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River Report - September 23, 2017
The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report
So much for Summer being over—we’re up against a September heat wave like I’ve never seen. The weather man says we’re going push the mercury toward the ninety degree mark. That’s not only gonna make the grouse hunting tricky but will also make trout fishing strange.
The heat has the grouse feeling pretty safe during the afternoons. Hunters are at a disadvantage. We’ve got a couple of hours in the morning to run dogs before the heat gets the best of them. Even hunting water covers where the pups can take a swim and gets lots drinks, isn’t adequate enough right now to keep the dogs running all day long.
Fishing has been odd. Good but odd. Unseasonable temperatures mess things up. Twenty-five degrees too warm is just as goofy as twenty-five degrees too cold. While the best fishing in September is usually during the heat of the day, we’ve had good angling in the early mornings. The late afternoon hours are offering up chances at fish rising to flying ants and the after dark mousing has been flat good with our current new moon cycle. The river is fishing pretty much like you’d expect it to in August . . . it’s just that we’re in September.
It’s a good idea to be versatile when hunting or fishing. Success is always based on an outdoorsman’s ability to adapt to conditions.
I just spent a week in Wyoming chasing Sage Grouse with a group of new friends. Sage Grouse are kinda rare and putting a check mark next to hunting them is always something that I’ve always wanted to do. There’s a grouse grand slam that exists in North America and the Sage Grouse is the trickiest feather to put in that cap. The weather in Wyoming was twenty degrees cooler than is should have been and the big rains we experienced were uncharacteristic. The first day we put up a mere two birds. And then we adjusted and we put up seventy birds the next two days and I put a check mark next to Sage Grouse.
Woodcock season opens September 23rd and the weather will normalize, so make some plans to get to Northern Michigan—there is no finer season in the mitten.
Hope to see you soon . . . it’s gonna be a quick leaf drop this year so don’t linger in October or you’ll miss it,
Andy
The heat has the grouse feeling pretty safe during the afternoons. Hunters are at a disadvantage. We’ve got a couple of hours in the morning to run dogs before the heat gets the best of them. Even hunting water covers where the pups can take a swim and gets lots drinks, isn’t adequate enough right now to keep the dogs running all day long.
Fishing has been odd. Good but odd. Unseasonable temperatures mess things up. Twenty-five degrees too warm is just as goofy as twenty-five degrees too cold. While the best fishing in September is usually during the heat of the day, we’ve had good angling in the early mornings. The late afternoon hours are offering up chances at fish rising to flying ants and the after dark mousing has been flat good with our current new moon cycle. The river is fishing pretty much like you’d expect it to in August . . . it’s just that we’re in September.
It’s a good idea to be versatile when hunting or fishing. Success is always based on an outdoorsman’s ability to adapt to conditions.
I just spent a week in Wyoming chasing Sage Grouse with a group of new friends. Sage Grouse are kinda rare and putting a check mark next to hunting them is always something that I’ve always wanted to do. There’s a grouse grand slam that exists in North America and the Sage Grouse is the trickiest feather to put in that cap. The weather in Wyoming was twenty degrees cooler than is should have been and the big rains we experienced were uncharacteristic. The first day we put up a mere two birds. And then we adjusted and we put up seventy birds the next two days and I put a check mark next to Sage Grouse.
Woodcock season opens September 23rd and the weather will normalize, so make some plans to get to Northern Michigan—there is no finer season in the mitten.
Hope to see you soon . . . it’s gonna be a quick leaf drop this year so don’t linger in October or you’ll miss it,
Andy