Au Sable 2023 trip daily updates

[Steeldrifter 0]

After 2 fishless days and losing all confidence....I got my MOJO back baby!!

Soon as it got dark tonight the hatches came and water that didn't have a rise all evening suddenly was alive with big trout feeding. I got multiple big browns, lost one that was a big one as well, had the last one I landed take me into a log jam, so had to wade out and untangle him while holding pressure with the rod, and then try to net him all alone in the dark Was a helluva fun night all the way around!

 

 

[DFoster 0]

I'm glad they're back Steve, why do fish suddenly shut off?  Those are some beautiful trout!

[niveker 0]

Wow, pretty good outing right there, Steve, beautiful fish.  

[Steeldrifter 0]

3 hours ago, DFoster said:

I'm glad they're back Steve, why do fish suddenly shut off?  Those are some beautiful trout!

Fish in the Au Sable are spoiled. There's a ton of bug life in this river, pretty much any hatch you can think of happens here. So the fish in the summer get to where they simply relax and hang out during the day light hours come June, then soon as it gets dark and the bigger bugs start hatching like Iso's and cahills right now at dark, then they slide out and start chomping bugs in the dark when they feel safe. There's still some fish to catch during the daylight hrs, but now at this time of year (mid June) the hatches start coming off mostly after dark now.

Also the water temp I think is playing a role. There was a cold front last week that dropped the water temp from 68 to 60. That somewhat shut down the hatches. Now yesterday it got to 65f water temp since the daytime air temp is hitting 80's so the hatches are kicking back in again.

[flytire 0]

i remember fish like that on the big horn river in montana

those were happy days for me

[RickZieger 0]

That is a bunch of very nice fish.

Rick 

[Mark Knapp 0]

I love to see these. Good for you. Way to go.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Well last night was the night of missed/lost fish I guess. Had a real good fish blow up on my dry fly right before dark and totally missed it. Had another take and lost after a few seconds. Then right at dark had a real good fish suck in the cahill, I set the hook and could tell it was easily a 20" range fish. He ran downstream like a freight train and in the dark it's really hard to follow along that riverbank due to all the logs. So I tried putting pressure on him to slow him down but tippet snapped.  So last night was fish 3 Stevie 0 😐

Back for another go at them tonight. Just hanging at the motel with heat on my shoulder today. Long days of casting and a bad rotator cuff are not a good combination.

[Poopdeck 0]

Mojo come, mojo go. Mojo works in mysterious ways. Nice trip so far. 

[Mark Knapp 0]

6 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

Well last night was the night of missed/lost fish I guess. Had a real good fish blow up on my dry fly right before dark and totally missed it. Had another take and lost after a few seconds. Then right at dark had a real good fish suck in the cahill, I set the hook and could tell it was easily a 20" range fish. He ran downstream like a freight train and in the dark it's really hard to follow along that riverbank due to all the logs. So I tried putting pressure on him to slow him down but tippet snapped.  So last night was fish 3 Stevie 0 😐

Back for another go at them tonight. Just hanging at the motel with heat on my shoulder today. Long days of casting and a bad rotator cuff are not a good combination.

That's kind of stuff makes the ones we catch so special. (or, if it was easy, they'd let girls do it. 😁😆😄, just teasing, for sure)

I wouldn't give the misses up for anything. My buddy says, "If you don't catch them, you can make them as big as you want".

[Steeldrifter 0]

Yet another beautiful night on the Au Sable. No place I would rather be than on this river!

Got another beauty of a big brown tonight. Really nice thick fish that gave me probably the best fight I have had of the trip. Every time I thought I had her tired out she'd make another run peeling off line. Then got the fly line wrapped around the reel at one point and thought for sure it was gonna break off but managed to get it untangled as I moved with the fish. The joys of fishing in the dark 😆

[Steeldrifter 0]

Pics didn't load above, so here they are.

 

 

[MuskyFlyGuy 0]

Steve

What a beautiful night of fishing. Congratulations and keep it up!

[Steeldrifter 0]

Yet another great night on the river. The Au Sable has been good to me my whole life, but she's being especially good to me this trip for some reason. Got this beauty about 10:30 tonight. Nothing better than hearing a big brown trout slurp in your dry fly and then setting the hook into a solid weight out there in the darkness.

 

[Mark Knapp 0]

Very nice fish. You look great.