Winter warm up

When I got to the river yesterday I was surprised to find a few other anglers braving the cold.  The snow and ice keep the fair weather fans at home.  Only hardcore anglers brave the elements for the chance of catching winter steel.  The hook ups are few and you have to work for them, the fish are lethargic from the ice cold water, but a winter fish makes it all worth it.  Landing a steelhead when other guys are sitting at home tying flies and talking nonsense on the message boards is a rewarding feeling.  For me, I missed the best fishing of the fall because of school.  I have to get out and try for one more fish at every available opportunity; I need to scratch the itch.  It was a balmy 30 degrees yesterday so there was minimal slush in the water which made it possible to get a decent drift.  I fished all types of water and only had one hook up in a slow deep run near a downed tree.  The fish was on and off in a moment, but the brief tug on the end of the line made the day even if I didn’t land that fish.  I spoke to two other anglers who had no luck at all.  As I was leaving, I took this picture of a lone angler fishing a deep pool at a bend in the river.  Now that is what winter steelheading is all about.               

Ice out

I finished finals earlier this week and all I wanted to do was to go out and go fishing.  I had read internet reports of ice and slush.  I had heard that the rivers are all locked up for the winter.  Then I drove by the upper part of the river, there was some open water so I figured I go out and give it hell.  I fished for about three hours this afternoon.  The air temp was 24 degrees and it was sunny out.  There was a lot of shelf ice and slush flowing in the water.  The only water I could get a decent drift in was too fast to hold fish when the water is this cold.  All the slow winter holding water was either solid on top or had major slush flows.  Icy guides and ice on the fly line and leader was a bit of nuisance, but you deal with it.  I tried breaking up the ice and pushing it down stream to open up some water.  I put on a twice the amount of split shot to penetrate the slush, I did everything I could think of to get the fly to the fish, I fished hard.  It just was not meant to be today.  I didn’t even get a bump.  Even with out any fish, it was really nice to get out.

I think the only place I'm going to find fishable water durring my break is to find some spring fed creek in Pennsylvania.  I'm thinking about heading to State college and fishing for some trout.

Lower river frozen solid... this is what I expected to find when I got to the river 

 

Winter warrior... all geared up for 24 degrees

Icy guides were a pain

Open water, but slush everywhere



Day Dreaming...

While I have been spending long hours in the law library preparing for finals next week, my mind inescapably drifts to fishing.  Between the rains, I know I have missed out on the best steelhead fishing of the season.  I am itching to get out there and hooking into some fresh chrome.  My day dreams started by thinking of fresh Ohio chrome and began to wander into thoughts of wild brook and brown trout.  Lately, I have been thinking about planning trips to places near and far.  Pennsylvania is so close and offers more trout fishing than I have time to pursue.  But then, my thoughts drift out West to places like Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho… even Alaska.  In the near term it will be PA, but hopefully I can plan a trip out West in the summer of 2012. 

Started thinking about catching chrome...

...then I started thinking about catching brook trout

...and these guys

I want to fish here...

...and I really want to plan a trip to places like this.



Daydreams are keeping me sane right now...

Airborne!

I found this picture on Steelheadsite.com. This is the kind of picture every angler wishes he could capture of his catch. I’m usually out on my own. When I have a fish on, my hands are full. I never get a shot like this.  I'm jealous.

Nice fish professor.

Fresh push of chrome

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon.  The river was on the drop after a big blow out and I knew there would be fresh chromers that just pushed in.  I felt the urge to chase chrome.  I hit the river mid afternoon.  The water was still off color, but it was fishable.  I hooked up right away with a supercharged silver bullet that shot out of the water like a bat out of hell.  A little later on, I hooked into a nice chromed up buck.  I had a couple of other hook ups that went on and off.  I talked to a guy swinging big nasties who hadn't had a hook up all day.  Right in front of that guy, I hooked into the last fish of the day and it was a big angry freshy that jumped, thrashed, and broke me off in a violent splashing frenzy.  This fish was pissed; it jumped two or three more times after it broke me off.  Not the way I had hoped to end the day, but it was a good afternoon none the less.

                 Fresh chrome...

                  Purple bugger was money...

The guy that took this was no the best photographer, but hey it was a good fish, right.

