Spring Is Here (Almost)!

The recent extended high water period and cold temperatures have kept the steelhead scattered in all the Ohio tributaries. There are some big fish around as this 30+ inch fish shows, but finding concentrations of fish has been a challenge. With snow in the forecast again for the end of the week, fishing could be continue to be a matter of covering water and finding the fish that are willing to eat.

Warm Water Browns and More

Here is another Lake Michigan brown trout that hit a stripped fly. In this case it was an olive/orange version of JD's Arctic Wiggler tube fly. Possibly eaten as a perch or goby? Warm water discharges around the Great Lakes are attracting baitfish that attract feeding brown trout, salmon, and other predators. Some of these areas are easily reached by foot, others need to be accessed by boat. They provide a rarely utilized, interesting opportunity for fly anglers

Ice Out Brown

Capt. Austin Aducci shows a silvery southern Lake Michigan brown trout he caught on a stripped baitfish pattern. Capt. Austin is blazing a fly fishing trail along the northern Indiana shoreline that features a variety of cold and warm water species. Angling opportunities start at ice out and continue until freeze up. Just another example of concentrating on a close-to-home fishery and learning how to catch with flies.

Skull Tubes

My buddy George drilled out some Flymen Fishing Company Fish Skulls so that they could be slid over Eumer small plastic tubing. Here are the first Fish Skull tubes that I tied while at a tying demo last night.

Hope to give them a try out real soon and will report back to you!

A Cold Day of "On Water" Testing

Got a chance to spend a cold day on the Muskegon with "The Flashmaster", Kevin Feenstra, and Tim Pommer, a product developer from Scientific Anglers. My feet were toasty warm in Patagonia's Rio Gallegos Waders with the wool-lined bootie while the other guys wore boot foots. I was fishing Scott Rod's newest two-hander, the 12'6", 7-wt. A3, a super casting and fishing tool. We used a new Spey line (not yet on the market) of Tim's design that is proving to be a real winner, as this nice steelie shows. The Nautilus CCF is the best all-weather reel on the market. The fish hit one of Kevin's winter favorites, his Grapefruit Leech pattern.

If all this smacks of blatant promotion, that's what it is. But, all of these products and people are among the best at what they do.

Not A Damn Shame

Mother Nature did something that man could not decide to do. Last Monday, February 28, at 9:04 AM the dam on the Chagrin River in Gates Mills, OH blew out. The concrete structure was over 100 years old, serving no use purpose anymore. A quick melt of 16 inches of snow by 3 or so inches of rain raised water levels to a point where the dam could no longer contain the flow.

Luckily there were no injuries or major damage. With the dam gone, steelhead can now travel an additional 8 miles of river, 4 miles of which have public access through the Cleveland Metroparks South Chagrin Reservation.