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Michigan Fly
Fishing
AuSable River
trout fishing report - July 1st
Hex hatch is going strong on the
Au Sable River!
The last couple of cold nights has not been the best for Hex Hatch but still some good bugs right at dark and some big browns have been caught. Water temps have dropped, below Mio, back into the 60's and should be some decent day time fishing now. The upper Au Sable all the way down stream to Mio Pond has had good Hex Hatch going the last week. Rain storms right at dark has messed up a couple of nights but overall fishing has been very good. Trout love Hex spinners! Look for good spinner falls starting around 10pm and many nights lasting for a couple of hours. On warm nights look for late night hatches and spinners.
For information and photos of upcoming fishing - updated May 20th (click here)
June 28th - Jim M. with a couple of really nice Au Sable River trout. Had pretty good fishing today floating the Big Waters of the Au Sable River above Mio Pond. Like all good fish stories the two big ones got away! One broke off and one pull out after a jump. Rain at 9pm did not help the Hex Hatch but still got a good spinner fall and some nice fish were up and rising. Should have at least another week or two of good night Hex Hatch.
June 24th - Kris Walley and Tom Olenczuk getting the job done on the Hex Hatch! These two have caught some of the largest night time trout I have seen in recent years and tonight they paired up for a float trip. Had a excellent spinner fall of Hex and good bugs till well after midnight. Kris got the big fish of the night and it was measured at 26".
June 23rd - Hex hatch is going strong on the Au Sable River! Lots of spinners and duns tonight and a bunch of fish up and rising. Landed two huge trout and lost one other. Trout like this 27" brown are why we are fishing late at night this time of year.
Here is a product that is the best night fly line I have ever used! This is line I use for all my night time guiding on the Au Sable River. Perfect line for hex hatch, brown drakes and mouse fishing. Line does not have to be charge with light during the night. Just a slight glow is perfect and makes it very easy to tell where your fly is at all times - very easy to get the perfect drift over a trout feeding during hex hatch. Line taper is made to cast large flies and rolls over a large hex spinner or mouse. We are a Rio dealer and do carry a full line of there product. New stock of these 6wt. lines just came in and we can ship them out to those interested. Cost is $50 and that includes shipping. If interested just drop up a email at kelly@michiganstreamside.com
June 21st - Marc Hoyt with a very nice trout caught streamer fishing today on trip with guide Jeff Boks. Lots of action today with a few nice browns and lots of rainbow. With the water levels being up a bit streamer fishing has been very good of late.
June 21st - Randy Fogle with a couple of nice dry fly caught trout on the Au Sable River. Lots of rainbows rising starting in the evening and lasting till dark. Today's best pattern was a yellow or olive stonefly dry with a isonychia nymph dropper. At dark there was a good spinner fall of hex and few big fish were up and rising. Should have some excellent night time dry fly fishing for the next few weeks.
June 20th - Good dry fly fishing right at dark today with lots of bugs. Hex spinners came a little early today and starting falling before dark. Excellent fishing after dark and broke off one big trout at the net.
June 17th - Chris Poulus and Mike Sargent with a couple of real nice Au Sable River brown trout! Today was supposed to be a late night Hex hatch float trip but turned into a all day streamer trip in a cold rain. Saw a number of big trout chase our streamers today. The key on streamers of late is going big. Today big rainbow patterns and chart/white deceivers had the most action. No dry fly action today but should come back as soon as weather warms a bit.
June 16th - When trout are not rising it is time to go back to streamers! This big guy hit a articulated wool head in chartreuse/white. With cool weather the next few days streamer fishing should be very good.
June 14th - The river is extremely high and dirty but there were a couple trout rising today! Had one of heaviest brown drakes hatches that I have seen just before dark and found two giants up and feeding - got one 26" brown trout (pictured above) and broke one off. Heavy Hex spinner fall right after dark and also one nasty thunder storm to go with it. Some pretty intense lightning for the float out. The last two days I have cancelled our guide trips due to very poor conditions. Myself I have a very bad problem of not being able to stop fishing regardless of conditions and tonight it paid off!
