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.
Drop back on a caddis
First smallie of 2010
Fresh chromer