Much needed day off

I took off yesterday which was the Friday before my birthday.  I fished from sunrise to sunset, it was a gloriously beautiful day.  It started at 33 degrees at dawn, peaked at 64 degrees in the afternoon.  School has had me all tied up the last few weeks and I haven't gotten out to fish since the last week in October when I had to head home early after filling my waders with 40 degree water.  The reports on the Ohio steelhead streams have been slow, yesterday was no different for me.  The water was low and clear making for tough fishing.  I managed a couple of fish that I really had to work for.  I picked off a small jack just after sunrise, and caught a nice chrome hen in the afternoon.  All in all it was a much needed break from the rigors of law school... in a way it was a last "whora" since it will probably the last time I'll get out before finals, and by then the river's are usually iced over. I saw a bald eagle swoop overhead. It was about twenty feet above me. I've seen one before from a distance, but never this close. It was awesome. They are such beautiful and awe inspiring birds. It is amazing that there are bald eagles in Northeast Ohio. Seeing one of these birds while standing alone on a secluded stretch of the river, it made me feel free in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. It was a moment of appreciation for nature and the sheer beauty of our land and its animals. It made me proud to be an American.
             Frosty field at sunrise

A river sunrise, sun peaks through the trees & mist rises off the water

                   What it's all about...

 I pulled this picture off the web, but the eagle I saw seemed this close.

Skunked!

Enough said...

Fall Round Up

Northern Pike?


I’ve been trapped in the law library and only manage to fish once or twice a weekend, if I’m lucky. Since my time to fish is so limited, I have to stay close to home. Steelhead have started coming in East of here, but not in numbers yet. I have fished for steelhead a couple of time this year and have not had any luck, nor have I seen any other angler hook up either. It was just too early. So while waiting for the rain and cooler temps I went bass fishing in my usual summer haunts. I caught some smallies, rock bass, a large slab crappie and then there was the surprise catch, I caught a long slender fish with teeth that looked to be a small northern pike. I was shocked and thrilled to catch a pike in these waters (never heard of them being here). I know they naturally occur in other area streams, so it seemed possible. I told the guys at the fly shop about my catch and they suggested it might be a chain pickerel. I was not happy to think my pike was not a pike. I looked it up and sure enough, they were right it was a chin pickerel. They are a member of the pike family and have all the same characteristics, but they have a tear drop marking at the eye and do not have spots on their fins where pike do. So what it’s a chain pickerel, it’s still a cool catch.

First fall steelhead
I went out in search of fresh steel after the latest bout of cool temps and 3-4 days of constant rain. Fish are being caught, I went to one of the Eastern rivers where there are greater numbers of fish and gave it hell. I had two hook ups in about a two hours time and I fished hard, kept moving and worked each run methodically. The first hook up was a solid take and the fish took off downstream making my drag sing. I landed this fish for the first steel of the year! That was a happy moment… The next hook up was just below a drop off, it too was a solid take, I set the hook and the fish shot across current for a nearby bolder, I worked it away from the rock when all of the sudden the line shot back at me and the fish was gone. I got a nice taste of chrome, now I’m chomping at the bit for more. Steelhead season has begun. It’s on like Donky Kong and I’m ready to fish as much as my schedule will permit. Here fishy, fishy…

First Steelhead Fall 2010

Elk Creek


I went to Erie PA and fished Elk Creek for an afternoon. This was my first time to the Elk, I went because I had heard that it was loaded with fish, and it was. The water was low, gin clear and the bottom is all shale bedrock. Fish were congregated in deeper pools and were getting pounded on by hillbillies. These guys stood in same place all day, standing shoulder to shoulder, and beat on these poor fish. Every now and then a fish would be caught, but for the most part the fish would scatter as soon as a line hit the water. These fish were weary; they would part like the red sea when a bait or fly drifted through the pool. I had heard stories of “combat fishing” from friends who fish PA often. I thought they were exaggerating, but I guess not. I kept on the move and fished the fast water where I found some fresh aggressive chrome. I caught six fish that day. All were dime bright and super charged! When hooked, these fish exploded from the water like a ballistic missile shot from a nuclear sub and ran me up and down stream. One fish ran up through a heavy riffle into the pool above where it made a U turn and shot back down river, as it went back through the riffle it snagged the point fly on a branch and broke off. These fish were really aggressive. I had to kick the indicator and fish small flies (size 14). Most fish were caught on an orange nuke egg or roe bead. One fish hammered a white whooly bugger. The fish that hit the bugger was extremely aggressive, after crushing the fly it exploded jumping several times through the run. I tried drifting through a couple more times, but the last fish completely trashed the run. The remaining fish shut down. I moved on downstream and caught a skipper hanging out below a drop off. That rounded out my trip to the Elk. It was a good day on the water, but I can’t wait for the Ohio streams to start fishing better because I don’t like combat fishing or gin clear water.

