A Brown Christmas Wouldn't be Bad Either



The weather outside was frightful, but the brownies were so delightful.  Greg & I hit the Clear Fork branch of the Mohican River early this morning to chase brown trout.  It was 11F when we hit the water...brisk to say the least. 

Clear Fork is only one of a few rivers in the state that is cool enough to maintain a trout population all year around.  The Pleasant Hill Dam is a bottom release dam that allows the stretch of the stream from the dam to route 3 maintain consistent temperatures all year long.  There are brown trout to be had in the upper Clear Fork above the reservoir as well, but much of this property is private.  Clear Fork has been stocked with about 10,000 6-8" brown trout fingerlings year in October since 1992.  If you decide to hit Clear Fork, please consider catch and release to help maintain this little jewel.
 
Winter is the best time to chase Ohio brown trout.  The few streams that hold populations of brown trout in our fair state flow well in the winter.  Clear Fork has consistent midge activity through the winter, but streamers are the way to go if you want to chase larger fish.  Greg spent the morning swinging medium streamers with small Nuke Egg and nymph trailers.  I was obstinate and would only strip big sculpins.

Greg was rewarded early.  The chubby brown trout chased his streamer at the end of his drift.  This guy was so intent on taking his offering that it literally jumped out of the water and hit the fly as he lifted his line to make his next cast.  He was a spirited brownie and really gave Greg a nice fight for the morning.  We did not measure him, but he was a solid 17 or 18 inches and very healthy.  And just look at him.  He is a beautiful fellow.

I rolled several fish this morning, but had no hook-ups.  Big sculpin type streamers are great for brown trout, but the trade-off is you don't land many...but you will land big.    Big brown trout can be a little more sluggish in the winter, but this alpha predator will not pass up the chance at a big meal.  I strip these large sculpins both with and against the current.  It's always fun to see the fish that will chase a fly that is nearly the same size as they are.

If you are in north central Ohio looking for a new fishing adventure, be sure to consider the Clear Fork branch of the Mohican.  You won't be disappointed!

First and Definately Not the Last!

Catching my first steelhead was exciting.  The next best thing is guiding someone else to catching their first steelhead.  This was one of those days.

David and I began yaking on a steelhead forum last summer.  He was sharing with me at that time that he had hooked-up with some steelhead last spring, but just could not land them.  He was frustrated with the situation.  I told him then that I would get a steelhead in his hand sometime during the upcoming steelhead season and David held me to it.

Davids story with fly fishing is a good one.  He has only been fly fishing for a few years.  He decided he wanted to learn to cast flies, so he got outfitted and taught himself to cast.  He has already been on a self-guided cutthroat trip out west.  And has recently started collecting the components to build his first fly rod.  David is motivated to say the least!

In early November, David and I got together on Pennsylvania's Elk Creek in hopes of putting his first steelhead in his hand.  We spent the morning learning how to identify water that holds steelhead, how to select appropriate offerings, how to set the proper depth of the fly, and how to make a proper drift of a fly through a run.  David took to all of it well and was a perfect student.  Unfortunately, the conditions on the Elk on this particular day were tough.  I was able to land a beautiful dime bright chromer early in the morning, but that was all we were able to bring to hand.

David learned a lot on that outing.  He agreed to give it another swing in a month and then he headed back to central Ohio.    A few weeks later he set out on Mad River with his new skill set and landed his first brown trout.  You can't help but like a guy who gets out and makes the most of what he has learned where ever he can.

We got back together this morning and headed back to PA.  I had scouted the PA lake Erie tribs and the eastern OH tribs yesterday and decided David would probably fare best back in PA on Walnut Creek.  Normally Walnut Creek has good runs of steelhead, and a tremendous amount of fisherman on the creek to go with it.  Over the past week the temperatures have dropped and there has been heavy snow fall.  The creeks are low and clear and there is plenty of ice to impede fishing.  These conditions have deterred the majority of fisherman.  So, the Walnut has become a nice place to fish again.

David and I reviewed what we did on the last trip and based on the conditions he decided he wanted to drift a beadheaded nymph with a pink crystal meth sucker spawn trailer.  He had tied the sucker spawn himself and was particularly proud of the fly.

We walked past the big slow holes on the Walnut that had several bait fishermen around them and made our way to an area called "The Chutes."  The Chutes is a narrow area of the creek with fast flow and a deep central channel.  If you can control your drifts effectively, The Chutes is a fly fisherman's dream.  I set David up on an area that typically holds a nice number of fish and is a little wider.  Once the sun got a little higher in the sky, the steelhead started to actively feed.

