Au Sable River · fly box
The spiritual home of American dry-fly fishing, with a night hatch worth losing sleep for.
| Pattern | Imitates | Size | Technique |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hex Cripple | Hexagenia emerger | #8 | Fish it by feel in the dark on a short line; listen for the take rather than seeing it. |
| Sulphur Comparadun | Ephemerella dun | #16 | Evening rise in the flat water; the fish are on a line, so cover the whole line. |
| Bead-head Hare's Ear | Mayfly nymph | #14 | Under a small indicator in the deeper pools between the flats. |
| Foam Ant, black | Flying ant | #16 | August afternoon: cast to the shaded bank under the cedars and leave it. |
| Muddler Minnow | Sculpin | #6 | Swing it through the deep bends at dawn for the biggest browns. |
The dressing plate
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.