received this morning:
Last week Consumers completed installation of
the hardware for the new Foote auto control
system. This week Consumers will be performing
some initial testing of the system components
while the auto control system and the existing
hydro monitoring system are tied together.
During this testing we may experience some
short flow oscillations as the "bugs" are worked
out of the system. The Operators will be doing
their best to balance flows during the test to
try and maintain normal re-regulating flows.
Hopefully
some improvements are coming!!!!
 Dec 18th -
Good action today in the lower Au Sable!
Could not find an adult steelhead to bite today
but smaller skippers were very active.
Using floating lines and small floats have been
most productive of late to get long drifts thru
the slow deep holes and runs - most of the
steelhead are holding very deep right now.
Water levels from Foote Dam have been very
inconsistent of late and hopefully some changes
are coming soon.
 December
14th - A nice winter steelhead on the Au Sable
River! Nymphs and egg patterns down deep
in the slow holes have been producing the best
of late. The current cold weather sure
does not the help the fishing but those putting
in the time have been getting a few nice fish of
late.
 December
13th - Fished some of the northern rivers that
feed Lake Huron today. The Ocqueoc is just
a beautiful river this time of year and
typically no fishing pressure. Also fished
Thunder Bay River. Had some action on both
rivers today and was just such a nice winter day
to fly fishing. Nuke eggs and small
crystal white buggers (perfect minnow imitation)
were top producers.
  November
21st - Greg Miller with a very nice Au Sable
River Steelhead. It did not really feel
like late November today on the river.
Last year at this time all was starting to
freeze up, this year river temps are still in
the mid 40's! At these temps steelhead are
very active and look for more to keep pushing in
from Lake Huron with each batch of new water.
The water is very clear right now and the of
late key has been very small egg patterns or
good size leech/sculpin patterns.
 November
19th - A good looking Rifle River steelhead!
The lower sections of this river have been
fishing pretty good of late. This is a
very cool smaller river that gets very little
fishing pressure this time of year and produces
some very nice steelhead, resident brown trout,
and the occasional lake run brown. The key
on this river is to fish lots of water.
This is a relatively shallow river and best
fished with a floating line setup when fishing
nymphs and egg patterns. Right now egg
patterns will always be good producers but some
of the larger patterns will also produce.
Leeches, sculpins, buggers, and baitfish
patterns can be very effective on steelhead and
browns.
 Nov 15th -
Eric Porath with a couple of beautiful steelhead
on the lower Au Sable River. With deer
hunting season starting today we had the river
to ourselves and did not see another angler!
 
 Nov 6th -
Fishing new water with some old friends was a
very good time! We hit some small creeks
in PA and caught a bunch of Lake Erie steelhead.
Much different water than the Au Sable!
  Nov 5th -
A cool looking steelhead caught with the new
Sage 99 series rod and matching fly line.
The 99 series was just released by Sage this
fall and it is a 9' 9" rod in weights 4 thru 8.
Today I was using the 7wt and it makes just the
perfect steelhead rod. The matching Sage
nymph fly line is ideal when using a floating
line and strike indictor setup. The 99
series is designed to cast split shot, indictor,
and nymphs/eggs. Rod has more flex and a
slightly slower action which is ideal for roll
casting and landing big steelhead with light
line & small flies. There is only one way
to test new gear and that is to fish it.
After hooking and landing a number of steelhead
today with this rod it will be added as one of
our guide rods. We do have the entire 99
series of factory Sage rods and matching fly
lines in stock now (shipping is free at
Streamside). Also we do have blanks in
stock for those looking for a custom rod.
The 99 series will be added into our online
series very soon but for now if interested in a
purchase or any questions just email at
kelly@michiganstreamside.com
 Nov 3rd -
Joe Swantek with a beautiful Au Sable River
steelhead. High water has been bringing
some new fish into the river of late and fishing
should just keep getting better.
 October
16th - Lots of great places to steelhead on the
lower Au Sable River right now. The river
is in great shape with the cool October we have
been having. Water temps are in the lower
50's and river is running a very normal level.