June 14th - Finally Hex Hatch is going strong! Big spinner fall tonight that was trashed by thunder storms. Lots of late night bugs were hatching after storm went by. Will the fish feed at night in dirty water? They did not tonight but rain was a major problem. Hopefully tomorrow night they will.
June 11th - Dry fly fishing in the Big Waters just before dark. This evening we had a good spinner fall of brown drakes and a number of fish were up and rising. Also good number of isonychia (maroon drakes) hatching. Still no Hex and with the current conditions it might be a few days before this bugs gets going.
June 7th - A beautiful brown trout in the Big Waters of the Au Sable River! Trout were pretty active this evening to nymphs and streamers. Hot weather of late has hatches coming off right at dark the last couple of nights. Best dry fly fishing of late is right at dark with good numbers of Brown Drakes.
June 4th - Tom Buhr with a nice Au Sable Big Waters brown trout. With the cloudy cool day brown drakes were hatching all afternoon and evening but not in big numbers. Good spinner fall of March Browns right before dark and that is what trout above was catch on. The next week should be peak for brown drake hatch and produce some good night time dry fly fishing.
June 4th - Isonychia and Brown Drakes are hatching in the Big Waters of the Au Sable Below Mio now. Look for excellent dry fly fishing right at dark. On warm nights spinner falls will last well into darkness and this is what typically brings the bigger fish. Look for Hex to start next week if weather stays warm.
June 3rd - Mike Sargent with a nice streamer caught brown trout. Had pretty good streamer fishing this afternoon with a number of trout between 12" and 16". River is in need of some rain and hopefully it comes soon.
June 2rd - Mike Sargent with one the most beautiful AuSable River brown trout that I have seen in a while! Streamer fishing in bright sun with low water can produce big trout.
June 1st - Starting to see some larger mayflies now. On the left is a Great Speckled Olive and the right is a March Brown. Both bugs are not a major hatch in the Big Waters of the Au Sable but being such a good size bug trout do key in on them. With start of these bug should have Brown Drakes any night now which is a major hatch and typically brings up some very nice trout.
May 26th - Tom Buhr with a huge dry fly caught Au Sable River brown trout! After a busy weekend on the river all was very quiet this evening. Conditions were a bit windy but with the warm temps there was a huge spinner fall of light hennies and sulphurs. On warm bright days just after dark is the time to hunt big trout rising with dry flies.
Here is a great new organization that is gear to conservation issues in Big Waters of the Au Sable River. Check out site at www.asbwpa.org Right now there are some very important water withdrawal bills going thru our state government. These bills are very important to our trout streams in Michigan and web site gives some great info on how you can help. You should all check it out!
Here are two dry flies that are working very well right now. Both were tied by Jerry Regan - left is a Roberts Yellow Drake and right is Sulphur parachute spinner. These are my two favorite patterns during Sulphur hatches and have been catching some nice trout of late.
May 24th - Bugs came a little early this evening and had some nice trout up and rising. The two flies picture above were the top patterns today.
May 23rd - This is the time of night when hunting for big trout starts with our dry flies. There are some huge browns in the Au Sable River but many do not come out to feed till low light. To catch these big trout you need to locate trout and minimize your casting. More casting will spook big trout and put them down. Locate fish and only cast while there are rising.
May 18th - Kris Walley with a nice streamer caught brown trout on the Au Sable River. Today fell like a late fall day with temps in the middle 40's and extremely high winds. Morning was a bit slow but had a excellent afternoon with a bunch of nice browns chasing our streamers. Top patterns today were sculpin patterns with the best one being our grizzly yellow deer hair sculpin.
May 18th - Good late afternoon action today! We a number of browns like this one chasing our streamers. This one ate a cream tail woolly sculpin.
