It has been pretty quiet here lately. Stuff is happening. Not a lot of fishing stuff but stuff none the less.

My wife Sarah and I are… or should I say, were, cabin shopping up in the Grayling, MI area. We have been working with Lance Weyeneth who is a buyer’s broker for the area. Lance knows the area very well and has the tools, sensitivity, patience, and knowledge to put you in the right place to suit your needs. The patience part is and was the key for us. I have had a few face to face conversations with him (and lots of email) over the years based on property searches. He remembers every one of those over the six years we have been talking with him regarding our search. Yeah, six years… Seems like a long time to find a cabin right? Well, I’m in the auto biz, we’ve had set backs, it all adds up to the six years. Like I said, the man has patience.

Anyway, my wife and I went up to look at a place with Lance. I didn’t take any gear as we were going to spend the weekend in Traverse City and make the trek back and forth fro Grayling. We ditched Traverse for Gates Lodge after a night because they had a killer deal on rooms and had one for us. It was closer to the place we were looking at and in a place we would rather spend time in so we bailed on Traverse. Thanks to the Park Hotel for letting us out of our second night there.

Again, no gear and it was 80 degrees… What to do? Borrow gear from the shop? Coulda…

In comes the awesome wife with yet another awesome idea.

Awesome wife Sarah- “Don’t they have guides here?”

Me- “Ummmmm… Yeah, they do.”

Sarah- ” Do they use those cool long boats?”

Me- ” Yep”

Super awesome wife Sarah- “Why don’t we just get a guide tomorrow? I would love to float down the river in one of those long boats as long as its okay with the guide if I go and they have stuff you can borrow.”

Me- “Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… Good idea! I’ll check with josh and see if anyone is available tomorrow.”

As luck would have it, they had someone… and as if it was possible, my wife buried the hook even deeper in to my jaw. Seriously… Yes, I’m bragging about my amazing wife. Wouldn’t you?

The fishing wasn’t stellar but hard to complain on a sunny, 80 degree day in March in Northern MI.

We floated with Matt V from the Lodge and we had a great time. Matt was happy to grab flies out of the trees that I loved to throw flies into and we caught a few nice little wild browns and moved a few nicer ones. Not bad for a sunny day in March. He and Sarah spent a good part of the day chatting about dogs and what not. Great guy to spend a day with.

Here I am struggling to fish streamers sitting down in AuSable riverboat

After the trust was established. Standing... And happier. The bruises on the backs of my legs from the seat disagree but what do they know? Riverboats need a leaning brace.

Yep. A fish.

Last but not least, this will be the Hatchless pad up there. Can't wait to get the keys.

I have been told already that having a place up there doesn’t allow you as much fishing time. I will say that this is probably true. That’s not the point of buying a place up there. The point is that we will always have access to a place that will always give us the chance to fish at the right time.

No Amount of planning can put you in the right spot at the right time. Period. Every year we plan a trip towards the end of trout season on the Trophy Water of the Au Sable. Every Year for the last five plus years we have planned to be there and have been there at the right time (legally), right at the end of the season. And this year just like the past years we would put flies in all the right places… again. This year, the first year of the new regulations, was going to be different. Its the first year that we could be there later. We could be there after Sept 30th. We could and would be there when the big trout would be on the prowl and in their pre-spawn mode. Feeding on and attacking anything that gets in their zone, their territory. This year the big trout were going to be reckless and stupid and eat flies no matter where the flies were placed. That was the plan until the weather gods came in and said “nope”, this is not your year. The weather gods decided that for our trip, the five days that we spent up north, the weather would be more than perfect… for every other thing that did not include fishing big streamers for big browns.The week before and the week after were perfectly miserable for everything else. Our week was perfect. Perfect for everything but trout fishing.

