hendrickson spinners have finished. just a few spinners tonight and a few single rises. last night was a fast and furious feed on spinners that I wasn't ready for (messing with a caddis fly). I finally hooked a big brown on a spinner at the mio bend (there were three or four feeding) and lost it after awhile. I thought I was using a #12 tiemco hook but later discovered that I had hastily tied on the dreaded #14 umpqua hook in my panicky state. That makes 4 big browns lost on the #14 and one landed.

Started seeing this great buck on camera on 10/5, but only pictures in the middle of the night. This evening he came out early and I was able to make a good shot with the crossbow, he just ran into the pines where he died.

LY out west 7/29 at Bighorn, 8/1 at Beaver Creek, 8/4 at Beaverhead, each for two days. Best hatches I've seen at Bighorn, pmd and black caddis. CFS at 2700, about average. 3000 last year and it was tough. Best at 2400 or less. Beaverhead and Beaver Creek were tough but caught some. Went to SLC then to Cooke City with Jake and fished Clark Fork Canyon. Unprecedented rain a few years ago blew all the organic matter out of the canyon, will take 100 years or more to recover, another consequence of global warming that nobody thinks about or even knows it happened. Managed to catch a couple of skinny, fiesty rainbows in late evening as there were a few mayflies, about 1/10,000th of what there used to be down here.

EY lake trout fishing with jason and travis smith out of rockport on lake huron, and had great trip. ended up the morning going 17-17 on lake trout and 1-3 on salmon. travis got 15-16 lb king and 3 lakers 12-15 lbs. we ended up cleaning 8 lakers and the 1 king. fun trip!

Big Bear Lake - 5/24, 5/27, and 6/8. No bluegills on beds 5/24. 35 largemouth and smallmouth on 5/27. GY caught 15 on fly rod popper, one 20". EY had 20.5" and 19" smallmouth and a 30" pike on the ned rig. EY and GY 17 nice 'gills on 6/8 and 7 nice bass.
Sage Lake 6/2. KY, NY, GY, EY 40 'gills and 2 15" bass.

Found 204 morels around here 4/26 - 5/10. Peaked on 5/4.

Saw just a few hendricksons the last two days. One rise at old dock but couldn't get a float to it. Looked like fish taking midge emergers at whirlpool, uncatchable with a hendrickson (saw two float over them not taken).

Caught 50-60 good bass on poppers this year. Best was 23" and then a few 18-19 1/2. Broke one off wrapped on the trolling motor that was big and a couple of more on and off that were big. Water was cool until after I returned from Yellowstone in mid-march and fishing was slow. Really hit it well for a few days in late March. Water temps 73-74 degrees seem ideal. Also caught many cichlids, a nice jaguar gaupote and three decent peacocks, but the peacocks weren't liking the cool water.

Lots of nocturnal deer on food plots (with sugar beets) this year. Ended up shooting tall 3 point nov 3 as I never saw nice 6 point and very nice 8 point during shooting hours.

9/9/23- EY took a nice 190# black bear with Grandpa Ernies 30.06 down on a private piece of property down near Luzerne at 50yds, recovered it on 9/10. We’re calling it thr roller coaster bear cause of the up/down/up of emotions that I went through. All in All fun hunt

Caught 32 trout on dry flies on bighorn river at 3000 cfs over 8 days late august - september. All but 3 were 16" or better, two about 20" and one 21" or better. Caught 42 last year when cfs was 2400 in four days but most were under 16" and only one 20" (but was 23"). Also, all evening fish this year and many afternoon fish last year (top three photos from last year). Only caught a couple at dark on Beaverhead last year and nothing at beaver creek last year. Only went to bighorn this year.

no flies 6/12 in Brack Hill area due to cold. Mckinley was 58 with some flies on 6/13 but missed rainbow hits and caught none.

EY, GY, LY Shupac Lake 9 gills, maybe just starting on beds

GY & EY Bear Lake 8 bass 15-18.5 plus GY 20.25" on fly rod small popper. 24 gills

6/2 - Gaylanta Lake - EY, KY, NY, GY 4 smaller pike, 19 bass, biggest 19.5" smallmouth.
6/3 - Big Bear Lake - same group - 3 pike, a 27.5" and 32", 7 lbs, 25 gills, 9 bass, one 19.5" smallmouth.

EY and GY: 5/18 - Big Bear Lake - 50 gills on poppers; 2 bass; 4 pike 23-31.5". 5/26 - Bear Lake - 50 gills; 10 bass (3 smallies over 18"); 29.5" pike. 5/28 - Shupac Lake - 60 bass 12-13.75; 9 gills. 5/30 - Big Bear - 50 gills; 12 bass (19.5 smallie); 29.5" pike. 5/31 - West Twin Lake - 12 bass biggest 21" and 21.25"); 2 walleye; 11 big gills on poppers. 6/1 - West Twin - 9 gills on beds; 6 bass; 4 rock bass.

found 27-36 small morels each day: April 29; May 6; May 12

Caught 61 bass over 13+" in Florida all on a big popper this year. Also caught many cichlids, jaguar capote, and some peacock bass. Biggest was just over 22" and probably weighed at least six pounds. Lost one that jumped high and felt and looked bigger than the one I landed.

