Midnight Madness: Trout Attract Anglers En Masse on Mich. River

GRAYLING, Mich. _ The fly fishermen, who get most of the ink on the opening of trout season, were already in bed or enjoying a last sundowner before turning in. After all, everyone wanted to be fresh for the big day.

Down on the river in Grayling, where the fast water flows under the I-75 business loop in front of the Fly Factory trout shop, a dozen young anglers watched their wristwatches and cell phones count down toward the witching hour, and at dot of midnight, they let fly with worms, minnows and Rapalas.

“I love this. It’s just a great thing to come down here and be the first ones on the opener,” said J.C. Schneider, a freshman at Kirtland Community College who had come to fish with his brother, Luke, 13.

The next hour produced a handful of brown trout but nothing longer than 14 inches, an unusual occurrence for a spot that traditionally gives up several trout 20 inches or longer during the annual Midnight Madness.

“I got another one! I got another one,” Torrey Messerschmidt of Grayling said as she derricked a 13-inch brown over a railing along the riverfront sidewalk.

“That’s my third,” she said.

Her dad, Todd, said, “The kids have really been looking forward to this. … We fish together a lot.”

The next morning, many fly fishermen were standing on the shore at access sites, watching the early diehards flail the cold water while they waited for the sun to warm things up enough to start some bug hatches.

At the Whirlpool access along the Au Sable River, Bill Drummond of Saginaw was finishing his Breakfast of Champions _ “A beer and a stale Danish” _ after spending the night at a nearby campground.

“Got chilly last night,” he said. “We were going to go to town to get breakfast, but I thought there might be some Hendrickson spinners or blue-winged olives,” mayfly species that trigger trout feeding sprees in April and May.

Sitting with friends on a canoe dock at Gates’ Au Sable Lodge farther downstream, Tim Oliphant of Muskegon swiped at hatching flies with a landing net so he could identify what kind they were.

“Blue-winged olive,” he said, displaying on his fingertip a tiny bug with a shiny banded body and clear wings. “We’re mostly seeing small stuff like olive and blue quills.”

Oliphant said there are many good trout streams near Muskegon, which is “probably why I didn’t start coming here until about five years ago. It’s a good hike from home. But I love it here.”

Charley Weaver has been guiding trout anglers on northern Michigan streams for 24 years. But he normally passes on fishing on the opener because of the crowds.

This year he decided to fish the Au Sable main stream between Stephan and Wakeley Bridges with Bob Krause of Bloomfield Hills and Doug Roche of Beverly Hills, who have fished with him before.

“Normally, we can kind of paddle past groups of people and fish the places where we don’t see anyone else. We won’t be able to do that on the opener,” Weaver said.

Rusty Gates, owner of Gates’ Au Sable Lodge at the Stephan Bridge, had his hands full keeping up with anglers who needed everything from flies and leaders to rods and reels.

There also was a steady demand for copies of Gates’ new book, “Seasons on the Au Sable,” the proceeds from which all go to the Angler of the Au Sable for river protection and restoration projects.

A few miles way, Orland Shott of New Baltimore was walking along a sandy two- track to his campsite, where he planned to swap his fly rod for spinning tackle.

“As high and stained as that water is, you won’t do much today with flies,” he said. “I’m not too proud to switch to garden hackle (worms) if that’s what it takes to catch fish.”

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