Gateway to Michigan's finest fly-fishing
Fly Patterns for Michigan Hatches
I remember way back (45 years ago) when I was learning to fly fish out west, the most intimidating facet of the sport was bugs. Pale Morning Duns, Blue Wing Olive, Green Drakes, I had no idea what these were or how to proceed in
Muskegon River @ Croton Dam: 2900cfs (just slightly higher than average for this point in the year) with good visibility. The water temp is just below 60F.
Trout fishing has been quite good. Although we are yet to see any real significant hatches so far, there are some march browns,
May 17, 2018
The Old Au Sable Fly Shop Fishing Report
It’s Summer-like here in Northern Michigan. We’ve had a fantastic string of eighty degree, sunny days here. It warms the bones, the trout, the rivers, and the bugs. We’ve lost a lot of our problematic high
Overall: Water levels continue to rise in many areas across the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo and Grand River basins. The rivers are expected to crest by the end of the week and into the weekend. Anglers will need to use caution when fishing the rivers.
St. Joseph River: Water levels were very high after all the rain and there is a lot of debris in the river. Boaters should use caution. A small number of steelhead were moving through the fish ladders.
Grand River at Grand Rapids: Water levels are up and that makes fishing a little more difficult. Anglers caught a few walleye and the occasional steelhead. Panfish anglers continue to target the slow backwaters.
Muskegon River: Water temperatures were up into the low to mid 50’s. Brown trout and some steelhead were caught.
Ocqueoc River: Had light fishing pressure but those using beads caught steelhead up near the weir.
Black River: Those floating spawn for steelhead near the mouth had no luck.
Au Sable River: Water temperatures in the lower river were in the upper 50’s. Atlantic salmon were caught when casting spoons and trolling plugs through the holes in Oscoda. The steelhead bite slowed but there was still a good number of fish in the system. Anglers did well when drifting flies, wobble-glo’s and beads. Yarn eggs, black stonefly nymphs, and caddis nymphs were good fly patterns. Carp and suckers were also caught by those drifting flies but the sucker run has slowed.
Overall: Steelhead fishing is slowing down, as most have now spawned and are headed back to the big lake. Inland lake fishing remains good. Walleye were caught in Lakes Cadillac and Mitchell. Walleye and smallmouth bass were caught in Tippy Dam Pond.
Bear River: Steelhead numbers were high at the dam but the action has slowed. Most fish were caught at the dam when using spawn, flies and artificial eggs. There continues to be a lot of suckers in the river.
Traverse City: In the Elk River, steelhead fishing slowed. On the Boardman River, a couple steelhead were caught but the fish were few and far between.
Manistee River: Steelhead fishing is about done as most fish have spawned and are headed back to the big lake.
Mother nature seems to have caught up with the times after some warm and bright days. Leaves, blossoms, green grass and insect hatches on the river seem to be in synch with the calendar. Trout fishing on the local rivers continues to be ideal for those armed to fish subsurface
It’s good.
Really good.
It’s not good all the time, like the Skues fable in which Mr. Castwell momentarily mistakes the hell of neverending rising trout for heaven. The Au Sable isn’t like that. But having written these reports for now ten years, this is one of the easiest
(Beautiful Muskegon River Brown Trout On The Dry Fly)
Absolutely love this time of year. It’s the best of both worlds with the strong numbers of remaining steelhead due to massive flows and the transition to some of the best dry fly trout fishing the Muskegon River has to
