Gates Cleanup '05

We had a great weekend at the cleanup. Once again, a large crowd turned out to pick litter from the three branches of the Au Sable. Among the celebrity attendees was the director of the DNR, Becky Humphries. The weather was splendid--sunny, 70s, and the river was all but deserted save for the cleaning crews. A great time to be outside, even better in the presence of 300 people all talking about, and more importantly, rolling up their sleeves and working for, the health of the river.

Didn't find anything too noteworthy this time, though Kristine found a large, rusty iron tool I thought might be a logging implement or part of a boat. We saved it and are trying to identify it…will post a picture here if I can ever find or take one. Actually, we found a lot less trash than we were expecting. I filled two thirty-gallon bags about halfway--would have made it through with one, but stuff I had picked up started slipping out through small tears that had formed in my bag along the way. Everyone else in my crew--Kristine, a guy and his young daughter from Tecumseh, and a man with his dog from Grand Rapids, finished the beat with just one bag. There might have been less trash in the water as a result of higher gas prices keeping people home. Or, as one cabin owner we talked to suggested, perhaps people are being more careful with their trash. Here's hoping for the latter.

After I had napped off my indulgences at the post-cleanup barbecue, I went back to the river to fish a bit. I got on the mainstream at Guide's Rest, always a favorite stretch and looking better than ever with the new cover provided by tree drops conducted over the last year or so--Anglers of the Au Sable, in conjunction with some government agencies, helicopters downed trees into the stream to improve fish habitat. Maples were used in some recent drops, and over a few of the log jams their still-attached leaves flashed rosy previews of October. The evening was warm and still, and as I expected, some blue-winged olives began hatching, attracting a few trout to feed on the surface. I caught one brookie about 8" and lost another of similar dimensions just short of my hand. Had another nip, but that was the extent of the action. I worked maybe four or five other feeding fish, but I think I spooked them with a single cast or by wading into place. Au Sable trout are always pretty wary, but particularly so at the end of the season, after being harassed for five months straight. I love autumn trout fishing because the crowds have mostly gone home (or gone to fish for salmon), but sometimes the fish still remember them all too keenly.

Sunday after we broke camp, Kristine and I hiked the river trail at Hartwick Pines state park, a pleasant, short loop along the East Branch, which is really just a little creek. A couple of times along the stream we saw small brook trout finning quietly in open water and stopped to watch them for a while. Sometimes it's good to just see them being themselves, without worrying about catching them.