# Where are the fish?



## GreatlakesCowboy (Feb 16, 2019)

I've put more miles on my boots than any other years in the past and to no avail. The search for the somewhat common large winter fish has yielded nothing for me on the ausable this year, have others been seeing the same results? I normally come across a few skips this time of year and haven't even been noticing them. The last fresh push of fish that I was witness to was in late december.

Thought I'd poke the bear a little bit to see if he would come out of his den, are other anglers coming across the same phenomenon?

Looks like we might have to write a new Michigan Chillers book, "The plight of the Ausable Chromer."

Who knows, maybe the advent of some coho will change the fishery furthermore. 

Let me know what your guys' thought are.


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## Hollowaychamps (Nov 21, 2012)

Same experience on my end. Steady decline of Steelhead on Au Sable starting 2018 & now seems like they have completely disappeared? Just a coincidence that it seemed to coincidence with the arrival of Atlantic? What do you think?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## GreatlakesCowboy (Feb 16, 2019)

Hollowaychamps said:


> Same experience on my end. Steady decline of Steelhead on Au Sable starting 2018 & now seems like they have completely disappeared? Just a coincidence that it seemed to coincidence with the arrival of Atlantic? What do you think?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G960U using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


All in all, I think the Atlantics replaced a small majority of the fishery that once existed with the Kings. With the plant they just did this year on cohos it may restore a part of the fishery that once existed. I attribute a lot of the decline to better suited fish. The lakers and walleyes have made a large comeback in the recent years. The ausable river itself seems hard to sustain a steelhead smolt, the water temperatures just seem to lack what they need to be. And with all the hungry mouths waiting for the conveyor belt to show in the spring it just makes sense. Another big fish producer that drives so much of the west side tribs is the salmon run, all of that protein floating down the river creates a massive food web. The ausable just doesn't have the food source for large winter over fish like it used too. 

I'm not a creel reporter or a fish scientist, just a fish nut. But it seems odd that it would decline without the advent of another species or change in the watershed for this to occur. 

Have we seen a drastic increase in river walleyes over the years? I guess I don't know.

It's a bitter relationship with the east side, we don't want it to have the same attention that the west side does, yet at the same time we would like some recognition with our local fisheries as well.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

20 years ago Walleye were a pretty rare catch in the Ausable. Kind of like how Kings, and Steelhead are pretty rare, these days. 40 years ago we had some pretty good runs of Browns, but they've been gone a long time.


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

Its statewide. The DNR has a puzzler on their hands right now.


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## flatfish (Jan 4, 2014)

had place in greenbush for 20yrs. up last Oct, never seen a salmon caught.... Last time up for steel dead. Will try this spring last. Maybe best west next yr......


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

GreatlakesCowboy said:


> All in all, I think the Atlantics replaced a small majority of the fishery that once existed with the Kings. With the plant they just did this year on cohos it may restore a part of the fishery that once existed. I attribute a lot of the decline to better suited fish. The lakers and walleyes have made a large comeback in the recent years. The ausable river itself seems hard to sustain a steelhead smolt, the water temperatures just seem to lack what they need to be. And with all the hungry mouths waiting for the conveyor belt to show in the spring it just makes sense. Another big fish producer that drives so much of the west side tribs is the salmon run, all of that protein floating down the river creates a massive food web. The ausable just doesn't have the food source for large winter over fish like it used too.
> 
> I'm not a creel reporter or a fish scientist, just a fish nut. But it seems odd that it would decline without the advent of another species or change in the watershed for this to occur.
> 
> ...


The Au Sable suffers from predation. The DNR just dumps them like they always have, still using the alewife buffer timeframe, despite that not being available like it once was. The only wild smolts come from the crick, as the mainstem is too warm during summer. I do feel a few may survive in the spill. For whatever reason, Atlantic smolts survive like crazy.

Atlantic’s have changed fall and gave us an egg bite in the gravel dips again. I didn’t keep any steelhead this fall(or last), but my buddies did. Every steelhead was full of Atlantic eggs. I am all for Atlantic salmon on this river. They are a complete success, and I truly enjoy them. I’m very good at getting them to bite. They’re still in the river as we speak.

Walleye have always been around in good numbers. Saginaw bays population explosion has affected the AS. There are possibly more around now, but the thing I’ve noticed is worms. I never saw tape worms in walleyes from the Au Sable river until probably the last 3-4 years.


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## Brougham (Jan 29, 2010)

Sounds like we need to play the hand we're dealt and adapt to fishing Atlantic's, while continuing to look for the Steelhead Solution. Are the Atlantic techniques, holding areas, and equipment much different than Steelhead?


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I went 6-8 yesterday on Steelhead, and caught all of the fish in a super-secret new spot - literally somewhere I've never fished for them in 45 years. The boat launch at the mouth of the Ausable has 1 dock that is sort-of in, and someone was nice enough to plow an opening so ppl can launch. I saw one other boat (launched @ Whirlpool) and a handful of bank Anglers, and a couple people just enjoying a walk along the river. I did see a nice-size Atlantic go scooting when I was driving slow over a hole. Other than that one spot, I never had a bite.


