AuSable South Br. Action

[binkley]

I'm going to make a trip from Midland up to Roscommon to hit the South Br. Anyone been up? Wondering if any of the big bugs have started to show up yet or wether there have been Brown Drakes.

Any info would be greatly appreciated as I will be heading up tonight. Anyone else heading up this evening? I'll be at Chase Bridge.

later

[jfink]

I was up there this weekend and brown drakes are on the down swing. Gray drakes and isos are happening with possibly due I dare mention it hex. Especially with how much it warms up. Could be an excellent night and don't leave to early. Good luck.

[binkley]

Jfink,

Thanks for the info. I don't want to jinks things, but I was kind of hoping the big guys might make an appearance tonight.

[beer and nuts]

Sssshhhhhhhh......your timing could be very good. I saw HEX last night at 11:00pm, with drakes flying all over at dusk...sssshhhhhh!!!!

Water level is real low...dingdongs at Lake St. Helen have dropped the dam I'm sure, a crying shame but thats a whole different story. Bring the bug spray. I'll report tomorrow.

[beer and nuts]

Mahog. caddis hatch at dusk, few little ones feeding. A decent hex hatch came at dark thirty, I caught zip(I'm in a slump this year), buddy caught two 17's and a smaller one, another friend upstream caught two 20's. Tonight should be better.

[beer and nuts]

Great hatch last night again. Caught the middle of the hatch last night as I was up to far in the river, so I came down by my dad's place and found a full fledge HEX hatch going. First fish went 22 inches and was a hook jaw pig, hit/miss two more nice fish, and landed another 15 incher. My dad caught a couple 18 inchers and had one break him off that was big. We had a lot of big ones feeding. Spent a lot of time with the 22 incher reviving it and talking, when we should have been fishing. Great night. It started around 10:30 and lasted till 11:50. Not sure if the hatch ever came upstream, if the hatch is true to form the Mason Tract should be hot tonight--find the mud flats. Anybody hear whether they have seen the HEX in the Mason Tract????

[binkley]

B&N,

I reported yesterday, but for some reason my post didn't show up. I also got an e-mail that weezer had replied to this thread, but when I clicked on the link his reply was not there. Not sure what is going on. Anyway, I fished just up stream from Chase Bridge on Monday night and had pretty good hex action from about 10:30 to 11:30. Managed one 15 and missed a few others, one that I believe was a bigger fish judging by the amount of water that moved when it made the take. Had a rough night. Note to self...check head lamp batteries more often. Light ran out at about 10pm, so I had to pick a pattern and stick with it knowing I wouldn't have enough light to tie another on. Had many takers on a Hex spinner. Any thoughts on how this colder weather will affect when the spinners show up?

[FlyBoy]

went up tuesday night caught a 17 and an 18 and lost one just as big. saw a total of 8 spinners and a couple emergers earlier in the evening. not many bugs but the bugs that were there were being eaten very quickly(hungry fish). both the fish i caught were on the first cast to them. as i was leaving the water at 12:30 i heard what i believe to be one of the largest fish i've ever heard. I went to one of my favorite spots and it was full of newly added trees to deal with. Makes for a little more work wading but the fish loved them.

[beer and nuts]

Last night we had a blanket hatch, guided a buddy to see if we could get him a biggin. Well the first fish went 17 inches and he was thrilled, while we took care of that fish, a slurper started 20 yards up and only 10 yards away from my 22 incher from the night before. Worked our way up and got him in position, a couple tweeks in the casting and wham - another different 22 incher to the net. Very nice fish but no where near the bulk of mine from the previous night so I knew it was different. Funny thing was, I measured his the same way I measured mine, with the old spread the hand 8 inch across thing, and put his at 20 inches at the dock, back at the truck the tape told us 22 inches exactly, so I think mine might have pushed 23 and maybe 24, but I'l never know.

The bugs kept coming and the fish stopped fishing and thats the way the night went and we went up and down the river to three different locations, same thing, bugs all over no fish. By 12 the bugs had stopped. Report was half way down the Mason Tract they had a small hatch, nothing great with very few fish feeding. Buddies caught a couple 14/15 inchers and they stayed till 12 too.

[n.pike]

B&N

What about early morning or midday action? I tried a few times on my lunch off Steckert Bridge rd .Should I stick to the evening hatch?

Have you tried the stream across from the ford lot, that runs behind the cabins? I was there a few days back, some nice cover and small browns, but tight quarters to cast in.

[beer and nuts]

I do not fish the day hatches-just not my kind of fishing, I stick to the brown drake and hex at night and rarely get out the fly rod till next June. I will say that the waters from town to Chase tend not to be worth a darn for day fishing. Your best bet to see day hatches are the mason tract area, in the cooler faster waters usually. The small stream yourtalking about used to be real good when there were normal water levels, now its so shallow and slow that the fishing isn't as good as say 10 years ago or more. In the spring you can catch some fish but when the water level drops and it warms they go back down into the south branch.

[binkley]

Anyone have a recent report for the S. Branch? I plan to go up either Monday or Tuesday for another round of hex. Anyone been out?

Bink

[WILDCATWICK]

I was there this weekend. We fished Friday night on the main branch and there was a hes hatch that started around 9:15 and went to about 10:30pm. I talked to a another fisherman who was on the South Brach just upstream form Canoe Harbor and he said they had the same hatch in the same time frame. Weather was pretty poor this weekend up there. Cold rainny, then clear and windy. We managed to do pretty good in the day considering. We hist the south brach, North Branch, East Branch, and the Main Branch during the day. There were very few hatches most being Grey Drakes. Most of the action were nymphs. Saw plenty that were regurgitated and there was every color and size. No drys in there though. Mayflies, mayflies, mayflies. Only saw a couple of caddis and could not get a strike useing them. Patterns that worked were Bochers Special, BWO, and nyphs.:cool: