We finally got some rain and the rivers blew out and have dropped into shape. On Wednesday, I heard reports of fresh chromers being caught. I decided to go out and fish Wednesday evening. The flow was fishable, but the visibility was minimal. I would say there was 6”-8” of visibility. I didn’t expect to do well, but I wanted to fish. I went to a popular access point to find the place to myself. I fished a good run and didn’t get a hit. I moved up river to a spot where there is a ledge that prohibits up-river migration which tends to stack fish up just below the ledge. I hooked up right away and landed an average sized buck steelhead that took a pink estaz egg. It was a drop back fish. I had one other hook up while I was on the river that day. I think it was a foul hooked fish, but I have no way to know. It threw the hook before I got a look at it. I fished again tonight (Friday) and went 1 for 2. The fish I caught was a drip back. I didn’t get a look at the other fish; I had a bad knot and it broke off before I got a look at the fish. I heard from the guys at the fly shop that the steelhead are moving out of the system. The season has ended. It’s consistent with what I’ve seen, no fresh fish. All drop backs found near the lake. I hear the fat lady singing. This could be it for the season.
As steelhead season winds down, Pennsylvania trout season is just kicking into high gear. In fact I hear the sulphurs are starting to hatch! I’m planning to fish PA a couple of times before I begin law school at the end of May. I’m hoping to make at least two trips to PA, one to the Alleghany State Park region, and the other to the State College area. I’ll write more about my PA excursions as they occur.
Wednesday's fish on the Estaz egg
See the estaz egg?
Friday's steelhead
This fish fell victim to the rubber leg steelhead prince
I got up at 5:30 this morning to go fishing. Much to my dismay, there was no coffee in the house! 5:30 with no coffee is tough… I felt stupid all morning. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and packed up my stuff. I arrived at the river about 10 minutes before dawn. I was the first angler there today and was rewarded appropriately. I caught a buck right off the bat. Now that the skunk had been wiped out I was feeling good, even without the coffee. I got right back at it and hooked up with a big feisty fish. It ran down river, then charged me, and then jumped while moving up river. It was a very thick buck! I fought the fish up and back down river. I worked the fish in fighting through several hard runs and cartwheels. This fish took me all the way into the next run down stream from where I hooked up before I landed him. He took my small black stone fly pattern. I got a couple of good pics of the fish, yet they do not do justice to the girth of this fish. He was about 30”-32” long, but had excellent girth. This fish was truly like a regulation NFL football. It had huge shoulders. Next, I hooked a fresh chrome jack; this time on an egg pattern. This fish was hot and fresh and fought like a much larger fish. I love it when these small fish are full of fight. It fills me with respect for the steelhead and makes me appreciate this fabulous fishery I have at my doorstep. The next hook up was another fresh jack. This fish was hooked right by the far bank in a fast run. It jumped into the bank and broke me off over a rock. It’s hard to describe what occurred, but it was a remarkable feet of acrobatics. I was sorry to lose the fish, yet I was amazed at how it got away. The last steelhead I caught was tiny by steelhead standards, it was the size of a rainbow, and I would say it was about 12". It too was full of fight. I tried to bring it in and grab it since it was so small and it flipped out jumping and flopping all over the place. I also caught two sucker fish, one was a trophy sucker about the size of a steelhead. It was a good morning on the river. I left around 11:00 to go to brunch; I needed that first cup of coffee!
My Scott rod was repaired and returned to me after I broke at the end of last month. I didn't expect it back before steelhead season was over, but it showed up yesterday before I went fishing. I'm happy to say its as good as new. the folks at Scott replaced the butt section completely, it was custom made and even has my original serial number on it. I was very impressed with the customer service at Scott. They did an excellent job with the repair and got the rod back to me very quickly. It only cost me about $90.00 to ship it both directions; the repair itself was covered by their lifetime warranty. I will be a loyal Scott customer so long as they continue such excellent customer service. I wish every company who products I've bought were as good as the folks at Scott.
I fished the Grand last night from about 4:00 until dark. I fished lower down because of the low water conditions. The fish have been concentrated in the lower sections of all the rivers because of the low flow; there is not enough flow for them to move up stream. It was nice, sunny, and about 70 degrees. I walk down to the river and there were like 10 guys stacked in one run (why does this seem to happen everywhere?). I went down stream from those guys and began fishing a deep slow run. I caught a nice chrome fish just after I arrived. As I was fighting the fish, I was walking towards the bank to bring the fish in and I tripped over a large piece of concrete rubble. I managed to keep from falling in the water, but I banged my shin hard and I put a hole in my waders. The fall damaged the outside of the waders, I don’t know if it caused a leak. Water did not come in right away. I need to buy some aqua seal and fix that hole. After catching the fresh fish, the fish in that spot shut down. I moved up river, past the big group, but the fishing was real slow despite seeing many fish porpoising. As it began to get dark things picked up for me. I caught two more steelhead one in a fast chute and the other was caught in a run below where a creek came into the main river. We need rain and the cool down that seems to be coming our way. The river was way low and the fish were spooked.
I got up at 5:30 this morning to go fishing. There was a little bit of rain on Friday and Saturday, just enough for a small bump in the flow. I decided to go to the lower section of the river since there was not enough water for a good push of fresh chrome to make it too far up river. I began fishing at 6:45 as the sun began to come up and it was cold and windy. There was one other angler there when I arrived on the water. I began fishing the head of a run, working the bucket below the riffle. I fished down the run with no contact with any fish yet. As I got to the middle of the run, the deepest spot I hooked up. It was at the end of a drift, and I surprised to have a fish on. The fish jumped and a minute later it was gone, it had broken off. It broke at knot. It must have been poorly tied. Not the way I wanted to start the morning. I re-rigged and began working the same general are were I had just hooked up. Before long, I had another fish on. I landed this fish. It was a small steelhead, nothing noteworthy, but it put me on the boards and got the skunk out of my bag. I fumbled the camera and the fish flopped away before I could get a pic. I continued to fish and hooked up again in no time. I landed this fish too. It was in bad shape. It looked like the fish had its throat ripped out. I took a pic of its good side and quickly released the fish.
I fished down through the run, crossed the river and went up the other side of the run. I had no luck. I crossed the river again above the run and began fishing down the run again after I gave it a rest. Nothing in the bucket this time either. I got to the same spot where I had all my other hook ups and fished the far seem. I had a solid hook up and had a fish on. It leaped out of the water and ran down river. I fought the fish for a while eventually landing it for the obligatory photo. It was a decent buck; things were getting better.
I went back to the honey hole and quickly hooked up again, this time with a large fish. As soon as the fish was hooked it shot out of the water like a rocket, it ran up river, ran down river, went bank to bank and then took off down river for the lake. I ran after the fish and worked it to the bank. Sadly, I foul hooked this fish. It fought hard and I really had to work to land that fish. It took skill to land that fish with out breaking off. I was proud to land that fish foul hooked or not. I got a nice pic of the fish.
I had a little more time to fish before I had to take off for an appointment. I fished the bucket hard since I had pressured the gut of the run all morning. I hooked up with a “jack” that was chrome and hot. It leaped into the air and somersaulted a few times before I worked it to shore for a pic.
After releasing the chromer, I went back to work on the bucket. I hooked up with a nice big and angry buck. It jumped and ran up river into the shallows. It snagged the other fly on a rock and broke me off, doah! I left for an appointment and had lunch with my girl. After lunch, I headed back to the river. I went up river from where I was this morning. I fished a nice sexy run and hooked up right away, and lost the fish. It was a bright fresh fish. I worked this run through and had another hook up, but landed no fish. I fished down river and on my way back, I fished this run again. I hooked into a nice buck that jumped and ran. A short time into this fight, the fish wrapped me around something under the surface; the fish broke off and left me snagged. When I pulled my line out, it moved the float down the leader leaving the leader all curled and actually broke the float. This fish trashed my rig. I re-rigged and fished the rest of the way up this run. I hooked into a nice fish on the second or third cast after I re-rigged. I had this fish on and eventually landed a nice drop back hen. This was the sixth fish of the day and I had to head out. It was a great of day fishing despite the cold temps and the wind.