As any band of dedicated streamer fisherman would, we made adjustments. We took every one of those bright, sunny, warm and not so great days to fish for big trout days as an opportunity to hone our skills. We changed flies every ten minutes, came up with names for those punk ass browns that should have eaten the fly that they just took a swipe at, and drank more beer than we have ever consumed in a single weekend during this yearly trip. We made the best of a bad fishing weekend and turned in to a great drinking weekend. We spent the weekend doing target practice. We tried to put flies in all the spots you might never have thought of and rowed back to get them when they got wrapped in trees. We put flies in those oddball shallow water spots and caught fish. Small fish but hey, inches in the boat are inches in the boat right?

I will say with pride that, based on the other folks we talked to, we turned and stabbed more 16″+ fish than what we heard from anyone for the weekend. All in all, between two boats in five days, we did see well over a dozen 20″+ fish move to a fly. Of those I can say with confidence that over half were in the 24″ class. I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t know for a fact that five of those were my own. I got the skunk for the first two days but turned good fish on both those days. The trip wasn’t a total skunk. We did boat a few teeners. We didn’t spend a ton of time taking pics of those fish but they were there. They ate something and we were happy to have it happen.

The pics are here but if you come here often, you have already seen them.

First couple of days… Built a guest house… BlAhBlaHblAH.

Here’s his reports, daily as requested, since we’re too lazy to get off the Au Sable and go elsewhere regardless of when and where else we’re invited.

Day 1.

Fished the east fork of the San Juan last night.  Very cool stretch of river. Lots of riffles and big boulders with deep holes and runs.  Saw some fish but couldn’t catch the rotten pricks.  The water temp is pretty high and all the streams are pretty low so it sucks. I had one hook up on a cone head green crystal bugger which proved that the fish are dumb but stealth is key.  The water is extremely clear so after that lesson I resorted to casting to the holes from about 50 feet to keep from spooking fish.  Tried a hopper dropper for a bit… nada. My T-130 is shot. Going line shopping later.

I have some pictures I’ll send when the wifey gets here with my phone cable.  Not enough cell signal here to send them from my phone.

Day 2.

Fished the Blanco yesterday during and after a rain.  The water where we fished was warmer than the east fork and all mucked up from the rain.  I had two slashers but otherwise nothing so we left at about 4 pm.  I called my buddy Jeff who was out here for 2 months and said he fished every river and reservoir in a 100 mile radius.  He gave me a few places to try and the one we chose was Big Meadows reservoir spillway.  It was over Wolf creek pass. We went through the second tunnel and took the first left which heads up to the camp ground and reservoir.  It is a pretty big body of water and the spillway this time of year is shallow and weedy but we caught fish on little tiny streamers and a dries. Good times.

Day 3.

Going to fish the upper Chama tomorrow which the dude at High Desert Angler in Santa Fe told us was “the place to go”.  Gonna be a 2 mile hike at about 12k elevation to get to the head of the river but I’m sure it will be worth it.

I bought an  SA 5 wt floating line that I used today and I love it.  Feels a lot like the salt water lines we used while we were down in FL. Sure beats hucking the sink tip for a change.

Day 4

Fished the Navajo today. Same stretch we fished last year about 5 miles from Marc’s house. Very cool little river with a small camp site right on the water that you can drive up to.  Had a good rain yesterday but the Navajo was still really clear, not crystal but still pretty clear.  Caught the first 14″ brown on a small olive bugger with no bead head. About a #8 hook in a riffle about 2′ deep.   Fished around the corner and changed bugs to a bead head crystal/olive bugger size #6 and rolled a big rainbow.  Ten minuets later I changed to a # 12 gray & red soft hackle and caught another 12″ rainbow. Then it started raining and we decided to head out.

Day 5. (???)

Fished the Chama yesterday. Edited by me. Too much info to put on the internets…

Day 6.

