Early Morning on the Chagrin River

When I retired almost two years ago I told myself that there’s no need to fish for steelhead on the weekends. Why fight the crowds, standing shoulder to shoulder, when the weekdays will be less crowded, and the good fishing spots open. For the most part, I followed my advice until today. So I figured to get out really early and stake out a spot. Plus, I wanted an excuse to use my headlamp, which was a gift from my wife.

Arriving at the North Chagrin Reservation, there was just a hint of light in the sky, none of it reaching the ground. Thankfully, I rig up the night before, eliminating having to fumble in the parking lot. Arrive, put on the headlamp, grab the gear, and go. Starting down the trail, I noticed my senses were in overdrive, especially sight and sound. Could this be due to the darkness that enveloped me? Each stride made a distinctive crunch. Birds, near and far, made their morning calls as if they were following me down the trail. The river, while not yet in view, seemed to roar as though it was a Class IV rapid. But it was my sight that seemed to overtake me.

First light at its finest. In a little more than a month those trees will be filled with green.

(Click on image for a larger view.)

The headlamp worked great, illuminating the area all around me. But it also accentuated the shadows. Walking down the trail, immersed in leafless trees and bushes, the branches seemed to come at me like tentacles wanting to grab my arm and pull me into a place that only Stephen King can describe. I don’t scare easily but I was happy when the light made itself known.

As for the day on the water, the best part of it was the photo of the sky, with a shade of blue not often seen. The fishing was slow. I worked a few runs with no takes. I wanted to hit another section of the river but about a dozen fishermen filled the spots, so I called it a day.

Part of the posse that combed every inch of water for chrome.

I think I’ll go back to weekdays.

Go out and fool a fish!

The Changing River

 Late August and already some color on the leaves. What a great morning.

(Click on image for larger view.)

 

After an outing to the North Chagrin Reservation that produced a skunking I decided to revisit the South Chagrin. I fished it about ten days ago but since that time we’ve had some rain and cooler temperatures. It would be an interesting trip to see if the river changed…and it did.

The flows have been low and the clarity excellent since early July. A lack of rain will do that to the Lake Erie tributaries. After receiving some rain the flow was up marginally but the water had a slight stain. In fact, unless my eyes were playing a trick on me the water actually looked like it had a greenish stain. I’ve heard that when a trib has that look the fishing could be very good. After a slow start I wasn’t sure about that.

Water had a slight stain. The fish were not in shallow, close to the bank.

The last time I fished this stretch it was a shallow water bite, either in a run, or near the bank in less than 2’ of water. They weren’t there today, as I couldn’t buy a hit any place shallow. I had to go deeper. There are several deep pools where stripping or swinging a woolly bugger will normally produces a fish or two. Today even these pools were dry... or so I thought.

Swinging a fly through this deep pool usually works. Today the fish were 

even deeper, and an upstream, dead drift cast was the right strategy.

When fishing is slow I’ll try a different tactic hoping to induce a take. In an attempt to get deeper in the water column I abandoned my down and across cast for an upstream cast to dead drift the woolly bugger. That change produced instant success as a smallmouth sucked in the fly on the second drift. In the next 20 minutes four more fish were pulled from of the pool.

These smallmouth bass fell for a dead drift woolly bugger.

Keepemwet.

So, if you get to your stream and its changed, even slightly, chances are it will fish differently. If you are striking out, change things up. It just might pay off.

Go out and fool a fish!