# AS numbers.....



## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Wrong! I used to fish that pool year-round, when it was open to fishing, and Skamanias were planted. There were Steelhead in there every single day of the year; and when a heavy run of fish would hit the dam, there were hundreds of them. It was the best 175 feet of Steelhead fishing water in the entire World at times. The fish that go into that pool will usually sit there til they are either caught, or spawn and drop back. 
It was always cool to get there on a cold March day, and see a bunch of 12# Bluebacks hanging in the current somewhere in there. If they were running 3 turbines on the dam, so the current was cranking, and the fish were turbocharged with all the bubbles in the water, you just could fight fish all day long. There literally were a few days when I left at 5:00PM because I was too tired to fight anymore fish - and I wanted to be rested for the following day. October used to be the very best month of the year to fish that pool, too. Tons of BIG Salmon, and lots of Steelhead by mid-way through the month. 
It is a shame that they won't let anyone fish up there. It is a perfect place to fish, for fish that our license fees pay to plant; and IT ISN'T USED FOR ANYTHING ELSE. If the DNR would open that water up, take down the fences, stock a few trash barrels, and pay someone to swing by every day during peak seasons - and a couple times a week the rest of the year; that would be a great recreational spot. Much better than it is, now. The COs already enforce a law there - no fishing in the coffer. They could just enforce the no-snagging law instead; and then people who actually fish for biters would be able to use the resource, instead of it being wasted, like it is, currently.


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## Slodrift (Oct 28, 2006)

You cannot possibly believe they come in in Nov. and sit in there til spring, come on be serious. I'am on the river almost daily through the winter and constantly see them drop back. The best thing they ever did was close the spillway to fishing, you can preach all you want but you are wrong not me. In my opinion fishing the spillway is like hunting in a fenced encloser, my 2 year old grandson could catch fish out of there and if thats what you have to do to catch fish on the A.S then maybe instead of whinng about it you should find another river.


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## wyldkat49766 (Apr 21, 2007)

Fishndude said:


> Wrong! I used to fish that pool year-round, when it was open to fishing, and Skamanias were planted. There were Steelhead in there every single day of the year; and when a heavy run of fish would hit the dam, there were hundreds of them.


Explain the point of fishing then please? If one wants to fish in a 'pool', then dig a pond, stock it and fish. Seems like there is no challenge there. Reminds me more of those kids fishing games at the fair. Simply drop in a line and bam there is a fish on. Sorry I grew up and got past those fishing games. I prefer ones now that give me a challenge and the fish have a fair chance also.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Why don't they just prevent the fish from getting up there period then? Why let most of the river's meager return sit up there unused when we pay for them to be CAUGHT.....oh yeah, it's a "quality" spawning area, every zebra mussel covered inch of it.....


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## Slodrift (Oct 28, 2006)

:gaga::gaga::gaga::gaga::gaga::gaga::gaga::gaga::gaga Your right we should be able to catch every single fish that comes in every year, why leave a couple for next year? I just can't believe you guys are so naive that you think they go up there and stay up there the whole time.


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## wyldkat49766 (Apr 21, 2007)

ausable_steelhead said:


> Why don't they just prevent the fish from getting up there period then? Why let most of the river's meager return sit up there unused when we pay for them to be CAUGHT.....oh yeah, it's a "quality" spawning area, every zebra mussel covered inch of it.....


Because the river is where the fish LIVE. People can read and should know better. Fish go where the water is and as far up the rivers as they go because that is their NATURE. And you dont PAY for them to be caught. You PAY for the PRIVELEGE to cast your lines out in the water. Fishing is NOT a right for most people. If you want to PAY for fish, then go to a stocked fishing pond where you do have to PAY to catch those certain fish. The more you take out of that spillway, ILLEGALLY as it is now, then the less will return. 

Down in Grand Rapids they have the fish ladder and people cannot fish within so many feet of it to allow some of the fish to make it up the river further. It would be nice if they could do that at the Foote but not sure if thats a feasible option. 

But either way, the signs CLEARLY say that no fishing in that area and people should respect it. And if you fish in there, then you should get caught.


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## wyldkat49766 (Apr 21, 2007)

ausable_steelhead said:


> Why don't they just prevent the fish from getting up there period then? Why let most of the river's meager return sit up there unused when we pay for them to be CAUGHT.....oh yeah, it's a "quality" spawning area, every zebra mussel covered inch of it.....



