Stream fishing is great in the fall

With fewer fishermen out, the remaining ones can enjoy the solitude.

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

GRAYLING, Mich. — Classes are about to start at Montana State University. This fall they will be minus one graduate student, Joe Guild, who elected to stay in Michigan for a few more weeks to guide trout fishermen and put a few more bucks in the bank.

“I’m a nomad between Bozeman and Lovells,” Guild said, referring to the towns in Montana and Michigan as he slid his long, narrow Au Sable boat into the Au Sable River at Gates’ Lodge downstream from Grayling. “I’ll go back to school next semester. But I think it’s going to be a great fall to fish here.”

Given normal weather, fall usually is a great time for fly fishing on Michigan rivers, in part because the number of anglers drops 80 percent.

“You’re not going to fool anybody that it’s like May and June. But the crowds are so much lighter that fish that have been getting hammered with flies all year are a lot less spooky and act more like trout,” said Guild, who grew up on the North Branch of the Au Sable near Lovells.

The last week of summer and first two or three weeks of fall usually offer good dry fly fishing, but it requires small flies and fine tippets.

Guild said that if an angler steps into a river and doesn’t see flies hatching or fish rising, “I’d put on a size 16 blue-wing olive, Borchers or Adams on a 6X tippet, maybe 7X.”

If fish are rising, anglers should scan the waters carefully for even smaller flies that often draw trout to the top at this time of year, blue-wing olives and gnats in sizes as small as 22.

Waiting their turn

Chuck Ewing Jr. of Cincinnati and his son, Chuck III, were waiting at the canoe dock to fish with Guild.

“This river can be a little finicky. That’s why a day with a guide makes a lot of sense,” Ewing Sr. said. “We ran into the same thing on the Green River [in Wyoming]. There were fish everywhere, but we couldn’t get them to take. When we went with a guide, we caught a bunch. The guides are on the river every day, so they know what works and what doesn’t.”

Most Michigan trout streams are open through Sept. 30, and many have sections that are open all year. The Michigan coldwater angling guide is available anywhere fish licenses are sold and contains color-coded maps that show which trout streams and lakes have extended seasons.

Tom Beckett said he tries to fish the Manistee and Au Sable a half-dozen times between the re-opening of school and the end of October.

“A lot of times, you can fish a long stretch of water and not see another fisherman all afternoon,” he said. “During the Hendrickson hatch [in late May] and the Hex hatch [in late June], you’re lucky if you get 100 yards to yourself.”

Beckett said fall also resembles fishing in May because “it’s lazy man’s fishing. The hatches usually don’t get going until the water warms up at 2, 3 in the afternoon. You can sleep in, tie a few flies, have a nice lunch and then get in the water.”

Liking the solitude

About 40 miles away, Mike Garcia was camped on the Black River, a stream that he said produces excellent fishing for brook trout in the fall. And like the other anglers, he said that most enjoyable aspect of late season fly fishing was “there are so few people round. Look — it’s an absolutely beautiful Sunday afternoon, and my camper is the only one in the campground.”

The Dearborn angler said he’s drawn to the Black and other rivers that hold brook trout in fall because “I don’t think you can catch a more beautiful fish than a brookie in spawning colors. In summer, this river gets hit hard by people who keep most legal-sized fish, and I’ve seen some keep fish that weren’t legal.

“But after the crowds have been off the water for a couple of weeks, the bigger trout start coming out of cover more. You can get some nice browns here, but what I really love are the big brook trout. I’ve released three over 13 inches in two days,” he said. “But if you fish here, you need fine tippets. I’d say 6X is the heaviest you can use and expect to do well.”

Back on the Au Sable, as he prepared to push his river boat out into the current for a float downstream, Guild had one last bit of advice for fall anglers.

“Small caddis, 16 and 18,” he said. “If you see fish rising, and they ignore flies that you think should be working, try switching to a small caddis. Sometimes just giving them a look at something different is all it takes.”