On our last day we went to the hot springs in Pagossa to soak for awhile  A must do while in town.  Afterwards the girls went shopping and Marc and I went fishing in the main branch of the San Juan right in down town.  It is rumored to be good fishing there. Hard to believe. Warm water and lots of pressure should say otherwise but the sources were right.  Most of the river in this area has been improved for fish habitat and seems pretty artificial.  All the boulders are strategically placed and the holes are deep.  We went in behind the malt shop and really didn’t have to move to far to find the fish.  We only had about an hour to fish before meeting up with the family for dinner and the normal afternoon rain but I’m glad we went.  I bet when the water is a little cooler it is a great place to fish.   My buddy Jeff said he had a couple of 100 fish days there.  When I talked to the guy at “Let it Fly ” fly shop he said it is pretty common to get a bunch and some good sizes out of there.  Stockers for sure but also some holdovers and natives to be had.

It was a great trip.  We fished almost every day except the day we built the guest house and the day we went to the airport to pick up the family.  I may go in july or september next year to get some colder water.  I never took my waders out of the bag.  I really like the Simms wading shoes I bought.  http://www.simmsfishing.com/site/Riprap_shoe.html?id=tbDCzCSD:64.202.228.19#

They don’t let rocks in under your feet and have really good traction, not too bad for hiking in either.

Thats the report. Here’s a few pics from the trip. I’d do captions but I don’t know what is what.

1. North Peak Brewing – Diabolical
2. Bell’s – Two Hearted Ale
3. New Belgium – Ranger
4. New Holland – Mad Hatter
5. Dogfish – Head 60 Minute IPA
6. Dark Horse – Crooked Tree IPA
7. Sierra Nevada – Torpedo
8. Great Lakes – Lake Erie Monster
9. 21st Amendment – Back in Black IPA
10. Sierra Nevada – Pale Ale
11. Rogue – Dead Guy Ale
12. Bell’s – Oberon
13. New Holland – Ichabod
14. Stone – Arrogant Bastard
15. Yuengling – Traditional Lager
16. Great Lakes – Commodore Perry
17. North Peak Brewing – Wanderer
18. High fucking Life – duh…
19. Brooklyn – Lager
20. Victory Brewing – Prima Pils
21. Bell’s – Third Coast Ale
22. Genesee – Bock
23. North Peak Brewing – Vicious
23. Arcadia – Witsun
24. New Belgium – Fat Tire (but only on tap, in cans this shit sucks)
25. BrewDog – Punk IPA
26. Avery – White Rascal
27. The Brew kettle – Red Eye
28. Maumee Bay – MB IPA
29. Red Hook – Long Hammer
30. Great Divide – Yeti
31. Southern Tier – Unearthly
32. Bell’s Hopslam
33…..Sparks?

ok ok as you can see we could not make it to 100….big deal. But you get the point. We like good fucking beer and if it ain’t good we like it cheap.

Hey have a happy 4th of July! Tight lines and all that good shit.

New Fleet Foxes record hit the stores this week. It’s good. Listen to it and then go hug a tree.

Bill and I are headed North for the weekend. I will apologize in advance to all of you that are anxiously awaiting the first big hennie hatch and spinner fall on the Trophy Water. I will guarantee that if I’m there, it ain’tgonnahappen.com. Sorry. Its my curse and I (and now you) have to live with it so don’t bother going this weekend and leave the chance to us. If it does happen I’ll be sure to let you know with a good ‘ol, “you should’ve  been here yesterday. It was THE spinner fall of the year. 24″ browns on every bend slurping bugs recklessly. Epic dude. E.P.I.C.”

Props to MI from Field and Stream Magazine!

Why isn’t Ohio on the list?

Oh well. Toledo was given to OH by MI as a trade for something at sometime anyway right?

A lot of us Toledoans sort of feel like were from MI. I mean at this point I only have a MI fishing license. I will buy an OH license but obviously, now published, the fishing is better in MI anyway.

Here’s a the first two fish of the season. The MI season that is.

