The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report This has been the finest August I can remember - cool nights and warm days. Michigan has the best weather in the country right now.  And fishing is, well, really pretty good for late Summer.  Water temperatures and flows are solid, so daytime angling is alright.  Tricos and olives are hatching every morning with young trout taking notice and we’re picking up some fish throughout the rest of the daylight hours. You should be able to p...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Holiday, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Tourism, Trico, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Somehow the world has turned enough to put us right into August.  Understanding where Summer started to slip away is a head scratcher.  Seems like we just got started and already we’re only weeks from September. I guess it’s because everything in our trout fishing world took so long to get rolling.  Our season was significantly pushed back. We’re set to reap some benefits from that now.  Cool nights and good rainfall has ...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Tourism, Trico, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Well I guess we have to call the Hex Hatch finished for 2019. Sort of anyway.  Our insect hatches never turn of like a light switch; instead, they sort of linger and nag at anglers like a leaky faucet.  It’s hard not to pull on damp, mildewed waders and trudge into the currents one more time hoping for that last spit of bugs and the last late night slurps of just one more jaw snapping brown trout. Just one more last time. Just one mor...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Blue Gills, Brook Trout, Brown Drakes, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Hex, ISO, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Tourism, Trico, Weather

June 25, 2019 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Hex are imminent. They have been for the last week. We saw the big fish-flies blow up  in enormous number on Lake Margrethe and have been waiting for the big mayflies to make an appearance ever since.  It normally takes about a week of eager angling before we see the glory hatch show up on the early parts of the Au Sable.  But this year has been anything but normal. It’s been over a seven days now by this ...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Blue Gills, Brook Trout, Brown Drakes, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Hex, ISO, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Thunderstorms, Tourism, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report The fishing since the last report on the Au Sable has been surprising. The hatches came off as predicted but with the unprecedented cold and high stream conditions, good catching was improbable.  We expected tough angling, but what we got was amazing. High water continued to plague the river systems and wading was nearly impossible. But the boats experienced some of the best rise activity that we’ve seen since I planted myself here nea...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, Brown Drakes, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Hex, ISO, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Tourism, Trico, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report The rains keep falling. The rivers rise.  The hatches keep moving along. Some reaches of river have become too high and clouded to effectively fish. It can be stressful for the anglers that have planned a fishing adventure some twelve months ago and have arrived to high, cold water.  Some favorite reaches of the river are un-wadable and some stretches are unfishable even from a boat. Conditions like these can even make the guides...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, Brown Drakes, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Hex, ISO, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Thunderstorms, Tourism, Trico, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Fishing is always good, but now the catching is starting to slowly improve.   It’s been a cold Spring and we’ve been struggling with water temperatures.  That situation looks to be getting better all the time.  Nighttime low temperatures along with daytime high temperatures, are helping our streams warm.  We’ve been a few degrees away from greatness and, and as a result, the insect hatches have dribbled and the trout rise has been let...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, Brown Drakes, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Tying, Hex, ISO, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Streamer Fishing, Tourism, Trico, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Our river systems have blown up with insect life. The sand flies are out - you know, those little black critters that draw blood from your ears and nick you a...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Tourism, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Every Spring of every trout season there’s a great fish story. This time it’s mine. We’ve been struggling Up North to get the 2019 Michigan trout season kicked int...

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, Brown Drakes, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Fly Fishing School, Fly Tying, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Tourism, Weather

May 3, 2019 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report The opening week of trout fishing in Michigan is in the books. It was a tough one.  We had some very warm days that pushed Hendricksons to the surface and had a few fish looking up. But a cold front bumped water temperatures back down and thwarted any solid dry fly action.

By: Jeff Gardner   Category: Brook Trout, BWO, Dry Fly Fishing, Fishing Tips, Fly Fishing Community, Michigan Reports, River Reports, Tourism, Weather