River Report - June 18, 2021   The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report  We’re back in the saddle again! Cold nights and some short, heavy rainfalls have cooled water temperatures and bumped still levels. We’re still seeing Brown Drakes, and Sulpurs continue to be a factor. Isonychia have come on

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

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report It was another wild weather ride in Northern Michigan this past week.  Extreme high temperatures and low water conditions warmed our stream temperatures to concerning levels for catch and release anglers.  Trout mortality becomes a factor when water temperatures poke past the seventy-degree mark.  This is especially true when cold water refuges are hindered by low river flows.  The stresses of struggling at the end of an angler’s line in t...

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, Trico

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report It’s been a wild ride this Spring. Temperatures have burst into extreme highs and have, in short lived blasts, plunged quickly into low depths. It’s been confounding, successful, and frustrating. I knotted on a brown drake and caught the first fish on a big bug a week earlier than should be normal. Before-the-crowd-hatches are fun and rare and sitting on a bank then, is lovely loneliness. That success was short lived and promise left ...

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, Trico, Weather

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report The carnival was in Grayling last week, and I guess Mother Nature got jealous because she giving us another rollercoaster ride with the weather.  Hot days had us opening the shop doors and turning on the air conditioning and then a cold front rolled in and forced the opposite. We’ve struggled to find the usual May afternoon hatches and have been forced to fish a sparse rise at dusk to Sulphurs and mahogany spinners.  Though condensed,...

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

May 20, 2021 The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Conditions are continuing to confound us.  We’ve gone from unseasonably cold temperatures to daytime highs in the eighties.  It was fifteen degrees below normal and rocketed to fifteen degrees above normal.  It’s been an odd puzzle to solve.  I guess that’s part of the frustration and part of the fun.  Like one old-time, river-rat puts it, “It’s only perfect in February, when we’re talking about it!”

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

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report I can’t, just can’t, contain my excitement! The weather has finally broken into a real Spring.  Long awaited sunshine has raised water temperatures that have raised trout to the surface for hatching bugs.  Cold water had stalled the early season insects like Hendricksons and black caddis, but everything that the early season promised is on the table now and the next wave of May bugs are burgeoning.  It’s imperative to bring to th...

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

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report The Hendricksons continue to roll - albeit in fits and spurts.  We’ll have one or two slow days and then a day with a long two-hour hatch.  Fish are ever taking more notice and the rise strengthens with stronger emergences and healthy spinner falls.  Anglers should be ready to present all phases of the Spring mayflies.  Be sure to carry nymphs, emergers, duns and spinners with you to the creek on every outing. Also be prepared to kn...

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

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report Even with a blast of Spring cold (which we should always expect), Hendricksons have continued to roll and nice fish have taken notice to the great appreciation of eager anglers. I’ve seen pictures of great, long, brown trout that fell to dead drifted dry flies and I’ve seen a picture of a fine darkly speckled South branch brook trout from my good friend Scott.  When the brook trout look to the surface, Spring has sprung. And t...

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

OOPS! We forgot to post this last week... We’re still on Hendrickson watch.  We continue to keep seeing a small hatch of the bugs each afternoon and are finding the odd trout occasionally rising, but the recent cold front has knocked back prime water temperatures. The weather begins to right itself into normal, seasonable daytime high temperatures in the coming week.  So, hopefully, as water conditions creep back to normalcy, the Hendrickson hatch will follow suit and gain s...

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

Old AuSable Fly Shop River Report The Spring Peeper as peeping!  Those little frogs singing in the vernal ponds are truly the first and best signal of Spring.  They started screaming a few days ago and, shortly after, Hendricksons hatched on the River. That’s right the Hendrickson hatch has begun to trickle.  Fish have barely taken notice, but with more seasonable weather in the forecast that are highlighted by cloudy damp afternoons, trout will rise greedily very soon.  I...

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