BTW you seem VERY adamant about wanting to be able to fish there. From what I see from you showing off your pics, you seem to have no problem catching fish. So why the big push, as it seems to me, to want to be able to fish in that spillway?


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Actually, I'm adamant about the piss poor management of the Au Sable river by the DNR and Consumers energy, I could give a **** about the spillway. My point is, since this river gets such a meager return from an annual 150,000 smolt plant, they should keep them where people can fish them. You are obviously well blind or don't fish that river if you really think there is substantial(if any) natural reproduction up there. All the gravel is COVERED in zebra mussels up there, the river hits 80* every summer, thanks to Consumers running it at a trickle all summer. Just look at the river now, down below the dam, all the gravel is COVERED in mucky, slimy algae looking ****, never seen that before. And because I've posted reports before, which hasn't been lately, I'm a show off huh, yeah.....and our licenese sales HELP PAY FOR fish stocking, so why stock if you can't fish? I can catch fish almost as well as anyone on this river, I don't need to prove **** to ANYONE.....


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

That moss was always around, but so many people used to fish the river that they cleaned it out - along with a lot of weeds, throughout the summer, and especially in the Fall. By this time of year, the river bottom was perfect for drift fishing. 
Yes, the Ausable is basically a put and take fishery. There is a trib of a trib that gets a very tiny amount of natural reproduction - or used to; but the DNR has planted the Ausable heavily with Steelhead for a long time. And those plants used to get great returns - in the neighborhood of 13,0000 to 16,000 adult Steelhead would come back every year. Now I would be surprised if 1,000 Steelhead make it back, and most of them are small - 4# or less. So they swim as far upstream as they can get, and jump into that pool. And I have fished the river long enough to tell you with certainty that the coffer is full of Steelhead all winter long. They get darker, and leaner the longer they are in there. They find a quiet area with slower currents, and just lay in there. There used to be a LOT of them, and you could catch them all winter long. I cannot imagine why they wouldn't still do that. 

The whole river used to be good, but no longer. There is no reason to let those fish swim up into that pool, and not allow people who bought a license to fish for them. If they won't open that pool to fishing, they should put up grates to block the fish from being able to get into it. What a sad state that river has declined to, for fishermen. And if there were any decent number of fish in the river, I would still feel that it should be open - although I pretty much know the entire river, from the dam to the mouth. Heck, they could make people practice catch and release with all fish caught from that pool, if they wanted to. At least let people fight them.


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## Slodrift (Oct 28, 2006)

Everybody has they're own opinions.


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

It's a township ordnance, State has nothing to do w/ fishing there.

The twp passed no fishing there along time ago, Too Many Problems.
The police dept couldn't sit there and Babysit....... 
I remember well what it was like, NOT that I ever fished there. I'm a main flow Kinda guy- But I remember......


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## Slodrift (Oct 28, 2006)

How dare you contradict him!!!:lol::lol::lol::lol:


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

Just Throwing my two cent-
Twp. has the authority there, where the laws are concerned.


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## Kelly Neuman (Apr 12, 2007)

It was my understanding that the section right at the dam was closed to fishing because of what was happening up there and there was no other way to stop it. Yes some fished for steelhead there and followed fishing regs but that was not the norm. At times it was one of the most disgusting places in Michigan where snagging was common and many kept as many as they could catch. Myself I hope this section is never opened to fishing again. Yes steelhead numbers have been down in past years on the Au Sable and Im sure there are a number of reasons why. The Au Sable is very stocking dependent and for a number of years starting in late 90s and early 2000s the Au Sable was not stocked with 150,000 steelhead. The number was closer to 0. Those 150,000 were just cormorant food in the lower river. When you did the math on how many birds were in the river they were not even planting enough young steelhead to feed them all! The last two springs cormorant harassment was setup by DNR & Feds and only 5 or 6 people came to help. If the run is only 1,000 adult fish on Au Sable and anglers catch them all and eat them all how many are left to catch again?


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

Kelly great point. I fully agree on the cormoRAT situation, I remember some springs when they were still stocking at Rea rd, where there would be flocks upwards of 50 birds sitting in all the tall trees at the dam, just scooping up recently stocked smolts all day long. I am not for opening the spill really, just preventing the steelhead from even getting up there, atleast until our runs comeback, if they ever do.....


