Whacked a few, 4-9-06

[ausable_steelhead]

A buddy and I fished the Au Sable, and another east-side river yesterday. There were a decent amount of people out, but not too bad. We went a combined 14-17, mostly chrome fish, though we did hit a drop-back. All but three fish came on bobbers, and everything came on fresh spawn. The fish were 4-10lbs, a pretty even mixture of bucks and hens. Fish are starting to spawn on the big river, and there are a couple DB's around. I think the run's are just starting to get going, as alot of guys think this may be it, I sure hope not, tight-lines.

[sprigdog]

good job on your success.

i also fished sunday and floated over every piece of gravel on that river and did not see one fish or redd or one fish on a redd...waters still 42-43 degrees about 6-7 degrees away from spawning.

[ausable_steelhead]

You must have not been looking hard, there is polished gravel everywhere, and I've seen a few on beds. Steelhead start spawning at 42, and winter fish have been known to spawn as cold as 36-37. There are always a few redding by this time or earlier every year. The other river had fish on beds at the end of March, and I've seen active pairs there, which were left alone.

[Fishndude]

Nice fishing, AS. Sounds like the run might be starting. 14 fish between 2 people is a good day anywhere.

[fire-tiger]

Not to be too negative about your post but having fished the Ausable for steelhead almost exclusively since the late sixties until present I have NEVER had a seen 14 fish caught between two people in one day. Yes, I have had some good days on the river, five or six in a day when the runs were at thier best. I grew up spending my summers in a house ON the river and pretty much know every hole, rock, and log from the mouth to the dam. We all know that the runs have dwindled the last few years and that is a shame. But you must be one GREAT steelheader to have some of the days that you describe in your posts. Give me some pictures of your recent exploits or take a few fish into Bobby at Wellmans to verify, he knows who I am.

[quest32a]

Not to be too negative about your post but having fished the Ausable for steelhead almost exclusively since the late sixties until present I have NEVER had a seen 14 fish caught between two people in one day. Yes, I have had some good days on the river, five or six in a day when the runs were at thier best. I grew up spending my summers in a house ON the river and pretty much know every hole, rock, and log from the mouth to the dam. We all know that the runs have dwindled the last few years and that is a shame. But you must be one GREAT steelheader to have some of the days that you describe in your posts. Give me some pictures of your recent exploits or take a few fish into Bobby at Wellmans to verify, he knows who I am.
He mentioned he fished more than one river that day. And a 14 fish day with the right conditions is not that difficult between two guys. Not that I have had many of them, but this time of year if you hit a fresh pod that hasn't been fished it isn't hard to pull 6-7 fish out of one run.

[fire-tiger]

All I want is to see some pictures, that is not asking too much.

[ausable_steelhead]

Dude, every old-timer, and some of the guys here tell of much better action back in the day then now, like 20+ hook-ups. I had two days last spring where I hooked 15 fish, and they were both at a very seceret spot-FOOTE DAM. Last winter my brother and I hooked 17 in Dec. Like Quest said, hit it right and you can do pretty good. The other river we fished gave up 7 of the hook-ups, so 10 fish hooked between two guys during the spring-run is definanetly not unheard of. I do not have a digital camera, if you need pics, I'll mail you some, and you can scan them and then post. I post a report if I've done well or got completely shutout. I don't post brag reports, if I got my ***** kicked or if I didn't hit anything, I still post, getting blanked is part of the game. I don't know why if you do decent, all of a sudden you have to have proof. I'll get a CD with this latest set of pics, as my camera is down to less than 10 pics, then I'll show you Au Sable steelhead. Funny thing is, I only wade, I don't have a boat, which makes it that much sweeter. I can take back some of the pics I've gotten over the years from the dam store, and have them show you, ask them if they know Jon Bickham from Bay City, they'll tell you.

[Krull]

AS- don't let the negativity get to you, I and many others enjoy the posts. Even if they were false (which I hope they are not) they give us weekend warriors the eternal hope and remind what a great sport fishing is. I can attest that 14 hook ups is more than believable. When fishing the holes and being at the right place at the right time, it can be like fishing for bluegill. I remember Jan 23, 1999 like it was yesterday. Drove up as I always do on my birthday, a stop in Oscoda on the way to an annual ice fishing trip in Fairview. The weather was horrible, a horizontal type sleet, ice mix. I decided to still go out, I walked appx 1/2 mile to my favorite(and seldom fished) hole by myself, and promptly landed 5 steelies and lost 2 more in less than an hour, and I had my fill. I dragged the 3 fish I decided to keep back down the trail to the launch through at least 2 feet of snow (before they cleared out the snow mobile trail). For those who do not believe, the afore mentioned Bobby took a couple nice pics for me and I had him clean them up (well spent $6) I guess my point is don't let the doubters stop you from posting. BTW, I have seen 14 fish landed in about an hour in one particular hole on that river less than 2 years ago. (there were 5 of us there) Anyway, keep up the excellent fishing and good luck.