May 17th - Rick Palazzini and his son Chris working a good run on the Au Sable River. A number of rainbows today but could not hook a big brown. We did see one monster size brown trout follow in a rainbow and try to eat him off the line at the side of boat. It was a very cool sight and we try to get him to come back for a streamer afterwards but no luck.
May 16th - Steve Buck with just a beautiful Au Sable River brown trout! Big trout was caught streamer fishing mid day. Had a very nice float today with Steve & Greg and had some action all day long. A couple of other good trout came up to our streamers and plenty of dry fly action. Sulphurs (size 14-16) are hatching now and this should produce some good evening dry fly fishing the next week.
May 16th - Jeff Boks with a huge Au Sable River brown trout caught on dry fly right at dark. The story for tonight was a larger trout got away right at the boat! Jeff is a excellent angler & guide on the Au Sable and will be doing some trips for Streamside this summer. My calendar is pretty much full for trout days this summer but if your looking for open dates we can set you up with Jeff. The next six weeks is prime time for trout fishing in the Big Waters of the Au Sable.
May 14th - Dave Willertz and Tom Bushey with a couple of very nice trout caught streamer fishing. Tom's trout did not want to have his picture taken and jumped back into river pretty quick. Long day of throwing streamers with cold temps moving in just not much bug life today. Had a couple of big trout chase streamers with our woolhead double bunny (black/chart) being top fly today. The bigger bait fish patterns in chart/white also produced some good action and putting a JJ Special as a dropper was productive.
May 14th - Dave Willertz with a nice Northern Pike that was caught right in our trout water on the Au Sable River. I'm sure this one has eaten a few trout and we were very surprise to find him up in river.
May 9th - Steve and John with a couple of very nice looking Au Sable River browns. Steve's was caught on large half & half in chartreuse/white. John's was caught in late afternoon during on a dry fly during Hendrickson hatch.
Dry fly fishing is getting going the last few days on the Au Sable. Right now the Hendrickson Mayfly is the big hatch. Above are two of my favorite Hendrickson patterns tied by Jerry Regan - left is parachute dun pattern and right is spinner pattern. Look for good hatches in the late afternoon and parachute dun is the top choice. Late evening look for spinner falls and Jerry's spinner will get the job done.
May 8th - Tom Buhr fighting a big brown in the Big Water of the Au Sable River. Had a very nice afternoon Hendrickson hatch and big trout were looking up! High winds did not help the casting but he did a few big trout on dries. Looked like it should be a perfect streamer day but that only produced a few small trout. There were a few small spinner falls but late evening got very cold & windy and bugs were all gone for the day.
May 8th - Tom Buhr and Jeff Bocs with a couple of beautiful dry fly brown trout on the AuSable River. Dun patterns were very effective today. Typically Hendrickson's do float on the water for a long time and parachute & up wing patterns are top producers. Look for the some good late evening spinners coming very soon! Jerry Regan's spent wing spinner is our top pattern and I will get some pictures of these on site in next day or so.
May 8th - Afternoon dry fly fishing in the Big Waters. A tough casting to a huge trout into a stiff wind. Almost got this one but it did not quite work out.
May 7th - Here is what we are looking for when streamer fishing below Mio! Eric Grajewski caught this giant brown and photo below shows what should be done with all trout on the Au Sable River - released back to the river. Couple great photos taken by Matt Grajewski. I love seeing anglers take a good accurate measurement and this was measured properly. Everyone can guess on the size of this one for a few days and then I will post it.
May 2nd - Bill Phillips with a real nice brown trout from the Big Waters of the Au Sable. Big trout was caught streamer fishing on a woolhead double bunny in olive/yellow. Overall not lots of action today a few fish on streamers and a fish that would only chase. Hendrickson hatch started around 4pm and there were a few fish rising but not many. Water temps were still a little cool for good dry fly fishing but that should change this weekend.
