A Surprise Catch

Lake Erie is known for fantastic walleye fishing. According to reports, it’s even better than fantastic this fall. Size and quantity of catch have been unbelievably strong. Even fishermen working the rivers for steelhead are reporting walleye catches. With first-hand experience I can confirm those reports.

A couple of days ago I went on a hunting mission in an attempt to determine if any steelhead have made it past Painesville on the Grand River. With little rain, the Grand hasn't been able to get a big push of water since August. Well, the hunt went on for a couple of hours and I finally got a take on a white woolly bugger. I was surprised when I realized it wasn't a steelhead. It was a walleye. Not big, but a walleye none the less. This was my first walleye ever on a fly rod.

A surprise catch three miles upstream from Lake Erie.

A toothy walleye.

(Click on image for larger view.). 

A great time of the year to be on the water.

Oh, by the way, on my second cast after landing the walleye I did hook up with a steelhead. Unfortunately, after playing it for about a minute, and after three jumps, the hook pulled loose. I examined the woolly bugger and the hook was bent. Oh well, that’s fishing.

Go out and fool a fish!

Fall Colors And A Little Fishing

Nothing screams “Road Trip” like warm weather and fall colors. My wife and I have a favorite spot in the fall. When the opportunity presents itself we head south to Mohican State Park. We’ve made the autumn drive four or five times and have never been disappointed. Catch the maples just right and Mohican shines as bright as any other destination.

As for fishing, it is secondary on these trips. Oh, I’ll fish for a few hours, but the setting on the Lower Clear Fork is right out of a magazine or book. Pools that look like glass, and reflect the yellows and reds of the maples dominate the landscape. So, I forgive myself if a hookup is missed.

There's an old saying "A picture is worth a thousand words". I can't describe the day better than using pictures. Enjoy.

Go out and fool a fish!

View upstream from the covered bridge.

Do you think there is enough structure for the largemouth and smallmouth bass?

(Click on image for a larger view.) 

(All photos courtesy of Chris Zimmer.)  

I did not want to wade into the water.

The dam area always produces.

Mist on the water and a bass on the line.

 Just another mirror view.

Water so reflective there's two covered bridges.

I'm just a bit player in this scene.

From Another Time

I know the phrase “catch and release” has been around for a long time but there was a time when “catch and keep” was popular. And I am old enough to know about it.

Growing up in the 1950’s fishing with my dad he always made sure the stringer was handy. Whether it was perch or catfish from Lake Erie, or walleye when we took trips to Canada, we would keep what we caught unless there was a size requirement. We would catch and my mom would clean the fish. The catching and keeping helped put some food on the table.

About the time I began high school my family used to take fishing trips to Canada. It was an area north of Peterborough in the Kawartha Lakes region of Ontario. The lake we fished had bass, walleye and muskie. I always liked those trips because we got to fish from a boat as opposed to pier fishing in Lake Erie. And there was a chance to catch some big fish. One big fish stands out from all the rest.

Our last fishing trip to Canada was 1969. On one of the last days of the trip I hooked and landed a 48” muskie. It was by far the biggest muskie of any we caught in the four years we’ve been going up there. Immediately my dad wanted to have it mounted because back then that is what you did when you caught a fish like that. So, being almost second nature to keep a fish, we had the muskie mounted. Little did I know but that would be the last fish I would catch for 40 years. And, looking back I am amazed I caught it. If anyone could see the knots I tied back they would also be amazed. I used to make 5-7 overhand knots when attaching the lure to the line.

This muskie was caught 50 years ago. 48" length, 28 pounds. 

By far the largest fish I've ever caught.

(Click on image for a larger view.)

Now, 50 years after catching it, that muskie still hangs on my basement wall. It reminds me of another time. Not a better time, just different in many ways. Thankfully, making replicas by taking several measurements and a photo is now available. I would definitely do it differently now. Saving the resource is important.

Here’s hoping everyone has a chance to hang a fish on the wall.

Go out and fool a fish!

