HELLO OFISHINGINATOS

I am, Ken Mers, asst. fly shop manager.

Fishing has been excellent for the brave at heart. We all know that big browns hide all day long. But as soon as the twilight turns black, the bruisers come out of their lairs to eat anything that will fill their empty gullets. And just what is that?

Mice, birds, frogs, salamanders, snakes, squirrels, and any other living creature they can swallow.

For example, I just came back to Michigan from Colorado where I witnessed a 39" northern pike with an 18" brown and two other trout in its stomach. Yes, not catch and release. But the point is, that 18" trout was just 1.5 inches shy of half the length of that 39" pike. BIG FISH LIKE BIG FOOD!

From Customer Tim Smith, who stopped by the shop the first weekend in August [picture above at right]:

Steve:

Some quick thanks for helping us get exactly what we needed Saturday.

My family was on the way home from Mackinaw Island, heading to home in Traverse City. My oldest daughter Caroline asked if she and I could stop at the Manistee River to fish. Mom and the other kids decided to head on through to TC and Caroline and I checked the back of the pick-up to see what gear we had for a spur-of-the-moment trout trip. We found rods and some tippet. We figured we needed some gurglers and a long sleeve shirt for her and we'd be set.

We found an old TB-BBQ t-shirt hanging in the corner of the shop - no price tag, but a steal at $12 - and some gurglers on the counter. We dropped the boat in at 7:30pm at M72 and floated to the cabin....... they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, but the smile on my daughter face at 12:30am is worth at least 2,000.

-tim smith

Night time is the time for big browns. All you Hex fishermen should already know that. And that reminds me. How many of you know of Hexagenia autrocaudata, the August Hex? Well you better listen up. Reports of big fish have been coming up below McKinley on the AuSable because the "August" Hex are bringing them up right now. These flies have been seen amidst a hatch and spinner fall of Ephoron luekon and album (White Mayflies size 10-16).

But closer to Grayling it's the big "hair ball" flies, which, catch the big trout and that includes, mice, "birds", and the Garthside "gurgler" and any other fly that mimics a mouthful. That's right. How do you fish these big flies? Well, Potentate Steve Southard, my boss, likes to strip a big old hair ball with a vengeance. Make it pop, plow, skate, and skitter. Me, I like to make the flies look like they're on their last throes of life with a little twitching.

For instance, just a few weeks ago I was forced into going fishing with Phil Cook, fishing guide. He poled me down the AuSable in his classic AuSable River Boat at night with one of his own Garthside Gurglers on my rod. In an hour-&-1/2 I had five strikes, missed two, and landed three, the smallest which was 15". The biggest, an 18" brown hit my twitching Gurgler and I missed. Phil dropped anchor. I tossed the Gurgler out, again, this time dead drift, and got that trout, who, came up twice for the same fly. This week, Phil brought in digital pictures of a 19" and a 22" brown he netted for a client of his. The next day Phil told me he had pictures of a 17" and a 19" he caught the night before. Fishing at night is a blast. The bottom line is make a big splash with a big fly and you'll entice a big old brown, who's as hungry as a 39" Colorado pike.

Don't forget the streamers. Last fall and spring eggs have hatched into a myriad of minnows. The rainy cloudy days are perfect streamer fishing days. Heavy rains will knock the spinners out of the trees and kill a spinner fall. With that said, the trout will eat even their own kind when looking for a mouthful.

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Daytime fishing has also been excellent. Tricorythodes stygiatus and atratus ("tricos" size 24-28) appear at 8:00 a.m. The North Branch is prime time trico water and has produced some 15" browns and 12" brookies. The Baetis tricaudatus and punctiventris (blue wing olives size 16-22) are also taking their fair share of trout and appear sporadically during the day and evening. Olive emergers are the most effective flies for the blue wing olives which shed their nymphal case in the surface film. Aloloperla candata and imbeccilla (Little green and little yellow stoneflies size 14-18) also appear in the morning.