While on the river this afternoon I saw a buzzard. It was picking at a dead fish. I have never seen one before so I took this pic. I also saw a pack of deer this morning, and many rare wild anglers...
These guys lined up and all fished in the same spot all morning, what a bunch of goofballs. None of them caught anything all morning. If you are fishing in a spot and not catching anything, how does it make sense to continue to fish the same spot over and over again when it's not producing?
I was out on Wednesday and Thursday night fishing. Wednesday night I went to the the upper Chagrin and Thursday I went to the Grand. I fished both rivers hard with no success. I caught a sucker fish on Wednesday night and a creek chub on Thursday. The water has been low on both rivers. The Grand is exceptionally low and clear. The Chagrin had decent color, but not many fish. I fished the runs and pools; nobody was home. I changed flies several times and nothing. I did see one guy snag a fish; he was the only other angler I saw and the fish was the only steelhead that was caught. It was his first steelhead ever, he did not know what he was doing. I don't think he meant to snag the fish. I took a picture for him since it was his first fish ever, foul hooked or not. The water had some color to it, and about 18" of vis (+ -). The fishing should have been great based on water conditions. I saw a few fish spawning. There is one run that ALWAYS produces at least one fish for me and it was void of fish on Wednesday. I don't think the fresh fish have been able to move up. It seems like most of the drop backs have moved down river and the only fish remaining in the upper section of the Chagrin are the few fish that are still spawning. I did manage to catch a sucker fish so I didn't get completely skunked, just no chrome. It was the boobie prize. I had a good couple of weeks, one bad day doesn't ruin the season for me. The section of the Grand I fished on Thursday had some fish spawning, but no drop backs or fresh fish in the runs or pools. I fished several spots that were producing fish a few days ago with no success. It was frustrating for the only fish brought to hand to be a chub. It rained some today and the forecast is calling for rain tonight; I sure hope we get a good soaking to push the flows up and bring in some fresh fish and distribute the fish already in the system.
I fished the Grand and the Chagrin this evening. I caught a drop back hen in the deep slow end of a run. She took a caddis pattern that I was trying for the first time. I guess it worked. I fished up river a bit and caught a small mouth. It was a small resident fish, but it was the first smallie of the year. I caught the smallie on an egg pattern. At about 7:00, I drove to the Chagrin. I got there about an hour before dark and fished a section near the mouth of the river that I fish a lot in the fall. I was hoping the bump in flow from this morning’s rain was enough to bring in some fresh fish. I fished the fast water at the head of a run and hooked into 2 fish only to lose them. I worked through the run with no other hook ups. I went down river and worked part of the next run, but there was another angler fishing there, he only left about 20 feet for me to fish. I fished that section and went back to try the head of that run where I hooked into a couple of fish. I figured I would have another shot at a fish there after giving it a rest. I drifted through and hooked up right away, and again lost the fish. I drifted the same line again and hooked up; this time it was solid hook up and I had a fish on. The fish immediately leaped out of the water and cartwheeled. Then it went nose down and went a couple of runs making my reel scream. The fish did couple of more cartwheels and went on several more runs before I beached it. It was a bright shiny chrome “skipper”. This was one hot fish. It fought like a much larger fish. I found fresh chrome like I had hoped. It’s good to see a push of fresh fish. With the low flows and warm temps we’ve had I was afraid things were winding down. After I released that fish, I continue to fish until dark with no more success. All in all it was a good day on the water.