April 27th - Season is open now in the Big Waters of the Au Sable and this is the time to streamer fish for big browns! Here is photo from a couple years ago of huge brown that ate a 8" rainbow pattern (Fin Clip) in early May. The Mio water gets stocked every year with lots of small trout and these trout are what many of the big trout are looking to eat. Also big sculpins patterns and other bait fish patterns are very effective. These big patterns are most effectively fished on long sink tip fly line. My favorite line for this fishing in the Rio 24' DC sink tips in 150 thru 300 grains. Most popular is the 200 grain.
Here are four of my favorite patterns for early season trophy brown trout in the Big Waters of the Au Sable. These have all caught some true trophies. Articulated woolhead in chart/white, fin clip in rainbow, streamside sculpin, double bunny woolhead in olive/yellow.
April 27th - Hendrickson hatch has started in the Big Waters of the Au Sable River. Look for good dry fly fishing over the next couple of weeks with this hatch. Photos above show what this bugs look like - left is one that has just hatched and right is spinner that is coming back to river to lay its eggs.
March 31st - Tom Buhr with a nice trout on the South Branch of the Au Sable. Cold rain today and some pretty good trout fishing. Lots of nice trout were out chasing streamers and we caught a number trout between 14" - 16". Had a couple of bigger ones almost get hooked! Top fly today was lead eyed olive leech pattern.
March 31st - A couple of other nice Browns that Tom caught on float today.
February 18th - A little on the cool side today but trout were very active this morning on the South of the Au Sable. Water was up a couple of inches after yesterday ice/rain storm and river was in great shape for this time of year. All fish today came on lead eyed black buggers.
February 5th - Spend the afternoon on the South Branch of the Au Sable River and had just a wonderful time trout fishing today! Slight warm up the last few days has river in great shape and trout were extremely active. This time of year streamers are most productive and today black was the top color. That black woolly bugger with red lead eyes (pictured in trout's mouth) caught a bunch of trout between 12" and 18". The setup I used to today was 9' 6wt Sage Z-Axis with a Rio DC 24' 200grain sink tip. Streamer are worked along all cover in the river and fly does need to be kept moving with a nice twitchy retrieve. The Rio sink tips are the perfect lines for winter fishing - designed for cold weather use and no tangles. Lots of great water to fish this time of year on the upper Au Sable & South Branch!
January 31st - Here is a great section of AuSable to look for trophy trout and it is open year round - below Alcona Dam. Of late there has been a lot of talk about proposed new trout regulations for the waters down below Mio Dam to the town of Mckinnely. What I have been told by the Michigan DNR is that regulations and season will stay the same for the 2008 fishing season. Right now in the Mio water the regulations are the last Saturday in April to September 30th, artificial lure and flies only, minimum size limit 15" for brown trout & 12" for rainbows, possession limit is 2 trout. These regulations do not fit into current structure (Type 1 thru 7) of the Michigan trout regulations. Back when the current structure was designed (around year 2000) this section of river did not fit into any of the seven categories so it has had its own regulations. Now I'm told by the DNR that the plan is to put it into one these seven categories for the 2009 season. So there is the issue, where does it belong?? I have heard many different opinions on what the season and what regs should be changed to. My opinion is fairly simple - this section needs to be managed for trophy brown trout. This section of river has been labeled for years "The Trophy Waters" because of its huge population of trophy brown trout. It time for this section to start being managed this way with new regulations. There is no reason to let people kill brown trout over 15" when the goal should be protecting these trophy trout! My idea of good regulations for this section would be "No Kill" on all brown trout. There are lots of small rainbows in this section and if there has to be some kill in the regs then let people keep a couple of these trout. The current season is ideal for this section of river (last Sat in April to Sept 30th). I know there is a push by some for year round fishing in the Mio water and some local businesses are supportive of this. The idea that a longer season will drawn more business should NEVER be used as a reason for a changing a trout season on the Au Sable River! The only reason that should be used when setting a trout season is what is best for the current trout population. The true giant browns of the system are spawning in the fall and are very exposed that time of year. These fish should always be protected! Also there is lots of water open to year round fishing on the Au Sable and more is not needed. I have been told there will be some public meetings held by the Michigan DNR this spring for people to express there views on this subject and I will pass that info along. I hope that all will support new regulations that are very restrictive. This is the only way to ensure good trout fishing for years to come.
