Virgin waters

I fished an area way upstream from where the dam used to stop steelhead migration. This recently opened water just got its first ever steelhead run. Nobody has fished this area for steelhead and most guys don’t know this part of the river well. Guess who does? That’s right yours truly. I fish this area all summer long for smallmouth bass. I know it all very well. With the river flowing higher than it does during the summer, there is some really fishy new water that I have been itching to fish. It has been a major goal of mine to catch a steelhead in the South Chagrin Reservation since that dam fell. After all, it’s 5 minutes from home!

I went out on Sunday and fished for a few hours. It was cold, about 32 degrees. As I was driving down, I saw a guide friend’s car. That’s a good sign, if the guides have clients here there must be fish. I knew there were at least a few fish around as I had seen them in the feeder creek at this location a couple of weeks before.

I had a nice stretch of water to myself for a while and I caught a small fish, but it was a steelhead and it was so close to home! Despite its size this fish held great significance because it is the first steelhead I have caught in this newly opened stretch of water. This was an exciting moment; it meant I don’t have to drive a half hour or 45 minutes to catch steelhead anymore! I had one other hook up that day, the fish threw the hook. It didn’t matter; I got what I came for.

Talk about home waters, right around the corner from the house!

Can’t keep this angler down

School has taken almost all of my time away from fishing. When there is an opportunity to fish, I go fishing regardless. I had an opportunity to go fishing the other day, but I have a bad cold. This is the kind of cold that causes crazy sinus congestion and snot runs out of your nose. I felt crappy, but it was a beautiful sunny day, the catch was the temperature was in the low 30s. Being since and out in the cold didn’t seem like a great idea. I struggled with the decision, should I stay in and rest or go fishing? I looked at the flow gauge, it was at about 450 CFS and I called the fly shop to find that reports were coming in strong. I went fishing! I couldn’t help myself.

I went straight to a spot in the North Chagrin Reservation that has historically been a fishy spot in the early spring. Since the dam has come down and flood waters have receded things have changed a lot. There was sand in places where there never used to be before. You could see the high watermark form the flood, which was 20-30 feet from the bank in places. Sand was deposited in the woods along the river in the flood zone. You never see sand in the woods around here. It reminded me of Cape Cod.

The fishing was pretty good. I was out for about two hours and I was not disappointed. I hooked up with four fish and landed two of them. One was a fresh hen and the other was a hold over buck. Both fish came on egg patterns. The fish were holding in deeper water with slight current. The water has not warmed enough to move fish into spring holding locations.

It was a good short little outing, for a while there I forgot that I wasn’t feeling well. It was not until my nose got raw from the constant running and cold that I thought about having a cold. I got a good dose of chrome, the best medicine for this patient!

Two of these and call me in the morning

Just what the doctor ordered

Rally in the bottom of the ninth

Class was canceled so I went fishing! I began at a new stretch of recently opened water. I worked all of the sexy steelhead water and threw every fly in the box. Nothing. I knew steelhead had made it up this far because I saw a couple of fish in a small feeder creek nearby. I didn’t think many fish made it up this far yet. I decided to move down river to see if I could get into some fish.

As I was walking in, I spoke to another angler who said he had caught a couple of fish. I had a good feeling. I worked a heavy run that usually holds fish. Nothing. As I got to the top of the run, I felt the first few drops of rain. This was not good. The river was still running high and was barely fishable.  Any additional rain would blow it out for sure. With more rain and snow in the forecast, this was the last time to fish for the foreseeable future.

I knew it would begin raining harder at any moment. I had a choice to make; head to the car or keep fishing. I did what any self-respecting angler would do, I kept fishing. I couldn’t give up. I moved up into the tailout of the next pool where I hooked into a nice fish. The fish jumped a couple of times and started running down river into the fast water. I followed the fish downstream keeping pressure on it the whole time. The fish jumped one last time as I worked it towards the bank. As I got it into the shallows the fish made one last effort to run before I landed it. The few scattered drops of rain had developed into a light drizzle. I took a couple of pictures and released the fish.


