Chris Izworski, reporting from Michigan on the current state of the Black River this Saturday morning in mid-July. The gauge at 04031000 reads 21 cubic feet per second, gauge height 1.9 feet. These are low flows, even for summer, and the clarity is exceptional. The Black near Bessemer runs clear over bedrock and gravel, a waterfall-broken system that holds wild brook trout and resident rainbows in the pockets and runs between the cascades. Smoke from fires to the west has settled over the basin. Visibility is reduced but fishable. Temperatures today are expected to reach 76 degrees, wind light, with areas of smoke persisting through Sunday when the forecast calls for 84. The air smells faintly of char and the light is diffuse, the way it gets when haze filters the canopy.
The Window This Week
At 21 cfs the Black is wadeable almost anywhere you care to step, but the fish are concentrated. Look to the deeper slots below the major falls, the plunge pools at Conglomerate and Potawatomi, and the slower runs where the river braids around midstream boulders. The Hexagenia hatch is finished. What remains now is the terrestrial game and the Trico spinner falls, though Tricos on the Black are sporadic and localized, not the blanket events you find on spring creeks farther south. Mornings have been cool enough to hold fish on the surface until ten or eleven, after which they drop to the bottom and hold in the shade. Evening activity resumes around seven, sometimes earlier if cloud cover thickens. The smoke may suppress the evening rise slightly, as it tends to compress temperature swings and mute the cues that trigger feeding.
What Is Hatching
Tricos are the only mayfly of consequence right now, and they are showing in the slower tailouts below Rainbow Falls and in the flat above the Copper Peak access. Spinners fall between 8:00 and 9:30 in the morning, clouds of them over the film, and the trout will sip steadily if you can manage a size 22 or 24 parachute pattern with a fine tippet. Bring 6X. The fish are not large but they are selective. Terrestrials are the main story. Black ants in size 16 and 18 work all day, fished tight to the banks where tag alders overhang the current. Foam beetles in size 14, same story. Hoppers have not fully matured yet, but a size 12 Parachute Hopper or Dave’s Hopper will draw strikes in the riffles, especially in the afternoon when the sun breaks through the haze. Fish them with confidence. The Black’s brook trout are opportunistic and a hopper dapped into a pocket behind a boulder will often provoke an immediate take.
Where to Go
The section between the Copper Peak Road bridge and Rainbow Falls is accessible and productive. Park at the Copper Peak trailhead and walk downstream. The gradient is steep in places but the pools are worth the scramble. Conglomerate Falls and Potawatomi Falls both have plunge pools that hold fish through the summer, though you will need to fish early before the sun climbs high enough to spook them in the clear water. The access at Black River Harbor offers another option, though the lower river runs warmer and the fish are less eager in the heat. If you fish below the harbor, do it in the morning or wait until evening. North Country Road provides access to the upper river near Ramsay, where the brook trout are smaller but more numerous. Fish the pockets with a short line and a high-floating dry. You do not need long casts here. Stealth and presentation matter more than distance.
The Practical Read
Low flows and smoke do not ruin the fishing. They change it. The fish are visible in the clear water, which means you must approach from downstream and keep your profile low. Use longer leaders, finer tippets, and smaller flies than you think you need. A size 18 ant will outfish a size 14 most days right now. The smoke diffuses the light, which can make the trout less spooky in open water but also makes it harder to see your fly on the surface. A parachute post in white or orange helps. The Black is not a river you fish all day in July. You fish the morning spinner fall, rest through the heat, and return for the evening session. The brook trout here are wild, small-stream fish, six to ten inches mostly, with a few larger rainbows mixed in the deeper runs. They are not easy, but they are willing if you read the water correctly and do not rush the approach. Bring water, sunscreen, and a high-vis dry fly box. The smoke will clear eventually, but the summer clarity and the low flows will hold for weeks yet.
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