July 1, 2009

Fritz: On the Maple, friendly and courteous.Where are they going to be tonight? Hex fishing the Maple is a whole bunch different than on the Manistee or either the main stream or south branch of the Au Sable. At least on those renowned waters, the bugs are reasonably consistent. Oh, you may not have “blanket” conditions each night, but at least you’ll have enough bugs to attract the attention of some pretty respectable fish.

The Maple is different. It’s more like spinning a roulette wheel. Just because I had a good spot last night, is NO guarantee that I’ll even see a single bug, standing in my same footprints tonight. Maybe I should try for some different scenery and go upstream or downstream a bend or two. And, spinners? Eeee Gad! There’s NO rhyme or reason as to when, or where the spinners will show up. Frustrating. To illustrate the point, the same night I didn’t see a single limbata, my dentist (a couple of bends-in-the-river away) had plenty and landed a 21-incher!

But, it’s close to home. And, although (like the Manistee and Au Sable) you have to stake your claim and place your bet early in the evening, the fishermen you do encounter are friendly and courteous.

On 5 outings to the Maple, late in June, I saw very few limbata, but still had encounters with two respectable fish. In each case, the hook pulled out early on in the battle, so my camera stayed in the zip lock bag.

On one hex-less evening, I bumped into an acquaintance from 20 years ago. I snapped this photo as we both made our way out at the end of the evening. Don’t let his “shirtless” style deceive you. The Maple is breeding ground for 65% of all mosquitoes north of Gaylord. How he can fish this way is a mystery to me.

No doubt the hex will persist into mid-July. So, I’ll continue to try from time to time. But, for the most part, I’m gearing up mentally for the upcoming mousin’ season. Night fishing is upon us in earnest. Men to the right . . . boys to the left!