On Jun 29, 10:38*am, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:
Wayne Knight and I were in Grayling this weekend. He came up for
the weekend to fish the Manistee hex hatch and I had just come
from the Pere Marquette where I spent more time canoeing than
fishing and wishing that I had *avoided* the hex hatch.

No avoiding it in Grayling, the lodge was packed and so was the
Au Sable. Wayne offered to show me one of his favorite northern
Michigan brookie streams so after breakfast on the banks of the
Au Sable we set off on the hour long drive to the J River.

The J is the coldest, clearest water I have ever seen in the
lower peninsula and due to its difficult access, both by car
and by wading, it's not heavily fished. We saw only three cars
on the way in, the first two were parked together at the first
crossing off the highway and the third about a third of the way
up several miles of dirt road. We saw no other fishermen the
whole day. My kind of place.

Did I mention the wading was difficult ? Geez Louise, there was
deadfall everywhere and around every log was a hat floating hole
waiting to happen. You could try to navigate the sides of the
stream, so long as you don't mind thigh deep muck. It took us
over three hours to negotiate just over half a mile of stream.
No walk in the park. But it is a gorgeous place. Standing in
that ice cold water looking upstream is like looking at a text
book picture of trout heaven.

Fish were caught, despite the frolic of the little yellow pup
and we had a great time until the deer flies run us off. Wayne
and I had deet but poor Kaylin was so bit up her left eye was
almost swollen shut. It must suck to be a dog on a fly infested
stream. So I had to get her out of there and give her a couple
of Benadryls to take the swelling down.

A beautiful place, I'll be back. But probably a little more
downstream than where we were. The wading is borderline out of
my comfort zone with a two legged fishing partner and *way*
out of my comfort zone if it's just me and the pup.

Many thanks to my capable guide Wayne Knight for a great day
astream and thanks old friend for that ISOM you gave me, it is
safely in the humidor just waiting for our next trip.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Well.......thanks for the TR. After reading your TR, I'll do my best
to enjoy Bennett Springs this week. At least the water is cool and
there are trout among the masses of vacationeers.
G