Anglers of the Au Sable:

Dear Anglers of the Au Sable Members,

We need your help! TODAY!

In just five minutes, you can help preserve and enhance our great trout fisheries.

Please send a quick email to DNR Fisheries Director Kelley Smith at SMITHK@Michigan.gov. Kelley has asked for your opinions about the newly proposed gear restrictions. We need your help ASAP because opponents of gear restrictions are beginning to flood the DNR email boxes in Lansing.

Your email doesn't have to be long or detailed -- just a quick couple of sentences in support of the kinds of flies-only, catch-and-release, gear-restricted fishing on which Anglers of the Au Sable was founded nearly 25 years ago.

As a reminder, Anglers, TU, and other coldwater conservation groups have worked for more than a year to expand gear-restricted fishing. We've preserved all of the previous gear restrictions on the Au Sable holy waters and elsewhere, including the 10-inch brookie limit. We've convinced fisheries to increase the size limits on browns to 18 inches on harvest sections of the Au Sable and Manistee. And we've earned 70 miles of NEW gear restrictions on the Manistee, Au Sable, Pigeon, Black, PM, and in the U.P. You can review all of the proposed gear restrictions here...
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dn...w_332448_7.pdf

The restrictions go before the Michigan Natural Resources Commission for final review and (hopefully) approval this fall. Emails from gear restriction opponents are already causing second thoughts in the Fisheries Division. YOUR EMAIL TODAY provides the final momentum we need to win these improvements.

THANK YOU!!!

P.S. I sent an email to Kelly Smith yesterday, and received a reply today. What you do DOES matter!!

I sent a note to Mr Kelly a few days ago and also recieved a reply thanking me for my input. You can't complain if you don't voice your opinion.

LadyFisher,

Sent an E-mail to Mr. Kelly Smith a few moments ago. I have some history in Mich. and particularly with T.U. in the U.P. I hope this goes through for those hard working fisherfolks, even though this will create more work (labor of love) for them! Thanks for the heads up!

Best regards, Dave S. (fishdog54)

We don't live there any more either, but we still support the Anglers of the Au Sable - if you fish the water or not, they would appreciate your help, an email doesn't take much to do. Please help.
LF

Letter sent!
Thanks for pointing this out LadyFisher. The proposed changes look perfect in my opinion and still puts Michigan under the maximum number of river miles allowed for gear restriction and leaves Michigan WELL below the number restricted miles of similiar, nearby states.
In fact, just this week before our local fly fishing club meeting here in NC we got the gears in motion for aa group trip to Michigan next summer to try to share the hex experience with some NC locals who have only heard of that great hatch. Hopefully it will coincide with a certain 'fish-in' I had the honor of experiencing a couple years ago!

Jack

I sent my email in a couple days ago and got an email response yesterday. I love my trips back "home" to Michigan. Very glad to see this kind of thing going on to preserve some wonderful fisheries!

John