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 :(