Bryon Anderson 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2018 Opening day at this latitude is always a crapshoot -- I've fished in snow, sleet, freezing rain, you name it, including, every once in a while, under postcard blue skies and sunshine. The latter was the case this year, and though it wasn't the greatest weather for streamer fishing (which was pretty much the only game in town if you weren't into watching bobbers), it made for a wonderful couple of days floating down the river with some good buddies. We did have bugs in the afternoons -- good numbers of black stoneflies and BWOs, each in a couple of sizes, as well as a few of the Dark Hendricksons we always hope to see on opening day. The water was just too high and cold for the fish to be looking up, though. Fortunately, they did show interest in streamers--lots of flashes, swirls, chases, and short strikes, plus two good fish that actually committed. One came unbuttoned after a few seconds; the other made it to the net and got his (her?) picture taken. The big success story of the weekend was the food -- we had an epic shore lunch of pulled pork (made with local maple syrup), topped with pickled onions and served with bleu cheese coleslaw, and a dinner that night of venison roast, bleu cheese mashed potatoes and sautéed vegetables. Plus a "few" cocktails and beers. Lots of stories (some true, even!), lots of laughs, good stuff. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steeldrifter 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2018 Nice brown Bryon. Yeah the high water messed up a lot of peoples opener this year, it happens though you never know what you're gonna get for the opener in Michigan. I've had openers where it was near 80f and some where it was in the 30's. It looks like things are going to actually work out great for me now far as early season fishing goes. My buddy and I were gonna hit steelhead below foote but with the water being 2ft above normal we changed the date. He FINALLY gave me an open date for him, after I gave him three dates to which he could not do I finally said "okay You tell ME what works for you" lol. So now we are going up steelheading the 13th/14th, then shooting up higher in the system and fish trout on the 15th. The cool thing is though he leaves to go home on the 16th and I decided I am staying. Simply gonna move my gear from the double room after he leaves and into a single room and I am going to have a week trout fishing the Au Sable all by myself. Been wanting to do that for years! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bryon Anderson 0 Report post Posted April 30, 2018 That sounds awesome Steve! Good for you. Man, a whole uninterrupted week of fishing anywhere sounds about perfect to me right now! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
