Chris Izworski, reporting from Michigan on the current state of the Au Train River this Thursday morning in late June. The gauge at 04043016 reads 17 cubic feet per second, gauge height 67.8 feet. This is low water, summer low water, the kind of flow that makes you choose your approach points carefully and fish with slow deliberation. The air is cool for late June: partly sunny skies today, temperatures reaching 60 degrees with light winds, falling to 45 tonight. Friday promises mostly sunny conditions and 64 degrees. The forest is quiet and green, the river barely audible in the deeper runs.
The Window This Week
The Au Train runs through the Hiawatha National Forest in country that does not announce itself. You will not find crowds here. The river is intimate, mostly tight corridor water with occasional pools where the current slows and deepens. At 17 cubic feet per second, the water is gin clear and the fish are spooky. You must approach from downstream or stay well back from the bank. The fish are looking up. They have been looking up for two weeks now, and they will continue to look up through July if the weather holds. Sulphurs have largely finished their run, but there are still occasional spinners in the evening. Brown drakes are done. What remains now is the anticipation of Hexagenia, the great nocturnal hatch that transforms this quiet river into something urgent and alive after dark.
The Hex hatch on the Au Train typically begins in the final week of June and runs into the second week of July. We are at the threshold. Reports from similar water in the central Upper Peninsula suggest the first strong emergences have begun. On the Au Train, watch the bankside vegetation at dusk. When you see the first big mayflies crawling up grass stems and tag alders, you will know. The hatch proper begins well after dark, often around eleven o’clock, and it is brief. You will have perhaps ninety minutes of good fishing if the emergence is strong.
What Is Hatching
During daylight hours, expect Isonychia in the faster pockets and riffles. These are big mayflies, size 10 and 12, slate gray with distinct white undersides. They emerge sporadically through the afternoon. Fish a Slate Drake dry or an Iso Comparadun size 12 in the broken water above and below the deeper pools. The takes are confident when they come. Small caddis are present most afternoons, size 16 and 18, tan and olive. An Elk Hair Caddis size 16 will cover these opportunities without calling attention to itself.
The real event is the Hex. If you plan to fish the night hatch, arrive before sunset and walk the water in full daylight. Mark your entry and exit points. Note the structure: logs, bends, depth changes. You will be fishing in near total darkness, and the forest at night is disorienting even to those who know it well. Use a headlamp with a red filter to preserve your night vision and to avoid spooking fish. Tie on a Hex dry before dark: a foam pattern size 6 or 8, or a traditional hair wing version tied with pale yellow dubbing. You will be fishing by feel and sound, listening for rises, casting toward the splash.
Where to Go
The Au Train is largely national forest water, accessible but not heavily marked. Forest Road 2276 parallels the river for several miles upstream of where it crosses M-94. There are informal pull-offs and footpaths down to the water. Do not expect developed access. Expect mosquitoes, thick understory, and the need to move carefully. The best fishing is in the mile or two above the M-94 crossing, where the river holds deeper pools and the canopy opens enough to allow backcasts. Below M-94, the river flattens and warms, less trout water than pike and panfish habitat.
If you fish the Hex hatch, fish alone or with one trusted partner. The river is too narrow for more. Wade quietly. The fish are large, genuinely large for this water, and they are not accustomed to heavy pressure. A good fish here is sixteen inches. An exceptional fish is twenty.
The Practical Read
Low water means caution. It means longer leaders, finer tippet, slower movement. It means fishing the margins rather than the main current. At 17 cubic feet per second, the Au Train reveals its structure plainly: every rock, every log, every shallow riffle. The fish know this too. They hold tight to cover and they do not forgive sloppy casts. Use 5X tippet for Isonychia, 4X for Hex. Fish upstream whenever possible. If you must fish across current, mend immediately and often.
The forecast through Friday is stable. Partly sunny, cool, light winds. These are good conditions for evening and night fishing. The cool air will keep the mosquitoes somewhat in check, though you should still expect them in numbers after sunset. Bring repellent and long sleeves. Bring a thermos of coffee if you plan to stay through the hatch. The night will be long and cold and worth every minute of it.
Live conditions, real time data, and access to the full network of Michigan trout water are available at michigantroutreport.com. The resource updates daily and covers rivers across the state.