Au Sable river-spawn mode only

[ausable_steelhead]

Well, the steelies are now in the mode where spawning is the only thing on their mind. I fished the river from 5:00am-7:00pm, landing one tail-hooked male. Only hooked two legal fish, the rest were fouls, and even those were pretty scarce. The number of fish still around is about the same as last week, maybe a little less, the fish just aren't interested anymore. The morning bite has disappeared, and the fish move away from your presentation, even when I dropped to 4lb, I probably should have grabbed some flourocarbon, but oh well...but this trip was the definante close to the 2003 spring steelhead season for me, it was a fun one with lots of great fish, now it's time for the chins, can't wait!

[Hemish]

Thanks for the reports Jon, see you on the river this fall!

[maxemus]

Quit talken to uself!!:eek: ;)

[Fishndude]

When the spawners won't bite well - which is most of the time, fish some faster riffles nearby or holes below the spawning gravel. The spawned out hens will usually hold in riffles or holes, depending on conditions, and they bite really well a lot of the time. The don't fight real well, so light line is fine. I still got jumps from some dropbacks this year, so they have a little something left.

[ausable_steelhead]

Fishndude, I was fishing some great water below the redds, riffles that fed into holes below spawning gravel, and didn't get much, I should have maybe tried a less pressured place, oh well though, there's always next year, tight-lines! And I should have had some spawn, but I only had flies.

[Fishndude]

to try is upstream from the Boyscout camp. There is a straightaway that holds dropbacks and they always seem to bite well.
It is hard to stray away from fish you can plainly see on gravel in front of you, I know. Think about this.
In 3 days of fishing this Spring, I hooked 10 Steelies and landed 9, and my 8 year old daughter hooked 4 and landed 2 (two lost on circle hooks - bad experiment). None of them came from the Highbanks, although some of them came from the October run, just downstream from the Highbanks, and best fished from the North side.
If everyone at the Highbanks did that well, hundreds of fish would be caught daily during the peak of the spawn.
Lots of people will disagree, but spawning fish do not normally bite well, even Steelhead. When you combine that with literally 50 - 100 people drifting flies, lures, and bait into/past/under/over the fish all day long, they really turn off. Sure an occassional fish will bite, and if everyone drifts all day long, quite a few fish will get lined or snagged as well. Most people who fish for bedding fish can't tell the difference of the fish are hooked in the mouth (and it is not real hard to line fish and hook as many inside the mouth as outside), and I am not trying to start another debate - anyone who fishes much knows about lining vs hooking biters.
I guess what my point is, is that fishing for bedding fish will not usually produce a lot of bites in places where a lot of people are fishing. There is a lot of river there, and you should explore other areas. You might really like what you find.
Early in the run, the pier is a great place. Every fish that makes it upstream to spawn has to go through the pierheads, and a lot of them never make it to the gravel.

[ausable_steelhead]

Yeah, I fished october, and the north corner, I never made a drift in the straight away, those fish get too pounded. The fish on the corner are less pressured, I only seen one weekend where it was lined up there, and that was like 8 people, after that, there were only 3-4 people at the most throughtout the day, sometimes 5, and most people showed up after it was already light out. But I'd get 1-2 legal biters right at first light, then mostly fouls and lined fish once it was light out, tight-lines, and thanks for the BC info.

[GONE FISHIN(LARRY)]

hey jon,you had a great spring on the river,before you know it we'll back on the river for some fall steelheadin.

[Fishndude]

I fish a lot of water every day I fish for Steelies. If you plant yourself in one spot or even a small stretch of river, you limit yourself to the fish that are in that area, or that are moving through - and fish that are migrating don't bite as well as fish that are holding. The exception to that are fish that are near the mouth of a river, and are fresh from the lake - they will bite like crazy most of the time, and they are on the move.
I fish an area thoroughly, then move up or down to another spot which I fish thoroughly - then move again. If I hit fish good in a spot, I hammer it hard for awhile. When the fish turn off or are caught (or have been hooked and lost, and won't bite again for at least a few hours) I move on. I come back to hot spots later in the day, because a lot of times the fish are just put down by other fish being caught, or they have been hooked and lost and won't bite for awhile.

The Ausable is a nice river, with lots of good holding water. I love the lumber, because it gives the fish an edge in the fight. I lose lots of gear to it, but the challenge of landing fish in that river is great. I haven't caught an unclipped fish, or a fish (Steelhead) over 10 lbs in awhile, but the river is pretty and the fishing is fun.
I don't hit it hard in Spring, when everyone who ever heard about Steelhead is there (at the dam, the Highbanks, or the point below the dam) trying their luck. I don't put much stock in luck, but the harder I fish, the luckier I seem to be.

It is really too bad that the river is allowed to get too warm in Summer for Steelies to survive that were hatched from the Spring spawn. There is no viable natural repro in the river, although there is a trib that has some. There is plenty of good spawning gravel, and the river in Grayling supports wild rainbows. Damn the dams I guess.

There is not too much water between Rea Rd and the Whirlpool that does not hold Steelhead at some point. Try it in early November sometime, you might be pleasantly surprised. Forget about drifting spawning gravel in Nov, the fish will be in holes or deeper gravel runs. The Fall fish fight like crazy, so don't use light line and tackle. No reason to go lighter than 8 lb leader in Fall - the fish are not line shy. Spawn is by far the best offering to Fall fish (as it is the rest of the year).

[ausable_steelhead]

Well said Fishndude, hey if you can, will you PM me, I've got some ?'s for you, mostly on fall fish, tight-lines.

[GONE FISHIN(LARRY)]

I agree with you fishindude,I love the fall fishin on the ausable,november and december are by far my favorite months on the river,fall fish are much more agresive.I also agree with you on the dam meathole area,way to many yahoo's epscailly in the spring ,way to much river to fish,to put up with that.Anyways enough said,I 'll be back on the river come november.

[Hemish]

Fall steel in November is stellar. I remember last fall fishing with a local who told me about his spot, gave me spawn, leaders and put me into a fish I lost. Pretty neat guy. I'll definitely be hitting the fall run.