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View Full Version : Au Sable trip 25th-29th




steeldrifter
05-30-2006, 01:39 PM
Well what a weekend....alright weekend isn't exactly the proper term since it went from wensday to sunday, but you get the point.


Due to Alex (OLB) finding himself in my neck of the woods on wensday we decided to head on up to his plan after he swung by here to fish thursday/friday, then he would drop me off at my cabin friday before my family got there friday night.

Thurday 25th- after getting Alex's son off to school we loaded up and made the trek from Gaylord to Mio to start the day off. As we got out of the car I looked over the roof at Alex and said "gonna be a helluva' day I can feel it in my bones"...and I was right as this day and the next produced one of the best days of brown trout fishing I've had in awhile with 4 fish between 14-16"

The spot we fished is a place we fish often and we each have our own little favorite areas, so we split up and fished our favorite little runs and holes that we each enjoy. I started off casting an EP fiber streamer that I have been working on over the winter to imitate baby rainbows that the large browns feed upon, and it quickly fooled this colorful lil' guy of about 11/12" (notice the mouthful of huge streamer.
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c70339702d.jpg

Next was a nice chuncky 12" rainbow that came out to play.
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c7134a12db.jpg

After those few fish I saw some very large stoneflys starting to hatch with some being taken in spashy rises. So I decided to put the streamer down for a bit and started casting a large Mattress Thrasher stone pattern on the surface. After a few minutes I was watching the fly drift across the middle of a slow pool behind an island and it dissapeared with a very satisfying *SLURP* of a rise. I lifted the rod and played this nice colorful 15" brown to hand
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c70963f929.jpg

After that fish I dried off the fly and waded back into position and made a cast just to see if the fly was still floating properly. Well it must have been as another nice brown came completly out of the water as it hit the fly.

http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c7066a33d1.jpg

After those back to back nice browns Alex came over and I told him of the fish I just landed and he said he had a bunch of nice fish following his streamer as well in the spot he was fishing. As the sun came back out I decided to put the dry fly rod down and go back to the streamer. I stripped out some line and started working the streamer tight to the side of an island just under the surface. As it got about mid way through the retrieve I saw a boil behind the streamer as I was working it just under the surface. I look over at Alex and said "DOH!!" ...Alex replied with a simple "I saw that" .

Next cast was right in the same spot and I started working the EP fiber streamer again. jerk-strip jerk-strip-strip strip strip WHAM!!! fish on! Soon as I set the hook a great looking brown rocketed out of the water about 2ft above the surface, hit the water again and started peeling line off the reel. I moved with him and kept him on a short line. After a few minutes I managed to slide the net under him.

http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c70a6c95ee.jpg

Being released back into the waters of the Au Sable
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Friday 26th- We planned to hit the same spot again but ended up not having much time this day so went for gills on a local lake near Alex's house. No gills around though, or anything at all on this lake at the time we were there.

Alex working a streamer on the lake
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c70d059920.jpg

About noon we headed to my place to drop me off so Alex could make the drive down to Ohio that day. So after parting ways at my cabin I had about 8/9 hrs alone at my cabin before my family got there. So I spent about 4 hrs doing work at the ol' homestead and then decided I to make the 150 yrd walk down to the river with nothing but my cane rod and a box of dries to try to even the score on some gills. The weather was warm so I wet waded and snuck up on some gills along the shoreline. None of them were huge by any standards, but 50+ gills were fooled within 2.5 hrs and made for a very plesant eveing alone on the river. Most averaged about 6-8"
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c70fdbbbf1.jpg
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c70e56fe5e.jpg


COUNTINUED-----




steeldrifter
05-30-2006, 01:40 PM
Saterday 27th- Figuring with it being a warm sunny holiday weekend that the only thing I would catch in Mio on that day was a canoe in the behind:lol: I decided to wait till sunday to fish Mio again, So I decided to fish a spot I had fished a few times before that was less pressured. This spot is at the end of what is considered good trout water, but its does hold trout, and a good friend said it fishes well early in the season so I gave it a whirl.

I got to this spot around 6:30 pm and started working a Mattress Thrasher sone pattern in a nice run. The water was a few inches high and carried a slight stain. After only about 5 mins the stone pattern dissapeared into a pretty nice boil of water as this nice fat 14" brown was soon brought to hand.
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c710d70b33.jpg


Soon after releasing this fish I saw another nice rise not even 10 ft from me. So I dried off the fly with a few false casts and sat it down just upstream from where I saw the rise. As it drifted over the spot I saw a beautiful brown of about 16-18" rise straight up from the river bottom and smash my fly. I dont know if I reacted a tad slowly or if he just didnt take the fly fully, but as I set the hook I felt his weight for a split second and then had to dodge the fly as it came back at me.Oh well, win some and lose some I guess.

After that Only one other fish was landed before dark, this little bow.
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c71224ee3a.jpg

Sunday 28th- Went to the Mio area and had to dodge canoes all day long. As the evening wore on though the canoes thankfully decressed in numbers and a few nice little trout were landed. Nothing large but still made for a nice time.
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c714e52316.jpg


A few more random pics from the last 4 days

One of my favorite runs on the Au Sable
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c71646839c.jpg

A nice brown released to be caught again some day
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c70777eb5b.jpg

The end of a perfect day on the Au Sable
http://www.talkflyfishing.com/uploads/gallery447c717368a87.jpg


Hope everyone else had a great weekend as well.

Steve

WILDCATWICK
05-30-2006, 05:06 PM
Great report! Thanks for shareing:)

Shupac
05-30-2006, 05:44 PM
Beautiful pics. Glad you told your story.

weekendredneck
05-30-2006, 08:49 PM
Great report! I was fishing the Mio area this weekend also and had one of the best days on the river yet.

steeldrifter
05-30-2006, 10:04 PM
Great report! I was fishing the Mio area this weekend also and had one of the best days on the river yet.


Gad to hear that. I have noticed after 4 trips so far this spring that the "average' size brown' does seem to be about 3-4" bigger than normal. Not sure if it's due to an easier winter, or more catch and release guys fishing there. Whatever it is due to though it's nice to have some decent sized fish to catch during the day.

For anyone heading up this weekend the hatches right now are mostly Stones, some sulphurs (only a few in Mio area) a few BWO's and a very very few Mahoganies. Stone nymphs and "mattress thrasher" dries seemed to work the best for me this weekend.

Steve

troutbum64
06-01-2006, 07:43 AM
nice report and pics, sounds like a great time.

Krull
06-01-2006, 11:09 PM
Great report! I was fishing the Mio area this weekend also and had one of the best days on the river yet.

I made it out on Saturday the 27th in this area. Almost didn't bring the rod as got a late start due to work around the cabin and figured the river would be a zoo with canoes. Between noon and 4:00 caught more trout then we knew what to do with. I guess just one of those days......