There is a bit of an explanation to go along with it. Its sort of an intro to what Randy and I’s relationship is all about. Call it what you want. “Bromance”…. whatever… I wouldn’t trade it for much of anything.

Several years ago, my buddy Randy who I grew up with moved to Dallas, TX. It was a great move for him and his wife. I can’t imagine how they could possibly be in a better position. They are blessed with a beautiful daughter and a pretty damned good life and I’m happy for them all for it. Initially I was afraid that the distance would do what it does to many friends and we would shortly part ways. Fortunately for me (and I say me because I can’t imagine what my life would be like without Randy in it) I managed to get him hooked on fly fishing either soon after he moved or right before. I can’t remember what the timing was on that but either way it was, or may have been, the greatest thing I have ever done because since then we have gotten to fish together every year. I’m not sure that if it wasn’t for the fly fishing we would still be close but the fact that it is makes it even better. It seems for what ever reason, guys need a thing. I can’t and won’t attempt to explain why. It just is. Randy and I have been pals since we were about 3 years old. We’ve been through a lot. We shared his trap line when we were in junior high which as far as I can remember was the first outdoors thing we did. His older brother was a big hunter so it was only natural for him to get involved and I was just along for the ride I guess. I’ve probably seen him thump more critters on the head for their fur than either of us would probably ever admit to but that’s what we did back than and well… you can’t change the past and it wasn’t all that bad. In hindsight, we probably saved more folks from having to clean up a tipped over garbage can than we’d ever have known and coons and muskrat aren’t exactly wild steelhead so… After that we started racing BMX and from there it was skate and snow. Sort of in the middle of all that it was competitive sailing. I think that without question the sailing was the real dope. If you have ever done it, you would get the bond. If not, I’m sorry and if the option is there, give it a shot. There really is no greater connection between self satisfaction and pure “if I fuck this up we could all be hurt” teamwork. Its a beautiful thing when its done right. When you win, when it all comes together for a team sailing together, even if its only two of you, its a high that I feel is almost unobtainable any other way. Its you and your team verses the wind and its many directions, verses a fleet of how ever many. I guess in the context of this blog, the closest thing that I could say to the feeling is “guiding” your newest fly fishing “student” to their first fish on a fly that they tied themselves. And honestly, that doesn’t even come close. I don’t do it any more because when you get close with a team and that team is forced to split, no other team is good enough. It just won’t ever scratch that itch. The self satisfaction aspect is why I tie flies. The teamwork aspect is why I love to fish from a drift boat.

I know this pic may be a bit tired on this site but it just happens to be a pic of Randy and I and it was a stellar trip that year so here it is again. It also speaks to the above mentioned and it may be in the new Hyde catalog so that makes it super cool and worth the re-post.

Randy has been gracious enough to make several trips up here to come fishing with us guys. I really owe him a trip south to see the places he has discovered since he has gotten in to fly fishing. He has been to some cool spots. For me when he comes up its is the trip of the year. Not to discount any other trip because whenever, with whoever, its a treat, but for me to get to fish with the person that is most like my brother (damn I wish my brother would put down the golf clubs for a weekend and come fish with me!) is always going to be a great time.

This year  (short the lack of catching from the last post) was no exception. Standard procedure is that Randy and I will spend about 5 days up North and whoever makes it, for however long is always welcome. We’ve pretty much slimmed it down to whoever commits first to a total of 6. This year’s group was just that. Six guys, beginer to experienced, all staying here at this nice little hand built log cabin that a friend owns.