Fall Colors

It rained hard most of this week and the rivers were blown on Friday.  I went out Friday afternoon since i had the chance and don't get to get out often anymore.  I did manage to catch a sucker fish, but no steelhead.  I went out again this morning for an hour, I went to an area on the upper river, but it was too early in the season to find fish up that far.  I did get some excellent picture of fall foilliage on the river.  I have also included a shot from the dudes at Dudwater.

 

Courtesy of the dudes at Dudwater

   

The one that got away...

School has taken its toll on my opportunity to get out and fish. I have managed to get out like once a week since the semester began about a month ago. I’m still targeting smallmouth bass as it is still a little early to chase steelhead. I have heard a few isolated reports of fish steelhead being caught, mostly in the streams east of here near PA. I was thinking about heading out today, but instead I worked on getting some flies tied for steelhead season. I tied a bunch of nymphs and some egg patterns too. It was a decent start.  I hope to get out tomorrow before I have to go do homework.


I went out last weekend and fished a small creek West of where I live. I wasn’t even sure it held fish. It’s a nice stretch of stream that runs through a deep gorge. If nothing more it was going to be a nice hike. I got out there and started fishing a plunge pool. I started to walk across the waterfall from right above where it dumps into the pool. My first step was fine, the next step was a little insecure, I tried to turn back, but the slippery surface and the force of the current was too much. I slipped and was pushed over the fall into the pool below. I was soaked from head to toe. The only thing that did not get completely soaked was my hat. It was in the high 60s, no more than 70 degrees. I had a fleece on so I decided to continue to fish. I caught a few creek chubs and eventually a small mouth bass that I found behind a rock. It was a slow afternoon, but not a complete waste. I eventually worked my way to a large slow pool. I fished a drop off at the head of the pool and kept getting bumped, but no hook up. Just down river of the drop off was a small island with trees. I began fishing the area between the island and the drop off. Again I got a few bumps, but no hook up. I gave it a second cast and I had a nice solid hook up right away. This fish pulled hard, I thought I had hooked a carp since it was pulling line off the reel and the drag was screaming. I worked the fish towards me and to the surface, it was a HUGE smallmouth! I was pretty excited; this was a big fish for any stream, especially small water like the creek I was fishing. As I was preparing to land the fish, the line went limp… When I brought the tip of my line to my hand to see what had happened, I notice my knot had come undone. It did not break, it just came untied. I was mortified. I tie good knots; I have never had this happen before. If I lose a fish it’s because I break off, not because I come untied. That was the last of the action for the day, I was cursing myself all the way home. It was such a beautiful fish to have lost :(

Recap from the last few weeks

It’s been a long time since I have written about my fishing adventures. I have fished the river several times, hit a local pond and gone out on Lake Erie in search of perch and walleye. The timeline has gotten a little fuzzy because all of these outings occurred over a few weeks time.

I was out on the river one evening before dark. I decided I wanted to fish a waterfall that I have fished before to no avail. The last time I fished this waterfall was a while ago and I didn’t really know how to approach it. This time, I knew exactly how to fish it. I drifted a Clouser crayfish fly under the falls down through the run, I also drifted through the eddies to the side of the falls where I know there is an undercut ledge. I caught two good sized bass in about a 20 minute period. It was a great feeling to finally produce from this location that had skunked me in the past. I was going to try fishing poppers too, but it got dark before I had a chance to go to the popper.

A couple of weeks ago, my buddies and me went out on the Lake in search of Erie walleye. The forecast was for rain beginning at about 11:00am. We motored out about 10 miles off shore in search of some walleyes. We set 6 trolling lines and trolled for about a half hour. The wind began to pick up and white caps began developing on the water. We pulled in the lines and headed for shore because of the rough conditions and the concern of an approaching storm. We quickly got some minnows and rigged up the perch spreaders and went after the perch. Between 5 of us we caught more than 20 perch. It was a lot of fun. When we docked we dropped of the perch to be cleaned and fileted. My buddies fried up the perch the following night and said it was great. I couldn’t make the fish fry because I was with my family celebrating my mom’s birthday. I’ve never fished the lake from a boat before, it was pretty cool. I hope to get back out and catch some walleye next time.

I fished a spot I fish often, but I fished up river this time instead of down river as I usually do. I caught a couple of bass, nothing exciting. I was going to keep moving up river when I noticed a drizzle. Before I could count to ten it was raining pretty hard. I began running down river for the car and it started pouring! I was soaked to the bone. My car got soaked as I got in and put my gear in the trunk. The worst part about this flash storm was the rain had ended in the 5 minutes it took me to get home. I probably should have just kept fishing; I was wet anyway.