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## Ron Matthews (Aug 10, 2006)

Streamside Custom said:


> If the run is only 1,000 adult fish on Au Sable and anglers catch them all and eat them all how many are left to catch again?


Personally, I couldn't agree more.

These fish NEED all the help they can get, Please release small fish so they can & will come back as adults. Thats whats it all about:rant:

There a good yr.class of fish that have made it, and they'll keep growing if released. 

It's up to the people who fish it Most to set THE example of what a steelheader is, and it's NOT measured on a rope.......


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## stormwigeon (Oct 11, 2007)

back to the original question

i had a 17 fish day and my bud landed 14. as far as hooked, i assume at least 15-18 more? dont quite remember that fact. lot of plug fish, couple good rips. gone. i do know it was the last week of april and guessin 2001.
marathon day.dam to rea rd.


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## bigwak (May 28, 2005)

Streamside, you posted the following:

_The Au Sable is very stocking dependent and for a number of years starting in late 90&#8217;s and early 2000&#8217;s the Au Sable was not stocked with 150,000 steelhead. The number was closer to 0. Those 150,000 were just cormorant food in the lower river._ 

I find this intersting, once again, that you say that everything is a cormorant problem. Based on my 25 yrs of fishing experience on the AS, your timing seems off. I had some of my best years on the AuSable in 1999-2004. If we are typically catching 3yr olds (8-10 lbs), how can your assertion that the cormorants in the "late 90's and early 2000's" affected the returns be correct? If the late 90's and early 00's stocking survival was bad, how did I catch so many fish through 2004?

Now if you were to say that the cormorants were the problem starting in 2000, or even 2001, which coincides with my personal drastic reduction of catch in 2005, I might understand your opinion.

Do your catch rates in 2002-2004 coincide with the approximate 3yr lag? Mind didn't.


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## Kelly Neuman (Apr 12, 2007)

This thread started with all telling past stories of great steelhead fishing in the late 90s going into the 2000s. After 2004 the big stories seem to drop off and cormorant problem has been a huge factor. I figured I would have to type this and spell it out a little more clear for little wak. The problem of the cormorants eating the stock fish start in the late 90s and was completely out of control in the early 2000s. Steelhead that return to our rivers are mostly 3-5 years old. The 3 year olds are typically 4-7 lbs depending on their food base. The majority of the nice adult fish are 4 year olds and a few giants are 5 years old. The Au Sable below Foote Dam is very stocking dependent do to the warm water in the summer. There are some wild fish in the Au Sable but small numbers. A 5th grader should be able to figure out the rest but not little wak! Stocked fish start getting eaten in the late 90s and totally wiped out in the early 2000s and returning steelhead numbers drop off huge 4 years later. On top of that cormorant numbers in Lake Huron were over 20,000 birds in the summer eating one pound of baitfish per day. Now at least there is some summer control being done the last few years in the Great Lakes and the last two years there has been volunteers protecting our stocked fish when they enter the river. Now after two years of cormorant harassment during stocking anglers are see a increase in young steelhead. The destruction that these birds have done to the Great Lakes fishery is well documented and makes the news regularly now. Last year our governor sign the bill for more funding for control and that is from a state government with no money. As for your opinion little wak I could care less what you think or write. At least we have educated people in Michigan working on the problem.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

I think early 2000's is a fair estimate for cormoRAT destruction. I had my best season ever on the Au Sable river from fall 2004 into spring 2005, hooking 255 steelhead, all from the bank. Spring 05' was good fishing, and the first part of the fall as well. Once we hit 2006, things got drastically slower, to the point where it was hard to get any numbers going. I felt this past winter, especially December through mid-January, was pretty good steelheading, with easy limits EVERY trip. I believe the spring cormorant program is working, as there have been good numbers of 18-21in fish around the last two winters, indicating recent plants are surviving and they have been in great physical condition. I know I plan on coming over from the westside this coming spring to help out once the smolts are planted, as I feel like we're starting to get some good things going on the Au Sable. The most legit opinions and observations come from the guys who still put the time in on the Big Sandy, and Kelly is certainly one of them, being one of the few guides left on that river. There is no reason to fight and argue, all of us, as Au Sable river steelheaders, can work together to help breathe some life back into this great river:


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