It wouldn’t be winter fishing without mayhem. We discovered shortly into our Wednesday float that my raft had a persistent and irritating leak in the floor panel. The leak bubbled the water by the left boot of the fishing angler all day. We had stop every half hour to pump up the floor panel. This made the raft feel alive, biological. Something that must be fed constantly in order to perform.
I had tied a black blob of a streamer the night before and that became our best fly. Matt, unwilling to fish the hard-to-see black, tried every other color with little luck until the sun popped out in the afternoon. Then he banged this bright fish which wasn’t the biggest of the day, but it was a handsome trout in the low sun.
It has been a cold December. Everything looked cold: the river, the trout, and by the end of the float, us. The general mode was to fish the absolute dead-calm water – be it inside bend, backwater, eddy, or soft-side of the flow. I fished the SA S3 25-foot head and it was pretty awesome for winter suspension streamer fishing with a well-weighted streamer. I wouldn’t use it with a deer-hair unweighted streamer — you’ll want a fly that sinks a little. But for flies with weighted eyes and a little weight on the body, this line seems perfect, especially for the upper reaches of the Au Sable. I got the 200-grain and fished it on my 7-weight but honestly it would be better on a 6-weight. I’ll end up with the 250 on my 7-weight and the 300 on my 8-weight. I don’t usually put plus in the fishing report, but I enjoyed fishing that line quite a bit. It delivered a soft landing and was subtler than other streamer lines. A nice product from SA.
It was a pretty cold and clammy day. Beneath the riverside oaks, the snow was torn up where deer had foraged for acorns. But our float was mammal free: No deer, beavers, mink, muskrats, otters. We saw lots of eagles and trumpeter swans. We caught some pretty nice t rout. We saw one pike head on the ice. As they say, the river never sleeps. Not even in the middle of what the locals allow is a “real winter.”
By the end of the float we were sick of inflating the raft – the hole in which I’m about to go patch – but pretty damn happy to sneak in a day of fishing. I wouldn’t mind a few more in the future. The forecast promises a smattering of somewhat mild afternoons. The accesses are okay if you have good ground clearance, all-wheel or four-wheel drive, and a backup plan (shovel, ropes, winch, traction board, etc). We had no problems yesterday getting in and out of the river.
We hope everyone has a great holiday season. The shop will be closed on December 24, 25, 31, and January 1. We are open every other day from 9 am – 2 pm. We have a bunch of sale items in the restaurant right now if you find yourself in the area: Fly-tying, clothes, etc. Our tying wall in the shop is now stuffed full of new items. If you’re in town, come check it out.
Used Rods & Reels: We got a fresh batch of good ones
Winston Air2 Max 9′ 7 wt — near mint condition. $600
Sage 8’6″ 4-weight 3-pc LL — Very good condition. $400
Nautilus XM Fly Reel — Mint condition, original box and reel case. $300
Tom Morgan Rodsmiths — very collectible. Email [email protected] for details.
