Shiny, Nice, Polished....CHROME

Everyone skipped out on me, so I hit the water alone today.  It's nice to fish alone sometimes.  You can go at your own pace.  Sit when you want to.  And, enjoy a nice cigar without choking out your buddy.

I needed to scope out the eastern Ohio tribs today.  I'll be taking a special friend out later this week and I'd like to get him on some fish.  I decided to hit the Ash and the Connie.

I was on the Ash at daylight and as usual, she didn't take long in giving up the first stealhead of the day.  The flow on the Ash was still moderate, but she was loosing color fast.  I figured I better keep the offerings small.  The first buck of the day came on the simple but deadly Copper John.

As I moved along as saw several dark shadows in a run...and you know what that means.  I was surprised to see some shelf ice in this area, but the temperatures have been cold for a few days.  I made a few drifts and something large smashed a pink Crystal Meth sucker spawn.  It was a really nice buck, who was in no mood to play.  He was moving all over and shaking his head violently trying to spit the sucker spawn.  Since that tactic was not working, he decided to shoot under the shelf ice.  As he moved under the shelf ice, I tipped my rod parallel to the surface of the water and give the old boy a firm tug to turn him back out.  He put on the brakes and dug-in.  End result:  My Helios broke in 2 places.  WHAT?  This cannot be happening.

That seemed to be all the buck needed out of the exchange.  I pulled the line in by hand and netted him.  The fight was over.  As I shot a few pics of the pig and my broken rod, I swear I heard that fish say, "Put that in your pipe and smoke it!" 

Anyway, good thing I had a couple of other rods with me or this day would have been real short.

There were a lot of good runs on the Ash today.  Most of them were giving up fish.  Another memorable fish of the day was a really nice hen.

I was mixing up my offerings try to see if anything else would pique the interest of a willing chromer.  At one point I had on a black streamer with a pink Crystal Meth sucker spawn trailer.  I was drifting through a run that generally gives up a fish or two.  My strike indicator took a dunk and I saw a flash of silver.  But, as I set the hook, my line stopped firm.  I thought I must be snagged and as I looked down into the water, I could see the black streamer caught on a rock.  I walked over and kicked the streamer off of the rock and my line took off.  This lovely girl had taken the sucker spawn right as the black streamer caught on the rock.  I hate to say it, but I think that rock set the hook for me.  My time on the water never lets me down for a new experience.

About midday, I decided to jet over to the Connie to see what she had to offer.  The Connie was perfect.  The flow was still high and her color was still stained jade.  My kind of water! 

With the deep jade stain of the Connie, I decided to use larger white streamers and stick with the pink Crystal meth sucker spawn trailer.  And again, I was rewarded.  Most of the active fish were in tailouts.  The Connie was giving up nothing but DIME BRIGHT CHROME today.

I enjoyed my time on the water today.  Conditions were perfect on the Connie, but both systems had nice numbers of fish.  There is no significant precipitation in the forecast this week.  Too bad the friend I'll be fishing with Friday could not come with me today.  I suspect Friday's conditions will not be nearly as prime.  But as always, we'll adapt and do our best to make it happen.