I fished the Grand again today. The river was very crowded with anglers. Walking in I saw one of the guides from the fly shop. My guide friend suggested I fish the spot that was just up river from where we were talking, he said guys had crossed there all day, but no one fished there. We went our separate ways and I went to fish that spot. I fished the bubble line over deep water below the riffle. I hooked up right away and landed an averaged sized drop back hen on a black stonefly. I worked this spot over and found no other fish. I walked up river to the next riffle and hooked up for a short fight that ended with my fly sit back at me. I saw fish jumping in the area, but had no more takers. I continued up stream and started fishing the soft water behind a bolder. I got hung up on the bottom and broke off trying to get un-snagged. While I was tying on a new fly, some guy came up and began fishing right in front of me from the other side. I was standing in the water in position to fish this spot, I even told him I was fishing there and he just plopped his line in. That guy was a !@#$%^&**!! jerk. I was supposed to fish with a buddy today, but he was late. My friend finally showed up so I walked down river to meet him at a spot I passed on the way in because other anglers were fishing there at the time. My buddy and I fished this spot and I hooked up shortly after we got there. It was a good fight a couple of nice runs some big jumps and a lot of thrashing. I caught another nice spawned out hen. I caught her on scrambled eggs.
I fished yesterday after work. The Chagrin was really low and clear. I had no luck at all yesterday.
I fished the Grand this morning. I only fished for a couple of hours. I fished a fast run and found a nice pod of hungry fish. I had one fish on and off on the second or third cast. I continued to work this run and caught a nice "skipper". The way this fish hit the fly you would have thought it was twice its size. This run was giving up fish so I kept fishing it. I hooked into a nice female and she took off for the Lake! She took me right into my backing without effort. I see reports where this is said all the time, but I have never had a fish take me into the backing before. For me, this is a first; making this a memorable fish. She ran, jumped, and cartwheeled all over the place! She was the fish of the day for sure. I caught two other fish out of this run before I moved on. I also lost a nice big buck after a heck of fight which was a big disappointment. I went up river and fished another run with no hook ups. At that point I had to pack it up and head home. Most of the fish were chrome. Sucker spawn was the ticket today, in cream, pink, and cheese.
The guys at the fly shop posted my picture on their blog! I caught that fish on Thursday of last week. This fish was one of the biggest fish I have caught this spring. She was a fresh fish just in from the lake (you can tell because she was still all silver and hadn’t started changing color yet), she fought like a lion leaping into the air several times and running up and down river. I had this stretch of river to myself. There was another angler about 100-150 yards down river from me. That guy was nice enough to walk up and take this picture for me. It’s unusual for me to have someone around to get a picture of me with a fish. Usually, I hike and find a spot to fish all alone. I like to get away from the crowds as one of the pleasures of fishing for me is the piece and quite I find on the river. I really enjoy the sounds of the river and observing wildlife as I fish. I’ve been lucky enough to see bald eagles, hawks, deer, wild turkeys, otter, beaver, and all the typical woodland creatures (chipmunks, squirrels, birds, etc.) when out fishing. You don’t get that when there are 20 guys hooting and hollering on the river. One angler I know, who feels the way I do about the crowd, describes the crowded conditions on the river as “NASCAR fishing”. Mostly because of the kinds of guys who will stack up in hole and spend the entire day in that one spot smoking and drinking beer; they are your typical “NASCAR” fans. You can read “red neck” here too.
Since my last post I fished Friday, Saturday (all day) and Sunday. On Friday I only fished for about an hour or so before dinner. The water had dropped and cleared significantly since earlier in the week. The fishing got much more challenging. I hooked into one steelhead and lost it and I caught a sucker fish. I didn’t see many steelhead on gravel, a surprise to me. The suckers were in and spawning in force; they were everywhere.
