Michigan Strip Trip

          I recently got back from spending a couple days up in Grayling, Michigan.  Grayling sits right on the Au Sable River, which is my favorite place in the whole world.  It's streamer time up there... rising water temps, stained flow and elevated water levels bring some of the biggest, baddest, browns in the midwest out to feed.  Combine this with some overcast days and you have the recipe for some awesome streamer fishing.

          We primarily fish very fast 7 and 8 weight rods with aggressive stink tips to get big flies in the zone.  Over the course of a few days I did it all: floated by myself, floated with a buddy, and did a solo wade for the last halfway.  Got to see bunches of water and even a couple fish. It's always a fun trip to Michigan and I always come back with more insight and knowledge on how these predators behave. Four fish over 21" found their way into the net and one eluded us, that was much, much bigger, that left an imprint in my minds eye of it's head shake that threw the hook. 

          However it is still a ton of work. Perhaps a more "accurate" blog post for this trip would have been a thousand pictures of us casting, my line stripping finger bleeding, the five gallons of coffee I drank, the frozen guides that occurred after every ten casts in the morning, and one picture of a fish... but hey, what's the fun in that?

Holy Waters 21"

Literally five minutes into the float...

Tight Lines,

Alex Helmicki

Delamere & Hopkins
Hyde Park Square
2708 Erie Avenue
Cincinnati, OH  45208
513-871-FISH

Mon-Thurs  10-8
Fri-Sat  10-6
Sun  11-5