The place is about as much as you’d ever need on a fishing trip in the north woods. 80 acres to roam, a wood stove, a place to cook, a place to poop (and shower with hot water if you need to), and a few dry beds. It was built by Randy and his buddies several years ago and has been sold since then to another friend who, despite the empty gun casings, empty shotgun shells, and clay bird schrapnel from a few years back has agreed to let us in again. In our defense, we highly doubt that we were the culprits of the aforementioned but we don’t own the place so its not our place to say so much. That kind of thing isn’t really why we’re up there but whatever…

Randy and I got up there late on a Wed night and did the standard drink beer, shoot the shit, and go to bed for what we hoped would be an early day on the water. It wasn’t an early day but we did get up to clouds, fog, and a generally shitty forecast which we were pleased to hear. We hit the carry out for beer and Sparks then the fly shop for a spot and this for a weather report; “you guys be careful out there. They’re calling for rain.” Yeah… great… “like 2″ per hour hour rain.” Okay… We’ll believe it when we see it. An hour and a half later we beached the boat, hauled it up on shore as best we could due to the weight of the water, and bailed (with Sparks cans with the tops cut off) more water out of the boat than I would ever have thought possible for just a short burst of rain. I think if it weren’t for the “seemanship” (heheheh… he said seman…) we had learned from the sailing days we may have been in trouble. Really though, two world class sailors looking in a drift boat and saying, “hmmmmm… maybe we should stop and get this water out of the boat. I think its really effecting our performance.” Real pros… We probably should’ve stopped earlier but I had just moved the biggest fish I’ve ever seen in that stretch.  Or ever really so why stop? Nobody died or even came close so it was nothing more than a lesson in me getting a hand pump bailer which I have now so lesson learned. We didn’t catch much of anything but it was a good time.

“What the fuuuuuuuuuuckkkk…. Where are all the feeesh?!?!?”

The next day was breeze. BIG BREEZE! 40 mph gusts so we opted to fish the North Branch and go visit a buddy in Lewiston. The North Branch was great. We caught a handful of little brookies and a few decent browns.

We split up on some islands and in the process Randy caught a 16″ brookie (no pic of course) and I a 16″ brown (also no pic). Pretty good day on the North and a good visit with Scott in Lewiston. Scott has MS and a growers permit but got robbed of all his “meds” a few days earlier. They ripped the plants right out of the ground and made off with his entire stash. Normally I’d say that you had it coming for showing it to anyone. In this case, the guy truly could use it for his condition. Whoever did it should be more than kicked in the nuts.

The rest of the night… relax, eat some weird club sandwich pizza and wait for others to show.

And they did. With Four Locos in hand they came and kept our tired asses up on a count that they were fueled by crack infused alcohol disquised in a harmless looking can. I’m all for a Sparks in the morning but that Loco shit is outta hand. Whatever… again, nobody died and our livers did their job for another day.

The next day’s float went like this:

Big fish moved on one boat, big fish moved on the other boat, another big fish moved, big fish chased a streamer to the boat and then in figure eights at the boat, big fish chased and broke water over the fly……… not one ate. It is nice to see those guys but couldn’t at least one of them ate something? One other boat that was right behind us while we were having lunch did catch a 25″ fish and it was a guy we know so that’s good but…

Oh well. There is always this year. Which by the way opens April 1st and doesn’t close anymore! Thanks to all those that spoke up the new MI trout regs!

In closing I leave you with these last pics.

2010 was a strange year. That’s really all I can say about it. Was it kind of uninspiring? Yeah… Kind of. There hasn’t been a post here for a long time and the reason for that I guess is that we have been “wholly uninspired”. But then I really thought about it and the more I thought of it I started thinking that maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe it was just a year in transition…

Here’s the re-cap:

As far as the fishing goes it started off with some promise with a few decent fish caught in the spring but from there we went to high water temps, low water, odd hatch timing, and trout NOT chasing streamers on the Big Water for what seemed like the rest of the year. Surely the bad catching wasn’t for lack of trying. By the end of the Michigan trout season, and for all time we could give to it, I think we had thrown just about every fly we had at those Au Sable trout and while we may have turned more pigs this year (late in the year) than any other year, the overall fish count was just short of pathetic. I’m not saying we’re numbers guys and counting but when the stockers aren’t even chasing flies its just a little weird. In 2009 we saw more fish chase streamers than you would ever believe. 2010, less than one third that. All in all, 2010 trout season on the big water, bye bye. You won’t be missed. Here’s to looking forward!