Shot second-biggest buck I had on camera on Nov 20 (2022). Shot nubbin (1 year & 1/2) on Oct 28 after clipping it earlier the evening that Eric shot a spike horn.

Ly saw first 3 hexes at Mckinley but had no fish to fish for all evening and night

5/30 EY, GY, Gaylanta lake 17 bass, 16-18", 5 pike 20-22".

5/31 EY, GY big bear lake, 31 gills and 8 bass.

6/9 MD, EY, GY big bear lake, 69 gills, 11 bass.

6/10 MD, GY, EY Gaylanta lake, cleaned 7 bass, 2 crappie, and 1 gill

5/26 EY, GY to big bear lake limit of 8-9.5 bluegills on poppers on fly rods and 5 bass 15-19.75.

5/29 EY, KY, NY, GMY to Shupac lake, 4 gills 8.5-10, 20 bass 12-13"

Cool day on South Branch and a few sulphers. Only a few small brookies. South Branch is getting dangerously low and has been warm already.

276 small, black morels, 5/5, 5/12, 5/19. All docks in the water on 5/19.

Cold April held on. Saw first hendricksons on May 2. Had some risers and hooked and lost one fish on May 3 - 46 degrees with light rain. Went to the Carp River on May 5 where Eric caught the only one we had on.

EY went steelhead fishing up to Bear creek on 4/20 and hooked 8 and landed 3 biggest was 14lbs, 35”

Caught 9 more nice largemouth and 3 peacock bass from 16-17.5 all on poppers. Kept a batch of cichlids to try and the peacock bass. Tried to catch more pecocks one day but caught 5 nice bass instead and the gators chased the jumping bass right to the boat. One had his open mouth bottom jaw on the side of the boat. Wind has been a problem and I'm not holding on to a lot of the bass that strike lately. Nice day at the beach to end the winter in Florida.

Been a colder winter this year in Florida. Been able to catch 13 bass 15" or better, 9 on poppers, Laurie caught one, and two 20.5". Also some small bass and many cichlids and a couple of small peacock bass in the canals south of here.

Put up new deer shanty this year made from electric poles and black plastic. Also expanded food plots and made a new plot. Will connect and expand all plots next year. Greg shot a doe during early September season and I shot the doe's doe fawn with a crossbow. Eric shot a small spike (in the attached picture) with a compound bow. I shot a 2 1/2 year spike during gun season from new shanty but blew a shot at a nice eight point with a crossbow. Trail cam picture one morning and another picture the next morning right when I tried to shoot but didn't have arrow seated in crossbow.

Returned from Montana with Greg and Joe and Idaho. Fishing was tough but caught 20 + on dryflies at the Bighorn, all browns 12-15". Caught some nice ones on the Missouri and a couple nice ones at the Beaverhead, all but a couple on dry flies. Met Jake and family at the Snake River in Idaho and didn't get any big fish but boated the pretty river.

Had a beautiful sunset over the Big water below Mio!

LY got beautiful 19” rainbow at Beaver Cr in Montana and had high temps in the mid 50s

Tough third night at loop pool. lots of risers, no fish caught, just one fish lost

Nothing happening for LY at Brack Hill area tonight

EY and GY went to bear lake 6/1 caught 15 bass up to 18 3/4" and cleaned 22 gills up to 9". Went to Gaylanta 6/2 caught 21 bass (4 smallies over 19", one largie 17"), and 8 pike, one 24". GY, EY, LA, and RA went to bear lake 6/10 and cleaned 49 gills and one smallie. Caught 100 gills, one pike (22") and 20 bass. GY and EY Shupac Lake 6/11 70 bass up to 15". Cleaned 8 gills, just starting on beds. EY, GY JS mullet lake; 4 walleye to 20" in cheboygan river outlet, tough fishing in lake with tons of mayflies.

LY went out around brack hill and saw a few sippers in hal's tailwater. thought they were taking iso's but probably taking hexes.

lost nice one on a hex below hal's but I've never heard so many fish feeding in hal's backwater, like pigs at the trough. I couldn't fish them because a guy with peanut gallery guards was standing in the middle of the upstream riffle casting to them all night long. He never hooked any fish, just a log a couple of times, because his fly was dragging through the backwater, probably like a speedboat.

Been warm but now cool. Some big Olives and small hendricksons but I haven't found any risers. A guy claimed to have caught 20 " on a hendrickson. Going to Utah and Colorado until 4/28.

Heading back to Michigan from Florida. Caught 37 bass around Moore Haven, all but 3 or 4 14" or better. 31 were caught on fly rod including 21 1/2" and 20". Averaged around 17". Also caught bass and many cichlids south of here but all the bass there were less than 14".

Well, never got a picture or saw the eight point bucks during shooting hours. The eight point that first appeared on 11/8 came in most nights until 12/26, but always very late or very early. I think the October eight point is still alive and showed up three nights in December with most of one horn broken off (likely by the resident eight point).Had several pictures of the resident eight point sparring with a spike and decent forkhorn one night. The smaller bucks stayed around that night but never came back again. The good news is that the two eight points should be there next year and maybe will come into the new crops during shooting hours if we don't have such a heavy acorn crop next year.

