Castaplaooza Success!

In spite of the poor weather forecast and postponement of the Canoe Race, we had a good turnout for last weeks Castapalooza on the Grand River. Spey-guru, Will Turek, did a very nice program on switch and two-hand rods to kick things off and the rest of the day was spent giving casting instruction, trying out rods, and fly tying demos. Thanks very much to everyone who helped out.

Here Will Turek explains the finer points of two-handers to the group.

Special thanks to Jim Linehan for his photos!

Muddler Dry Photo

Have had a couple request for this, so here is a close up of Dr. Mitch's Muddler.

Our steelhead have come up recently to an assortment of patterns, Muddler's, Bombers, Stimulators, and even one (very) brief encounter on a #18 Griffith's Gnat.

The big question now is how many fish are left in the rivers after the big rain we had on Sunday and if any fresh fish came in. Will keep you posted.......

Dr. Mitch's Muddler

Here's the recipe for Dr. Mitch Nahra's Muddler Dry:

Hook: Daiichi 2421 #6 (or equivalent)

Body: Purple SLF or PsuedoSeal w/silver rib

Wing: Sparse pearl Krystal Flash

Head: Deer body hair, spun & trimmed muddler style

In addition, Spey steelhead addict Jeff Liskay was able to entice 3 steelhead to dry flies last week and missed several others!

Dry Fly Steelie!

The recent low water had some of our Ohio steelhead looking up. Dog friend, Dr. Mitch Nahra shows off a nice buck that took a muddler-style dry off the surface last week. Mitch was dead drifting the fly and watched the fish come off the bottom and inhale the fly. Very cool!

On The Water With WRLC

It has been a busy spring on the water as I have been guiding a lot through the month of April. I had the opportunity to get involved with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy. WRLC is a great organization working hard to preserve greenspace in NE Ohio. Cleveland Cavaliers General Manager and Ex-NBA player Danny Ferry is involved with the WRLC and I was able to introduce him to a couple Chagrin River steelhead recently. The fish or myself are not that small, Danny is just a really big guy! Go Cavs!

The Hammer Strikes Again!

Here is Scott's Fiber Hammer in full-flex action with a Grand River steelhead. You can exert an amazing amount of pressure on a fish with this rod and still have ample cushioning for head shakes- traits of most glass rods.

John Coulson is coming over to assist and the Fish Dog is keeping a close watch on me. Thanks to Jeff Liskay for the photo.