After work one day, I went out and fished a local pond in one of the neighborhoods to the East of where I live. It was reported to have bass in it. I got there and the sun was high overhead. The water was crystal clear and there was a lot of aquatic vegetation growing up from the bottom of the pond. Aquatic plants are good for fish to hid in, but make fishing tough since you hang up on the weeds. I tied on a popper first and pounded the bank. After a while I decided to go sub-surface and tied on a scorpion fly. It has a rubber curly tail and rubber legs which bring out the predator instinct in the bass. The key to this fly is the weed guard. I fished it across the top of the weeds and down into the openings between patches of weeds. I found a spot where a large tree shaded a substantial weed bed and cast into the weeds. I felt a strong tug and set the hook on a very nice sized largemouth bass. I was thrilled to land this fish as it was confirmation that there were in fact bass in this pond and I had caught a pretty big one. I continued to fish and caught another smaller bass and a sun fish. I missed a couple of other strikes. It was a nice outing. I will certainly fish this spot again.

Last Sunday morning I went out on the river. When I was approaching through the woods, I saw a guy standing out in the water, he was wearing a fishing vest, and as I got closer I saw him fishing with a fly rod. When I got out of the woods and said hello, I realized I knew this angler. It was a guy I had made friends with during steelhead season. We would see each other daily and became friendly. I started seeing him at the fly shop. We fished through the morning. I caught a decent smallmouth right away. I had the fish in hand and dropped it. The fish got off and took off for the deep water. I guess it was an early release. We fished on up river and my friend caught a dink smallmouth, and I hooked a big fat rock bass.

Friday afternoon, I snuck out of work for a quick jaunt on the river. The water was high (for the summer) and muddy. I had missed several strikes on the popper and hadn’t caught a fish yet. I had a few fish follow and turn away. The fish were being very selective this day. I could smell the skunk… I kept working it hard and finally hooked up in a shaded pocket near the far bank. It was a decent fish. Size didn’t matter because this fish wiped the skunk away. Now that I was on the boards I loosened up a bit and proceeded to pull 3 more bass from the same small pocket. This was a surprise as usually when a fish is caught it makes such a ruckus that any other fish in the imidiate vicinity shut down making this a unique situation. It turned around a slow outing.

I fished on Saturday morning. The water was stained. The fishing started off ok with an average bass brought to hand. I expected a good day. After fishing a wide open pool, I moved into an area that had a lot of overhanging tree branches and brush. I tried to fish this spot and got hung up 6-7 times before moving on down river in frustration. I worked through some good water with not even a bump. I was beginning to get discouraged. I tied on a popper and began to pound the banks. After working some fishy looking areas on the far bank I saw a dark shadow emerge from the depths, the fish followed the bug for a moment, I gave it a final twitch to entice the fish. The fish just couldn’t resist any longer and crushed the popper. I patiently waited for the fish to have a good hold on the bug and set the hook hard! The fish leaped out the water and began fighting frantically trying to get free. This fish fought hard and jumped a couple of times making it the best fish of the day in both size and fight. Felling a little better about things, I continued to fish on downstream. I caught a couple more average fish. I went around a bend and began fishing the rocky bank on the far side of the river with a crayfish fly. I caught several dink smallies and rockbass on this stretch. The action was fast and entertaining. As I continued to fish down this stretch I was twitching the fly across the bottom and I felt the fly stop, I institivly set the hook and felt a hard tug. The fish turned and headed down river. I thought to myself, CARP! This fish felt huge, and began to rip line off the reel make the drag scream. I turned the fish and all of the sudden a monster smallmouth leaped from the water and tail walked across the surface before disappearing below the surface and charging down river again. I was so surprised I just let it run for a moment before I tightened down the drag a bit to accomadate the big bass. I landed the fish took a few pictures before releasing it. This fish was 20 plus inches and probably 4 lbs. It was about the same size as the large bass I caught a few weeks back. I think those two bass are the largest bass I have ever caught in this river. I could have gone home and felt like I had a great day at that point. Instead I drove a couple minutes down the road to another branch of the river and explored some new water. The water hear was shallow and there was a lot of bedrock on the bottom which is usually not so good for fishing. I did catch one average bass in this area before the sky opened up. It noticed the drizzle begin and headed back to the car. By the time I made to the car it was raining pretty hard. I had fortuitously parked under a tree which acted as an umbrella and shielded me from the rain. As I got in the car and changed in the front seat the rain gained momentum; I made it just in time (this time). All in all it was an excellent day on the water. If all I caught was that big bass it would have been an excellent day on the water. That was a trophy smallmouth in any body of water.