Passed up this small forkhorn that walked past at 15 yards. Could have shot at three does but haven't seen many deer during shooting hours in five weeks of hunting. Haven't seen any more pictures of the big eight point but had a smaller seven or eight with a big body one night. Hopefully one of the big ones will show up in the next week or so when it gets cooler again. The last(color) pictures are of a probably 2 and a half buck that worked the scrape at 10:00 this morning. I would not shoot this one.

Haven't seen or gotten any more pictures of the big buck yet but I did have a big visitor to the buck scrape.

This year's target buck on the hill behind the cabins. May be hard to see him during shooting hours though.

Eric and I went to Bear Creek and saw perhaps thousands of Salmon and no other fishermen. Eric landed eight and I landed two.

EY got a cow elk in the Atlanta area in northern Mich on 9/19/20

Fished Beaver Creek, Beaverhead, and Green River August 3-16. Caught only two at Beaver Creek, 20 at Beaverhead, and 8 plus two whitefish at Green River (Jake caught 6 plus the whitefish). All from 16-20 inches, 2 rainbows at Beaver Creek, and one rainbow each at Beaverhead and Green, the rest were browns. All except 5 on Green River were caught on dry caddis. Green River caddis were lighter color.

Wesley with small brookie (in water) at Brack Hill. Wesley caught a shiner on his own at Mio and hauled in one rainbow, one brown and two brooks.

GY-LY-KY-EY tried to catch Larry Legend and friends over two week period at tamarack and failed. Hot weather made Larry the only fish still rising but somehow he'd rise 20-30 times and we never figured out exactly what he was taking (not hexes). (Picture of tubing before it got really hot when I went swimming a couple of times)

Couldn't hook Greg's riser above the tamarack last night. Hooked one above cement dock on a hex and lost it after having it on for a long time as I was trying to horse it in. I guess it was bigger than I thought, probably about 18". Bright moon and hot, dry weather.

EY, KY, NY, and GY went to Gaylanta Lake. Caught 3 gills (7.75" - 8"); 4 bass (kept 2, 15", 16"); 2 pike (22")

GY, EY caught 23 bluegills on beds, 8"-10.75", at Shupac Lake; 6 over 10"

EY & GY caught 16 bass at West Twin Lake.

EY & GY caught 16 bass, 3 pike and 3 gills at Gaylanta Lake.

Had one on at the bottom of Perry Creek that pulled hard in heavy current then lost on jump, 16-17". One other nice one rose and pulled away when my fly dragged.

Mighty cold stretch we're going through. Water temps around 45 degrees. Second pic is beaver sculpturing below Mio just before bad cold stretch.

Water temps at 44 degrees today as it didn't even warm enough to thaw accumulated ice yesterday.

Had some spinners fall on south branch tonight but only risers were in front of anchored boat. Only got up to 61 today but spinners were determined because super cold weather is coming. Saw two risers the last two days at Mio but only once or twice and fair number of duns.

I am designating this the first hendrickson dun day. Had one rise three times at beaver lodge on south branch and I should have caught him. Water hit 50 degrees last week and I saw one rise but then heavy rain brought all rivers up to daily record values and it got colder.

End of Season at Meadow Springs.

Stayed awhile in Montana and hooked about 32 trout at Beaver Creek, 18 at Wolf Creek, and 12 on the Beaverhead, all dry caddis except a few at Beaver Creek. Landed about half, all 15-21 inches, with others on a long time. Broke off 3 or 4 that may have run bigger, one at the Beaverhead may have been 24 or better but I had no chance. We also hooked a few on the Blackfoot at Lincoln with the biggest at 13".

Some nice bluegills caught mostly at Shupac Lake and mostly on poppers. Bluegill beds were hard to pin down this year because of late spring and high water. All big bluegill pictures from Shupac and just the 20" bass picture from K.P. Bluegills up to 11.25".

First spotted brown drake near ausable this year. Cool weather this week may bring daylight hatches. However just checked stream gauges after all night rain: SB up 3 inches; Red Oak up 8-9 inches and maybe still rising; Mio up 10-11 inches. Went to Mio last two evenings looking for drakes but just caught or lost a few small rainbows on caddis or small mayflies. No drakes.

Found 4 pretty fresh morels at Downey's

Memorial day weekend. The fishing was pretty slow, but Quincy hauled in his first trout (~7" rainbow) at the Mio campground landing. Wesley caught a shiner and found a baby snapping turtle.

Happy opening day from Madison

We had a fun time at "Camp AuSable" this year. Wesley and Quincy got spoiled by Grandma and Grandpa, got to play with cousins, Wesley got his first trout in the book, got a few floats down the river, and hit the early hexes. Thanks for the good times.

Went around Big Bear Lake and caught over our limit of five each bass but didn't keep any.