By the time the fish swam out of my hands, the weather had deteriorated from a light drizzle into a steady rain. I figured there was no better way to end the day. I headed to the car. The rain got heavier as I walked, then ran to the car. The river rose quickly and got muddy. When the rain and snow stops in a few days, it will take an additional 3-5 days for the river to drop into fishable condition. I caught that fish just before the weather went to hell. None of the streams around here will fish for about a week. That fish was the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.


Wining fish!

Steelhead love egg paterns

Perfect water… no fresh fish?

I spent last Thursday on the Elk in search of bright chrome steelhead. After all the rain and snow melt the PA streams were dropping into fishable condition while the Ohio streams still have a few days before they will fish. I couldn’t wait to hook into that fresh run of steel that comes in with each new high water event. When I first saw the Elk as I crossed over it, I could see that there was a bit more water than usual, but the color was the perfect jade green every steelheader dreams about. When I got on the water there was about 24” of visibility. I thought it was perfect. I was excited for what I expected to be a banner day. The added water made parts of the stream that are usually too shallow to hold fish perfect lies, increasing the challenge. I started down low expecting to find fresh chromers. I fished through several runs and didn’t even get a bump. I spoke to another angler; he said he caught one holdover fish all morning. While talking to this guy we witnessed another angler haul in another holdover that fought like an old boot. I decided to pack it up and head up river. The guys at the shop said they had caught several holdovers up river of where I was so if it was all about hold overs, I figured I’d go to where I knew there were good numbers of fish.

A beautiful day and perfect water on the Elk

More water than normal, this stretch is usually ankel deep

When arrived, the river near the access has a gravel bottom and I saw a few fish spawning. I fished the run behind them where fresh fish and dropbacks usually hangout… nothing. I continued to downstream and had this stretch of water to myself. I fished every hole and run. I started catching smolts. They must have recently been stocked. They are annoying little buggers. They hit the fly with reckless abandon. Finally, I hooked into something solid. I actually thought I was snagged on the bottom, when the bottom took off downstream I knew I had a good hook up. I fought the fish to the surface, it was a hold over, just as I worked into the shallows the hook came loose and the line shot back at me. I can’t explain the frustration of losing the first fish you hook up with when the fishing is slow. You wonder if you blew the only shot at a fish for the day (smolts don’t count).

Smolts everwhere

I kept fishing, I was determined. I waded past another group of spawners on gravel and began to work the run on into the pool behind the spawning bed. Here I had another solid hook up. The fish jumped out of the water when I set the hook! All right, fish on… now all I had to do was land this steelhead. It was another holdover fish. At this point I was not discriminating, a steelhead is a steelhead. If I land this fish I kill the skunk. I had been skunked the last three or four times out. It should be noted that conditions were horrible on those outings, but I had the rare chance to fish so I did. I really wanted to land this fish.

After a slug fest with this old boot of a fish, I finally beached the fish in the shallows. Man was this fish beat up. It looked ready to die. It was all spawned out; it had a lamprey scar on its breast. It was one ugly fish. She fought hard and promptly swam back to the depths of the run upon release, but she was UGLY. I continued to fish the same pool where I had just caught this fish and hooked up again, the second fish was an on the small side of average, but was not a small fish. Not a bad looking buck, but another hold over from the fall. It was a quick fight with one nice jump right, then straight to the bank. Hold overs are better than the skunk, but they don’t have the fight in them that a fresh angry chromer will throw at you.

Ugly, ugly fish

Another holdover from the fall

At this point it was about two hours until sunset, so I walked on downstream until I reached some posted land then I fished my way back up. I found a deep hole along a high bank under a tree and began to probe the depths. I was in up to my waist and I could feel the hole drop towards the bank. I hooked up to what I could tell was a real solid fish. I fought it up to the surface for a moment. This was one dark buck, it was almost black. Bucks will turn a smoky color when they are spawning or spawned out, but this fish was literally almost black. He kept changing directions on me. He was pulling down stream and to river right, I was on the left bank pulling up and to the left. This was a big fish and I was really putting the wood to him. He suddenly switched directions again and went up stream, I didn’t react fast enough and he broke me off. That was one tough old buck. He deserved to win that one. He fought a hell of a fight.