Jan 8th - Here is a very nice trout caught today by Tom Buhr on the South Branch of the Au Sable. Streamer fishing was excellent today and Tom landed a bunch of nice browns between 14" and 18". Lead eye woolly buggers, leeches, and sculpin patterns in olive & black were the hot flies today. Tom is president of a new organization that needs your support. The mission of the Au Sable Big Water Preservation Association is to conserve and watch over the reach of the river from Mio Dam to Alcona Pond and support the best interests of the entire Au Sable River system. The web site is: www.asbwpa.org The organization will have a booth at the Midwest Fly Show March 8th & 9th. If your interested in more information contact Tom through the web site or by phone at 989-826-6108.
Jan 7th - Winter trout fishing on the Au Sable River. The waters from Mio Dam to 4001 bridge are closed to fishing this time of year but there is lots of water down stream still open. Below Alcona Dam is a great place for trophy trout and open year round. Big melt down started yesterday and river is on the rise today. Rain showers today and warm temps has snow melting very fast. This could cause some very high water later in the week. Today was ideal for trout fishing - light rain, water rising, and very cloudy foggy weather. Big trout above hit a big natural woolly bugger that was being fished down deep. Trout were very active this afternoon! Should be a excellent week for those looking to winter trout fish.
October 26th - Greg MacDonald and Steve Buck with some nice trout on the South Branch of the Au Sable River. This time of year is streamer time in the upper river. Today woolly sculpins (black or olive size #4), natural sculpins, and variety of dark colored woolly buggers were the top patterns. Streamer fishing this time of year can be up and down with the conditions. After rains and during cloudy periods fishing has been excellent. During dry periods with bright sunny fishing has been pretty slow.
October 26th - Bright colored brook trout are pretty common right now. These fish are very aggressive and some beautiful trout!
Photos From The 2007 Trout Season on the Au Sable River
August 1st - Extremely hot day on the river for a float trip! We did find a few good smallmouth streamer fishing during the afternoon and evening. Heavy hatch and spinner fall of dark hex and a good number of bass were up and rising just before dark. Mike Moreau pictured above was dry fly fishing with a hex pattern and catching a number of rising bass. Then we got a little surprise - this one was not a bass but a big trout! What made it even more shocking was we were almost to Loud Pond which is very low in the system and some consider it non trout water. The dark hex is a great hatch this time of year and should last for a couple more weeks!
July 23rd - A nice rainbow on the Au Sable River right at dark. Not a lot of bugs hatching of late in the Big Waters - mostly just very small olives. Trout fishing has been a bit slow of late but on evening when its cool there are few fish rising. When water temps get over 70 this water should not be fished due to poor fishing and stress on the trout.
July 13th - Wayne Swartz and Marc Hoyt with a couple of nice trout on the Au Sable River. Perfect weather of late for July trout fishing - nice and cool. Not much in the way of bugs today but caught some nice trout and a number of smallmouth bass streamer fishing. Top flies were JJ Special, Zuddlers, and variety of crayfish colored woolly buggers.
July 11th - Tom Buhr with a really nice brown trout caught on the Manistee River. We floated today with Manistee river guide Andy Busch and had a very nice time until cold rains set in after dark. The plan was to catch a few trout before it got dark and then throw mouse patterns all night long for a big trophy size trout. Fishing mouse patterns started out with lots of trout chasing & slashing at our big flies but it did not last too long before cold rain set in. July and August is a excellent time to trout fish the flies only water of the Manistee River. This sections stays nice and cool all summer and is great place to fish day time terrestrials and night time mouse patterns. If your looking a nice float trip this summer we do have dates open and can set you up with Andy.
