Finally

For awhile I thought I forgot how to catch a fish. That’s tough to say, especially during peak steelhead season. Social media fishing groups are filled with reports of 10+ steelhead catches almost the norm. And I make five trips in February and March to Lake Erie tributaries and not even a bump. That’s some bad juju!

Wrong flies…wrong time…wrong stretch of water…wrong day. It was all wrong. The strange thing was I fished good water that had always been productive. And, on the days I was on the water I wasn’t seeing anybody else catch chrome. There would be five or six fishermen sharing water, all coming up empty. Was it me? Was I spreading my bad juju to them? It was getting so bad that I wanted to go up to them and apologize, explaining they won’t be catching anything today. But for my own safety, and not wanting to spoil their day before it began, I just went about my business…of not catching a fish.

Something had to change. I went fishing yesterday and decided to go as far south as I can go on the Chagrin River. Maybe get away from the crowds and find some unpressured water. I had nothing to lose. If I wasn’t hooking up on popular stretches of water I’d find some place without footprints in the mud. I found the spot and began to swing flies in pools and riffles. For a little over two hours I threw every color woolly bugger in my fly box without a bump. Was it going to be another long ride home smelling of skunk?

Absolutely not. Running out of water I had a small riffle left to fish. Only having about 10’ of fly line and the leader on the water I got a tug. I set the hook and it felt great. A quick fight ended with some chrome in the net. How ironic. The shortest cast of the day catches the fish. Not the biggest steelhead I’ve caught but at that time it was a giant.

After a long drought getting this fish in the net felt great.

 

After I released it I said to myself “that wasn’t a fish, that was a smile. I’m back!

Go out and fool a fish!

A Good Start To The Year

What an unusual start to 2019. Just four days into the year and the weather couldn’t be better in northeast Ohio. The rivers could be locked up with ice. They’re not. We could have a foot of snow on the ground. We don’t. The temps could be way below freezing. They’re not. Near 50° as I write this. That makes a guy want to get out and chase some chrome.

I chose a spot far up the Chagrin, only a mile or so from Chagrin Falls. It’s a nice stretch of water, not very wide, with a few deep holes. This section doesn’t see the pressure that other spots do, as most fishermen prefer the northerly sections of the Chagrin. With all that said, I did share the water with another fisherman. In fact, I followed him downstream, hitting the same runs and pools that he fished. Normally, I’ll shy away from following someone but for some reasons I felt good about being second in line. He wasn’t having any luck. I wasn’t either…until I did.

All it took was a cast that bounced off the opposite bank. The slow current took the purple woolly bugger downstream. The take was very light. I was going to chalk that take up to sluggishness on the fishes part until it ran downstream the length of the pool. It was done after a couple of other runs and came to the net easily.

This 25" steelhead put up a good fight after a very light take.

(Click on image for a larger view.)

Good color on the gillplate.

I am easy to please. Today was “one and done”. Stealing a day on the water in January, and catching some chrome will make up for some the dark days of winter that I’m sure will find us.

Go out and fool a fish!

Fall Trip To Mohican State Park

The covered bridge makes for a great photo any time of the year.

(Click on image for larger view.)

What is turning out to be an annual event, my wife and I made a day trip to Mohican State Park in Loudonville, Ohio. If we time it right, the fishing and fall colors make for a great day. This year the colors were at, or close to peak. The fishing…not so much. The water was low and crystal clear. The first part of the day the water was void of leaves, but then we had a major leaf hatch, and by the time we called it quits around noon the surface of the water was covered with leaves.

As for the fishing, I moved up and downstream to find some deeper pools. There were a few spots but the fish didn’t want to play. I did manage to hook into a small largemouth bass, but that was it. In the past few years the Ohio Department of Natural Resources stocks the lower Clear Fork River that flows through the park with brown trout. I didn’t see any trout, so the stocking may not yet have occurred.

Look close. The only hookup of the day.

Before calling it a day, we took one last walk upstream and as if out of nowhere I spotted some bass, bluegills, and suckers hanging out in the middle of a few downed trees. Unfortunately the only way I could get a fly to them was to dap a woolly bugger. I spent about 10 minutes trying to entice a strike, but they didn’t want to play. Just a tough day.

Here's nice shot of a few bluegill hanging around some cover.

I want to share some of the sights captured by my wife. The colors were spectacular. There is also a video to view. Remember, the fishing was tough, so what you will see will be the fall colors, and some casting to fish that weren't there. Enjoy.

Early in the morning the leaves were not present.

Come mid-morning the leaves were hatching..

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!