# Late summer silver



## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Still getting a few fish, but the bite is hit or miss. A fresh one here and there, but some tinge has been the norm lately. Had a fresh, polished redd show up out of nowhere one day, but never saw the fish nor did it appear to finish the job. 

We had quite the dry spell for almost a month, after steady, weekly rains June-early July. The water got a little warmer, but nothing to affect anything much. I ran out of bags quick this summer! I had to resort to a bait I wasn't sure would work to well. It's worked good enough ...


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## herb09 (Jan 11, 2009)

Nice gonna have to head west.

Sent from my XT1080 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


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## cdoj (Mar 14, 2013)

Nice fish porn, your reports help me through the withdrawal!


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## slickdragger (Aug 5, 2014)

its been to long sice ive felt them headshakes


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## slickdragger (Aug 5, 2014)

ausable steelhead ive seen you a bunch of times at a certain run did u notice that run was always balled up with line all winter lost so many whole rigs in ther i pretty much just gave up on fishin it and i seen like ten guys down there with short rods using 10 ounce weights 30 pound line 5/0 trble hooksa few times on the weekends lined up down there burning fires i am sure the two are related


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

herb09 said:


> Nice gonna have to head west.
> 
> Sent from my XT1080 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Come on over Herb; ya know you're welcome anytime! The boat might run aground trying to go anywhere, but I could get you a skam or two...:lol:!




slickdragger said:


> ausable steelhead ive seen you a bunch of times at a certain run did u notice that run was always balled up with line all winter lost so many whole rigs in ther i pretty much just gave up on fishin it and i seen like ten guys down there with short rods using 10 ounce weights 30 pound line 5/0 trble hooksa few times on the weekends lined up down there burning fires i am sure the two are related


Not sure which run that would be; I get around. Many times people wander around that river, following tracks or just stumbling into holes. Unfortunately, the AS is unforgiving to that. People also seem scared to fight their fish, and go to heavy line thinking it will help them. Nothing worse than stiff, coily cable in winter; plus the ensuing line snags you speak of. Highwater keeps her clean, but sometimes, it takes a few flow events. Man I can't wait to hit that river again!


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

slickdragger said:


> ausable steelhead ive seen you a bunch of times at a certain run did u notice that run was always balled up with line all winter lost so many whole rigs in ther i pretty much just gave up on fishin it and i seen like ten guys down there with short rods using 10 ounce weights 30 pound line 5/0 trble hooksa few times on the weekends lined up down there burning fires i am sure the two are related


Not sure which run you are referencing, but I could make a decent guess. Years ago, when there were plenty of Kings running the Ausable in fall, I would "snag" big snagging lures called "Spiders" every year. Tons of snaggers lost tons of "lures" in that river, and I would snag on them when I was bottom bouncing for Steelhead. I haven't pulled one of those out of the A in a few years, and the hooks were mostly rusted away on that one. Anyone tossing a 10oz weight there is an idiot, and ditto for anyone using 30# line of any sort. 

When runs get ruined by line snags, I just avoid them til the snags blow out with high water. There are always other places to fish in that 10 miles of river. 

I think I might like the Ausable better without big runs of Kings. There are still Steelhead, although not in the numbers there used to be. But there are a lot less yahoos screwing the river up in search of big stanky rotten Kings than there used to be. Fair tradeoff in my book.


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## slickdragger (Aug 5, 2014)

i still catch a few snagging rigs every year but usaully up near the dam


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## Ralph Smith (Apr 1, 2003)

Nice job Jon, will have to try and get back into the river silver thing. Been so long. I want to every time I see your posts, and think of getting some waders again...(that fit):yikes::lol: Never did much winter stuff since I love ice fishing, and usually doing that. But loved the fall surf, and spring rivers. Miss the Rifle E.B., went there when the crowds got bad on the big A. keep them posts coming, enjoy the pics. And don't let no "Honker" "kill" your threads:lol: I think you have a fanclub.:help:



Fishndude said:


> Not sure which run you are referencing, but I could make a decent guess. Years ago, when there were plenty of Kings running the Ausable in fall, I would "snag" *big snagging lures called "Spiders"* every year. Tons of snaggers lost tons of "lures" in that river, and I would snag on them when I was bottom bouncing for Steelhead. I haven't pulled one of those out of the A in a few years, and the hooks were mostly rusted away on that one. Anyone tossing a 10oz weight there is an idiot, and ditto for anyone using 30# line of any sort.
> 
> When runs get ruined by line snags, I just avoid them til the snags blow out with high water. There are always other places to fish in that 10 miles of river.
> 
> I think I might like the Ausable better without big runs of Kings. There are still Steelhead, although not in the numbers there used to be. But there are a lot less yahoos screwing the river up in search of big stanky rotten Kings than there used to be. Fair tradeoff in my book.


We used to call those "Harrisville dry flies":lol: If you find a line infested run, get some heavy thin rope or 150lb. line and a big ole sinker and hook, and toss it out there. Then pull that stuff in and clean it up.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Ralph Smith said:


> Nice job Jon, will have to try and get back into the river silver thing. Been so long. I want to every time I see your posts, and think of getting some waders again...(that fit):yikes::lol: Never did much winter stuff since I love ice fishing, and usually doing that. But loved the fall surf, and spring rivers.
> 
> We used to call those "Harrisville dry flies":lol: If you find a line infested run, get some heavy thin rope or 150lb. line and a big ole sinker and hook, and toss it out there. Then pull that stuff in and clean it up.


I don't see a single picture of Jon in waders, there, Ralph. You can bank fish just a ton of places on the Ausable, although there are surely more options with waders, or a boat. 

I've pulled some line snags, logs, etc out of runs in the past. I used to take my boat down the A every summer, and go snorkeling. I mostly was checking out the bottom of some runs I was interested in, to see if they were fishable. I occassionally modified the run to be more fishable.  But that was a lot of work, and after a while I just figured there is always somewhere that isn't choked out by line snags to fish. So I haven't done that in quite a few years. 

I will say that the Salmon guys used to tear out the weeds that developed throught the summertime on the A. At the end of August most runs were full of weeds. By the 2nd week of October they were pretty much clean, which gave better drifts on the bottom. But there were line snags in every major hole, and run. Sometimes they completely ruined a hole, or run. 

I have come to think that the entire Ausable River, from Foote dam to the mouth, is great bobber water. I still love to feel the yank when I am bottom bouncing, but bobbers are just so deadly. And you don't get snagged 1/4 as much when fishing with floats than you do bottom bouncing. There are only a few holes that are too deep to be fished effectively with bobbers. I typically take 3 rods in my boat for a day of fishing there. 2 bottom bouncing rods, and a bobber rod. Last fall I pulled 7 fish out of a 25 yard run, that you couldn't bottom bounce at all. It took 75 minutes, but was a lot of fun. By the time I educated them all, I was kind of missing the yank a bit. :lol:


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## Ralph Smith (Apr 1, 2003)

I hear you, it's not bad wading this time of year. But the Ausable wasn't my favorite river Thanks for the info though, might have to do some surf fishing this fall, that's where I need the waders. S.B. and T.R.M.


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