Chris Izworski, reporting from Michigan on the current state of the AuSable mainstem this Wednesday morning in mid-May.
The AuSable at the Wakeley Bridge gauge is running 540 cubic feet per second today, which sits slightly above median for mid-May. The river has settled out of the high water that dominated the last two weeks of April and the first week of May. Wading is reasonable through the Holy Waters. The gravel is bright. The cedar shadows are dark. The river looks the way the AuSable is supposed to look in mid-May, and a working angler should plan accordingly.
Water temperatures at Burton’s Landing read 51 degrees this morning, which is the threshold where AuSable fish start to commit to surface feeding through the longer mid-day windows rather than only in the evening. That number will climb into the mid fifties by afternoon. The combination of stable flows, climbing temperatures, and lengthening daylight is what makes the second week of May on the AuSable one of the best ten-day windows of the year.
The Three-Day Forecast
The weather supports fishing through Friday. Today brings light winds and a high near sixty-eight under partly cloudy skies, which is essentially the ideal AuSable hatch weather. Tomorrow looks similar. Friday turns warmer into the low seventies with a chance of evening thunderstorms. Saturday brings a stronger frontal system through Crawford County.
If you are driving north from the lower part of the state, today and tomorrow are the days. The evening sulphur emergence under these conditions on the Holy Waters is the reason fly anglers have been making this drive for a hundred years.
What Is Emerging
The Hendrickson hatch is largely finished on the AuSable mainstem. There are still a few stragglers in the riffles above Burton’s Landing, but the main event has moved upriver into the smaller tributaries where the water is colder. If you see Hendrickson activity, a size 12 dry will work, but do not plan your day around it.
The sulphurs are now the main event. The emergence runs from roughly six-thirty in the evening to deep dusk, with the heaviest activity between seven-thirty and nine. The AuSable sulphur is generally a size 14 in the early part of the hatch and tapers to a size 16 toward the end. A Sulphur Comparadun, a Parachute Sulphur, or a Sparkle Dun all work. When the fish go selective in the heart of the emergence, a film emerger fished dead drift on a long 6X tippet will outfish the standard dry by a meaningful margin.
Caddis work the river all day. Tan caddis in the afternoon, grannom caddis in the morning. A size 14 Elk Hair Caddis skated through the riffle heads will move fish from holding water. Soft hackle wet flies swung through the same riffles take fish that ignore the dry. Both methods belong in the rotation.
The brown drakes are still ten days to two weeks out on the mainstem. The Hex is a month away. Plan for sulphurs and caddis through the next week.
Where to Go
The Holy Waters from Burton’s Landing downstream to Wakeley Bridge are the obvious choice. The classic runs at Stephan Bridge, Whirlpool, and the long flats above Wakeley are all fishing well. Wild browns from eight to fifteen inches are typical. Larger fish are present, especially in the bend pools that hold the deeper water, but they require patience and a low profile. The Holy Waters fish quieter than people who have not been there expect, even with the early-season foot traffic.
The South Branch above Smith Bridge fishes well in this water level for an angler willing to wade carefully. The water there is more intimate, the casts shorter, and the fish often less pressured than on the more famous mainstem stretches.
The Practical Read
This is the week the AuSable opens up. If you have ever wanted to fish the Holy Waters in good conditions with a sulphur emergence in the evening, today through tomorrow is the window. Pack a rain jacket for Friday evening and plan to be on the water at six. Stay through dark. The river rewards an angler who is willing to fish the last hour.
For live AuSable conditions, hatch tracking, and the broader Michigan trout network, see the Michigan Trout Report. Daily reports continue tomorrow.