There are a few steelhead in the river right now
and fall run is just getting going. Look
for fish in the deep gravel runs and in behind
old spawning salmon (there are a couple around
but not many). Top flies right now are
lots of different egg flies - nuke eggs, glo
eggs and small cluster patterns. The water is
running very clear right now and light colored
egg patterns have been best - salmon, cheese,
light orange, and egg. This is also
an excellent time to start swinging streamers
for steelhead. With the clear water of the
lower river, steelhead will come a long distance
to smash the right big fly. Big sculpin
and goby patterns (tan, olive, black) are always
good fall producers - Conrad Sculpin, Streamside
Sculpin, large buggers & leeches, and our goby
patterns.
 October
14th - A great place to look for some very
aggressive trout this time of the year is right
at the mouth of the Au Sable River in Lake
Huron. Streamer fishing bait fish patterns
can be very productive for Lake Trout,
Smallmouth Bass, Steelhead and once in a while a
big Brown Trout. Today action was a bit
slow on the trout but did find some very nice
Lake Huron Smallmouth Bass. Lake Trout
have been doing well this past summer in Lake
Huron and mouth of Au Sable can be such a good
late fall hang out for them. Top patterns
are our Great Lakes Alewive, Great Lakes
Deceivers, Conrad Sculpin and Murdich Minnows.
Photos below from Spring 2009, Fall 2008 and
the past Winter
 May 7th -
Joe Swantek with nice Au Sable River steelhead.
Had a excellent morning today and found some
fish with a bunch of hook ups. The
afternoon was just opposite and bit a slow.
Below Joe and John Sabina are fishing a nice run
and you can see the lower river is getting
clear.
  
 May 1st -
Good steelhead fishing today on the lower Au
Sable River. Marc Hoyt and Wayne Swart
hooked and landed a bunch of nice fish today.
After yesterday's rain good numbers of steelhead
were on the move up the river. Conditions
are excellent right now with water levels being
up and water temp around 50.
 April 22nd
- Excellent steelhead fishing today on the Au
Sable! Tom Olenczuk and Mike Sargent
landed 10 and lost some others. Of late
cloudy weather and rain seem to be the key to
good fishing. On the bright sun days it
has been slow. Should have good steelhead
well in the middle of May!
  April 18th
- I got to fish for a hour before our steelhead
fundraiser in Oscoda Saturday morning.
Fished some large rainbow streamer along the
dark river water as it went out into Lake Huron
and found some nice Lake Trout. The young
steelhead that were stocked are heading toward
Lake Huron right now and this does attract some
big huge trout!
 April 18th
- Au Sable steelhead fundraiser was a huge
success! Had a great turn out, lots of
great food and good time was had by all.
This was the first year and the plan is this
will be an annual event. Here is list of
all who donated to this cause:
Fundraiser
Thank You.
 April 18th
- Joe Pilara from the Flint River Valley Chapter
of Michigan Steelheaders made a huge donation of
$750. We sure thank you Joe, the Flint River
Valley Steelheads and all of the Michigan
Steelheaders for such a nice donation.
This event could would not have been so
successful without all the work done by Lynn
Davis (owner of the Au Sable River Store) and
Shawn Tidball. Both are pictured above
with Joe receiving donation.
 April 14th
- Bob Williams with a bright silver Au Sable
River steelhead. Numbers are still low in
the river but there are some very nice quality
fish around.
 April 13th
- Bruce Mansfield with a very nice Au Sable
River steelhead!
 April 12th
- A beautiful fresh run steelhead on the Au
Sable River. Water temps are
increasing to the low 40's and look for
steelhead in the deep runs and pools. I
still have not seen any spawning activity with
makes for some good biting fish. Look for
numbers to increase in river with the next rain.
 April 12th
- Matt Dixon with a very cool looking Au Sable
River steelhead. We had great day spending
Easter Sunday on the river with an old friend.
