I like to give credit where credit is due. These guys deserve very bit of credit they get from us when it comes to a few days of hard streamer fishing and just general “bro-ness”. Jamie and his guys are a hoot to hang out with. Guaranteed fun is one of the many things they offer. We booked two days and begged for a third. In hind sight, we probably could have gotten the third had we not bailed out in the morning for another river. But… they were booked and the second river was our plan and how were we to know that the clients that had the next day booked would only fish a few hours and then call it a day? Weiners… Maybe we should have counted on it based on the fact that it was low 20′s and some dudes… well… you never know. We had a plan and we stuck to it. Oh well.

The first day of the two was with Jamie Rouse. Jamie is the head guide of the group of three. A short conversation with him on the phone pre-trip was all it took to know that I picked the right guy(s). Jamie doesn’t put guides on his roster that aren’t streamer addicts. They will fish other methods if you want but they are all true streamer dudes at heart. The other BIG plus is that these guys all know how to fish high water where a lot of the other guide services in the region don’t and won’t. They study and know the generation schedules and they know when and where to be on the 30+ miles of trout water this river has to offer and they can put you on fish even during those high water periods. High water and streamer fishing… hmmmmm… Isn’t that the dream anyway? We had high water during our trip and quickly learned the importance of being in the right place at the right time based on the generation schedule. It can seriously be a matter of minutes/hundreds of yards that changes the streamer bite on any given stretch of water. With these guys, having the boats that they have, their knowledge, and those boats make all the difference.

Our day with Jamie was an absolute blast. He picked us up at our cabin (which I highly recommend), Tupelo was playing on the Ipod in the van when we got in, and we launched right there at the lodge’s ramp which was too short a drive to get a song stuck in my head. Hard to start it off better than that. Right off the launch we were moving fish on almost every cast. A few good fish were seen, the action was consistent, and we stuck enough stocker bows to keep it interesting for us. Jamie was not happy with the lack of brown trout hook ups (they were showing but not eating) so after a bit we jumped ramps and headed up river to the dam. Jamie and his guys work hard to keep you on the bite and won’t take you off it. Shortly after we got settled in to fishing at the dam I had a follow from an absolute pig of a brown. By “pig” I mean the biggest brown trout I have ever seen. I actually thought the fucker was a catfish at first based on the width of the jaw and the huge white lips. I even asked “is that a catfish?” as the thing was following my streamer to the boat. I was stunned. Frozen. Seriously, what a dipshit… a catfish… duh. Nope, not a catfish, it was a 30″+ brown. It turned, flexed, and bailed. I think I pooped and then spent the next half hour discussing with Jamie how I lost that fish. I dunno, maybe it was because I fucking hate catfish and I didn’t want to catch another one let alone one that big. That works for me but I’m thinking Jamie would say different. Randy had a similar experience and Jamie actually hugged him after the fish bailed on the fly and the whole ordeal was over. It all lasts about a lifetime in memory but maybe 5 seconds real time. What else can you do for five seconds that burns your brain the way a monster brown does? His was even bigger too. Poor bastard. How does he sleep at night? How often is it that you get to see two 30″+ browns in one day? That river… with these guys… expect it. They know the deal. We caught a few good ones and missed a ton. When that water comes up it is combat fishing at its best. Its a very athletic game of, cast to the bank at the soft spot, strip five times, miss a fish that was somewhere in the 18-24″ range, repeat. The kind of fishing that might turn you in to a jock if you did it daily. Fucking amazing. Period. Jamie was awesome and worked his ass off. He’s an amanzingly  patient teacher too. Even when you don’t listen or can’t keep one of his flies on for more than 3 minutes at a time. To Jamie, sorry man, I just need to get it done on my own shit. Which, we did.

The second day was with Tony Simmons. The shot is of Tony, already pounding a Red Bull because he probably knew he had a long day coming with us in the boat. Tony is one of Jamie’s guys who is just as much fun to spend a day with as Jamie. Again, one of the hardest working guides in the biz. We Started the day with Tony on the lower river and kept pushing our way downstream to stay “in front of the water” which keeps you on the bite. Simple theory really but one that surely takes years of practice to get right. These guys have it right. With Tony we jumped the flow until we about ran out of trout water. We caught a bunch of mid teeners and Randy turned a few mid 20′s before the bite slowed. We headed back upstream when Tony was concerned about having enough gas to get back. It wasn’t that we didn’t have enough gas at the start it was that we had to keep running down ahead of the morning’s generation to keep on the bite. Which we did until we ran out of time/gas/trout water and jumped ramps back upstream to the dam to catch the afternoon release.  We talked politics on the ride up. Dangerous territory… However, we all agreed and were even asked to run for congress by one of the wade fisherman at the dam. Great story when you can throw the Arkansas accent into the whole thing. Funny shit and we surely had at least one vote if any one of us actually decided to run. Anyway, same story as before, a few good fish, a few great fish missed. BUT… there was a pig hooked and Randy got it on video. She hit the net which makes it a score on the C&R books sooooooo…. Tony guessed it at 10-15#’s. I’ll take that on a brown any day. Here’s the breakdown:

Tony: “Make a bunch of casts around this dock. These guys huck fish guts in the water all the time. Pigs lurk here!”

Us: Casting in front of said dock… and behind… Plunk… Right place… sluggish hook up and… “FISH ON! Good fish!”