Now on the good stuff… It wasn’t a total bust…

Mid summer started with a week long trip up to the Edgewater Cabin on the Holy Water. First part of the week was with friends, second part family, third part was just my wife and I. All three parts were pretty much premium.

It was hot. Damn hot.

Wet wading? Ahhhhhhhh… Feels so good.

Big Water below Mio was out of the question due to high water temps though we did fish it on the one day we could and like most days this year… it didn’t produce.

We did float the South branch from Smith Bridge to Conner’s Flats for the first time though. It was a challenge on the oars on the South Branch in the drift boat but well worth the scout and a buddy did catch his first ever trout and many after that. It was great to watch someone who has never had a fly rod in their hand out fish some one who has had that many times. Sorry Mike… Alex crushed you. Oh… and… leeches… Kwak… do you want a tissue??????? Plus I had the opportunity to show my wife parts of the river that she had never seen later in the week which was pretty great.

Some pics from that week:

Friends at the cabin doing what we did for most of the week.

My nephew Jack, soon to be “master fly tier” swinging a micro bugger.

My other nephew, Noah. “Sheeeeeeiiiiiiiitt uncle Greg. The cast is water proof. I can feeesh!”

Happy little dipshits…

“Its 90 degrees…. They’ll be lucky if they catch a cold!”

Alex’s first trout!

Taking your shirt off ain’t gonna help… the noob is still gonna out fish you. I’ll just row and save myself the humiliation.

My dad, the man who owned the old fiberglass Shakespeare fly rod that got me started.

Probably the A number 1 greatest thing that came out of the 2010 fishing season was the discovery (not that it is anything new but its new to us) that the Au Sable is probably a better small mouth fishery during the summer months than it is a trout fishery…………….. ever. Those parts of the Au Sable that harbor smallies will not be forgotten any time soon and will certainly be revisited this year. Unfortunately the time on that part of the fishery was limited to two trips on two separate occasions. Once, the first, was when Bill and Mike went on a guided trip with Kelley Nueman of Streamside.

From what they say, the trip was WELL worth the admission fee. Good times for sure and Kelley proved (what we already knew) to be THE guide to be with. Here’s a few pics from that trip.

Photos courtesy of Streamside Custom Rod and Guide Service

They had fun regardless of discovering that their campsite had been stolen while they were on the river… Rednecks are only fun if you’re one of them apparently…

While they were catching smallies on the lower river I was on a weekend trip on the upper river with my wife. This was one of the best trips of the year for me. We stayed at Gates Lodge for the first time and it was absolutely perfect. Great staff, great food (from what we saw and smelled… reservations are everything…), and great times at the fire pit. Mid August, exploring new territory around Grayling, MI, meeting new people nightly by the fire, and fishing small flies for a change. By small I mean size 24 and under if you dare. I didn’t dare. Hell, Casting size 24 flies for a streamer guy like me is… well… kind of like just throwing a leader with nothing on it. My best was a 12″ bow right in front of the lodge on a size 24 BWO spinner on 6X. 6X! I felt like I had graduated on to something. Not sure what… just something. After dark I switched to a size 12 Iso and caught a skinny as hell 14″ brown.  I was on cloud nine after that. A goddamn bonafide dry fly fisherman.

I fished small flies like that every evening just before dark for about an hour and a half the time that my wife and I were up for the earlier mentioned week and I have to admit it was a damn good time. Being on the river alone for a change, no one to be concerned with but me. It was nice. Period. I went back to the cabin with a good story for my wife every night about a fish I had missed, one I had caught in a tricky spot, or one I had just worked on in an easy spot and had finally fooled in to taking my fly. She may not care too much about the fish or any of what I had to do to catch it or, maybe she does care. Either way she does a hell of a job acting like she does and that’s just about everything any of us could ever ask for.