Saw first brown drake on 5/31. First brown drakes observed over water on 6/2. First brown drake fish prediction was 6/4 but bumped back to 6/6 with very recent cool temps. The Hendrickson prediction was too early but was preceded by record cold weather which probably held the flies back. The brown drake prediction was too late but was preceded by record warm weather which probably bumped the hatch up. Fish were definitely taking brown drakes on 6/2. Cool, rainy weather is supposed to persist, we'll see what that does to daylight drake fishing. Fisherman should be here now but timing was not good for most people.

Looks like things picked up nicely after a slow start to the year.

Record high river levels for these dates after very late winter. Finally saw first hendricksons today and had a few fish to go after at the Whirlpool.

We had a fun Memorial Day weekend at the cabin. The fishing was pretty slow, but the weather was nice.

EY, JY, and PY looking for pike (on trout and pike opener) on County Line Lake. Each caught 4 bass apiece.

Welcome to the group Noah David born on Aug 16, 2015 2lbs 6 oz 15" long and Finley Grace born on Aug 10, 2015 6lb 10oz. Congrats Keith & Krista and Gabe & Shelley!!!!!!

I went with Wes today to the Madison kids only ponds.  We took crickets as worms were too hard to find.  A few bites but hard to hook.  Also hard to keep Wes's attention but he liked reeling them in.  Lost a couple and landed this rainbow that Wes scarfed down for lunch.

Returned from extended trip out West with Laurie, Jake and Diana.  Fished the Bighorn, Yellowstone, Madison, Missouri at Beaver Creek, Beaverhead and Madison again in different places, and even tried Hegben Lake, but couldn't catch up to the gulpers.  Caught a lot of fish, mostly on dries (even on the Bighorn), the biggest was 22.75 with a few other 20+ at Beaver Creek, but many upper teens elsewhere and some whitefish on the Yellowstone and Madison.  I'll try to attach a few pictures. These were on the Madison.

These are the Yellowstone and Beaverhead.

These pictures are from the Bighorn and Missouri.

Happy Birthday Uncle Lonnie, go catch another big one tonite at the Jordan.

EY and I went to Wyandottes after Mio last night and there were lots of flies and lots of occasional risers when I noticed all the flies on the water (see pic).  Eric had caught one away from the pool with accumulating flies and then started to come over to see all the flies when he spotted a riser still in the current and caught it near midnight.  I had been getting thoroughly frustrated with not catching any, and Eric then says "I thought I'd come over (to my side) to see just how challenging these fish really are."  That did not ease my frustrations.  (Eric left after that, as he had to get up early, and I did manage to catch a couple late sippers after he left.)

Went to Mio last night trying to hit chocos before coming back to hex fish.  Worked pretty well, some chocos but lots of fish taking lots of kinds of flies, so we had a real good time and got back in time to fish hexes (and get a 20 incher for EY).  Some rain (this is when the chocos were most numerous) produced a nice rainbow (and a nice rainbow trout).  Also a pic of hexes on cabin screen door from the best spinner night on the 24th.

Spectacular northern lights on Monday night, very bright and shimmery. LY and PY went to the honey hole after catching a couple at Hal's hole, not many flies, might have heard a fish.

Wes wanted to "catch a brook trout" so we took him down across Brack Hill a couple of evenings and he finally reeled a small one in but it flopped off before we got a picture.  Autumn reeled one in too, which made the book.  Great northern lights that Pete and I had all night long on June 22.

Hexes and wild orchids (or whatever these are called) have been out below Mckinley the last two evenings.  Kind of cool, haven't seen any duns or skins after dark, but some spinners.  Only found one feeding hex fish so far, but pretty fun fishing before dark on olives and chocos.  Went to Pickerel Lake on 6/15 but apparently too late for hexes but caught some gills on beds.

More fish at the Madison trout pond. 13 inch brown looked like it might be wild and 10 and 9 inch rainbows certainly were not wild.

Between GY, MY, EY, KY, ERS, KDY, KS, PS,AS and ALS found a all day total of 480 mushrooms between Krystas mounds, Peyton's hills and Keith's hills. Keith's hills gave us 1127 morels this year, with a grand total of 1450 morels this year. Unbelievable year for as dry as the spring started!

5/14- EY and GY found 323 more blacks on Keith's hills for a running total so far at 970.

Been cold for a few days with good rains but warmish on Monday night popped up more morels in Keith's hills.  These were found in about 1/2 hour before heading to S. Branch for early spinner fall for brookies on cold evening (44 by 9:00 pm).  Found 496 morels yesterday and today.

Hendrickson duns below Mio for the last three days.  Sunday I only found 2 good risers, but they were big, with many duns on the water. Monday it rained, but was 10 degrees warmer and flies didn't stay on the water as much, I only found one smaller fish and didn't get it.  Today it was in the 40's (hi temp said 58 but that would have been at midnight) and dropping and there were many duns on the water for awhile, but I only found one rise once, but it was a big one.  I saw a boat catch a 20 incher today and I found 10 big morels the last two days.  Should be good spinners soon (tomorrow evening?).  Here's some pictures from today showing the overcast and trees and marsh marigolds facing south in full bloom. 