 April 10th
- Ron Matthews with a bright silver steelhead
that has just come in from Lake Huron.
I would really like to thank Ron for all the
work he has done of the current issues on the
lower Au Sable! I think all are looking
forward to the get together on April 18th at the
Au Sable River Store.
 April 8th
- Shawn Tidball helping with the stocking of
steelhead at the Au Sable River store.
This past week 125,000 steelhead were stock in
the lower Au Sable. The
stocking process seemed to go very smooth and
cormorants numbers have been very low. It
is so nice to see what has happened in Oscoda -
so many people taking an interest in the current
issues and helping with the protection of our
future steelhead. Shawn has put so much
time and effort in these projects and all should
give him a huge thank you!
 April 8th
- Jim with a nice fresh run steelhead on the Au
Sable!
 April 4th
- High water on the lower Au Sable and river is
still rising! This should really bring the
steelhead into the river and look for excellent
fishing this coming week.
 April 3rd
- The flood was starting today on the lower Au
Sable! Poor conditions today but river
should improve in a couple of days. This
big blast of high water should kick steelhead
run into high gear! As you can see Foote
Pond is still just about completely covered with
ice. Ice is finally getting dark and
starting to do away. When this ice is gone
look for river temps to shoot up and excellent
steelhead fishing!
 March 30th
- Our young steelhead are coming soon to Oscoda
to be stocked in the Au Sable River - right near
the middle of April. The last two
years concerned anglers have been there to
protect these future steelhead from the nasty
Cormorants. This year's harassment program
will be going on again. To raise funds for
this program a nice family style get together
has been planned for April 18th (Click on above
photo for full flier). This is a for a
great cause and should be a very good time!
If any questions, you would like to help with
cormorant harassment, or your willing to make a
donation just drop me an email at
kelly@michiganstreamside.com
 March 27th
- A very nice 12lb Au Sable Steelhead that is
getting ready to be released. Lake Huron
steelhead have grown a bit of late and are
running larger this spring. This is a sign
of good things happening in Lake Huron and there
food base is increasing. Of late numbers
are still low in the river but April is coming
and that is our peak month for steelhead
fishing. With the long winter this year
should have good steelhead runs into the middle
of May or even late May. Right now the key
for success is covering lots of water and to
stay out of the gravel runs. Steelhead are
still in the winter mode and the slow deep holes
are producing the best.
 March 27th
- Fly fishing the mouth of the Au Sable River
right near Lake Huron. Steelhead numbers
have been low up in the river and of late the
very lower sections have been holding some nice
fresh run fish. Down near the mouth the
standard flies (eggs and nymphs) will work well
at times but also some larger streamers (sculpins
and baitfish patterns) will produce some nice
fish.
 March 2nd
- A good looking steelhead being released on the
lower Au Sable River! Bitter cold mornings
of late but there are some good steelhead
around. Even with the cold temps had
pretty good fishing today. Warm weather is
forecasted for the weekend and look for more
bright silver fish to move into the river from
Lake Huron. Nymphs have been the top
producers of late.
Feb 27th - A nice winter steelhead from the Au Sable River. Had good fishing today and landed 4 steelhead. All were about the size of the one pictured above. Of late there has been good numbers of younger steelhead in the river and a few good size adult fish. Water was on the rise today after a night of snow, ice, and heavy rains. With spring just around the corner and a good push of water look for more fresh run steelhead to move into the river. Right now water temps are very cold (33 to 35) in lower river and look for steelhead in the slow deep runs. Top flies of late have been small nymphs - Little Black Stones #10, Great Lakes Shrimp #10, Green and Cream Caddis #10, hares ear #10. Also this time of year egg patterns will produce a lot of fish with top colors being cheese, salmon and clown.
