July 1, 2015 River Report

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report

July 1, 2015

What a Hex season it’s been.  Such a crazy time on the Au Sable.  The big flies come out by the many thousands and create an audible hum of flapping insect wings at dark and the big trout slip out of their log jams and sensibilities and succumb to an armada of anglers armed with row boats and riverboats. And well equipped anglers dangle fine feathered offerings to those lunkers.

Brent.Jamie
Brent with guide Jamie

It worked well and often this year.  Lots of folks saw their fair share of bent rods and got their pictures.  The best I saw so far was a twenty eight inch whopper.  Hatch match dry fly fishing simply doesn’t get better than that anywhere in the world.

It’s just about done now on the Au Sable, but our sister river, the Manistee is now proving her medal.  I bet you could work a good one under the fireworks in the coming days.

Jeff Cherry
Jeff Cherry

That said, it’s like the Au Sable has finally taken a deep breath.  Around here, you sort of hit the river running at trout opener and start chasing after the glory hatches of hendricksons, suplhurs, iso’s, brown drakes, and Hex and you just don’t stop until July.

I’ll likely sneak over the Manistee a few more times after dark to see if I have any more Hex hatch Karma left, but I’m really looking forward to the second season on the Au Sable.

IMG_0417
Jim Cherry (Dad)

There’s a pretty wonderful time for trout fishing upon us.  The hard core trout camps have broken up and the huge fishing crowd is largely gone.  Gone too is the constant rehashing and second guessing that comes with chasing hatches.

You can kind of go whenever you want and where ever you want.  We’ve got blue-winged olives showing up in the mornings and iso , cahill, and gray drake spinners at dusk.  The terrestrial fishing with hoppers, ants, and beetles should be good at any time of the day.  You can also fish attractor patterns on any river at any time to find trout from here on out.

FullSizeRender
Michael Cherry

Best of all, some of the most productive waters have been ignored for weeks because of the great hatch chase.  Places like the Holy Waters haven’t been touched.

This is a much more relaxed time on the streams and brooks of Northern Michigan.

Hope I’ll see you on the River,

Andy

0 thoughts on “July 1, 2015 River Report”

  1. Please continue with your manistee updates! Its not a secret trout stream tom. And to be fair you should probably get after josh (gates) and Hawkins if you want to try to keep your “secret”.

    Reply
  2. Keep promoting all of our beautiful streams Andy! It takes the efforts of folks like you and other shops to keep our sport alive, and for us to support you and your efforts to keep others active in the pursuit and teaching of the next wave of flyfishers.

    Reply
  3. After all, It’s “His River” ,crowds need to congregate elsewhere . Too funny. I appreciate the honest reports. My son and I fished Sunday night and Monday night and saw a Few boats and a few fisherman and had some nice success with a really nice spinner fall on the upper Sunday night. And Yes!!! it is a beautiful stream.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to greg Cancel reply