June 10, 2014
By Harry
Blessing
When we arrived, new owner Josh Greenburg
said, "you may very well make the catch of a lifetime". We
thought this was just shop talk.
This 20 inch AuSable Trophy
Brown came over to say hello just before we stopped at
McMaster's Bridge for an evening sandwich. Guide Josh Nethers told me to pull
the Dust Bunny fly under when it started to drag and let it swing. The floatant
kept popping it up to the surface where it hit.
This was my third day of float
trips. I was in the front seat of a wide, comfortable DRIFT
Boat, rowed by a fine guide. The first two days were also
with fine guides but they each used a pole to control their
beautiful, 22 foot long, narrow, shallow draft AuSable Riverboats.
Another big fish wanted to say hello
later at the Junction with the North Branch but it jumped and landed on and
broke the 5X tippet before we could be formerly introduced.
At twilight, we started seeing many
brown drakes high above the river but none on the water and no trout rising.
The mosquitos were getting terrible
when I remembered my mosquito head net. I put it on and it worked
like magic. My buzz off shirt, pants, and buff head/neck
scarf were also working. I sprayed the back of my gloves but they
were still getting my fingers.
45 minutes from the takeout we
came to a long swampy stretch where 3 big fish were rising. Now there
were Sulphurs and Brown Drakes everywhere in the air and on the water.
We anchored across from the first
fish. Josh said "take that head net off and get your A-game
on". Not wishing to die the death of a thousand stings, I
obstinately, kept my head net on.
Josh cut my tippet back to 4X and
put on a brown drake pattern. It was only about a 25 foot cast but with my head
net on, it was too dark to see where the fly landed. I started
by casting short, and making a big upstream mend to counter the drag.
After lengthening a foot at a time the fish took on the fifth cast and I set
the hook.
The first run was about 20
feet and I let loose line run as tightly as I dared through my fingers. I
pumped the big brown close to the boat several times but it
bulldogged down to the bottom each time. Finally it tired enough for me to keep
it up off the bottom and after several short runs Josh netted
the deep bellied 21 inch brown.
Josh took a quick photo of it in the
net because he wanted me to try for the second fish which was still rising
about 40 feet across and upstream.
After half a dozen casts, each a
foot of so longer, with big upstream mends the fish took. I felt its’
weight but the hook pulled free after a few seconds.
We waited several minutes but
the bugs had stopped, the rises had stopped and it was
over, except for the long row out in pitch darkness.
What a day it had been. My two best
AuSable trophys, on the last night of my 34th year of NIFTY club
trips.
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