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!