Uneventfully, I continued to fish up stream hitting every run and pool on the way back before darkness settled in. That smokey buck would be the last action I would see for the day. I hit the road for home at about 8:45. It was a long slow day with only a couple of fish brought to hand and disappointingly no chromers. I would have thought with all that water coupled with warmer temps there would have been a fresh run. Well, at least I caught a couple of fish and got the skunk off my back. It was better than the last few times out.

Stone Flies and Warnings

I went East to hit a few of the creeks that feed the Grand. The creeks usually fish before the larger rivers do. The first place I went had a road closed sign posted. The road looked open, the sign looked as if it had been moved aside, and there were tire tracks leading down the road, so I gave it a shot. I drove down most of the way to the parking lot dodging down branches and small ponds, when the road was covered with snow that had not been plowed. I was not about to chance getting stuck in the snow. I turned the car around a parked on the side of the road. As I was rigging my rod, a ranger pulled up behind me. Apparently road closed really meant road closed. The ranger was very nice and understanding. He ran my plates and license then came back with a written warning. Woops, I guess I won’t do that again.

I went to another access point on Payne Creek and talked to a guy who had been fishing, he said there were a couple of other guys on the creek and nobody had caught a fish all morning. He said the water was pretty stained, he guessed about 6” of visibility. I decided to head to Mill Creek because it usually clears first.



I got to the creek and fished down from the access to the mouth of the creek and not even a bump. I decided to walk back up to the access and fish going up river for the last half hour before I had to go. I was walking along managing the terrain well and thinking to myself, it would be really easy to trip and fall. Just as I had that thought I was face down in the snow. It’s amazing what hides beneath the snow. I tripped over some unidentifiable branch or other hazard that wrapped my foot up which had been hidden by the snow. I pick myself up. There was no blood, no tear in the waders, and my rod was intact; everything was fine. I came out of that one unscathed. I continued up river to resume fishing. When I got to some fresh water just above the access I reached back for my fly box to change offerings. The pocket in my pack that held my fly box was open and the box gone. Crap! I must not have zipped the pocket the last time I changed flies. My first thought was of my fly box floating out to Lake Erie, then I remembered the fall. I turned around and walked back down river a few hundred yards to where I had fallen. There was my fly box sticking up out of the snow like a green tombstone. Happy to retrieve my fly box I set off again to fish the water up stream of where I had come in.

As I was walking I noticed little black stone flies all over. That’s a great sign, it means spring is here. I changed my egg pattern out for a stone fly nymph hopping to match the hatch and turn the fish on. I fished a deep run, some pocket water and a few chutes before I got to a big pool that looked deep and full of log jams. Usually places like this have a muddy bottom and I was not about to try to wade through that alone to get stuck in there. I turned around and fished back down to the access and walked back to the car.

I could smell the skunky stink as I fished my way back, hoping I could put one on the board and salvage the day. It was just not meant to be. Looking at the bright side, I got to practice my cast and take a nice walk along the creek today… that was it. Oh yeah, and a written warning from the Lake County Ranger Department. Thanks guys!

Scouting Trip

I headed out to see what the river was like above the dam since it has come down and to find some good places to fish when the river drops into shape. The water was raging and looked like something you’d buy at Starbucks. I took a few pictures where a small creek comes in, or what is a small creek at normal flows. I fished the feeder creek while I was there.  Usually small tributaries like this will hold some fish when the main river is unfishable the creeks will.  The water in the creek was muddy, but not as bad as the river.  I fished up stream from the junction and didn't find any fish. It is a really small creek and probably will not hold fish except in the first pool near the junction.  I had cabin fever, I just had to get out, wader up, and be in the water. It was nice to be out and I think I found some good places to fish when the river drops to a normal flow.