I'll be going back to school on Monday which will, no doubt, eat into my time on the water. I had hoped to head South and fish sveral rivers in Central and Southern Ohio before going back. Sadly that trip was squashed by work responsibliities. I just could not leave town for a couple of days as I had planned. I may try to sneek it in on Friday in the next couple of weeks since I have no class on Fridays... Only time will tell.

Headwaters

I had an appointment near the river’s headwaters so I decided to fish for a couple of hours before I went to the appointment.  The river here is narrow and shallow, and the fish were pretty small for the most part.  On the first drift I had a dink smallmouth on and off.  I proceeded to catch several small chubs and dink smallmouth.  I worked down river to a point where the water was too deep for me to wade (or so I thought).  I turned around and fished upstream over the water I just fished and further up until I got stopped by an impassable log jam. I was wearing shorts and didn’t want to go bushwacking without long pants.  So I went back down river to the spot where it got too deep to wade, and found a shallow spot on the far bank that allowed me to pass.  I fished the rocky area where the bottom dropped off and caught a respectable smallmouth.  I continued to work a deadfall near the rocks and caught another decent smallmouth.  These were the first two fish that were big enough to fish for.  All the other were the size of baitfish.  It was cool to explore this new water, but the fishing was not great.  I doubt I’ll go back to this spot because the fish were so small, and it was close quarters; I lost several flies to the trees and submerged wood.

Staying cool on a hot night...

I fished on Tuesday night after work for a few hours. The sky was gray, there was a threat of rain and it was hot and humid. I went to a good steelhead spot and thought I’d find some good smallmouth fishing. I was wrong. I did manage to catch two fish, but I expected it to be much better than it was. I’m not sure why. I suspect that the invading steelhead eat many of the juvenile bass so it seems the bass population is poor in the area as a result. The first fish I caught was average sized. I caught the fish next to a downfall on the edge of a run. The second fish I caught was a good sized fish. This fish was hanging out in the slack water between two faster currents right on the seam. As the fly was sinking the fish crushed it shortly after it hit the surface. It was a nice evening on the river. There is no better way to stay cool on a hot night than to slip on a pair of shorts and chase river bass!

Falls...

If you look closely you can see the mist rising off the water that above the falls.  The sun was peeking through the trees as it came up.  It was picture perfect .

I haven’t had the chance to get out since I finished school because I’ve been catching up at work. I was going to fish yesterday morning, but I was lazy and didn’t get up early enough to go. This morning I was on the river by 6:30am. I went to a part of the river that runs right through the middle of town. There are three natural waterfalls on this stretch of the river. I fished each of them and caught fish below each one. The water was a little cloudy today from last night’s rain, but the fishing was decent anyway. I caught some nice smallmouth today and I caught the largest creek chub I have ever caught, it was 14” long and was as thick as a coke can. The first smallmouth I caught was a little larger than average. The rest were above average to large. I took a picture of the first bass and the biggest bass. I didn’t even take a picture of the world’s largest creek chub. No dinks today. It was a nice morning on the river.

Sight fishing for carp

I was up at 5:30am and out the door by a quarter to six.  I fished in a normal summer location near my house.  It rained yesterday so the river was dirty.  Visibility was not that good.  I caught a smallmouth right off the bat.  It was a dinky fish, but it was a real survivor.  This fish had survivied some kind of attack by a predidtor; a blue heron or a hawk, some kind of piscavoir.  It had a huge gash on its belly.  I took a picture because it was pretty remarkable that this fish was alive and agressively eating.  The morning dragged on and a caught a few more average sized smallmouth.  As I was casting twords the far bank in search of the next smallie, I saw a carp tailing in the shallows about 20 yards down stream of me on the same side of the stream I was on.  I got down on my knees and made a perfect cast placing a crafish fly about a foot in front of the tailing carp.  I gave the fly a twitch or two and the carp took an interest, it swam over and sucked up the fly.  I set the hook and it was on!!  The fish tured tail and tore off down stream ripping line off the reel as it went.  I got up and ran down stream chasing the fish.  The fish swam under some low hanging branches that I got hung up in for a moment.  As I was dealing with the trees the fish kept on going.  Once I freed myself from the trees, I continued to chase the fish down.  At this point it had taken me into the backing.  The river had widended giving me a good chance to put the breaks on the fish inorder to bring it in.  I turned it and worked it back to me.  I landed the fish for the obligitory photo.  Man, that was awsome!!  It's so hard to catch a tailing carp.  They spook so easliy and you have to place the cast with the percision of a sharpshooter.  Everything came together this morning.  There is nothing like sight fishing for carp.

Somthing took a bite out of this fish

          Lucky to be alive

Into the backing!!!!