The Complete Fisher Forum

[Steeldrifter]

Just returned home from 4 days of fishing on the Au Sable and along the Lake Huron surf. Fishing during week days in the fall is about as good as it gets in my opinion. Beautiful fall colors, fish in the river and not another fisherman anywahere in sight!

Thursday 18th-

Decided to start out on the river for thursday and wait to hit the surf Friday & Saterday. Rained pretty hard Thursday morning so I waited till about 3pm to get to the river. Pulled in the parking lot at the access and there wasn't a single other car there (gotta love weekday fishing!). Suited up and started the 3/4 mile hike back to the spot where I like to fish. Here's a couple shots of some colors that are past their peak but still made for a very nice setting to fish in.




I've been hearing how low and clear the Au Sable has been this year, but you never would have known from the river while I was there. A couple days of good hard rain had the river the highest I think I have ever seen it while I was there. Spots that are usually about ankle deep were up just above my knee's. So it made wading and fighting fish a little rough in a few spots but helped to make the fish feel more secure I'm sure. After rigging up and scouting the area I hiked to I found "some" fish here and there. Not the runs of the Au Sable from back 5 years ago, mainly just 2 or 3 fish here and there, but certianlly fishable when you have the whole river to yourself. I spoted about 3 fish in a 4ft deep run sitting behind a female and started drifting an orange egg past the males. It didn't take more than 3 drift to get into the first fish of the day. He was a dark male of about 8lbs and most likely had been in the sysytem for awhile, but he took the egg without hesitation so I had to get a pic of the first fair hooked salmon on the new switch rod.


I ended up hooking 4 more fish the rest of that day. A couple of them took me for a ride into the backing before they decided to part ways which is always fun. It was good to fight some salmon on the big river (Au Sable) again and even though she doesn't hold the same big numbers of salmon she used to, as long as there's a few then that makes for a great day on the water.

Friday 19th-

Friday I decided to grab the box of surf flies I tied up the night before and hit the Lake Huron shoreline near a river mouth just outside of town. To say the weather conditions for surf fishing were tough would be an understatment...they were downright brutal! Raining like hell early in the day, dark storm clouds moving all around, a constant headwind of about 25mph with gusts up to 40mph made for some extremely challenging casting. I was useing my new switch rod I built but being new to switch casting I found trying to cast into a 40mph wind was pointless, so I did the only thing I could do which was dropping down to a side arm casting style to keep the line just off the surface of the water...and even then a 30ft cast was about as good as I could manage into the strong wind, but it was ethier that or pack it in and leave and anyone that knows me knows that's never an option with me. After about an hour of this ugly style of casting and battleing the winds I was mid strip with the big streamer when something absolutly CRUSHED the fly. I was hopeing it was a big Laker or a nice chrome King so after about 10 mins of fighting the fish I got my first look at him when it surfaced about 15 ft from me and was somewhat dissapointed to see it was a big carp. On the other hand I can't say I was entirely dissapointed because it was by far the biggest fly rod carp I have ever landed in my life, and he did put up quite a battle that's for sure. I have a meauring mark at 30" on my rod and his tail landed just a hair shy of the 30" mark. I have no idea of much he weighed since I dont catch many carp, but I do know both my hands together only went halfway around his girth so he was a big fish that's for sure, and he really put the new rod to the test. And I have to say, I have always thought of carp as being bottom feeders, but the way this guy crushed the streamer really made me think twice about that thinking.


A pic of the spot I was surf fishing with some big rollers and some pretty ominous looking storm clouds.


The new rod with the Chartruse and white Half&Half I was throwing in the surf which the big carp took.


Saterday 20th-

Went back to hit the surf again. The wind was still blowing about 15mph but much lighter than the previous day. Only problem was the sun was also out which is not too conductive to finding fish in close to the surf, so it made for some pretty pics but made for a long 4 hr day of casting without any fish.





All in all it was a pretty good trip. Was able to fish the Au Sable all alone with some pretty fall colors and a couple of salmon as a bonus, and even though I didn't get the big Laker or Surf salmon I wanted this time I did manage to catch a big fish in some pretty brutal conditions so I'm pretty satisfied with the trip.

Steve

[Chub1]

nice one

[KZ]

Awesome pics there, love the colours of the trees... ours are just starting to turn on this side of the pond, but are rarely as intense as that.

Sounds like you Christened the new rod in style then - fascinating to see a carp took an half-and-half... out and out baitfish imitation, and defies much of the thinking about their feeding habits. Sounds like it must've chased the fly aswell?

Beauty of a fish - far better looking than some of stillwater fish we see so often. Can't beat the lines of a wild fish, lean and fit!

Cheers,
Kev

[Steeldrifter]

"Sounds like you Christened the new rod in style then - fascinating to see a carp took an half-and-half... out and out baitfish imitation, and defies much of the thinking about their feeding habits. Sounds like it must've chased the fly aswell?"


Yupp, I was fishing the streamer with a sink tip line about 1-2' under the surface over about 8' of water, so he chased it down to smack it. I dont do much carp fishing myself and have never thought of them as being a fish that chased down baitfish, but this one sure changed my mind about that.

Steve
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