A Quick Trip And 1-1/2 Fish Caught

It was time to get out of Dodge. For various reasons my wife and I haven’t had a chance for a road trip, no matter how short, for over two years. So, we made plans to meet up with my wife’s sister and her husband to spend a day fishing Mossy Creek in the Shenandoah Valley. Then we had planned to drive to the eastern part of Virginia and spend a couple days just relaxing. But with Hurricane Dorian moving up the east coast we decided to just fish. So, getting caught up with the relatives would be condensed into a few hours. In the end, only the fishing was quiet. But that’s not unexpected as fishing a spring creek like Mossy will humble many a fly fisherman, as I found out by the end of the day.

Rays of sun highlight the grasses that are a characteristic of spring creeks.

Wary trout will use the grass as cover.

(Click on the image for a larger view.)

We’ve made this trip about a half a dozen times and know what to expect. The problem I run into is most of my fishing is done in the Lake Erie tributaries targeting steelhead and smallmouth bass. Whether I’m throwing a streamer or popper I don’t worry about accuracy. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying to be accurate but If I aim for a spot a foot from a downed tree and get it two feet from the tree I'm satisfied. Besides, I’ve caught fish when making a bad cast, and not caught fish after putting the fly exactly where I wanted it to land. So why worry? But every time I fish Mossy I find out the hard way that without accuracy and a good presentation I’m not going to catch many fish on a spring creek. OK, call me a slow learner.

Trying to place a hopper a few inches away from the opposite bank.

As you can see there are some prime lies on the opposite bank for the trout to sit.

If only they were hungry.

Early September is usually prime terrestrial season. Ants, beetles, hoppers and crickets were all over the vegetation, and the trout should be looking up for a good protein meal. In addition, tricos were swarming above the water and a spinner fall was a couple of hours away. With all that protein available the trout should feel like we do after a Christmas dinner. And I think their bellies were full, as it was a very slow day on the water. We had to work hard for every one of our hookups.

Brian Trow, our guide for the day, and I were fishing a stretch of the creek and noticed a few rises upstream against the far bank. We made our way upstream and I began throwing a hopper against the bank. After a couple of good drifts right over the trout without any movement to inspect the offering we switched to an ant pattern. Again, after a couple of drifts with no movement we made another switch, this time to a small trico. Again, no reaction from the trout. At about this time Brian noticed another rise about 25’ upstream. So, we left this fish and moved upstream figuring if we left it alone for awhile it might start feeding again.

Needless to say moving upstream and casting to the rise was a repeat of what we just left. A couple of fly changes with no activity. In my mind I’m thinking that I am putting the fish down by some sloppy casting. Brian, ever the optimist, disagrees and believes we just haven’t found the right meal. Another change that included a nymph dropper still did nothing to move a fish. So very frustrating.

After a short break we made our way downstream and began to fish a stretch of water with some overhanging vegetation on the opposite bank. Remember that accuracy thing I mentioned earlier. This is when I had to bring it. Finally, after a few casts I dropped a cricket pattern under the branches. Good drift, nothing. Another cast and I get hung up on the branch. I wasn’t having any luck freeing the fly so Brian took the rod made a few moves and the fly dropped off the branch. He then made a short cast to straighten out the leader and handed the rod back to me. Just as I’m about to make a backcast a trout hits it. After a short battle we bring to hand a nice, 10” brown trout. Brian and I both shared a laugh over this as it took a snagged fly and a short cast to straighten out the leader to land our first fish of the day. Laughingly, we both took ½ credit for the catch, and with that the skunk was off.

We moved to another spot and noticed a fish feeding right off the bank on our side of the stream. This presented a problem. I was now going to try and land the fly by the bank using a reach cast. I’m a right-handed caster so casting upstream against the bank brought the vegetation into play. To get a good drift I had to make the forward cast and then reach toward the water so the line would land there. First attempt worked fine but the fly landed too far from the bank. The second attempt put the fly right by the bank. A brief drift was interrupted by a rainbow inhaling the cricket. After a brief run and an aerial display the rainbow made it to the bottom of the net.

A lot of hard work went into catching this rainbow.

It was fooled by a cricket.

That flurry of activity capped off an interesting, challenging and frustrating day. But it was still fun, and I’d do it again tomorrow. It may make me a better fisherman.

Another day comes to an end in the Shenandoah Valley.

This image was captured by my wife from the top floor of our hotel.

Go out and fool a fish!