Wes and I found a kids-only public trout pond in Madison, and Wes caught his first trout, then his second through sixth trout (and a crappie). 

Am-GY,EY and MY found 200 black Morels

Left at 3 am 5/7 to hit Carp R. at daybreak.  EY landed 2 and we lost 2 possibly fair hooked and rolled some others.  Beautiful warm day, but cold around the Bridge.

Eric and I went to the L. Manistee on April 23 before opening weekend and they had just opened the weir that day.  Still some snow on the ground here and there.  We hooked some steelhead but didn't land any.  I have a video of Eric with a steelhead that I will upload later and attach to this note.  I saw my first hendricksons on April 28, but not many.  We tried at Keystone, whirlpool and Mio, but no fish until May 1 at the S. Branch, and then only two risers.  I had a 10" brook on at the S. Branch May 3, but saw no other risers.  I had on strike of a decent one at Mio campground on May 4, but no other risers.  It has been too warm for dun fishing during the day and apparently too cold for spinner falls in evening, although we see a lot of spinners flying.  Finally on May 5, I caught some fish on spinners.  There still weren't a lot of them on the water (a lot in the air), but apparently enough to get some quality fish going.                                            #14 red quill hendrickson spinner

There's a couple of photos that came from the Elmira house.  The first is a 22.25" brown I caught on a Hex above Roger's bridge on the Jordan on 7/13/1997.  The next is a 17.5" rainbow  that Jake caught on a hex at Pickerel Lake on 6/3/1999.

Quite a few flies last night at claybanks but not a lot of risers.  I couldn't get one to hit that rose at least 10 times downstream of the hole but I was in unfamiliar faster current.  I did catch one late up in the muck and Greg had three nice ones on in the hole at 10:40, 11:10 and 11:40 but all three just came off.  Much cooler today, I'm afraid that most of the hex hatch is over here as many, many flies have hatched the last few days.  The Jordan should have good flies this weekend.

Many, many spinners last night at 10:30.  We stayed around cabins as there was an approaching strong storm that never really got here but a lot of wind and some very light rain.  Very few rises and they were very quiet and not consistent or long lasting (except my 19 incher who was early).  Greg had a couple of blips but not much to fish for around Borodychucks.  I touched one in Hal's hole but left right after I got there due to accelerating wind and distant lightning.  I fished several blips on the other side in backwater but too many flies on water apparently.  Should be spinner fall tonight (skins and duns in Hal's hole), but this is probably it for the peak of the hatch as it is supposed to get cooler.

Hot, humid weather with many flies 6/28 and more flies 6/29.  Warm all night last night with flies still on the water at claybanks at 1:00.  Flies were late Sat. night but hard to find fish or fishing spot at conner's.  Probably peak of hatch last night, these flies were on my screens and window this morning.  We had quite a few risers around claybanks last night, many below the hole that were hard to get a fly to and not caught.  Greg broke off cut-back 10 lb. Sci. Angler leader on a large fish in the hole but we never got a glimpse of it.  We overheard guys below us gripe about a great hatch and no fish, but we had 6+ fish to go after.  Tree in hole also complicates matters.

Only saw three hex spinners last night.  I went to Hal's muck where I had three rises and hooked one nice one for three or four seconds, but I saw no duns or skins.  I don't know, maybe the hatch is still coming.

It's been fairly cool and seeing only a few hexes until last night at Mckinley.  A cool evening and hex spinners were visible in flat water before dark (10:15).  My fish moved around a lot and took a lot of flies in 20 minutes before I hooked him.  Greg's fish rose twice out and then once more close to him just as he was casting and hit on the first cast.  Very long fish that I had probably seen in the flashlight 2 nights before.  These were the only hex fish we heard or heard about.  Not really a ton of flies and seemed done by 10:45.  Greg and Peyton caught some nice bluegills maybe just getting started on beds at Shupac on 6/26.  They didn't think gills were on beds yet at KP Lake.

Some choco spinners and duns after 9:30 last night.  Big fish I caught didn't hit a spinner and hit the dun after a number of casts.  Two later fish hit the dun right away.  One didn't hit anything.  I saw some duns on the water in the twilight.  Probably we have thought they were taking spinners in the past when they were really taking duns.  Hard to tell when different events (hatches, bedding, spinner falls) will happen.  This is a picture from last evening with marsh marigolds (hendrickson indicators) and purple irises (hex indicators) in bloom on the same sunset-facing bank.  I went to Pickerel Lake 6/16, did not see bluegills on beds, saw one hex spinner before dark, no hexes or skins after dark, and the bluegills I caught seemed full of eggs.  It seemed to be a perfect night to see those things.

Two chocoduns and a spinner on the porch.  Haven't seen many on the river.  I stopped at the M-33 boat launch Sat. on the way to Mckinley and saw many smallish risers, so Sun. I went there to fish.  It seems that they are all 7-8" browns, possibly the strain that survives better than the old plants.  I didn't notice any rainbow planters.  I did see one good rise that hit a 16 caddis on the first cast.  I had him on a long time, he made a couple of slow-motion, low-vertical belly flops and some powerful long runs but I pulled the fly out as I tried to lift him up to me.  He was probably a fat 18+".  I'm sure I could have eased him in.  That made me mad.