Paraleptophlebia debilis (dark blue quills size 16) are also on the water. These, like the blue wing olives, emerge in the surface film, and may be hatching at the same time. A close look will reveal the three tailed duns. This is important, as the emergers are reddish-brown, unlike the olive emergers of blue wings.

If you haven’t guessed, emergers are my own personal favorite flies. In Colorado where I spent the past 7 years after 38 years in Michigan, I learned a valuable lesson. I was in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park fishing a blue-wing olive hatch. I had only two duns in my box and was hooking a brown every few casts. After about an hour of fishing I’d lost both flies. That forced me to fish with olive emergers. The trout wouldn’t let it alone. My success rate went up to a hit on every cast.

Why are emergers so effective? My guess is because (1) the food value is higher because the nymphal shuck is still in tack and (2) because emergers are moving flies, they are easily seen.

So how does that work where artificial flies are concerned? Well we all know that a dun pattern almost always has to be fished dead drift. Without a perfect mend, dead drift can become impossible. But is that true with emergers? I say no. Emergers are swimming flies, so when the current moves the emerger it is natural. That is the secret to emergers. They are more effective because of this one simple reason. You don’t have to be so perfect.

The white flies (Ephorons size 10-14) are out at dusk to dark below Mio and have been reported on the Manistee and AuSable near Grayling.

Ceratopsyche (Cinnamon sedge size 14-16) and Nectopsyche (White Miller size 14) caddis flies are appearing in the afternoon and evening hours with the Cinnamon caddis extending into the night.

There's also some Isonychia bicolor (White-Gloved Howdies) and Stenonema ithaca (Light Cahills) action in the afternoon hours

And finally, there are some "GREAT" caddis at night. That's right. It's the time for get this, the Pycnopsyche (Great Brown Autumn Sedge) and Ptilostomis (Great Orange Sedge). These ghosts of the night are the biggest aquatic flies of the season next to dragonflies & Hex. The most effective pattern is a swimming caddis pattern as these flies swim or crawl when emerging, and dive and swim to lay their eggs. Like streamers, this wet fly technique can produce some jolting strikes by big browns at night when these flies are active.

And don't forget the midges. Camped out at Kneff Lake, I watch size 28 tan midges get eaten every morning and evening by trout and bluegills alike. In case you didn't know, Kneff Lake was poisoned two years ago. Ken, the K.E.M. collector of campsite monies, told me that the kill-off had the whole beach stinking with dead fish. Ken told me there were not only trout, but get this, grayling lying on the beach rotting. I personally caught grayling on Kneff Lake several years ago, so I know they were in there. Anyway, Kneff Lake was replanted with rainbows, but where did the blue-gills come from? Maybe they are food for the trout, who knows? Midges are the flies that constitute a year around food supply for fish, as well as a year around fishing hatch for the dry fly enthusiast. A midge emerger with trailing shuck is the most effective pattern where midges are hatching. If you are looking for a challenge, come out to Kneff Lake and try for a 20" rainbow. Bring a kick-boat or float tube an hour or two before dark.

That pretty much covers the aquatic insects.

Walking along side of M-55 this week, I couldn't take a step without kicking up 15 grasshoppers. They're all over the place. Trout are gobbling up grasshoppers, ants, beetles, all sorts of flies including houseflies and deer flies, crickets, and any other land-lubbing insect that falls in.

Word is also in that the silver kings have begun showing up in the Manistee and Pere Marquette.

The best thing about this time of the year is there is little competition. On the South Branch the Mason Tract is perfect solitude this time of year. It the one place you can truly get lost. If you fish it at night, make certain you mark your spot to get out with a recognizable landmark or white strip of cloth. The South Branch becomes one continuous forest when a light turns on. If you don't mark your exit, you might end up taking a hike you didn't plan on.

The mainstream of the Au Sable continues to produce some excellent fishing. All of the trout I spoke of above were taken there. And the Manistee is equal in numbers and size.

See you in Grayling, the heart of Great Lakes fly-fishing.