[sprigdog]

14 fish a day on the AS is/can be realistic especially tween 2 guys.
we had an 11 fish day so far this year in mid-march.
in years past, yep we've topped the 14 mark a few times.....

then you have a day like today..fished hard for 8 hours just to get 5 seconds of headshakes from chrome and a spit....long day to say the least

[ausable_steelhead]

I don't really let it bother me, I'll still post. No, I'm not giving false reports, we hooked 17 steelhead, no lie. I think it's gonna get good here in the next couple weeks, river hit 44 today, and is gaining temp fast, only bad thing is it'll probably push alot of fish up on the gravel, and cause some fast spawners. There are still holes on that river that will hold alot of fish, some are surprising. You can really hook a bunch at the dam, even with alot of people, just gotta know what your doing, then again, that dosen't always have to be the case.......;) . Krull, I'm wondering if I know the hole your talking about, depends on which launch, as I have a hole that can be really good, and it's not far from a certain launch, hmmm....

[fowl assasination]

I believe it i fished today not on the ausable but i hooked 5 steelies in an hour and landed two. The nice thing was that i was the only one down there supriseingly. Unfortunatly i snapped my rod on the last fish that i landed so i couldnt fish any longer. It was good fishing down there today. I am picking up a 9'6" lamiglas rod tomorrow is this a good choice on brand.

[SJC]

A 14 fish day on the AuSable or any river that gets a lot of steelhead can be easy to do if you hit a big push or just plain have a lot of fish around and you know how to catch them. Just because you can't or havent had days like that does not mean that people arent doing it. Three years ago a buddy and I had three days in a row where we landed 20 plus steelhead on the AuSable. Our best day was 33 landed before 1:00 pm. It happens enough that we call it a "20 fish day". You should know that it is taboo to ask fellow fisherman for proof. Most fish tales have a certain level exaggeration (pronounced B.S.) added to them. There are lots of rivers in the state that 20 fish days are possible right now. Chill out and go fishing.

[ausable_steelhead]

Okay guys let's ease up a bit, I appreciate the back-up, but I don't want to turn this into a gang-up and slam fest. Fire-tiger, it is possible to have high number days on the AS, my buddy and I had two last spring that put 30-31 fish on, and it wasn't gravel fishing. I find it hard to believe your best days are only 5-6 fish when you've been fishing it since the late-sixties! The early-mid 90's were ridiculous on that river. Fall of 04' and the following winter were great, 5-6 was an average day. Alot of the old stand-by holes are not holding fish like they used to, some of the spots I get them out of alot of people(boats especially) just pass on by, because they don't look really fishy. I'm gonna try and post some pics here shortly, I've been wanting to anyway, Just to show some beautiful Au Sable steelhead, and the beauty of that river, tight-lines, and I hope you have a chrome-plentiful season, fish-on!

[Molson]

Not to be too negative ...


Then don't be.


... but having fished the Ausable for steelhead almost exclusively since the late sixties until present I have NEVER had a seen 14 fish caught between two people in one day.


I believe him. If you've fished there since the 60's and haven't landed 7 fish in one day.... (14 fish divided by 2 people = 7 fish per person average)... I feel sorry for you. Maybe you shouldn't be fishing that river exclusively.

[Fishndude]

A couple buddies and I had 31 fresh Steelies on one day, a few years ago. We parked a boat at a hole on the lower river, and it was just one of those days when waves of fish were moving through. I think we ended up landing 12 or 15 - we lost a lot because of heavy current.

When you used to be able to fish in the coffer, and Skamanias were still being planted, I often hooked 40 or 50 Steelhead in a day during the peak of the Salmon season. The Steelhead were just gorging on eggs, and they bit like crazy. And they were turbo charged with all the oxygen in the water, or something, because I would run straight 10 lb line, and most of them still broke me off. I hooked 9 fish on 10 casts one day, and the snaggers couldn't believe I was getting bites from "fresh Salmon." Those days were when I converted from Salmon fishing to almost exclusively fishing for Steelhead. A few times I went home early because I just couldn't fight anymore fish.

[SteelYarn]

Hey Jon,
I also appeciate your posts. Its always quite fun reading up on how other fisherman are doing and just imagining the fun your having while hooking up on those silver bullets.
One time my father and I were on our way home from a steelhead outing. It was his virgin river steelhead trip and had not picked up a fish yet and I had two in the freezer. Well we were on our way home and I suggested we go to the mouth of the Platte River and just take a look. The wind was blowing at about 10-15 mph, the Temp was about 60 degrees with the sun as bright as could be. What a beautiful day on the beach. All of a sudden while peering into the river, my heart started jumping out of my skin....
I couldnt believe what I was seeing. I bet I could leterally walk across the river on the backs of steel:lol: WEll needless to say we ran to the truck got out our gear and had a ball. I really dont remember how many fish we hooked into, but I do remember it was like nothing I have ever experienced. You just never know.........

[ausable_steelhead]

I think the coffer should still be open, atleast from November until April. That's where I see the biggest steelhead every year, though I did see an absolute monster during October of 03' in the pocket, it was bigger than alot of the 12-15lb salmon graveling up there, just scary big!

[Downstate Doug]

Fire....Bobby hasn't worked at Wellmans for the past two years.

DD