I just got off the river and it was, once again, an amazing night. 50 degrees, east wind, and Isonychia hatching out of every strong riffle and big fish just blowing up on them. It was a Friday night in June. It was busy. But the mood was that of a celebration. The river, it seemed, had more than enough for everyone out there. There were trout smashing Isonychia in every direction. I was fishing with my youngest. It was the best dry fly fishing he’d ever seen. “You catch one more,” he said, “and then let’s go home. My arm is sore.” Yessir. I caught one more…and we went home. But the trout weren’t pushovers. We learned quickly that the fly had to be twitched a foot above the rise, dropped to slack, and hang…on…tight. Sadly he had to use my left-handed reeling reels — he reels with his right hand — and he complained about it (happily) the whole time he fought one big fish after another. Poor kid. It just felt like a gift. All the best nights do.
Get ready…
The trout fishing this week has been almost without exception amazing. I could fill this report up with fish pics but that’s not really what there is to report. What there is to report are waning drakes, peak Isonychia, and that classic pre-hex mixed bag of stoneflies and March browns. The rivers are in excellent shape, though a little rain wouldn’t hurt. The hex are going to start fairly soon — they are hatching on the nearby lakes — and that will kick off two or so weeks of hex madness. I had at least a dozen calls today looking for a hex prediction. All I can say is the brown drakes have pushed through the South Branch and the hex are hatching on Lake Margrethe and there are some warm days coming next week.
See the fawn?
The Manistee is running behind but there are Isonychia hatching and the drakes are going to be up near M-72 this week, I think, as I used to guide them over there right when the hex were starting on the Au Sable. All the nearby creeks are fishing well — it always takes them a little bit to get going. But there are some big adventures to be had on smaller water. Check out Jake’s trophy from a nearby stream:
That’s not a brook trout. This is a brook trout.
This week had everything, from midday to midnight drakes. There were some first trout caught and some biggest trout caught. There was Rob’s giant that created a long running and profane text string that may or not still be going. Sam and Matt had a day so good it can’t be written about. Holden and I fished with Lance and there was a moment, a scene, with thousands of drakes flying upriver overhead, the sky the color of a rose, and a big fish rising in a flat bubble line, that was just a privilege. There were fawns in the long grass and sandhill cranes flying at dusk. There were the first purple irises and the first fireflies, and the last of the May bugs. There were high fives, and flies in the nose:
This next week, look for strong Iso hatches at dusk mixing in with Iso spinners. You will want lots of different patterns — this is rarely and after-dark event and the fish get picky — and the spinners are the color of wine and the duns are the color of a battleship. When the Isos are out, they offer some of the very best blind fishing opportunities of the year. During the day, try swinging a prince nymph or a zug bug, or fishing either as a dropper. We will enjoy this Iso event for a solid month, making it the longest-running and perhaps best hatch on the Au Sable. It is the main event now, the opening act for the hex, and returns as the main event in early July. They are a strong swimming black nymph, but as a dun and spinner the wear ivory legs, which has led to the Iso being referred to, oddly, as the white gloved howdy which almost certainly needs to be the title of a book of noir. For now, it’ll have to serve as the title of this lowly, and late, fishing report.