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## GreatlakesCowboy (Feb 16, 2019)

Efforts over the weekend yielded no fish for me... yet again. I noticed quite a few bank anglers on the typical stretches below the damn. A couple of boats decided they didn't want to follow the no wake rule as I got my hole blasted through. I guess a lot of guys figure if they're not catching fish, no one is. Hopefully the DNR starts taking the ripping jet sled complaints seriously, never thought I would have to stand on my tip toes in February to not get swamped. Adaptation is the name of the game currently, hopefully some more fish move into the system with this warmer weather and snow melt.


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## GreatlakesCowboy (Feb 16, 2019)

ausable_steelhead said:


> The Au Sable suffers from predation. The DNR just dumps them like they always have, still using the alewife buffer timeframe, despite that not being available like it once was. The only wild smolts come from the crick, as the mainstem is too warm during summer. I do feel a few may survive in the spill. For whatever reason, Atlantic smolts survive like crazy.
> 
> Atlantic’s have changed fall and gave us an egg bite in the gravel dips again. I didn’t keep any steelhead this fall(or last), but my buddies did. Every steelhead was full of Atlantic eggs. I am all for Atlantic salmon on this river. They are a complete success, and I truly enjoy them. I’m very good at getting them to bite. They’re still in the river as we speak.
> 
> Walleye have always been around in good numbers. Saginaw bays population explosion has affected the AS. There are possibly more around now, but the thing I’ve noticed is worms. I never saw tape worms in walleyes from the Au Sable river until probably the last 3-4 years.


I figure that the influx of tape worms is just from the occurrence of a higher population of fish. Walleyes always have and will be a major predator in the food chain, along with their cold water brethren the laker. With the influx of atlantics and the productivity that they're having, you would think the dnr would start improvising and incorporating more of them to deal with the lack of steelhead. As fishndude said, the browns that once used to thrive in the river system were from a decade similar to the one that we are currently in. With browns and atlantics being directly related it makes perfect sense for them to be thriving. I have no quams with the atlantic, they're a hardy, hell bent fish when they enter the system and I'll take them over a zombie king in december any day. The steelhead craze has become quite apparent almost everywhere and with the rise of sales on fishing licenses, this is only the beginning. 

Hopefully the West sides troubles catch wind and blow East.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

I can't think of anywhere I'd wade fish the Ausable, where I'd have to stand on tiptoes not to get swamped by a passing boat. I'd probably back up a couple steps in that spot. Waders are only for when you need to get in the water. 

I fish lake Erie for Walleyes most of the time, and there are a lot that have tapeworms. Not sure why they are in Walleyes, but they don't hurt the filets at all. Just gross when you're cleaning fish, and don't let your dog lick em up. 

I went 1/2 yesterday, and missed some bites. I lost the biggest Steelhead I've had on in a couple/few years. Big double-stripe male that jumped several times.


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

Fishndude said:


> I can't think of anywhere I'd wade fish the Ausable, where I'd have to stand on tiptoes not to get swamped by a passing boat. I'd probably back up a couple steps in that spot. Waders are only for when you need to get in the water.
> 
> I fish lake Erie for Walleyes most of the time, and there are a lot that have tapeworms. Not sure why they are in Walleyes, but they don't hurt the filets at all. Just gross when you're cleaning fish, and don't let your dog lick em up.
> 
> I went 1/2 yesterday, and missed some bites. I lost the biggest Steelhead I've had on in a couple/few years. Big double-stripe male that jumped several times.


Hi Fishndude. Were most of the fish of the larger varieties or where they a mix of sizes? 
Hopefully its just the start of some decent spring runs. I know several smaller tribs had some good spring runs last year. Maybe the Ausable will follow suit.


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## Ausable_Drifter (May 20, 2014)

I put the ice fishing stuff away this weekend and gave it a shot. Tough fishing for me and we usually manage a few. Had to rethink where I was and fish certain areas differently to get on them. Also gambled to avoid some boat traffic and the gamble was a bad one. Oh well, that's fishing! Will start hitting it hard from now on, felt good to be back on the water.


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## GreatlakesCowboy (Feb 16, 2019)

Fished again this morning from daylight till noon, sometimes you have to risk the chance of being swamped to get after the fish. I'll take fishndude's advice from now on forward, hard to do that thought when theres a couple more holes downstream. I tried to beat the midday wind forecast but ended up still getting hammered. Ended up going 3/5 on a very chilly morning. The hike pays off, 3.5 miles in and out. Can't beat standing on the shoreline that doesn't have a path to it... only to watch a jet boat go racing by wondering how in the world you got there.

Dreaming of warmer days and airborne chrome.