The rest would be in the in the video below but I can’t get it to load so deal and trust the fish tale… Tony was pretty bummed that the fish never saw the boat. Personally, I didn’t care. I was actually still busy being amazed that we didn’t lose it in the motor when it ran me all the way around the boat from back to front. A quick boat spin with the oar via Tony saved the motor foul. The loss was all because of one hook getting hung in the net and then one getting straightened by the fish. A fish in the net is a catch. Count it.

Here’s a few of the pics that Jamie and Randy took:

First thing we heard in the van was some Tupelo… brought back some very good memories.

You couldn’t have begged for better weather… for early fall color viewing. I mean really. We had perfect weather for anything you would hope to do on an early October weekend in Northern Michigan except target big, hungry, and horny pre-spawn browns on the Au Sable. It was sunny and 70 degrees every day we were there. Absolutely gorgeous weather to sit in a boat, cast your arm off, and consume many beers.

We did turn a fair amount of big fish which is always fun. Especially after a hot summer that had many concerned about a possible fish kill. The words we heard were that we turned more good fish than many of the other anglers that weekend. Nice to hear but boating a few of those that took more than a peek would have been nice. A fair number of teens were put in the boat but when you’re hunting the big stuff, small teeners don’t get in photos like they should hence the lack of fish pics in this post. Everyone caught fish but not everyone got a pic. Redundant is… well… redundant.

Here’s the trip pics.

Todd up front and Bart on the sticks with a great hat that may have helped him earn the coveted "Most improved oarsman of the year" award.

All Texans in the back of the bus please. Steers? Or queers? Its up for debate.

That hat really ties the room together.

Todd figured out that if he really squeezed his butt he could cast further.

Wadsworth... the only pic from the weekend of the man, the myth, the fucking LEGEND!

WTF do you say about this? Ummmm... that's a lovely "dock" you have there? No motor and clearly going nowhere. Fucking awesome. Next time I pass this barge, if there isn't a thong hung on the rail, one that was once worn by a woman, I'm gonna blow it up.

Here's Randy being glad this Ditch Pig was a mini and not tied on a cheap hook with a big ass barb.

Wow! Are you comfortable? Can I Get you anything?

Cooling off a bit. Like I said, it was warm... even for a Texan. I still haven't figured out out why some of us still INSIST on wearing waders in the boat.

I can't remember what was going on here but they seem to think its funny.

The morning commute.

One of Mike's from Friday.

Just plain nice.

 I saw this article and could only think this can’t be good in the long run. Sure, there won’t be as many trucks (see, Megaloads) hauling stuff from way up north and that’s kinda cool. What scares me is that these things will make mining and access a whole lot easier. Read the article. Probably not good.

Here’s the soundtrack for those days when you are ready to settle in and commit to sticking with it.

Clean up weekend is here! Well, next weekend anyway. September 10th is THE day. Saturday after Labor Day. Its that weekend that no one but everyone looks forward to. Its the perfect kind of a weekend to introduce new folks to the resource that we love. Come one come all! This year we are taking a group of 8 down the river in search of trash. Some new folks, some trash collectin’ vets. The good thing is that all are excited to purge the river of the filth that has accumulated over the long, hot summer. If you are interested you can sign up here. Just send an email and get your “beat”. Great raffle and door prizes await those that participate! The ASBWPA runs a killer event! Come on out and get some!

Afterwards… we will all fish.

Via The Chum. Looks like fun to me. Where do I sign up? …and who’s paying for it?

Case(s) in point.

Early May last year, Hennie season… bugs hatch, no fish rising. Bugs come out to do the dance, wind picks up, bugs go back to trees. No spinner fall. This year same time, hatches all screwed up based on weather. Timing was odd, water was off color (which should have meant great streamer fishing… but not) bugs hatched, few fish rose, no spinners.I honestly can’t remember what happened for Drakes, Hex, and Iso’s last year but I can say with confidence that it didn’t happen for us. I did catch a nice fish on an Iso last July but it wasn’t because they were out in force. It was dumb luck. Nice. But dumb luck.

The point of this is that as disappointing as it can be to drive 4 hours north just knowing that you are going to hit the magic moment. when it doesn’t happen, there is a good lesson to be learned there. The lesson is patience. Fine tuning your ears to hunt for the big rises no matter how few and far between they are. We chased Hennies in May this year and it was a good lesson in what I just mentioned. The hatch was not exactly stellar but there were a few good fish looking. We found a few, parked, pitched and struck out. Maybe we put them down… whatever. Bottom line is that it was a whole hell of a lot of fun for the short time that it lasted and it put an even finer point on something that we never thought we’d care too much about. Actually hunting rises. I think it actually started last year with the whole stonefly/”stoned hopper” thing. The fact is, there is now an even bigger place in our hearts for the potential of disappointment. So much that we are going to go up after brown drakes next weekend for one night. Brown drakes are noted as being a pain in the ass and the disappointment will surely bring us back for more with the next big hatch. Maybe hex. Maybe white flies. Who knows.

Here’s a few shots from the Hennie trip this May.

Streamer potential at the launch. “What color today?”

“Cotton Candy was no good. Now what”?

Good fit.

Hard to complain about putting a good fish down with this view.

ditto…

Million dollar dinner.

Best fish of the trip. Not the biggest, but the best… by far.

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