Hemish
05-28-2003, 04:29 PM
Well folks,
I was amazed at the number of fish and fisherman on the AuSable last weekend. Here's my low-down. I know a couple of you asked for the report.
The best surprise besides numerous headshakes was to finally meet another guy from this site besides my bro Maxemus. Ausable_Steelhead it was great to learn from a true master of that river, thanks for the info and location. He helped put me into some fish.
Hagerty and I left Lansing and made it to Oscoda and signed into the always pleasant Northern Traveler before heading out to try our hand at and around the mouth. Bobby told us what was hot and where and we headed out. We drifted spawn, tossed CD's for 'eyes (a new expression the locals told me), threw KO's and Cleo's for Lakers but to no avail, not even a tap. Saw a really nice 8 lbr taken off the pier. Good thing we had enough snacks to keep us from insanity.
After 5 hours of sleep we packed up and headed up the river on Monday. One day to make it happen, my last steel trip of the spring. I used my pm info from A_S to get to the spot we thought we'd try and after a long trek we were there, 5:30 am. Dang. You all know how it is though, not a lick of tiredness when the bite is on.
At the bend in the river I noticed a couple young guys looking like brothers and after a few hours I asked him who he was and what's he using and it turned out to be A_S. Good times. There were about 30-40 guys at this spot but thankfully on the other side.
Hagerty hooks into the first and she goes airborn, oh yes, bright silver and around 10 lbs or more, I couldn't believe it. She shook the hook. Folks around us were also taking and I was a little concerned about the skunk. Seemed they were hitting all sorts of patterns. I tried the old faithful spawn sack and after a couple hours I hooked and landed a small 6lb. buck, pretty dark but still good table fair and really like the steel. No skunk, bring it.
Hagerty hooks up maybe 5 more times, lands two, one foul and released and one really nice and pissed off male right in the chops. The rest were on, headshake or peelin' line and off.
I threw everything at them targeting the males who were courting the ladies and fighting for pole position. They would look, follow and back off, I couldn't believe it. I finally tried something besides the spawn, spinners and the kitchen sink and tied on my only bead head zug-bug type fly. Wouldn't you know it- whamo on the 2nd cast. This fella was pissed and off he went up and down and and then holding in a deep pool, then airborn a couple times for about 10-15 min. The death rattle began and he goes all the way around my netter, one of those guys who likes to talk more than fish, but thankfully he still coaxed my 8lb. buck in the net, luckily he put his beer down. :rolleyes:
At the end of the day, Hagerty took the big buck home and I took home the two. I thought for a minute I'd limit out but that would have been too easy and I still wanted a goal to drive me this fall.
All in all, amazing weather, fish in the river that defied my expectations and good times with a buddy who first took me "steeling" maybe 5 years back. Thanks Hags, can't wait to do it again. Next time we shouldn't fish 14 straight hours (6am-8pm) with only 30 min total of sitting down. My back is still like hamburger.
If I can ever finish my roll I'll try to post the pix. Thanks again Jon, it was nice to meet another Jon and learn some new things about one of my favorite sportfish.
Warm up the grill.:D And fish on fellas, hard to believe there was still steel around. Total of 4 chrome this year, numbers were like 4 for 10 on the year. That's way better than I thought I'd do! Sorry for the long post but it could be my last steel post for awhile so what the heck. Wahoo! Tight Lines!:eek:
I was amazed at the number of fish and fisherman on the AuSable last weekend. Here's my low-down. I know a couple of you asked for the report.
The best surprise besides numerous headshakes was to finally meet another guy from this site besides my bro Maxemus. Ausable_Steelhead it was great to learn from a true master of that river, thanks for the info and location. He helped put me into some fish.
Hagerty and I left Lansing and made it to Oscoda and signed into the always pleasant Northern Traveler before heading out to try our hand at and around the mouth. Bobby told us what was hot and where and we headed out. We drifted spawn, tossed CD's for 'eyes (a new expression the locals told me), threw KO's and Cleo's for Lakers but to no avail, not even a tap. Saw a really nice 8 lbr taken off the pier. Good thing we had enough snacks to keep us from insanity.
After 5 hours of sleep we packed up and headed up the river on Monday. One day to make it happen, my last steel trip of the spring. I used my pm info from A_S to get to the spot we thought we'd try and after a long trek we were there, 5:30 am. Dang. You all know how it is though, not a lick of tiredness when the bite is on.
At the bend in the river I noticed a couple young guys looking like brothers and after a few hours I asked him who he was and what's he using and it turned out to be A_S. Good times. There were about 30-40 guys at this spot but thankfully on the other side.
Hagerty hooks into the first and she goes airborn, oh yes, bright silver and around 10 lbs or more, I couldn't believe it. She shook the hook. Folks around us were also taking and I was a little concerned about the skunk. Seemed they were hitting all sorts of patterns. I tried the old faithful spawn sack and after a couple hours I hooked and landed a small 6lb. buck, pretty dark but still good table fair and really like the steel. No skunk, bring it.
Hagerty hooks up maybe 5 more times, lands two, one foul and released and one really nice and pissed off male right in the chops. The rest were on, headshake or peelin' line and off.
I threw everything at them targeting the males who were courting the ladies and fighting for pole position. They would look, follow and back off, I couldn't believe it. I finally tried something besides the spawn, spinners and the kitchen sink and tied on my only bead head zug-bug type fly. Wouldn't you know it- whamo on the 2nd cast. This fella was pissed and off he went up and down and and then holding in a deep pool, then airborn a couple times for about 10-15 min. The death rattle began and he goes all the way around my netter, one of those guys who likes to talk more than fish, but thankfully he still coaxed my 8lb. buck in the net, luckily he put his beer down. :rolleyes:
At the end of the day, Hagerty took the big buck home and I took home the two. I thought for a minute I'd limit out but that would have been too easy and I still wanted a goal to drive me this fall.
All in all, amazing weather, fish in the river that defied my expectations and good times with a buddy who first took me "steeling" maybe 5 years back. Thanks Hags, can't wait to do it again. Next time we shouldn't fish 14 straight hours (6am-8pm) with only 30 min total of sitting down. My back is still like hamburger.
If I can ever finish my roll I'll try to post the pix. Thanks again Jon, it was nice to meet another Jon and learn some new things about one of my favorite sportfish.
Warm up the grill.:D And fish on fellas, hard to believe there was still steel around. Total of 4 chrome this year, numbers were like 4 for 10 on the year. That's way better than I thought I'd do! Sorry for the long post but it could be my last steel post for awhile so what the heck. Wahoo! Tight Lines!:eek: