It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad River

I grew up in Champaign County in west central Ohio.  I bought my first fly rod at K-Mart when I was 10.  I had no idea how to use the thing, but I saw folks on television fly fish and I knew it was for me.  I read a few books on fly casting and sorted out what I could for myself.  I had no family members or friends that had ever casted a fly rod.  I spent my summers through my teen years casting to bluegill and bass in the local ponds.  I had no notion of trout fishing at the time, because after all, I was stranded in west central Ohio.  There were no trout in my part of the world?

25 years later I finally was able realize my dreams of fly casting to trout.  I had canoed down the Mad River many times throughout my childhood.  Little did I know, the best brown trout fishery in Ohio was 15 miles from my home in Mechanicsburg the entire time.

The Mad River is a stream located in the west central part of Ohio. It flows nearly 60 miles from Logan County, to downtown Dayton, where it meets the Great Miami River. The stream flows southwest from its source near Campbell Hill through West Liberty, along U.S. Route 68 west of Urbana, past Springfield (the point of confluence with Buck Creek), then along Ohio State Route 4 into Dayton. The stream's confluence with the Great Miami River is in Deeds Park.

Mad River is the largest cold water fishery in Ohio. Stocking of this river began in the late 1800s with the introduction of brook trout. Then in 1884 rainbow trout were introduced to the stream. In 1931 the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife took over the rainbow trout project and kept in going through 1984 when the state switched to stocking brown trout in the stream. Today the stream is stocked annually with 6"-8" brown trout to supplement the population.

2010 marked the first year I fished the Mad for brownies.  I made my initial trip to the Mad in May.  I fished the upper Mad and Macochee Creek.  That was a fun day.  I casted small streamers and nymphs and caught several nice, yet small brownies.

I returned to the Mad in late July for a few hours on a Friday morning.  I stopped in at Mad River Outfitters the night before to pick up a few flies.  Andy Jensen was working the shop that evening and asked me where I was headed to fish.  I told him I was going to hit the Mad for about 3 hours the next day.  He asked me what I was planning to cast and I told him.  He then said, "Do you want to catch a bunch of 8-12" brownies tomorrow or a couple of big fish?"  Well, that's a no-brainer...of course I wanted to catch the big boys. He recommended scrubbing the small dry flies and nymphs I was planning to use and opt for large sculpin streamers.  How could I argue?

I hit the stream at daylight the next morning.  The water was cool and crisp.  The air was warm.  I observed the stream as I walked along before I decided to jump in.  I identified an area where there were several fish surfacing and feeding.    I moved a little farther up from that spot, jumped in, and started casting the streamer.

The sculpin was big and heavy and all I had was my 4 wt rod.  I had some difficulty casting the thing initially, but I sorted it out and started rolling fish within a few minutes.  I hooked up with a nice 15-16" brown in the 1st hole.  Just as I got that fish to hand he jumped and found his way off the hook.  He was a beauty, but apparently in no mood for a photo.

I rolled and hooked-up with a few smaller brownies as I moved up to the area I had earlier noted several raising fish.  There was a narrow fast moving slot along a rocky bank that emptied into a very large deep fast run.  It just looked like brown trout heaven.  I rolled a small brownie on the first cast through the slot.  That got my blood moving.

I made the second cast to the top of the slot and stripped the streamer as fast as I could.  A very large, nearly silver looking trout slammed the sculpin HARD.  That thing hit like a late spring steelhead and nearly looked like one.  He was stripping drag off my little 4 wt reel like mad (maybe that's how the river was named?).  He shot into the fast water below the slot and decided to sit on the bottom like a freight train.  He was not budging and I did not have the set-up to horse him out of there.  So, all I could do was wait him out.  He started moving again and dropped back to some shallower water.  I was able to move him quickly to some skinny water where I netted him. 

He was an absolute pig.  He measured in at just shy of 24".  I did not get a weight, but he was a healthy 5-6lbs.  I snapped a few picks and moved him into some faster water to revive him.  He quickly swam off.  All I can say is that I was glad to have met his acquaintance and was happy to see him swim off healthy.

If you find yourself in west central Ohio, and you like to cast to brown trout...make sure you hit the Mad.  I can assure you that you will leave your experience anything but mad!