More than anything in the world, I wanna go back home to northern Michigan this weekend.  I want to take a walk through the cedar swamp, to the hardwood ridge overlooking the Black River where I proposed to my wife.  I want to take the long way back to the car, and hopefully find a few morels.

After I get back to my car, I want to drive downstream to that spot where I caught that 14″ Brook Trout on a Muddler Minnow.  I want to catch 3 Brookies around 7″ and take them back to my car with me.  I’ll clean the trout, then fry them with the morels.  One for me, one for my son, and one for my father-in-law.

After we’re done eating, I’ll drive over to the Au Sable.  Not sure if I’ll go to the North Branch, the Main Stream, or the South Branch; but I’ll figure it out when I get there.  No matter what parking spot I find myself, I’ll probably do more watching than fishing.  I just want to watch the fish rise, the bugs fly, and the sun set…

I think my passion for throwing streamers can be linked back to my days of fishing with spinning gear.  Ya see, one of the toughest things to master in fly fishing is that whole dry fly delicacy thing.  Anyone can get a streamer tight against the bank and strip it in like a mad man; but it takes practice to defy the dynamics of fluid flow.  I sort of stumbled upon this epiphany the morning I clipped off a Light Cahill in favor of a yellow Zoo Cougar a few miles downstream of the Mio  on the Au Sable River.

Hours earlier, I caught my first trout on a fly during the early stages of a Sulpher hatch.  To this day, it’s still probably one of the most epic Sulpher hatches I’ve ever experienced.  The bugs just wouldn’t stop popping.  I waded into a side channel on the back side of a small island and for reasons I didn’t understand at the time, there were no bugs.  On a whim, I tied the Zoo Cougar on and found out the hard way that my casting skills weren’t what they needed to be to cast it.  So to compensate for my shortcomings, I stood at the top of the channel and stripped every inch of my fly line out.  Once the current pulled the entire length of line and the fly tight, I started stripping line back in.  On the first pass up the channel, I saw three fish charge the fly before backing out at the last second.  Again, I let the full length of fly line straighten out from the top of the channel, then after stripping in about 40′ of line, everything tightened up and I had adrenaline shooting out my ears.

I can still picture my left hand struggling to cradle the fish while my right held my fly rod up to it to guesstimate how big it was. My dry fly fishing days were over only hours after they began. Don’t get me wrong, I still fish dry flies.  I’d even go so far as to say I have fun matching hatches.  But for me, catching trout through finesse pales in comparison to pissing them off.

This mindset applies to all of the other fish I pursue- except steelhead.  For some reason I still prefer to catch them under a bobber than on the swing.  I often laugh about this with Shaq over at The Anglers Net.  He’s just the opposite.  For him, when it comes to chasing migratory fish, the tug is the drug.  Yet for the most part when trout fishing, he’ll only toss a streamer when there are no bugs coming off.

So since the streamer bite is on fire right now on rivers all across the country, I thought I’d share a few of my favorites.

The Zoo Cougar

Hook: 4XL or 3XL Streamer Hook
Tail: Marabou
Body: Sparkle Braid
Underwing: Calf Tail
Wing: Mallard Flank
Collar/Head: Deer Body Hair

EP Fiber Baitfish

Hook: Streamer Hook
Body: EP Fibers
Colors: Grab some markers and go!
Eyes: Doll Eyes

Butt Monkey

Tail: Marabou
Body: Sparkle Braid
Rib: Medium Wire
Wing: Rabbit Strip
Collar: Duck Flank
Head: Wool or Glo Bug Yarn clipped to shaped

Muddler Minnow

Hook: 3XL Streamer Hook
Tail: Turkey
Body: Tinsel
Wing: Turkey
Collar/Head: Deer Body Hair

Conrad’s Sculpin

Hooks: 2 Streamer hooks
Body: Palmered Marabou
Joint: Mono- use a few beads to help prevent fouling and also give the fly some sound
Head: Deer Body Hair
Eyes: Dumbell Eyes

GLI has owned and operated the Song of the Morning Ranch dam and the impoundment located in the Pigeon River Country State Forest since May 26, 1969. The function of the dam is to control the water level in the impoundment, which is accomplished by allowing water to pass through two underflow gates and released downstream. It is the ultimate responsibility of the GLI to ensure that the operation and maintenance of the dam does not cause harm to the Pigeon River, or the surrounding wildlife.

