June 25, 2019<\/p>\n
The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report<\/p>\n
Hex are imminent.<\/p>\n
They have been for the last week. We saw the big fish-flies blow up\u00a0 in enormous number on Lake Margrethe and have been waiting for the big mayflies to make an appearance ever since.\u00a0 It normally takes about a week of eager angling before we see the glory hatch show up on the early parts of the Au Sable.\u00a0 But this year has been anything but normal.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been over a seven days now by this report\u2019s posting and we\u2019re still waiting. At this point it is safe to assume that we\u2019ll be casting the huge flies over equally impressive trout well into July.\u00a0 In fact, there have been more sightings of Hex on the Manistee than there have been on the Au Sable.\u00a0 That\u2019s a flip-flop anomaly that I have never seen in over twenty years of fishing here.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never even heard of such an occurrence.\u00a0 Generally, the Manistee sees hatches ten days after the Au Sable but, again, this is an abnormal year.<\/p>\n
Even the guys creeping Au Sable ponds are scratching their fishing caps.<\/p>\n
It sort of makes it all exciting. After all, trout fishing is supposed to be an adventure and fly angling is a Sudoku with missing numbers.\u00a0 A huge part of the reward is figuring things out.\u00a0 Without some mystery there is little romance.\u00a0 And if this sort of Spring is the new normal, than we have to ease into a new, exciting relationship with our Rivers.<\/p>\n
Brown Drakes are lingering on some reaches of the Au Sable and are hitting stride on the Manistee. Isonychia, or Mahogany Drakes, are really the evening event so far and have been producing some fine results.\u00a0 Of course, you have to watch for the little Sulphurs as well.\u00a0 Hope there are no Bat Flies\u2014those vibrating little spinners can be a nuisance.\u00a0 The bug is hard to replicate and it\u2019s impossible to make your artificial move in harmony with a natural.\u00a0 Big fish sometimes key on them.<\/p>\n
Hex will probably show up before this report is posted.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time now. It\u2019s been a slow dance this year.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been courting for two months.\u00a0 It\u2019s time to consummate this relationship.\u00a0\u00a0 Maybe under the Fireworks.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll see you on the River,<\/p>\n
Andy<\/p>\n
June 27, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report.<\/span><\/p>\n Hex are still rolling on the river of Crawford County. The peak activity has crested on the Au Sable River, but there still are still plenty of bugs left in the thick muck banks of the lower river and there is lots of activity in the evening and into the darkness.\u00a0 The iso\u2019s are keeping anglers busy with some good trout as the light falls below the tree line.\u00a0 And the Hex are keeping big trout looking toward the surface as the moon rises.\u00a0 The density of bugs has thinned and gorged brown trout are being finicky, but anglers can hunt for trophy browns until the birds chirp in the early morning hours.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s been a great season so far.<\/span><\/p>\n The Manistee Hex hatch just keeps getting stronger and will peak before the Fourth of July. Some real bruisers are prowling the currents this year, and I suspect we\u2019ll see a picture of a real river monster soon.\u00a0 The trout are thick and strong and rising whenever there are any insects on the water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The big push of hardcore Hex anglers is past. Many of those fishermen have burned their vacation time so the rivers will be much less crowded.\u00a0 We\u2019re moving into the second season on the Au Sable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n July marks the beginning of the terrestrial season. Grasshoppers, ants, and beetles will be the order of the day.\u00a0 The fish are looking strongly to the surface now and attractor patterns like Patriots, and Coachmans will most certainly garner attention.\u00a0 Anytime of the day is the right time to go, but early mornings will offer the best opportunity especially for fishermen seeking solitude.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s time to just simply go fishing. And it\u2019s time to get new anglers introduced to this wonderful lifetime sport.\u00a0 The Old Au Sable is offering beginner classes July 14th<\/sup> and again on July 15th<\/sup>.\u00a0 The class covers everything a new fisherman needs to know.\u00a0 Students will spend time learning on both dry ground and in the river.\u00a0 Our class is for all ages and families, lasts for four hours and includes a free rod and reel package.\u00a0 It\u2019s a great deal and a wonderful way to get started down the path.\u00a0 There is no time to start like the present.\u00a0 Give us a Google and call the shop for details. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We\u2019ll see you all soon,<\/span><\/p>\n Andy<\/span><\/p>\n The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report<\/span><\/p>\n June 24, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s the end of June and there\u2019s only one word that fly fishermen want to hear\u2014Hex. The long fabled, Michigan Hexagenia Limbata hatch is the stuff of legend.\u00a0 Over the years, legions of fly anglers worldwide have come to our beloved Crawford County to ply the waters and try their luck on our streams and to match wits with the thick shouldered and rarely fooled trophy brown trout of the Au Sable and Manistee Rivers.\u00a0 So far this year, we\u2019ve seen fishermen from France, Japan, and even Iceland coming to visit our streams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It can be difficult for the non-fly angler to understand what drives that sort of travel to the sandy, jack pine plans of Northern Michigan. But any angler can understand the affliction.\u00a0 All fish-bitten fishermen would travel as far as their dollars would take them to experience world class angling.\u00a0 And while our fishing isn\u2019t world class every day, it is sometimes and some of those days are just in front of us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Hex hatch is system wide on the Au Sable River right now. I\u2019d guess we\u2019re going to be fishing these waters until the next report.\u00a0 The South Branch may only have a few days left in the tank, but the mainstream with its thigh-deep muck banks should hold up for a good while.\u00a0 Once they thin there, the Manistee River should pick up the slack.\u00a0 We\u2019ve seen just a few on that stream, but their appearance in those currents is imminent.<\/span><\/p>\n Most of the phone calls I answer at the shop ask if it\u2019s worth going fishing. I can tell you that it\u2019s rarely perfect when you think it will be and it\u2019s always better than staying home and mowing the lawn.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have a big window here.\u00a0 So, I\u2019d say just go when you can.\u00a0 The best night I had last week was on the coldest evening we\u2019ve this June.\u00a0 My best fish was a whopper that was angry and heavy and held on the bottom before he launched into the air and landed fat and flat and loud on the water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s here. The glory.\u00a0 The reward of suffering long winters.\u00a0 I know I\u2019ll be out.\u00a0 I hope you hear my fish jump.\u00a0 I hope I hear yours.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ll see you on the river,<\/span><\/p>\n Andy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" June 25, 2019 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Hex are imminent. They have been for the last week. We saw the big fish-flies blow up\u00a0 in enormous number on Lake Margrethe and have been waiting for the big mayflies to make an appearance ever since.\u00a0 It normally takes about a week of … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[199,156,148,159,164,155,84,7,160,154,161,162,166,5,150,157,68,158],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1934,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1795\/revisions\/1934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.oldausable.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}