It’s full-blown Summer here in Northern Michigan and the weather is spectacular. We’re running a little cooler than normal, but all that means is that “the water is fine”. Lakes are plenty warm enough for a plunge and the River is keeping cool enough for pretty decent trout fishing. In fact, July has offered up … Read more
It’s been a wild ride on the hatch match evening fishing train. Most anglers were having trouble staying in the heat of the Hex Hatch. Drastic temperature changes have made angling unpredictable. We’ve had air temperatures swing nearly fifty degrees in a twenty-four-hour period, and that made figuring out spinner falls nearly impossible. Worse, the … Read more
This one is straight from the hip. There’s a time for fun language and indulgent writing, and then there’s Drakes in June. I love May more than any other month in the Au Sable flyfishing world. I live here for May and June and for October. May was tough for me. I fished exactly where … Read more
I live by the Au Sable River mostly because of May and June. Those two months are hatch match time – the time of the year when water-born insects like mayflies and caddis flies emerge and live out the adult part of their life cycles (even while sandal wearing fifty-year-old fly anglers with Peter Pan … Read more
The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report. Windshield wiper smeared bug guts mean fishing is getting good. We’ve been lurking on the top of the basement steps of water temperature – peeking through the door but, now, the forecast warm weather is about to karate-kick-splinter the opening of Hendricksons. Things have been hovering just … Read more
Folks are vibrating with Spring energy here in the Northwoods. Jack and I have been taking Stella puppy for after work spins in the grouse coverts (before the woods close to unleashed dogs on April 15th), so that she can get a sniffer full of smells and so that Jack can work on his compass … Read more
I’m glad March came and glad it’s gone. Streamer fishing has been solid on the best days and will just keep getting better with more of those best days to come. I love pitching meatbugs and stripping flies from the bank and pausing them into the streambed contours, and jolt-strikes, and a leviathan, thick-sided brown … Read more
This is the weather we’ve been waiting for – Spring is breaking. We’ve moved the clocks and the kids will steal a week away from school. There’s a change settling into Northern Michigan. Spring creep is kindly welcomed. Temperatures move from twenties to thirties and thirties move to forties and each marker sheds a layer … Read more
March toward Spring I say. Even though this month often serves up some of our most ferocious winter weather, it’s nice to turn the calendar page. Days are getting longer and the sun’s angle stronger. There’s no more going to work in the dark and coming home in the dark. We can look forward to … Read more
You won’t often hear these words, but January flew by for me. The cold was so bitter that it, in fact, shut down the lake effect machine. Weather prognosticators had foreshadowed a warmer than average winter highlighted by heavy snow fall due to an unfrozen Lake Michigan. Clearly, they are overpaid. No problem for Michiganians—we’re … Read more