The opener has come and gone and the fishing has been improving ever since. The overnight lows have rebounded to the 30’s which does a lot for the fishing as compared to the teens. With the warmer overnight temps the fishing has been better and the bug life has been stronger. I have seen and heard of decent Hendrickson reports on the Main and North Branches of the Au Sable River, with just a dribble of bugs on the South Branch yet. The upper end of the Manistee River has had bugs and rising...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: River Reports Tags: Midge Larva, BWO, Hendrickson, Stonefly, Streamers, Trout

  The turkeys are strutting, the crocus’s are sprouting in the garden, and the spring peepers are singing all day long in the swamps.  It’s Spring here in Northern Michigan and on the Au Sable and Manistee Rivers that means trout fishing with dry flies.   The Hendrickson hatch has started on all branches of our local streams and will simply continue to get better with each warm day.  Commonly known as the Hendricksons, a collective of three similar mayflie...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: River Reports Tags: Blue Wing Olive, Dryfly, Hendrickson, Stonefly, Spring, Trout

The sun hanging long in the sky; pushing warmth into the riverbed and through back of that hanger weary fishing shirt . . . boy last week was something special.  It was easy to get excited as the rivers warmed daily and we were able to hang out in and around the waters we missed so well over the winter.  It was nice to see the olives and stoneflies roll off and to see the first rising trout of the year start to eat them.  A couple of seventy degree days capped off a fine week. I saw...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: Uncategorized Tags: Trout Opener, Steelhead, Dry Fly, Trout

We’re just over a week away from the opening day of Michigan’s trout season.  We’re fortunate in this great state to have a couple of hundred miles of specially regulated trout stream that remains open for the entire year to catch and release fishing.  But...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: River Reports Tags: Renovations, Opener, Stonefly, Trout, Au Sable, Manistee

The relatively mild winter temperatures have made for some nice angling opportunities this past week.  When the mercury pokes into the mid-twenties and even thirties, afternoons are actually pleasant outdoors and a dose of fresh air sure helps the winter slide by. River fishing on the Au Sable has been pretty slow, but is certainly an option when you see water dripping from the eves of your house.  My main indicator to hit the river is when the snow avalanches from my metal roof.  ...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: River Reports Tags: Higgins Lake, Houghton Lake, Perch, Streamer, Ice Fishing, Nymph, Winter, Trout, Au Sable, Manistee

I’ll tell what . . . I’ve got to start using this report more as a wish list.  In last week’s report I whined a little about not finding any grouse (huh, I guess that’s a very literal definition of the term “grousing”).  Anyway, I guess someone was listening because I ended up having the best upland bird hunting of my entire life last Sunday. It was just one of those days when everything went perfectly. The birds were right where they should have been, the dogs did great,...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: River Reports Tags: Steelhead, Fall, Dry Fly, Grouse, Trout, Au Sable, Manistee

The fall is upon us here in Northern Michigan, but the fishing isn't near over. You'll hear plenty more about how to spend your fly time on the Au Sable and Manistee in the river report later this week, but for now I'm going to hold it down with a few links to some interesting pieces and news that we've seen around the internet this week. Big Gulp: How Often Do Trout and Grayling Eat Mammals?  Small spoiler: it's more than you think. Learn...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: Fly Fishing Community Tags: Fall, Mouse, Grayling, Rouge River, River Clean Up, Trout, Au Sable, Manistee

A little bit of cool weather moved in this week as a precursor to Fall and gave us a “heads up” of things to come. If you’re like me, and I know you are, fishing and playing way too much all season long, you’ve got a hoard of stuff to do. It’s become crunch time already and you don’t even know where the Summer has gone. Neglected Summer chores have piled up and those eves need painting, the deck needs a new board, gotta clean that garage, and on and on . . . What are you go...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: River Reports Tags: Trout, Au Sable, Trico, Manistee

It’s no secret that big trout like to hunt under the cover of darkness.  In Michigan trout streams, brown trout are the apex predators. The lunkers hunker in log tangled lairs all day long just waiting for nightfall to blanket the earth.  Once it does, the browns become the kings of their watery world. They slip out into the main river and stalk the currents for anything that can fit into their mouth. Of course, smaller trout, chubs, and crayfish fit that bill, but th...

By: Aaron Dexter   Category: River Reports Tags: Night Fishing, Trout, Mousing, Au Sable, Manistee