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## SJC (Sep 3, 2002)

ausable_steelhead said:


> The Au Sable suffers from predation. The DNR just dumps them like they always have, still using the alewife buffer timeframe, despite that not being available like it once was. The only wild smolts come from the crick, as the mainstem is too warm during summer. I do feel a few may survive in the spill. For whatever reason, Atlantic smolts survive like crazy.
> 
> Atlantic’s have changed fall and gave us an egg bite in the gravel dips again. I didn’t keep any steelhead this fall(or last), but my buddies did. Every steelhead was full of Atlantic eggs. I am all for Atlantic salmon on this river. They are a complete success, and I truly enjoy them. I’m very good at getting them to bite. They’re still in the river as we speak.
> 
> Walleye have always been around in good numbers. Saginaw bays population explosion has affected the AS. There are possibly more around now, but the thing I’ve noticed is worms. I never saw tape worms in walleyes from the Au Sable river until probably the last 3-4 years.


I agree that the Atlantics are a success, but I'm not that sure the Atlantic plants are surviving any better than the steelhead on the Au Sable. They are just available longer. At full steelhead spawn time there are still quite a few steelhead in the river, albeit way less than there should be for a 150,000 plant. Seems that these days, most of the steelhead that do return, only show up to spawn and leave right after. The fall and winter runs are almost nonexistent now. It's almost like these fish don't want to be in the river. The Atlantics are around much longer, and even though they are providing more opportunity for the number of fish planted than steelhead, I'm not convinced that the survival percentage is much higher. I know at times, there's pretty decent numbers of atlantics around, but still not like there should be for the size of the plant. I think the numbers of both would greatly benefit if we could figure a way to get past the predator thing.

I admit that I'm not around much during the Atlantic spawn and I get most of my fish number info from this time period second hand. Most of the atlantics I've caught in the Au sable have been post spawn or spring chromers. I've only kept chrome non spawners and the ones I have turned in heads for have mostly came from other plants than the Au Sable. These fish were taken in the lower river and were almost surely there just to feed. My question is: If the atlantics are indeed surviving better than the steelhead, why? Are they staying in the river longer than the steelhead? I'm not on the Au Sable in the late spring-early summer. Have you noticed any of these little atlantics around then? I know we have a few caught small 10-12" colored hatchery atlantics in the winter while steelhead fishing and I have wondered if those fish never left the river. I know when they did the cull plant on the drain, those fish were still around in July. They just hung out eating bugs and avoiding the feeding frenzy at the river mouth. Do years with cool late springs and early summers corelate to better atlantic runs? I know the runs have been pretty variable. Why?


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## nighttime (Nov 25, 2007)

Walleye eat the larva that turns into the worms you find. They use the walleye basically hatch and I think also reproduce. Despite low water levels most of fall/ early winter locally we had excellent fall fishing for steelhead. Also happened on west side in lower basin on the joe from what I understand.


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## SJC (Sep 3, 2002)

Fishndude said:


> I can't think of anywhere I'd wade fish the Ausable, where I'd have to stand on tiptoes not to get swamped by a passing boat. I'd probably back up a couple steps in that spot. Waders are only for when you need to get in the water.
> 
> I fish lake Erie for Walleyes most of the time, and there are a lot that have tapeworms. Not sure why they are in Walleyes, but they don't hurt the filets at all. Just gross when you're cleaning fish, and don't let your dog lick em up.
> 
> I went 1/2 yesterday, and missed some bites. I lost the biggest Steelhead I've had on in a couple/few years. Big double-stripe male that jumped several times.


My jet make almost no wake if I'm on plane. It makes a huge wake laboring along at a snails pace up river. I wish it was just no wake without the slow part. Obviously some stretches it would not be responsible to run on plane, but the lower river especially, c'mon.

A few Marches ago, we got on the river after a stretch of crappy weather and conditions. We had a great day and landed around 20 fish between three of us. A mix of chrome and dark fish and a few really nice ones. I thought, oh, boy old times again. So, we play hooky and go back a couple days later and hook less than half of what we did the first trip and some of the ones we landed looked awful familiar and had hook marks. Also had a lot of short bites. We were working over the same bunch of fish, in the same holes with the same tactics. Almost every time I go up there, unless it's full spring run, I do better the first day then I do the next.


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## SJC (Sep 3, 2002)

andyotto said:


> Hi Fishndude. Were most of the fish of the larger varieties or where they a mix of sizes?
> Hopefully its just the start of some decent spring runs. I know several smaller tribs had some good spring runs last year. Maybe the Ausable will follow suit.


I can tell you for sure Andy that those tribs are receiving smaller runs now than they have in at least 40 years. Yes, they are still maintaining some decent runs, but they have been declining for some time now as well.


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## andyotto (Sep 11, 2003)

SJC said:


> I can tell you for sure Andy that those tribs are receiving smaller runs now than they have in at least 40 years. Yes, they are still maintaining some decent runs, but they have been declining for some time now as well.


Yes for sure. Like you said it seems like it is a very condensed or concentrated run anymore.


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