Mid April every year Cormorants are a huge problem in the lower Au Sable! Young steelhead are stocked in the lower river at this time and these nasty birds come in by the hundreds to feed on them. The last two Springs USDA Wildlife Services and the Michigan DNR have setup a cormorant harassment project to protect these young steelhead. This project will be going again this coming April and volunteers are needed. To protect the steelhead volunteers are stationed throughout the lower river where the birds really group up. Flare-type guns are used to shoot pyrotechnics to keep birds on the move. When birds do get very heavy USDA personal do come in and remove some birds with shotguns. The time frame volunteers are needed is the last two weeks of April and the first week of May. Those that would like to help or want more info just email me at kelly@michiganstreamside.com
Feb 10th -
Meeting with Consumers Energy on the operations
of the Au Sable River dams went very well today.
It was very nice to see such a large turn out
for the meeting and the tour of Foote Dam.
Security at Foote Dam was a little creepy but
all went very well. I would really like to
thank all those that came and for all the
organizations that showed they do really care
about the lower Au Sable River - Anglers of the
Au Sable, Michigan Council of Trout Unlimited,
Huron Pines, Au Sable Big Waters Preservation
Association, Au Sable Watershed Council and I'm
sure there are some I forgot. At the
meeting there was discussion on solutions for
better flow manage at Foote Dam. Michigan
DNR senior fisheries biologist Steve Sendek and
Kyle Kruger both present some excellent input on
methods for future improvements of the current
operations. Consumers Energy also
discussed ways to communicate to the public what
is being done with this issue. As I get
more info on this issue I will post it here.
 Feb 1st -
Excellent fishing this afternoon on the lower Au
Sable River! Landed 4 steelhead and all
were bright silver fish. I floated
the top 4 mile of the steelhead water and river
was in pretty good shape. There is a
fair amount of shelf ice in the river but it was
not in the way too much. Ice does increase
as you head down stream and some of lower water
might still be frozen over. Today was such
a nice day, compared to weather of late, and
temps were pushing 40! Nymphs fished down
deep under indictors was the top producing
method today. Hares ear and hex nymphs
were the top flies.
  Jan 28th -
Here is picture from the Whirlpool boat landing.
As you can see river is getting pretty narrow!
Lots of shelf ice in the river right now and
some sections are frozen over. The top few
miles of river below Foote Dam are still very
fishable. As for boat ramps you are on
your own - they are not good. Whirlpool
has been used but you do need to pull boat over
ice a ways. Rea Rd landing I have used of
late but it is unplowed and backing down to
water is not recommended (I tried it and it did
not work out so well). Having tow strap
and shovel is highly recommend if your going to
use these ramps. Hopefully warmer
weekend pushes some of this ice out!
 Jan 21st -
The top portion of the steelhead water, below
Foote Dam, is back to being in pretty good
shape! There is shelf ice is some areas but
very fishable and there are some nice steelhead
around.
 Jan 21st -
Water temps are extremely cold right now with
all of the ice in the river. I did fish
this afternoon in the top portion of the
steelhead water and had a little action - hooked
two and land one. Small nuke egg patterns
and small natural nymphs fished down very deep
are top producers right now.
 Jan 21st -
I gave the lower end just up from Oscoda a shot
and it did not work out some well! Most of
the river was full of ice and river was
completely frozen over above the Narrows.
Some warmer weather is forecasted for late this
week and these conditions can change very
quickly.
 Jan 4th -
The steelhead bite has been a little off the
last two days on the Au Sable. I fished
the upper half of the steelhead section on the
2nd and lower end all the way to the pier heads
on the 3rd. Hooked and landed one
fish each day so at least a little action.
Yesterday lots of shelf ice was coming loose and
really got in the way. Hopefully
water levels stabilize soon and that should
really help the fishing. Since melt down
after Christmas water levels have been up & down
but running at a good level right now.
Both hookups came on a rabbit strip leech
pattern in black.
 
Dec 28th - The winter
months can be an excellent time to fly fish for
steelhead in the lower Au Sable. With the
right equipment winter fishing can be done on a
good number of days and typically some good
steelhead or trout can be caught. When
very cold temps come stopping rod guides & fly
lines from freezing up can be a huge plus.