July 4th - Right now there is some excellent smallmouth bass fly fishing on the lower Au Sable River. Excellent day time streamer fishing and top water action in low light. Looking for big browns, head to the upper river and break out a mouse pattern at night. Next big hatch in the Big Waters below Mio is the White Fly hatch and that typically gets going in mid to late August. For those thinking of fishing the Mio water in July here is great article to read Riverwatch_Mio_Heat.
June 26th - The Hex hatch is not over yet! June has been full of guide trips for me and tonight was my first night off. The only way to spend it was chasing around trout all night long.
June 26th - Here is my favorite Hex spinner pattern (caught big trout tonight) sitting on some new products that we are carrying and using. The reel is a Nautilus Featherweight #7 loaded with a Rio Lumalux glow 6wt floating line and it is attached to a custom Sage 9' 6wt Z-Axis. Add a 9' 0x leader, cut off about a foot, tie on hex spinner and you're ready to go. This has been our perfect setup for fishing the Hex hatch for trophy trout. We have added Nautilus to the reel that we sell (along with Abel, Tibor and Sage) and have been extremely happy with the Featherweight series. This large arbor reel is extremely light weight with a super smooth drag - best reel I have used for under $300. Right now we do have the Featherweight and CCF models in stock. If interested just drop us a email at kelly@michiganstreamside.com
June 25th - Tom Olenczuk with a couple of real nice brown trout caught on Hex dry flies. With all of the hot weather of late look for fishing to start at dark. Hex hatch is going on its third week and there are still bugs but much lighter hatches now. If bug run out early its getting to be a good time to fish some mouse patterns late at night.
June 24th - Tim Schulz with a nice brown caught right at dark on a hex spinner dry fly. Light bugs tonight but a good number of trout were up and rising till bugs ran out around midnight.
June 22nd - Kris Walley with true trophy - 29" Au Sable River brown trout caught on hex spinner dry fly. Big trout like these are why we fish the hex hatch late at night. For a cool night had a very heavy hatch of the big Mayflies.
June 22nd - This one came about 15 minutes later! There were still a couple more going but bugs finally ran out and big trout stopped rising for the night.
June 21st - Scott with a AuSable River brown trout caught on the Hex hatch. Cold temps tonight made for some good action just before it got dark. Spinner fall started about 9:30pm and a number of good trout were up and feeding. Action did not last late into the night with temps getting into the upper 40's.
June 20th - Kris Walley with real nice Au Sable River trout caught on the Hex hatch.
June 20th - Mike Sargent with a 4lb plus smallmouth bass on the Au Sable River. With the warm day time temps the lower Au Sable offer some excellent daytime smallmouth bass fly fishing. A great time for the pre Hex hatch fish.
June 19th - Mike Sargent with a beautiful Au Sable River brown trout caught on the Hex Hatch. Tonight was a little cooler but we still had lots of bugs till around 1am.
June 18th - Carl with a very nice night time brown trout caught on a dry fly. Hot sticky with lots of Hex spinners.
June 16th - A giant size Au Sable River brown trout caught on a hex dry fly - big trout was 24". Spinner falls have been extremely heavy the last couple of nights and look excellent night time dry fly fishing this week. When bugs come heavy go with a large spinner pattern with a heavy white wing. Also with heavy bugs staying late can pay off when bugs start to thin out.
June 14th - Tom & Dave with a couple of nice Au Sable River brown trout caught during the hex hatch. Right after dark there were a bunch of trout up and feeding heavy on the hex spinners.
June 13th - Tom and Nick with a couple of real nice AuSable River trout. Had pretty good late evening fishing today with a number of rainbows caught on streamers and rising to slate wing olives. Hex spinner fall came just after dark and did last for a couple of hours tonight. Had a number of big trout up and rising to the Hex spinner. With the warm weather forecasted look for the excellent night time dry fishing this week.
