Things were not looking good. Yesterday and last night North East Ohio got pounded with waves of rain. The steelhead streams shot up again and were at flood stage this morning. Most of trout streams within a two hour drive were up and out of their banks too. I checked all the flow gauges, stream reports and called the fly shops. I found one stream that was spared. The torrent of rain somehow missed Neshannock Creek. The creek got a small bump in flow and some color, but it was fishing.
I packed the car and hit the road for a day of trout fishing! I made a quick stop at the fly shop to grab some flies and a stream map. I wadered up and rigged the rod. I was all ready to go, but I couldn't find my hat. I searched the car to no avail. I must have forgotten it. Screw it. I headed for the river.
With the water up and a bit off color, I tied on a black streamer and started pounding the far bank. I saw a big yellow form following the fly, at first I thought it was litter in the stream and then I realized I had moved a huge palomino. It had turned and chased the fly half way across the river and broke away at the last minute. I threw a few more casts at the palomino, it kept following but wouldn't commit. I decided to change it up and went with a smaller white streamer. I worked down stream and ran into about half a dozen other anglers so I decided to walk a little further down river to find some solitude. As I got out of the stream I noticed my shoe lace had blown out. I threw a quick surgeons knot into the lace to reconnect the broken pieces and relaced the boot. After the pit stop, I made my way downstream.
I found some fishy looking water on the far side of an island. I swung through most of this run when I felt a whack and saw a rainbow leap from the water! It was good to shake off the skunk. I found another really sexy run just down from where I caught the first fish; the water was the perfect speed with a little chop on the surface, the run was a beautiful green color, and the bottom was littered with boulders the size of garbage cans. I knew there was a fish in there some where. I worked this run and connected with another nice rainbow. This fish went airborne several times and used the current to pull line from the reel. It was about 18 inches, but it had broad shoulders. It was a pretty good fish.
It was getting to be that time to head back to the car so I could make it home in time for dinner. That last fish was a great way to end the day so I reeled it in and hoofed it back to the parking lot. While I didn't catch a steelhead over break, trout fishing yesterday on a beautiful 75 degree sunny day was a real treat. I still need to get a steelhead fix before the fish move back into the big pond.