On all of my winter fly rods I use Recoil snake
guides and stripper guides from REC Components.
These guides flex and do not hold ice nearly as
bad as standard fly guides. When it comes
to winter fly lines Rio makes some excellent
cold water lines that do handle very well
in extreme cold temps.
An excellent method for
fishing small nymphs/eggs (pictured above) for
cold water steelhead is using a floating line
and a strike indictor or float (pictured above).
Long rods are a huge advantage for this method
and my favorites are a custom Sage 11' 7wt or
13' 4" 8wt Z-Axis. When it comes to
lines for these rods the
Rio
WindCutter II VersiTip is ideal for float
fly fishing and will cast very nice on the Sage
spey rods. With the use of a long
fly rod and this line, long controlled drifts
are very easy to make.
Another method that can be
productive in the Winter is swinging streamers.
Again the long rods are a huge advantage and
same rods will work just perfect. The
lines I use for this method are the
Rio
Skagit Spey lines. The Skagit lines
were designed which a very short heavy head to
cast large streamers easily. Line comes
with a built in loop and attaching different
sink tips for different conditions or runs is
very easy. Rio has a T-17 sink line that
sinks like a rock and sections of this line make
great sink tips (typically 10' to 15' of T-17
works perfect on Au Sable). The
combination of the heavy floating head and the
short heavy sink tip works just perfect in the
lower Au Sable and there is nothing better than
the heavy hit of steelhead on a streamer
swinging across the current.
One of the most productive
methods for winter steelhead fly fishing is deep
water nymph/egg fishing with the use of a
floating running line and slip weights.
My favorite rod for this, on the Au Sable, is a
Sage 10' 7wt Z-Axis. Rio makes the
best cold water
running line (.030 diameter and floating)
that I have found. With the use a long
leader and some slip weights, nymphs and egg
patterns can be drifted right along the bottom
thru the deep winter holding water.
These are setups I use for
my fishing and on our guided float trips this
time of year. Also will have these with me
at the winter fly fishing shows that we will be
at. Right now the two shows I will be at
for sure are
Jan 10th Indiana On The Fly and
March 7th and 8th Midwest Fly Show in Warren
Michigan.
 Dec. 21st
- Lots of snow & windy today on the river!
I fished the very lower section of the steelhead
water on the Au Sable River and did have a
little action and landed two steelhead.
Best boat ramp I found was at the Au Sable River
Store and Lynn had ramp plowed and in excellent
condition. All hook ups came on hex nymphs
fished down deep under floats. The Sage
switch rods are ideal for this type of fishing
and it is very hard to beat the 11' 7wt this
time of year.
  Dec. 11th
- Winter came a bit early this year on the Au
Sable River with over a foot of new snow this
week! Good steelhead fishing this afternoon
landing three nice silver fish. Steelhead
are in the winter mode now and look for them in
the slow deep holes. This time of year it
is hard to beat a hex nymph (size #8) or hares
ear (size #8 to #12) on the Au Sable River.
Egg patterns are also a good choice in the
winter months with salmon & cheese being top
colors on most days. Neither Rea Rd or
Whirlpool boat lands have been plowed as of
today and are a bit of mess. The ramp at
the Au Sable River Store on River Rd is in great
shape!
 Nov. 25th - Mario with a
beautiful Au Sable River steelhead. Lots
of snow throughout north east Michigan today but
it did miss the Oscoda area. This
storm should put some more water in the river
which is a good thing for the steelhead fishing.
 Nov. 24th - Brandon with a
big Au Sable River steelhead. Good action
today swinging streamers on a sink tip - landing
two and another good hook up. Big
steelhead took a Conrad Sculpin and also had
action on a black leech pattern.
 Nov. 22nd - Ryan Fruchey with a really nice Au Sable
River steelhead. Very cold weather today
did slow down steelhead fishing but still some
good action. Ryan landed three and lost
another. Today's top flies were small egg
patterns and they produced all hook ups.