June 12th - Tom Buhr with a nice big AuSable River brown trout. Big trout was caught dry fly fishing with a hex spinner. After a couple of nights of very heavy bugs tonight's spinner fall was very light. It did get a couple of big brown up and feeding. Had a very nice evening with a good number of trout up and rising to mostly slate wing olives size #16 and isonychia size #12. Also had a little action streamer fishing this evening and the most productive flies were crayfish type patterns.
June 11th - Kevin and Tony with a couple of big smallmouth caught on dry flies during the Hex hatch. Had very heavy spinner fall today and trout did not feed well. There were a number of smallies up and rising. Many years it can take a few nights for big trout to key into these bugs. Did have pretty good evening dry fly fishing with a good number of small to mid size trout up and rising.
June 1st - A huge Au Sable River Brown Trout caught on a dry fly at night! Brown drake spinner fall just after dark tonight. Even saw a couple of hex spinners. It won't be long now for Hex Hatch to start in huge numbers!
Isonychia hatches have started in the Big Waters of the Au Sable River. This is a excellent hatch and will last well into the summer. Look for bugs to hatch in the late evening and spinner falls right around dark.
Here are two big sources of food this time of year for the trout in the AuSable River - Isonychia nymph and crayfish. Both of these come in huge numbers this time of year and can produce some very good day time fishing. Isonychia nymphs live in fast riffles and are a swimming nymph. Swinging and twitching these nymphs on a floating line down through the riffles will typically produce some good action. Crayfish patterns can be fished on a sink tip and flies should be retrieved with quick strip jerk method. Lots of different woolly buggers will work great for a crayfish pattern.
May 31st - A huge night time Brown Trout in the Big Waters of the Au Sable River - caught by Dave Wilertz. Excellent Brown Drake spinner fall today just after dark. The night dry fishing has begun!
May 31st - Dry fly fishing in the late evening of the Au Sable. This beautiful trout took a brown drake emerger.
May 30th - Grilling dinner on the river in the Big Waters of the Au Sable River below Mio. Had a big group this evening and trout were caught by all!
May 30th - Brown Drake spinner falls have started in big numbers. With the high heat of late look for most bug activity to start right at dark and continue late into the night. If we get some cooler weather look for more late evening hatches and spinner falls. Photo on right is our number one Brown Drake Spinner pattern. This pattern was design & tied by Jerry Regan.
May 27th - David Frizzell with a beautiful Au Sable River brown trout caught with a #14 rusty spinner dry fly. Lots of action today streamer fishing but mostly smaller trout. Had a couple of bigger fish chase streamers in but would not take flies. Best streamers today were a conehead woolly scuplin and a small JJ Special. Had bright sunny conditions all day which typically does make it harder to find the bigger browns. Nice spinner fall in the late evening and a few nice trout up and rising.
May 26th - It was very surprising to see what smacked one our streamers today on the AuSable River! We do get the occasional warm water species down below Mio but this big Northern Pike came from the waters just below Parmalee Bridge. Trout fishing was pretty slow today but we did find a few. Hot and sunny during the day and then rain right during dry fly time did not help.
May 24th - Hot weather made for some excellent dry fly fishing right at dark tonight. We managed to screw up the two best ones of the night by breaking one off and pulling out another big trout. Same bugs as last night and trout all came on #12 parachute spent wing rusty spinner. Cool weather is forecasted for the weekend which should get trout rising a little earlier in the evening and make for some better day time streamer fishing.
May 23rd - A beautiful mid size Au Sable River brown trout caught dry fly fishing. Had a good spinner fall of a larger mayfly size 10-12 (pictured below) around 8:30pm. Trout were up and feeding on them and found a few nice rainbows and browns that were in the mid teen size range. A parachute spent wing #12 rusty spinner tied by Jerry Regan worked perfectly. Jerry's spinner patterns are the best I have seen and we use them for all of the big hatches. Also had heavy sulphur hatch & spinner fall right at dark.