Maybe when I look back on it 2010 wasn’t such a bad year.

More from 2010…

I went on another trip in late August with a friend from work that has an uncle (deceased) that has a cabin on a spring creek off of Cooke Dam Pond. This was another trip that made my year.

Its a rare pleasure to head up north with someone that you don’t know that well outside of work and have the whole weekend go off without a hitch.

We left work with intent to fish the lower Au Sable for small mouth and the creek behind Todd’s Uncle Willy’s place for brookies with just about zero expectations. Within minutes of being at Willy’s, Todd solidified the fact that the brookies were still there after catching two in two minutes under the same log where “they were always there before”. It was kind of funny to us both that after all those years of him not having been up there that we should be surprised that the brook trout in this untouched spring creek would not be there for what ever reason. I guess we’re all just a little jaded in that way. After all, why wouldn’t they be there?  The creek by Willie’s place probably hasn’t been fished since the last time he was there!

Yeah… okay… the brookies are there. Lets go fish for smallies.

Its a short drive from Willlie’s to the lower AS, below Foote, so that’s where we headed. We launched the drift boat at the Whirlpool at about 4 p.m. and motored upstream for a bit. After kind of a of a battle with the old 3.5 horse motor (which performed like a champ) we opted to turn around and fish. To Todd’s credit, a guy who has never really had a fly rod in his hand AND a guy who brought spin gear to fish with, he picked up a fly rod and started casting for smallies and said, “I came here to learn to fish with flies, fuck those spin rods. They can stay in the tubes.” To that I said, “Okee doke, you fish tonight. I will row for the entire night.” You just have to appreciate that.  Todd had cast a fly rod before in the pond at his house but fishing from a boat is different and he was up for the challenge and it was almost as if he had done it before. I really shouldn’t have been too surprised. He is probably one of the top sportsman in the state when it comes to hunting but fly fishing? Totally new game to him.

Here’s his first of many that night.

We fished the rest of the night into darkness and made it back to the launch around 10:30-11:00 p.m. We did see a sturgeon swim right under the boat that night that went about 6-8 feet. Probably 6 but hell, it was dark and with the spotlight on it it was gone pretty quick so who knows?

The rest of the weekend went kind of like this:

Brookies in the morning here behind camp at Willy’s…

This pic took first prize in the Gates Lodge photo contest for best river pic!

…Where we caught and released countless brook trout from 3-10 inches. Every one as pretty as the next.

And afternoons here on the Au Sable below Foote Dam…

…Where we caught and released dozens of small mouth.

The spin rods never left the truck for the rest of the weekend. Todd rowed and fished like he had had been there before and brought up a ton of food. The guy cooks up a mean brat. Can’t make toast worth a damn but that’s okay. His Coleman Roadie grill inspired me to pick up a porta grill for the boat. That purchase  has changed the way I think about food when we camp and float. By that I mean it makes me think about it period. Up until this trip, I was pretty content with beer and Cliff Bars to sustain me for the weekend. Now I cook streamside lunch and dinner!

Yeah,,, maybe 2010 wasn’t so bad after all.

Don’t they look tasty? 

Click the link to find out.

photo from: chicagobreakingnews.com

Sunset at the Gabions.

Mike with a good fish from an odd place on a bright sunny day at about noon.

Said fish from above.

Bill on a nice fish.

Bill’s fish from the above pic. The truly impressive story about this fish is that it was caught on a dry and while that is no great feat the impressive part is that Bill did it. I think I’ve seen him genuinely fish a hatch once in the past 3-4 years. The really great part of this story is that it was on a “stoned hopper” We had to create stone flies with markers and a few oddball hopper patterns that somehow found thier way aboard. For the record, we weren’t stoned, the hopper was. Even a blind streamer fisherman finds a nut now and again.

Stoning the hoppers.

Furry stump.

Bright skies rule the Trophy Water this year. It needs rain.