I got the cold evening I was looking for to generate a choco hatch but I saw no chocos or stoneflies.  I guess I don't have that hatch figured out.  There were a number of size 14 mayfly duns hatching but they did not generate a lot of interest from the fish.  I was fortunate to find 3 nice ones and I lost one more when he jumped and missed a few hits from small fish.  Most of the flies were brown dorsal and yellow ventral.  Some looked more grayish and there was at least one olive and some light cahills, all about #14.  This osprey flew over me with a trout in it's talons.  It was 45 degrees at 9:30.

Another cedar hole sunset and then a moon rise.  A few drakes flying just before dark and then a wind came up and I didn't see any on the water.  No fish.

I was looking for flies last night at the cedar hole when this sunset broke out.  I had 4 rises in different places in the riffles but couldn't get anything to hit.  I tried 3 different flies, the last of which I didn't tie a good knot which caused me to lose a nice fish at the Indian hole (and my best fly!)  I blame the bad knot on mosquitoes and noseeums.  I also lost another in the Indian hole when I dragged it out of submerged logs.  Some flies in the air, few on the water, but a few rises before dark and a scant dribble of flies at honey hole after dark (clouds softened the moon brightness).

Brown drake and (big) choco spinners in the air in evening along with various stoneflies and smaller mayflies.  Fish ignore small flies and I see few big flies on the water, but I can usually hook the risers I find (I lost the best two fish I had last night).  Bright moon seems to subdue late rise.  A cold evening or cool rain right now would set off some great fishing.  I expect the drakes to start tapering off in a couple of days.

Brown drakes started last night as Pete's algorithm predicted.  Short rise period for 3 fish at Mio at 10:15.  Broke off a fish in 20" range on 4 lb. maxima trying to rush him in after 3 jumps.  Caught 1 and didn't get to the other while he rose.  Both hit quickly on a dun imitation.  Saw some duns, skins and spinners.  Must have had a small hatch at Mio the night before.  Greg had duns on his screen this morning so there should be fish around cabins tonight.  Went to Beaver Lake yesterday with Greg and Eric, we caught some nice smallmouth and saw some big ones and lost one big one.  Mosquitoes still bad here.

Been warm until last night.  Few fish anywhere except Freddie II whom we can't catch anymore.  Saw one (about 12") riser on S. B. but missed his hit 2 nights ago.  I always said that if we had flies like at Mio in the home waters that these fish would appreciate them.  Tonight we had a big sulfur dump late and I only found one fish rise anywhere and he quit with tons of flies on the water.  These photos are at the tail of the dead dog hole.  I did catch a couple of small ones before the spinner fall.  Right now the first b. drake fish prediction of 6/6 looks optimistic, but I do think 6/7 or 6/8 will do it.  

Some sulfurs and a lot of caddis flying, few fish rising. Hen.- like spinners at Mio, along with some yellowish spinners and a few stones. Freddie II rises to spinners every night but neither I nor Eric can catch him anymore, he's too smart now.  Rivers are at fishable levels but S. Branch and below is still running dark-stained.  Haven't seen a decent sulfur spinner fall (except maybe at Mio).  Bass still on beds.  Mosquitoes are horrid and quite a few ticks.

Still afternoon duns hatching on cool days last weekend.  Hatch is probably tapering off. Tried a couple of spinner falls on two warm days: limited spinners on water so far (fair # in the air).  Water still high, came up again with big rain on the 20th.  Actually more fishable at Mio than up here.  Evening update: warm day but still breezy in evening; went to Mckinley and didn't see much except a full river and zipped back to Mio.  Fair number of spinners on water, half hour of rises at campground at 9:10 to 9:40, but didn't seem to be any elsewhere.

Tons of hen duns below Mio but only found 2 fish. River higher and dirtier than yesterday. Water was warmer than the air. Actual high today was 43 as the 47 registered was at midnight.

Rivers still high but marginally fishable. Hendrickson duns coming off but too cool and breezy for spinners. Risers are few and far between but some good ones. Missed a couple of more opportunities by arriving too late (probably arrived near peak dun times).  I expect some good spinner falls with warmer weekend weather. Real cold today though with a forecast high of 42. I might try Mio again for duns. Found 12 more large black morels at Mio. Greg's found many elsewhere but he's really working at it.

Found 9 morels at Mio 5/9, few flies, no fish, high water, windy, but hen spinners tried to fly Friday evening at Brack Hill.  Cool Saturday (61) with a few spinners at whirlpool/sloshing hole.  Had 2 other hits.  Warm Sunday (78) but I saw no spinners and a few rises at whirlpool.  High water everywhere.  Took boat down N. Branch Sunday.  Saw some hen duns but no risers.  Guy said he caught 18" brown in middle of the day but no other risers.  