In no time, David was hollering in my direction that he had a FISH ON.  He quickly got the fish on his reel.  He did an excellent job of following my directions and was quickly able to move the fish over to the shallows.  His first steelhead was in his hand and he was geared-up.  He had landed a nice five and a half pound 24" steelhead.  And even better, he landed that fish on the pink crystal meth sucker spawn that he had tied.  It does not get any better than that.

David wasted no time getting back to the drift and before I knew it...he had another FISH ON.  He again quickly landed this fish.  This buck was a little skipper, but a steelhead nonetheless.  David was proud of his day.

We decided to walk up stream and survey some more of the creek.  There was not much going on upstream and we decided to go find something to eat before hitting Elk Creek.  On the way back to the truck David pointed down to the run we had been fishing previously and said, "There's another pretty nice fish."  We looked at each other and headed straight down to the run.  I made about 3 drifts over the fish and picked up a pretty nice hen of my own.  The morning could have not been any better.  We both landed 2 steelhead and each lost another.  Life was good.

We did hit the Elk for a couple of hours after lunch.  The scenery was great, but we had no luck with hook-ups on the Elk.  On the upside, the weather was warming and the sky was blue.  We had a nice trek along the creek and shared a few laughs.  It was a good time for David to reflect on his day.  And, I would be remiss not to mention the old wrecked truck wrapped around a tree that brought us both a chuckle as well.

David was an excellent student and posses the type of motivation that will allow him to be successful at anything he takes on.  He did a great job of seeing the big picture of catching steelhead on the fly and put in the time to make it all work.  I'm proud of his accomplishment and will always remember his special moment on the water.

 

A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with One Cast

I took the week off after Thanksgiving to deer hunt down at the farm and get some time on the water. Significant rain on Tuesday messed up the hunting, but I was not going to let the flows mess up my fishing.  Greg and I had been planning to hit the tribs on Thursday for several weeks.   We were worried about the conditions of the tribs, but if you are willing to travel, there is usually fishable water on Steelhead Alley within a day of big rain events like we had Tuesday. It does take a lot of time and research to find and get to know the tribs of Steelhead Alley, but if you have limited days on the water, it's valuable to know you can fish on the days you have. Unfortunately, most of us have to plan our fishing days well in advance of knowing the conditions of the tribs at that time.

Thursday the tribs we were fishing were flowing high and visibility was less than 12". The weather was cold and windy and about no one was on the tribs. We traveled way east of Erie to 16 Mile and 12 Mile Creeks.  On the way back we stopped and and fish Walnut Creek as well.   The deep holes of these small tribs were stuffed with fish. The stain of the water was a little dark and green was the only color that was working. Seems like this is the only conditions I find much success with green, but I was glad I had some egg patterns and buggers in green that day.

Friday, the conditions were improving greatly. I had the day off and decided to hit it again.  I did stop at at the Ashtabula River at daylight, but the main river was just too fast and stained for casting flies, however; the feeder creeks were nearly identical to the waters I had fished the day before. I stuck with green and had the 1st fish of the day on before 8 am. I picked up a few steelhead on the feeders and decided to move on.

I went back to a Walnut Creek in PA, and it was nearly empty of people. From scouting the stream the night before, I knew it would be perfect on Friday. Again, every deep fast run was chocked full of fish. The clarity was between 12-18". The flow was perfect. Green was not working. I switched to pink and it was like light switch went off. I had a great time and had more hook-ups than I could count.

I did get bested by a really large buck on Friday. The area I was fishing had high shale walls that drop straight to the water and they were covered with ice. It was difficult just getting into the areas I wanted to fish. I found an area with a shelf that extended out from the wall, but the water dropped off to about 4-5' immediately off of that shelf. The run off of that shelf was perfect for swinging flies. I picked up about 5 fish out of that area before Mr. Big decided to play.

He hit a small pink Crystal Meth sucker spawn. I got a glimpse of him when he rolled (half hoping he was going to be a bonus brown). He started dropping back down stream and I knew I was in trouble. I had no way to rapidly get back down stream because of the high icy shale wall. It's one thing to trek across that crap when you can go slow and steady yourself with both hands as needed...it's another when you are in a hurry with an angry steelhead on the rod in the other hand. The water was just too deep and swift to jump down in to. Anyway, I had a good hook set and I was able to encourage him to come back up my way, but he was not happy. He was jumping and thrashing his head like mad. It would have made a nice video. I knew he had check-mated me, but I kept up the fight. I was able to get him back to me a few times, but could never get the net near him. I literally had that buck on for 5-6 minutes. He finally made a last violent shake of his head and threw the fly. Even though I did not land him, he made my day. I did all I could to land him and the fact is...that ol' boy beat me. I'm OK with that.