The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report The chives and garlic are sprouting in my garden, turkeys are strutting, and the fish are biting more aggressively all the time.  The Ides of March are past and April is upon us.  Of course, we woke up on April Fool’s day to a light covering of snow—fitting.  T.S. Elliot wrote, “April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain”.  Well, that doesn’t sou...

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

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report It is sure acting like Spring here.  The snow is all but gone, frost is coming out of the ground, buds are popping on the trees, the Tom Turkeys are strutting with white and blue heads, and I saw one fish rise. Stoneflies and blue-winged olives are hatching on the best days.  Fishing has picked up plenty.  I still haven’t tricked one on the dry fly, but streamer and nymph fishing just keeps getting better. It seems every day t...

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, Tourism, Weather

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 The last report talked about how great the August fishing had been.  And then Mother Nature stepped in to make a liar out of me.  A cold front blew in and settled on the river valley and stymied the rise.  Fishing got tough overnight and the trout went lock jawed in the daytime. We’re settling back into consistent weather trends now and things are once again, slowly, showing promise for September. It feels like Fall here and t...

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

The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report. The River just keeps on flowing unconcerned about what we’re doing and unconcerned with what we want to happen. Hendricksons have largely moved through the system, but I surely wouldn’t go to the river without some parachutes and I’d be looking for Hendrickson spinners at dusk.  We’re moving toward Sulphurs and popcorn caddis.  And we’re especially moving toward the time of the evening rise. As much as the afternoon, E...

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, Tourism, Trico, Weather

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 Hex have blown up on the Au Sable since the last report. While it certainly isn’t over yet on the Au Sable it is well past peak emergence.  The bugs will be less consistent than they have been over the last week, but nice fish will continue to eat the big flies each night for at least some part of the hour after sunset.  The flights will be in fits in spurts now.  Some nights will last only a mere twenty minutes, but Iso’s and Cahills wil...

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

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 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