Au Sable River

The river

Michigan's Au Sable runs 222 km through jack pine and jackpine sand, fed by springs cold enough to hold brook trout in the branches and brown trout in the main stem. It is a river of long, flat, glassy pools — not pocket water — so the fishing is about accuracy at range and about the Hexagenia hatch in June, when fish that have ignored everything all season start eating size-8 mayflies at 22:30.

On this river

Fishing the Hex in the dark

Hexagenia hatches between 22:00 and midnight and the fish feed within a metre of the bank. Wear a headlamp with a red filter, keep the cast short, and set the hook on the sound rather than on sight. Because you cannot see the fly, use a fly you can feel — a cripple or a big parachute with a stiff hackle — and count two seconds before lifting.

Accuracy on flat water

The Au Sable's pools are glassy and the fish sit in small, defined lanes. Practise a 12-metre cast that lands the fly with the leader straight, because a pile of tippet on flat water kills the drift instantly. If you cannot place the fly within 50 cm of the rise, wait for a closer fish instead of casting anyway.

Mid-summer terrestrials

From late July the mayflies thin out and the river turns into a terrestrial fishery: ants, beetles and hoppers blown out of the jack pines. Fish close to overhanging brush, make one cast, let it drift 5 metres, then pick up and move on. Rotating through bank spots beats working one pool.