On or about June 22, 2008, a significant discharge of water from the dam caused water levels in the impoundment to drop, drastically increasing the downstream flows to the Pigeon River and transporting massive amounts of sediment downstream, which caused an extensive fish kill in this blue-ribbon trout stream. This is the third discharge from the dam documented by the state and the second directly attributable to GLI.

The DNR and the DEQ are working together to assess the full extent of the damages incurred by the June 2008 discharge of sediment and severe flow fluctuations in the Pigeon River. It is the intent of the state to hold GLI responsible by seeking a long-term solution designed to protect the health of the Pigeon River and its aquatic resources.

Today’s civil action is seeking relief requiring the GLI to eliminate illegal discharges of sediment-laden water from the GLI-owned dam to the Pigeon River; monetary damages for the value of the loss of public resources and recreational opportunities along with the costs associated with rehabilitating the Pigeon River to conditions that existed prior to the release of sediment; and removal of the dam owned by GLI. The DNR and the DEQ are also seeking reimbursement for all costs associated with this enforcement action and statutory fines and attorney’s fees.
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Everyone bitches when they see that the latest issue of the big name fly fishing magazine has their home waters’ name on the cover. They not only dread the crowds it may bring, but also what the crowds might take- fish, peace, and quiet.

A blessing in disguise.

The crowds may come, but the most overlooked thing that comes with the publicity- is the publicity. You’ve heard of the Au Sable River in northern Michigan, right?

Step into my time machine…

Back in the day, the guys who made it famous had ulterior motives. One, they loved the river, and wanted to protect it. Two, they wanted to protect what was north of it from the guys coming up from down state.

It’s not that it wasn’t always a great fishery, but the hoopla it got was somewhat synthetic. Not only did it work out for the people hiding what was north of it, if worked out for the Au Sable. The attention brought, and is still bringing, continuous habitat improvement. The attention brought, and is still bringing, a (big)voice to fight for it. The attention brought, and is still bringing, what many would call the best trout fishery east of the Mississippi!

The hoopla also worked because, for the most part, people coming up from downstate didn’t bother finding out what was to the north. Why head further up I-75 when the best river, and burger, in the state is in Grayling?

What’s north of Grayling? Four Gems, east to west: the Black River, the Pigeon River, the Sturgeon River, and the Jordan River. Which sparkles most, I couldn’t say. They’re all extraordinary in their own special ways.

Did I just say that? Why would I mention those streams on this site, exposing them to quazillions of fly fisherman? Especially after criticizing others for doing the same thing.

Since moving to New York from a small Michigan town on the 45th parallel, I’ve anxiously awaited returning to my old stomping grounds. Imagine my dismay when I finally made it back, and one of them was dead.

A discharge from a private dam on the Pigeon River near Vanderbilt was responsible for a potentially significant fish kill downstream, Department of Natural Resources fisheries officials said today.

The discharge, which began Sunday night, flushed sediment from above the dam that is located on the property of Song of the Morning Ranch near Sturgeon Valley Road in Otsego County. The fish were killed either by the sediment or thermal shock, said DNR fisheries biologist Dave Borgeson.

Fish of numerous species, including brown trout up to 19 inches, were found dead, Borgeson said. Electro-fishing by DNR personnel failed to produce enough live fish to make a population assessment in the water for about two miles downstream from the dam.

“We will be going farther downstream Thursday to see how far the fish kill extends,” Borgeson said. “During our initial sampling we are not finding the numbers of trout we knew were there prior to the incident. These populations fluctuate, but they are never this low.”

Borgeson added there’s a stretch of the river that is almost devoid of trout.

A major fish kill involving the same dam occurred in July 1984, when tons of silt swept down the river after the dam gates were opened for repairs.

Since that time, repeated requests by the DNR that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulate the dam have been denied by the federal agency.

Officials from the Department of Environmental Quality’s dam safety division also are investigating the incident.

More Monday…