76 degrees today but heavy rain last night brought even the keystone area up too high.  Saw one riser take the only four flies I saw in the whirlpool but the redneck "coldwater challenge" that has morphed into the redneck circus, prevented me from fishing the whirlpool.  No flies or risers seen at other locations in the holy water.  Went to Mio yesterday: no flies or morels.  Also took the boat to Shupac Lake.  Saw some trout and a couple of ants on the water and a couple of rises, but not much chance to catch any

Saw six hendrickson duns in Whirlpool area.  No risers.  Apparently the "coldwater challenge" is big on facebook as a steady stream of rednecks keep jumping into the whirlpool.

Too cold for trout fishing so Jake, Eric and I went to the Little Manistee for steelhead.  We had twentysome on and landed four or five.  Packed one in the snow from along the road home.

Spending the opening Morning of trout season shooting Carp on the shiawassee river the morning of Keith and Kristas wedding. 12:15am

Boat is ready to go but no hatches today, high of 25.  Rivers are running near flood level.

Went steelhead fishing 10/31 at the Little Manistee.  Hooked a nice one in a hole, had him for three runs, then broke off bleeping 12 pound Rio flouroflex plus running upstream into  a log jam.  Flouroflex plus is a good line for hooking fish but seems to crimp down at the knot, making it weak at that point.  There's no way 12 pound mono Maxima would have broke under that pressure, but I probably would not have hooked the fish with Maxima.  There were a lot of coho in the river but I couldn't even force them to hit.  Caught some steely smolts and had one 17-18 inch something take the spawn, but didn't hook.  I wish I had a good steelhead river like this closer to home.

(THIS IS SUNG TO THE TUNE OF 'SECOND WEEK OF DEER CAMP' BY THE YOOPERS).......It's the second week of hex hatch...and all my friends shipped out...I tie some flies and catch the tigers ...but never catch no trout......The only time I leave the camp....is when I go to the Jor'an....the second week of hex hatch ...is really kind of borin'.               Had 3 days of north wind, very cool evenings (low 50's by midnight).  Ridiculously short and sparse hex spinner falls early(10:20), with smaller fish where I have been.  I've started 6 fish the last 2 nights (3 in dead dog hole later at night) but can't get a good hook into them. Probably not big fish but usually the problem is they rise so seldom that my floats are not exactly where they should be and they hit on the drag. A lot of chocos in the cool air before dark , but not many rises generated at all.  Going to the Jordan tonight, but there are a couple of hexes on my screen today.

Happy Birthday Uncle Lonnie!

Still some hexes at claybanks last night, I don't know about anywhere else.

It's been stormy and cooler (only a high of 70 today) and the number of hexes are definitely down but there were still some skins in hal's hole last night. I caught one and started another. I started one the night before between storms. The rain appears done but I wonder if it's too cold for hexes tonight.

Knuckle took 5 stitches but seems to be healing.  Still a ton of hexes at claybanks last night and a lot of rises.  Pete broke his rod trip in the trees setting the hook on the first riser, but was still able to catch a big one later on the broken rod.  We both lost a fish and the ones we caught were very fat.  Hard to get to hit with so many flies

Lonnie and Pete took float tubes to Wyandotte's. There were a ton of duns hatching off and quite a few risers. They were pretty tough to get to hit. Pete lost one in the 18 inch range, and probably had some larger ones rising in the slow water. Lonnie missed a few hits, sliced open his knuckle on the rocks, and went over his waders. A good trip.

A hex dun on the screen this morning.

I'm hoping the hexes hold off until Friday. I'll be there for Sunday night fishing. I see there is a full moon Sunday night rising at 9:30, but what are you gonna do?

Congrats to Greg on his 1,500th fish in the book!

Been fairly cool, especially evenings.  B. drakes still falling for short periods just before dark along with other flies last night.  Had 13 days of drakes, off and on, so I think they're about done.  Chocos have been very sparse during the period; we still hope for an all day rain.  No rumors of hexes yet but I feel a needto check Pickerel Lake and Mckinley.

Been cool (mid 60's).  Brief light rain at 7 pm yesterday that brought out some flies.  Saw no chocos.  Quick trip to Mio, 54 when I arrived, just a few brown drakes hatched, not enough to get any fish on them.  I don't think any more drakes hatched at the cabins.

2 guys in a boat motoring up from mcmasters , floating down past dewey's and motoring back up, said that the brown drakes hatched off around 5 pm yesterday and nothing was taking them.  I saw very few flies and few risers but managed to catch a nice one and lose another good one.  No other hits.

BROWN DRAKE ALERT- There are a number of b.drakes on my screens at 6 pm (I told Greg they were chocos but they're not upon closer inspection).   I don't know when they hatched; sunny, windy high of 63 today.  Maybe they hatched late last night and I thought they were chocos.  There were definitely chocos early, then a lull, then a heavy hatch late and I did not inspect any late flies.

