Reality – reflection while on vacation in Michigan

Being at peace with oneself is one of the greatest tools one can learn. In my middle age years, I think about all I have accomplished, my failures, and all the splendor life has given me.  Then from time to time I wonder what if, but I don’t think long on those thoughts because those moments were not my reality.

Reality is defined in the dictionary as “the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.” Our own decisions, good, bad, and the ugly define who we are as a person. 

Our Michigan trip was planned out almost a year ago. No matter what cards we were going to be dealt we would play them out.  I learned a long time ago that control is an illusion. 

When we planned this trip out, we knew that there would be several variables that would change our fishing excursions. 

Our first actual fishing day was Monday. We fished Wakely Lake, and it was a lovely artificial lure only lake. This lake is about a mile to mile and half walk in. You can bring in hand powered watercrafts to this lake.

This lake is also a loon preserve and has a lot of lilly pads like a million of them lol. You need to work the weed edges and the open pockets of water. The bluegills are 4” to 8” and there are lots of them. There are also crafty largemouth bass that are harder to hook up with, but they are there. 

If you can find where the weeds are down from the surface 4 feet – 6 feet you will have the opportunity of hooking a pike. 

A word of warning if you are in a belly boat and the winds are strong enough you will be in a rude awakening. Most of the lake is surrounded by a bog / swamp. This will make getting out of the pond a major undertaking unless you get out of your put-in. 

Our second day of fishing would be fishing in the North Branch of the Au Sable. Here I would find myself going down two track roads that rarely see traffic and the heavy cedars would be a welcoming site. The Canadian wildfires smoke has been belligerent.

The Michigan State Park system continues to do a wonderful job at maintaining access for anglers. I am sure they are not perfect, but when I needed to use their facilities, they were top notch.

The winds were blowing a bit. The sustained breezes were about 9 to 15 mph. At times it made casting a 4-weight difficult. We managed to walk about a mile and a half. This upper remote section of the North Branch (NB) is as pristine as it gets. 

We used a parachute adams walking up the NB and swung soft hackles / wet flies on the walk down. We saw a few fish rise and for me that was worth the trip to NB. To be on the NB and see all the habitat work that has been done was very humbling to witness.

The second part of the second day of fishing we would trek to the main stem of the Au Sable.  We arrived at the river edge at 2000 and waded down stream into position. We watched sporadic hatches of Hexs and Grey Drakes. 

We watched the boat’s launch, and I sipped my coffee. I would watch a few browns crush the mayflies that would be on the surface of the river. The Hexs where huge and the Grey Drakes where about ½ to almost ¾ of the size of a Hex. 

I remained bullheaded and waited for full darkness at 2200 to begin swinging my mouse in the hopes of a fish would connect. 

We had in front of us a brown with some serious shoulders. The brown trout would take a dry with such angst.  My friend would have the angry trout hooked three times, but the hook would never be bitten. The body of the hex fly was in its mouth but not the hook.

We fished until 2300 and although I never hooked a fish it was amazing to hear the browns smashing mayflies.

Day three is here and I have hit the chill button.  I have chosen to write up my trip report to date. I ate brunch just a bit ago and we are going to Gates Fly shop here in a bit.  

We will be headed back to the main stem on the Au Sable to see if we can hook up with a willing trout. 

Day four came and went. We relaxed around the house until the evening Hex hatch. The weather yesterday was not like today. Let’s talk about weather just for a minute. The wet weather has affected our fishing plans. The hatches have been sporadic at best. The Grey Drake hatch and the Hex hatch have been coming off at 2100 and 2200.

We arrived at the Au Sable and were greeted by the hoards of mosquitos and got dressed quickly. We bug doped up with some good stuff that does not harm your clothes and or waders.

We got into position along her banks. The river here has a bend in it here. This bend will funnel the hatch to our side of the river and thus where the trout will come to feed. We saw 50 percent more fish feeding this night than the other night.

Then at about 2300 I saw what I thought was honest to God these circles vibrating on the water. At first, I thought it was rain drops and then I realized “Einstein, that’s not rain”. It was the Hex hatch. Now, from all the sounds of carnage I was hearing there was a brown trout rising every three-square foot approximately of river.

I was in awe and dumbfounded by all the noise and feeding with reckless abandonment. I could get a fish to commit to my fly. This is where I would attempt to tie on a mouse pattern. 

I would have a rude awakening here in about 40 seconds! I flipped on my red headlamp and then cut my Hex dry off then selected the mouse pattern.  It was about to hit me so that I would not be able to see the eyelet to tie the fly onto the mono.  I was needless to say defeated and needless to say old. 

I do not own any magnifiers, but that will be changing. It was both the red light and my inability to see the eyelet that led me to leaving the river. I can’t lie, this was the first time in a long time I felt my age.  

We built a fire in the fire pit and talked about our past days fishing and about life in general. It was nice to just talk about life. 

I stayed up until about 0415 taking star photos and I will attach some of them. 

 

So, here comes Day 5 and it is going to be lack luster as far as fishing is concerned. The weather went from rain, hail, thunder, and lightning. This would put a stop to any fishing plans today. 

We slept, ate, and slept again. I am not bored by any means, but I am sure rested.  I decided to take a road trip into the Huron National Forest. I took photos of some of the scenic views in the forest.

Day 6 is right around the corner and here she is in all her potential splendor. Well needless to say the motivation is lower due to all our previous experiences since being on this trip. 

 

I was going to go see the Big Mac bridge and she’s being eaten by fog and smoke. So, taking any photos of her is out of the question. The other photo opportunity is tonight taking more star trail photos. 

I will go and look at the locations of the Dark Zones I found via Dark Sky Finder

Around the Grayling region it’s not hard to find areas to take good night photos. What is a challenge is the phases of the moon. She is a big old flashlight! Here is a link to help with when the moon will be in a certain phase Moon Phase Calendar