May 19th - Excellent dry fly fishing this evening! Found some really nice browns up and rising from 7pm till dark. Top fly was a #14 rusty spinner.
May 18th - Kris Walley with a huge Au Sable River Brown Trout caught on a dry fly. Excellent dry fly fishing today for the last couple of hours before dark. There was a very heavy hatch of Sulpurs #16 and still a few dark Hendrickson spinners. Browns were still key in on Hendrickson's spinners and they produced a few very nice trout on today float. The Sulpurs are a major hatch on the Au Sable and look for trout to really key in of these in the next few night.
May 17th - A nice dry fly caught brown trout from the Big Waters of the Au Sable River. Excellent Hendrickson spinner fall just before dark.
May 14th - Tom Bushy with a huge Au Sable River brown trout. Thunder storms moved through this morning and after we had excellent streamer fishing! Cloudy rainy weather is ideal for fishing big streamers looking for trophy trout. High winds today did not help the dry fly fishing this evening. Starting to get lots of different Mayflies. Saw Hendricksons, Mahoganys, and Sulphur this evening.
May 14th - Dave Wilertz and Tom Bushy with a couple of more big browns from today's float. After rain this morning big trout were out looking for food. Big sculpin patterns in natural colors and olive were the top producers today. Our new double bunny wool heads in black/chart and olive/yellow have been working great this year.
May 12th - Joe Stevens with a very nice Au Sable River Rainbow Trout. The Big Waters below Mio have seen a lot more mid size trout this season which is great news for future seasons. Today we had very bright sun all afternoon which is not the best daytime conditions but still found a number of nice size rainbows. Had a few fish rising just before dark but cold temps keep hatch down to very spares numbers. Dark Hendrickson's are still going but starting to see some other bugs now. #16 Mahogany's and a few #14 Light Hendrickson's.
May 11th - JoAnne Wilertz with a nice AuSable River Brown Trout caught on a dry fly. Had pretty good numbers of Hendrickson spinners in the air just before dark but cold temps put a end to spinner fall a little early. There were a few trout rising to these spinners and a few #16 Mahogany's were hatching.
May 10th - Chris and Jerry with a couple of nice Au Sable River Browns just before dark. Warm weather made for some excellent dry fly fishing right before dark. Big spinner fall on Hendrickson's did get some nice trout up and rising. We got a couple of other nice rainbows and broke off a couple of nice trout right at dark. This time of year look for good dry fly fishing on cloudy evening or just before dark on warm days.
May 9th - Jeff Boks with a beautiful Brown Trout from the Big Waters of the Au Sable River. Had clouds and light rain this morning making for some good streamer fishing and then some pretty good dry fly fishing. Warm and wet are ideal conditions for trout fishing this time of year. Our black/chartreuse articulated woolhead sculpin was the top producing streamer today.
May 2nd - Ted Pitch with a true giant Au Sable River brown trout. Ted and Tom Buhr put a long day of streamer fishing in today and three big trout were hooked. On two of them the fly just pulled out and this one we were able to get in the net. Overall action was slow today with just a couple of other small trout landed. Good Hendrickson's all day long but only a few trout rising. Dry fly fishing will not be long!
April 28th - A true giant Au Sable River brown trout from opening day in the Big Waters. Big trout was 25" and 6-7lbs. This is the time to look for these overgrown trout and big streamers is the way to catch them. Hendrickson hatch has started in the Big Waters below Mio but I have not seen any heavy hatches or trout rising yet. It won't long now for dry fly fishing. Below are some of our top streamers for this time of year.
Trout photos from the 2005 & 2006 season (click here) Trout photos from the 2004 season (click here) Steelhead photos from the 2005 season (click here) Salmon photo gallery (click here) Lake Huron brown trout photos from the 2003 & 2004 season (click here) Lake Huron & Lake Michigan brown trout, salmon and smallmouth photos from the 2005 & 2006 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 fly fishing opportunities this season include:
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