High of 50 yesterday.  I thought it was too early and too cold for chocos but I kept checking the river.  At 8 the temp. was 46 and I heard a slashing rise and saw one big chocodun float by at Brack Hill.  I put on my stuff and caught one nice riser and saw a few flies.  There were also a few sulphurs hatching with some small fish rising.  I went downstream looking for more slashers but didn't see any.  From Mancini's I saw a rise above the cement dock so I made the crossing to go down there.  I ended up crossing again and standing on the cement dock where 2 fish were rising above and one below, all good ones.  However, at this point the 2 lower fish were letting an amazing number of chocos float by and rising very little.  The cement dock bend sweeps all the flies to one side and you can really see them from the dock.  The upper fish was rising steadily and I caught him as I was standing on the upper portion of the rocks that were dumped in for bank stabilization  Then it was about 9:30 and the fish and flies seemed to be done (43 degrees).  I was very surprised at the number of chocos (at least at the cement dock), but these were the only risers I saw or heard.

Been 80 or above the previous 3 days (now it's 48 at noon).  No fish caught.  Went to Mio on Thurs. hoping for an encore, but wind and storms kept flies off the water until dark and I could find no risers.  I started a couple before dark with few risers.  Fished Brack Hill area Fri., few flies, lots of people, one rise.  Back to Mio Sat., few flies and risers, started a couple.  This period after sulphurs, before b. drakes/chocos seems to always be poor.

At Mio last night fish were rising not steadily to a sparse hatch of sulphur duns and some would hit a #12 stonefly.  Before dark a near 18" brown was regularly sipping spinners and duns and would not hit the stonefly, but I caught him on the first cast with a sulphur.  A seemingly larger fish was rising just upstream but I had to change the destroyed biot sulphur.  The larger fish rose 2-3 inches from my new sulphur (I thought) but he didn't rise again.  I hooked two 11" browns just below and the hackle came off that sulphur. The big fish started rising again so I cast the hackleless fly in there but could not tell if it was floating.  Now spinners covered the water, so I swicthed back to a larger stonefly (really a nighttime Montana caddis).  The big fish quit rising but I caught a 13" rainbow on the first cast with thousands of naturals drifting over.  When I tied on the fly in near-darkness it didn't cinch down correctly, but it held the rainbow.  As I was wading back up in the early darkness, a nice fish was sipping in the shallows.  I quickly hooked him on the stonefly but  the knot unravelled as he was zipping out line upstream.  He seemed to be good fish.  It hit 78 that day and was clear and calm in the evening.  Water levels were good.

Clouds of sulphur spinners again last night -50's during day, 60 at sunset.  Just found a couple of risers (do these flies come down?).  Lost one 12+.

EY and GY went up to Big Bear lake and caught 4 keeper bass smallest being 14" and largest being 18.25" smallmouth and Largemouth bass. In the evening EY had his best night of the season so far by the cabin with 3 trout biggest being 15.5" and smallest 9", 2 browns and a rainbow that was 13". Water still high but fishable, lots of sulphur spinners.

Been cool.  Water a little higher and dark.  Some sulphurs but just a couple of risers last night.

Many olive caddis the last two nights but no takers.  Some sulphurs hatching on s.b. but few to no takers.  Still some risers to limited spinners at 9-9:30 but only in very limited and specific places (such as beaver lodge last night and specific bubble run below dewey' the night before).  Cooler weather may bring out sulphur risers.  Mosquitoes are like the old days (horrible)! 

What a great trip to the river cabin with beautiful temps and weather. Found lots of morels and had a great time with family. ES (now) KS, PS, AS all had a great trip to the cabin and enjoyed time with family. PS, GY and KY had an awesome trip to big creek. PS caught a limit of trout with 3 browns and 2 brookies. KS on a float from conners with EY caught one 9 3/4" brookie on rapala. Special memories made this weekend. Thanks GY and MY

Why I hate/love Mio- Monday was 52 degrees, went to Mio, no flies, too cold. 67 on Tuesday, some clouds. Many Hendricksons just above car at stoplight in Mio and down south river road; going to be a lot of flies. Arrive at river at 5:45. Flies all over the water and head high in the air. Duns and spinners on the water. NO risers! Want to go back to Brack Hill where there might be fish. See one rise across the river near beaver lodge. Decide to wade to campground and back seeing no fish, but the one is still rising across the river. Cross upstream in high water. Get to beaver lodge and the fish rises twice, once to an upwing. Still have #10 extended body wood duck choco from Saturday (we have a growing tradition of using over-sized, slightly outlandish flies when there are a lot of flies at Mio and it seems to work). Second float by and he nails it, better fish than I thought(16-18?). I horse him out of the beaver lodge and think I must have him hooked well and then he comes off. Flies disappear by 7 with no more risers. P.S. Another spinner flight developed at 8 and I caught and missed some small rainbows and missed 2 nice fish.

Lookin foreword to fishin wed, thurs, fri,and sat with KY,EY,KS,LY. Sounds like it should be warmer! Wish all the "Loggers" could be at the river! Will try to let you know how we do.

Saturday we went to Mio, 56 down to 42 when we left at 4:30, with rain (colder and snow after that). Hendricksons hatching and drifting from 3-4. Some good fish rising, but would not rise often or in same place. Greg caught small rainbow. Had been warm (highs 77-87) for 12 days before Friday. High of only 37 yesterday and 27 last night.