The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Wild weather swings are about to bend to more seasonable trends.  We went from an early season snowstorm to an incredibly warm Indian Summer. The summer-like stretch made fishing and hunting difficult.  Grouse hunting fell apart with the heat.  Whipped dogs lolled tongues over water dishes in the bird covers by mid-morning.  It felt more like September than November. Fishing changed starkly.  Most of the post spawn brown trout...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Bow Hunting, Brook Trout, Deer Hunting, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Tying, Grouse Hunting, Michigan Reports, Michigan Winter Fishing, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Tourism, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Fall color is upon us.  We’re getting close to peak change in Northern Michigan.  This is easily my favorite season of the year.  Splashes of red and orange and gold pop against evergreen ridges.  And over every rise and in buried in every swale, drumming grouse and whistling woodcock and white-tailed deer hunker down. It’s hunting season and fishing season still, and the two merge together to make the Au Sable river valley a wond...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Blue Gills, Bow Hunting, Brook Trout, Deer Hunting, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Tying, Grouse Hunting, Michigan Reports, Michigan Winter Fishing, River Reports, Tourism, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Welcome to the white-tailed deer rifle season in Northern Michigan. We had an early cold snap that brought with it a blanket of snow. Snow is welcomed by all deer hunters.  It makes it easier to spot the brown ungulates as they sneak through the spruces and makes tracking animals easier.  That’s especially welcomed by grateful hunters who have to follow up a mortally wounded buck.  Blood

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Bow Hunting, Deer Hunting, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Holiday, Michigan Reports, Michigan Winter Fishing, River Reports, Tourism, Weather

September 27, 2018 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report.     The first whiffs of Fall are finally in the breeze.  The mornings are crisp and cool.  It feels good to p...

By: Andy Partlo   Category: Bow Hunting, Brook Trout, Deer Hunting, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Grouse Hunting Tags: Au Sable River

December 20, 2017 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report     We’re moving out of the in between time.  That time in December that when deer season is ending and grouse seas...

By: Andy Partlo   Category: Bow Hunting, Deer Hunting, Fishing Tips, Holiday, Ice Fishing, Michigan Reports, Michigan Winter Fishing, River Reports

November 21, 2017

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Bow Hunting, Deer Hunting, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Tying, Grouse Hunting, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Tourism

October 7, 2017 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Gotta admit, I’m struggling out there in the Grouse and Woodcock covers so far this year, and a lot of my friends are as well.  ...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Bow Hunting, Brook Trout, Deer Hunting, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Grouse Hunting, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Streamer Fishing

September 11, 2017 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report And just like that Summer is over.  Our spectacular Spring fishing stirs the beehive of activity and the shop doors swing open and shut with eager anglers for many months until Summer’s crescendo.  Labor Day inflates our local population by tenfold and then, on that first September Tuesday, the southbound traffic drains the people from woods and waters of Northern Michigan leaving the outdoors to deer and grouse and...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Bow Hunting, Brook Trout, Deer Hunting, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Grouse Hunting, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Tourism Tags: Au Sable River, Grouse

December 8, 2016 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Good news and happy day.  I guess my last report was just a bit premature.  I talked, last week, about how I’d passed on a good number of one and a half year old bucks and was leaving the 2016 white-tailed deer season okay with my decisions but empty handed.  Well, I

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Bow Hunting, Brook Trout, Deer Hunting, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Grouse Hunting, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Tourism, Weather

November 28, 2016 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report. It’s been a turbulent 2016 Deer Rifle Season here in Northern Michigan.  The thermometer in my truck read temperatures from seventy degrees all the way down to a chilly, nine degree morning start.  We had everything from Summer to Winter in a sixteen day season.  The drastic changes and short-lived weather patterns made it difficult predict deer movements and plenty of hunters (at least in my circle of friends) end...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Bow Hunting, Deer Hunting, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Grouse Hunting, Tourism, Weather