A Ditch And A Rainbow

Fishermen spend a great deal of time looking for new water to fish, no matter how small. Whether it’s a DeLorme Atlas or an online map app, finding a blue line that may hold fish will brighten the day of many fishermen. This is especially true for some steelheaders, who will investigate any ditch that holds water during the spawning season.

There was a time when I had one of those ditches in my front yard. But I didn’t fish at that time, and thought it was a nuisance. Most of the time the ditch had a small amount of water, but like all drainage ditches, after a big rain event, it would pour over its banks. Depending on the severity of the rain the ditch would go from a trickle to over 6’ in a short period of time. Then, just as quickly the water would recede, and a day or two later would be back to the trickle. It was after one of these rain events that a rainbow trout showed up. That may not sound unusual given the migratory movement of steelhead in the Great Lakes, but it is unusual since I’m writing about something that happened in the mid 1980’s.

Here's a photo right after a rain event. There is about 6' of water flowing through my property.

(Click on image for a larger view.)

Now, without giving away the ditch location I’ll just say it meanders through Lake County, beginning south of Route 20 and emptying into Lake Erie. When I trace it on a map the ditch is about 4-5 miles long. My house, being just north of Route 20, is a long way from Lake Erie. So, any fish seen in my neighborhood has a long journey in a ditch two feet wide.

My neighbor came over one day with a five gallon bucket. He was walking along the ditch and noticed some splashing in a small, shallow pool. Looking closer he saw it was a fish. He got the bucket and scooped the fish into it. To his surprise it was a rainbow trout, maybe 8” in length. Other than in pictures I had never seen a rainbow so I was amazed at the colors. I can still remember the parr marks on it.

Some 34 years later I still think about that rainbow and the trip it took through that ditch. That was certainly a diamond in the rough. The ditch through my property has been culverted over, as the flooding caused a lot of erosion. This was done about 15 years before I got back into fishing and steelheading. Now, every once in awhile, I wish it was still open. It would be nice to find another diamond.

Go out and fool a fish!

Small Fish, Big Appetites

We all want to catch big fish but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. Being a simple fisherman, it doesn’t matter to me what the size of the fish is. I just like to catch fish. The last two outing prove that. The fish were small, but had big appetites as they hit the topwater poppers hard. Always fun to catch fish topwater.

This rock bass inhaled a popper that was bigger than its mouth.

(Click on image for a larger view.)

Big or small, smallmouth bass fight hard. 

This one took a black popper.

 

Go out and fool a fish!

70 Long Days

A lot can happen in 70 days. For me, not so much. Rewind to May 17, my last day on the river until today. Fishing one of the local rivers I slipped, and in trying to stop from falling all my weight went on my right hand and wrist. Even though the hand was sore there was no bruising or swelling so I kept fishing. After I stopped is when the swelling showed up. A trip to the urgent care revealed a fracture in one of the small bones directly above the wrist. I was going to be on the shelf for a little bit…or so I thought.

Fast forward 10 weeks (a lot longer than I estimated) and I was cleared to begin using the hand without restrictions. Maybe age has something to do with it, as I graduated from the mid-60’s to the late 60’s in that time period. I guess if I was in my 20’s or 30’s healing would have been a lot quicker. Still, never imagined a small bone would take so long to heal.

The arrow points to the small break. 

Can't believe it took 10 weeks to heal.

(Click on image for a larger view.)

So, what did I miss? Probably the best time of the year to be on a river chasing smallies. Nothing beats throwing a topwater popper on a warm early morning. There’s still some time left for that, and today was my first day back in action. And, my outing was more to find out if my wrist and hand would hold up, as it was my casting hand. Catching a fish was secondary.

I did manage to hook into a fish. I say fish because I don’t know what it was as it never surfaced and then after a short time, threw the fly. It was heavy, putting a big bend in my 4wt rod. It didn’t fight like a smallie so I’m guessing either a carp or a catfish. Anyhow, the hand held up, and there doesn’t appear to be any lingering issues.

So, officially I’m back, and want to make up for lost time. If the rivers stay in good shape I’m going to be out there. Hopefully there’s a bunch of smallies waiting to be fooled.

This is what I am after. Another smallie fooled.

Go out and fool a fish!