 Nov. 20th - A little cold and
windy today but good steelhead fishing!
Landed three bright silver steelhead this
morning. Water temps are dropping fast but
still in the low 40's and fish are very
aggressive. Top fly today was a Conrad
Sculpin in olive/tan.
 
 Nov 15th - Here are some of
the flies that have been working on the Au
Sable. Of late it has been egg patterns
(cheese, salmon, egg) fished down deep or
swinging streamers (goby patterns or big & black
sculpins/leeches) on a sink tips. Today I
fished the upper 3-4 miles of the steelhead
sections and landed four nice steelhead.
It was a great way to spend the opening day of
deer and had the river to myself. Three
came on egg patterns and one was on a Conrad
Sculpin which is a perfect imitation for a goby.
Sage has a new Spey rod out this fall and it
works just perfect for swinging streamers - 13'
4" 8wt Z-Axis. The line that I line best
for the lower Au Sable is the Rio Skagit line
with sink tips ranging from 150gr to 250gr.
The last week there have been some nice
steelhead caught throughout the steelhead water
on the Au Sable. Look for fishing to keep
getting better with more cool weather and
hopefully some more rain. I will be on the
lower Rifle in the upcoming week (late November
is typically start for steelhead and lake run
browns) and will have some up to date reports.
Spring Steelhead photos from 2008
March 1st - March is what I consider the beginning of Spring and one of my favorite times to steelhead fish! After being very sick the last week it was very nice to fish the lower Au Sable this afternoon. The river has been fishing pretty good of late - landed four nice steelhead and very much enjoy my afternoon on the Au Sable. The water is very clear and cold right now. Today the key was fluorocarbon leaders and very small natural nymphs with a #12 green caddis being the top fly today.
 March 27th - Jon Wilcox with
a real nice Au Sable River steelhead. New
fish are moving into the river everyday now.
Next batch of some new water should really get
this fishery going! Right now with the
cold conditions small natural nymphs have been
working best with Hex Nymphs being the top
producers of late.
 April 1st - A beautiful
Au Sable River steelhead! Lots of new
water in the river today. Heavy rains last
night with warm temps made for lots of run off.
Fishing was a bit slow today but that should
change very soon. We did manage a couple
of steelhead and one big walleye. In the
higher water today top fly was clown color egg
pattern.
April 17th - Mike Sargent with some great steelhead on the
lower Au Sable River. Rising water temps have got
good numbers of steelhead moving into the Au
Sable. Just a few fish are starting to
spawn and good numbers are in the fast deep runs
right now. Should have peak steelhead
fishing the next few weeks
 April 18th - Tom Olenczuk
with beautiful bright silver Au Sable River
steelhead. There are some nice fish
around right now and such a great time to
steelhead fish. Look for these pre
spawning fish in the deep fast gravel runs.
 April 19th - Charles Jergler
with a couple of beautiful Au Sable River
steelhead. Hex nymphs and orange egg
patterns have been working best of late.
Today fishing was a bit slower on the river but
also with being the weekend there were a few
more anglers around. Water levels have
been dropping the last few days and we need a
good spring rain.
 April 22nd - John O'Neil with
a Au Sable River steelhead. Bright and
sunny with extremely warm weather for this time
of year. Fishing was a bit slow today but
we did get a few good hookups and landed this
very nice steelhead. Yesterday's problems
at Foote Dam might have had some negative effect
on today's fishing.
Lake
Huron & Lake Michigan brown trout, salmon and
smallmouth photos from the 2005 & 2006 season
(click
here)
Steelhead photos from the 2005 season (click here) Trout photos from the 2005 & 2006 season (click here) Trout photos from the 2004 season (click here)
Current water levels at Parmallee Bridge - Trout waters Current water levels at Mio Dam on the AuSable River - Trout waters Current water levels at Alcona Dam on the AuSable River - Smallmouth Bass & Trout waters Current water levels at Foote Dam on the AuSable River - Steelhead waters
Michigan flyfishing opportunities this season include:
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