First pool on the creek

Junction pool

Raging waters

On Monday February 28, 2010 all rivers and creeks in North East Ohio were up and out of their banks and flooding existed throughout the region. The Chagrin River had rapidly risen from snow melt and rain from the night before. She was raging and had already flooded many roads and riverside properties.

At 10:07 in the morning the river hit 20,000 CFS and had risen to 17 feet. For perspective, before the flood the river was at about 400 CFS and at 4 feet. The dam in Gates Mills could no longer hold back the mighty river and gave way after over 100 years. When the dam came down, it sent a surge of water downstream causing even greater flooding.

This dam had been the upstream barrier that prevented steelhead from migrating further up river. Now that the dam has come down, there has already been at least one report of steelhead up river from dam. This is a major game changer. Steelhead will likely be able to migrate all the way up river until the next impassable barrier, a waterfall in the South Chagrin Reservation.


This is good and bad. There is some concern for the native fish species that were protected from invasive species by this dam before it fell. Mike Durkalec (Aquatic Biologist for the Cleveland Metroparks) said he and ODNR biologists did not think that the smallmouth bass population would be harmed pointing to the very healthy smallmouth population in the portion of Rocky River where steelhead have been migrating for years. Their concerns are for the native Ohio brook trout, a threatened species, which only exists in the head waters of the Chagrin River. The Biologists are concerned that steelhead smolts will displace the fragile brook trout population. There is also concern about the lamprey eel moving up river now as well. The good news is that there will be much greater access for steelhead fishing as the river runs through large tracks of Metropark land above where the dam used to be.  About 8.5 miles of additional water has been opened up to steelhead migration and about half of that is in the Metroparks.  For me personally, the newly open water is much closer to home.  Now I'll hopefully have steelhead in the "back yard".


We will have to wait and see how all these things shake out to determine if the failure of this dam was a good or a bad thing for the Chagrin River, its fish, and for anglers.


Dam before the flood

Dam during the flood, before it fell

Dam during the flood, after it fell

Remnants of the dam after the flood waters recede (at the right, part of the dam still stands)

Persistence pays

I vowed I would get to Central Pennsylvania for a day of fishing after the weather ruined my President’s Day trip, and that is exactly what I did on Sunday.


I watched the weather all week. At first it looked like Friday was going to be the day, then Saturday, but it wound up being Sunday because of the snow and rain. Friday and Saturday were rotten. Friday, Campus was closed because of the snow, and Saturday it rained in the evening. Sunday looked to be the only day I could make the trip. The weather on Sunday called for rain in Ohio and rain in Central Pennsylvania, I could deal with a little rain. The stream gauge shot up on Spring Creek on Friday, and dropped a little on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, I had no idea if the trip was going to come off or not. I was not going to drive seven hours round trip for a blown out stream.


At 5:30am, as the coffee was brewing, I checked the stream gauge, weather, and road conditions. Everything was dry, the stream had dropped to fishable levels and the forecast for State College was warm and sunny. I was on the road by 6:00am and putting on my waders by 9:30. I fished until dark and enjoyed a gift of a beautiful warm sunny day in late February. The water was a little high and off color. There were hoards of other anglers on the stream. It seemed no matter where I fished, I was fishing behind two or three other guys. The fishing was tough.


I fished small naturals, I fished big bright attractors and I fished a big black streamer. Nothing was getting it done. The few fish I did catch were on small flashy nymphs with a lot of movement or on naturals in shallow water near the bank where the water was pretty clear. I caught five or six trout. Half were a good size and the rest were twelve inches or less.


The fishing was not outstanding, but it was an amazing day. It was such a beautiful day to be out on a trout stream. It was warm and sunny, I was out of the law library, in the fresh air, and I caught some fish too. Any day on a trout stream instead of being in the law library is a great day in my book; the trout were a bonus!

I had to work for them, but fish were landed.  Here are a few.

The very crowded parking lot.  I created the only empty spot when I left.