On Saturday, I got to the river at dawn. The fishing was fantastic from dawn until about 10:00am. I had several hook ups and landed 3 steelhead before 10:00. Two of the steelhead I lost had broken off after a decent fight; I lost one to a bad knot and the other to frayed tippet. The fish that was lost to frayed tippet was a huge dime bright buck that jumped several times and ran hard; it deserved to win that fight. Right after that break off, I caught a small buck in the same run that was a nice rainbow color; the pic is below. I worked my way up river and found some nice pocket water that looked really fishy. I drifted through it and hooked up on the first drift only to lose the fish. I drifted through several more times, had another hook up and lost that fish too. I was getting frustrated. I decided to keep working this water as it seemed to hold several fish. On the next drift I had a solid hookup, it was a good fish that pulled HARD! I fought this fish for what seemed like an hour, but was probably more like ten minutes. It would not give up. I finally wrangled the fish to the bank. There was a guy and his brother within earshot so I asked him to come take a pic for me. He took the pic, but he’s not a good photographer. He got a decent shot of me with the fish wrestling to get out of my hands, one of me dropping the fish, and another of me with the fish in hand. The last one should have been a good shot, but he cut the fishes head off in the pic. She was a very large drop back hen. She was all scraped up from spawning and looked skinny and worn for her size. She took a small black bead head nymph with vengeance and fought like a lion. She was huge. You can see in the picture where I'm wrestling with her that she about 32"-33" so she must have weighed close to 13 lbs! After this fish, it hit the 10:00 hour and the fishing seemed to shut down. I decided to change locals as the section of river I was on was getting over populated with anglers.
First small buck from Saturday
Wrestling
oops!
Who cuts the head off the fish?
I drove down river to a nice spot that I have been fishing a lot recently. I got there and fished a nice run that has a deep drop off just under the riffle and then gradually gets deeper and is adjacent to a large eddy… this is really fishy water. I consistently find fish here. I hook up and lose a nice steelhead right away. I continue to fish this spot and hook up again almost immediately, I landed this fish after a respectable fight the pic is below. There were a couple of guys throwing bate with no success who I was fishing behind and they wanted to know “what the fish were hitting”. They must not have been making good presentations or must have been too high in the water column. Any fish will take live bait over a fly any day of the week and twice on Sunday. These guys were frustrated because I hooked up twice in like ten minutes of being there in the run they had just fished with no success. They went to fish that run again right after I left with no success. Ha, I’m a better angler! I caught a sucker fish in the next run that had some kind of weird growth all over it. I continued to work down river and back. The wind had picked up and made presenting the fly very difficult. I had one more hook up and which is when I had the second break off, again to a large fresh and feisty fish. It’s a disappointing thing to lose a great fish right before you leave. It makes me want to fish until I catch another and land it, but I had to go and get cleaned up to go to dinner with special lady.
Chrome!
What an ugly mug
On Sunday, I slept in and left to go fish at 11:00am. I got to the river and found the water to be too low and clear to have fish in some of the normal places. There were a lot more spawning steelhead on Sunday than on Saturday. I don’t floss spawners like some guys do. I like the challenge of fishing for fresh fish or drop backs in the runs. I had to work the limited green water; the good thing is I knew exactly where I’d find fish. The bad thing is those places were fewer in number and other anglers knew where to look too. I was only able to fish one of two good places at the first location because I didn’t want to crowd other anglers (I hate it when people crowd me). I worked the same run with the drop off where I had hooked up twice on Saturday. I quickly caught a small buck on a tiny orange egg pattern that was the same size and color as a real steal head egg; I matched the hatch, if you will. I went small and realistic to combat the low clear water. I continued to fish this run and hooked into a big dark buck that looked like a winter holdover. He leaped out of the water, ran down river, into the eddy, back upstream into the riffle and back down stream. By this point I had gained an audience of kids who had been walking on the path behind me and the other angler who had been fishing in the only other fishable run in the area. I fought this fish for a long time, it had the upper hand since, as it turned out, the fish was foul hooked. I didn’t know it at the time and it fought like a fair hooked fish, not to mention a foul hooked fish usually throws the hook quickly. I took a pic anyway because it was a long hard fight and I feel it was an accomplishment to land this fish foul hooked or not. After this I decided to drive up river to a better spot. I had the water to my self. I fished a few fishy steelhead green runs; I had one hook up with a fresh chromed up “skipper” and lost it. I did catch a large post spawn buck that was all beat up from the spawn and by flossers. He was in bad shape; I pulled out some flosser’s fly that was foul hooked in the fish’s back. He was so roughed up I just let him go without taking a pic. He needed to get back into the water. I moved up river and caught ANOTHER sucker; they are everywhere! Then I began to work some pocket water near a downed tree (where I caught the drop back hen the day before) and I hooked up once right away, again to lose the fish. Spring steelhead have a lot more fight in them than winter steelhead have; it takes a little getting used to. Even the best anglers lose a few spring fish. I continued to work the water until I had a rod breaking incident. I don’t want to talk about it. I was bummed out and had to leave early. What a pathetic end to a fantastic weekend of fishing.
I fished several days without posting so I’m going to recap it all now. I was out of town from Friday 3/26 until about noon on Sunday 3/28. I fished Sunday afternoon in the rain while the river was on the rise. I hooked two fish early on and lost both. The first I lost after a good fight. It was a small fresh chromer. I think the second fish was moving up river as it was hooked. It leaped out of the water, gave a big headshake and threw the hook. It was a bright red buck. I saw another fish porous nearby, I think the run was on; fish were moving up river. I continued to fish but the rise in water level stained up the river and the fishing shut down.
Monday I was unable to get out. Tuesday I hit the river for a couple of hours. Just after I got there, I tripped and face planted in about a foot of water. Water ran into my waders and I was soaked all way to my toes. It was chilly out, about 50 degrees. I thought about leaving, but decided I was there so I should just fish until I get too cold. I hooked one in a soft spot and lost it. As I was walking out, I fished the head of a run where the river bends and hooked into a nice winter holdover buck. It made me feel good, it was a nice little victory since I continued to fish all cold and wet.
Monday's fish
Yesterday (Wednesday), I fished from about 4:00 pm until dark. I fished a sexy little run that I’ve caught fish in recently and hooked a sucker on the second drift. As I’m fishing this run; an older Russian guy, with a thick accent and an odor of cheap booze, starts telling me “That water too fast, no fish there…” I tell him it’s fine, the water is not too fast, I’ll catch steelhead here; I’ve caught several steelhead here recently. He saw me catch the sucker and starts to taunt me in his thick accent, “oh sucker that’s all you catch there”. I tell him, “that was the first sucker I’ve caught this year” (which was true). I continue to fish, the Russian is spouting off; he thinks he’s some kind of expert. An expert fishing a zonker with a spinning rod! All of the sudden a two man pontoon is floating through and it's my friend and guide Brett with a client. I say hello, Brett appologises for floating through the run and says something to the effect of it will rile the fish up and you'll catch one. I tell the Russian this is a good spot for steelhead and that I will catch a trout here. As I say this I hook up. The fish swims in and out of the current and stays below the surface much like a sucker would. The Russian says “another sucker”. I’m concerned he’s right and he’ll continue to harass me. I continue to work the fish in and get it to the surface where it gives a nice head shake and reveals its identity; it was a decent sized steelhead! That shut down that drunk Russian bastard! As I land the fish he walks over and what to know what I caught the fish on. Who’s the expert now? I felt vindicated. I showed him the stonefly I caught the fish on and gave him a couple of stoneflies that I had tied. I tried to kill him with kindness. I walked down river to another good run and started to fish up river. I picked this run apart and found nobody home after working through ¾ of the run. I changed flies and hooked up on the next drift. The fish felt big and angry. It ran up river, then down river, and then went nose down into the current. I worked it back towards the bank and it took off and leaped out of the water, it was a bright chrome HOG. This fish was a real pig, probably the largest fish I’ve caught this spring, if not, close to it. As I was fighting this fish, I saw a guy fishing down river; I yelled down to him and asked him to come up and give me a hand. I wanted to get a picture with this fish. I told the guy, “I know this is one of those fish you just have to get a picture of”. He was kind enough to help me and took a few excellent pictures. Thanks to the mystery photographer for your help. I fought the fish in, every time I got the fish close to the bank it just kept running and running; it did not want to give up. I finally landed the fish for the shot of the day. It started to get dark shortly after I released the hog. I started to work up river towards the car and decided to fish a couple of more spots before I headed out. Nothing at the first spot. At the second spot, I hooked up on the on the third or fourth drift through. I had the fish on for a few seconds before it through the hook. After that I walked out. It was a great day on the river.
This is the fish that shut the Russian down, it had a big head and short stubby tail... kind of weird.
