Steelhead Trip '08

[BigBassin144]

Well, guy we got back today from our steelhead trip to eastern Ohio. Story now, pics tomarrow. Earlier in the week rain was forecasted for friday through Sunday. Didn't look good then, but we had been talking with our guide and they'd been doing good out there.

Friday comes along and the rain had set in. We kept checking radar and the rain seemed to have moved out to Lake Erie and only a very light rain was lingering on land. Supposedly. Well, I get home from school friday afternoon and we load the car head out. It rain 75% of the way to Ashtabula (it's between Cleveland, Ohio and PA.) We got to the hotel and checked in. We talked to our guide and planned to check it out the next morning.

So, after not getting a very good nights sleep, our 4:30 wake up call comes way to early for me. We meet the guide outside the hotel at 5:15 and of course, it was drizzling. Just to make this clear now, Steelheading is NOT a fairweather form of fishing by any means, but as the smalll rivers in north eastern Ohio rise, the also get dirty, which shuts off the bite since trout feed mainly by sight. So our guide called his buddy (the guide we went with last year who was booked this year) who was fishing a different river. He said the water was coming up and starting to get dirty.

We decided to check out an area of the river near us before driving to our spot or calling it a very short day. The water didn't look too bad yet, but the guide estimated we had about 3 hours of fishing before the water rose too much and it was unfishable. We also didn't want to wade in too high of water. So we drover to our spot, and since there was a steelheaders tourney going on this weekend we though it'd be really busy. It wasn't as bad as we thought so we made our way to our spot and waited till it was light.

As soon as it was light, we rigged up the fly rods. A wooly bugger tied under an egg imitation fly all under a "strike indicator" (or bobber as I like to call it) This was my first time really fly fishing, so I was kind of worried I wasn't going to do real good, but we weren't casting far, so I was alright.

About a half an hour into fishing, I hook into the first on of the day. An ok one compared to the next few, but really good compared to last year's catch. We landed her and took pics and released her. My dad caught the next one shortly after. An 18" dink, no pics of this one. Then my dad gets a nice hit and the fish takes off upstream. My dad had about 6-8 wraps of backing left on the fly reel before my dad got on the bank and chased the fish upstream. A bit later, the 10+ lber was landed.

It didn't take long for me to get one that was almost 9lbs, which we kept. Followed by another average sized one by my dad. I missed a few hits and broke off two, and my dad missed one and broke one off as well. In the 3 and a half hours or so at this spot, the water had risen more than 3". We moved a bit up river to a bigger hole and our guide hooked on while he was showing me where to cast. Unfortunately, it came off as he was passing the rod to me. After watching the mud line of the other side of the river grow bigger and bigger we decided to call it a day cause the fish had moved on or stopped biting.

the other guide at another river had about the same day we did, but with less fish. All the bites withing the first two hours then nothing. We ended up only fishing half a day and our guide invited us back for the other half a day after thanksgiving when he's got no one scheduled. After getting to the truck and taking off my waders, wet jacket and wet sweatshirt, we headed to breakfast. It was about 10:30 when we stopped fishing, but it was a fun day. Although it did rain 98% of the time we were fishing. It lightened to a very fine misting for about 15 minutes and completely stopped once for about 5-10.

Like I said, the pics from our camera tomarrow, and the pics the guide sends us, the day they get here. After the 4 hour rain/rain snow mix/ straight snow drive home, we stopped at a a local tackel shop to talk to the owner (a friend of my dad's) and show off our fish, and pick up our pre ordered BBZ-1 Shad swimbait, we headed home to "work on the mustang" which turned into watching monster trucks and drag racing on TV.

BB

P.S. (I know, I know, what else could I have to talk about after all that) but I do have to say, I knew fly fishing was much harder than regular fishing, especially getting the hang of casting, but I've got to give fly fishermen more credit after today. My casting arm is sore, and after only 3 hours of fishing. When you think about it, most of the time bass fishing, I cast with two hand, but flyfishing, one handed casting all the time, as well as 2-4 casts per retrieve, or drift I should say for steelheading. And the rods are heaver. Ok, now that's all.

[Captmikestarrett]

I think we have a fly fisherman in the works folks..

Capt Mike

[bamabassman]

great report anthony!!! sooo.....ya like flying huh? now you see what it is all about buddy. glad you had a good time while you were out there. and mighty nice of the guide to invite ya'll back. can't wait to see the pics pal. and bout da stang......it ain't gonna get finished ifn ya spend all the time watching tv! hahahaha. take care of that fly arm pal. hiya kingfish!!! good to hear ya'll are still having fun buddy!

[Bender]

That's funny, I wan in a tackle store in Toledo today buying a whole bunch of stuff and saw a couple guys come in and get a guy from the back to show him some pictures. I wasn't really paying attention because we were getting new molds and finding the right hooks, but I heard that.
Sounds like a great trip.

[BigBassin144]

Were you at Netcraft? If so, that was us. I saw you guys looking at molds too, and you were asking the guy about hooks. like you, we weren't really paying attention. My dad knows the owner, and we stopped to pick up our bait and talk to him. What a coincidence.

BB

[Bender]

Yep, that was my business partner and me. Trying some new stuff with jig heads and jigs.

[zooker]

heavier?? than a casting stick what weight are you using?? most fly swatters weigh less than a a x-heavy pitching stick..

zooker

[Jim80]

Cool BB my sons have been bite by the fly fishing bug so I'm planning to get rigs for them for Xmas and start them and myself on the learning process next spring can't wait to see the pics .

Jim

[BigBassin144]

Little late here, been busy lately. Here's the couple pics I've got.

My first fish. Notice it's just starting to get light, and it's rainy/hazy.


My dad's second, the 10+ lber. No pics of his 18" dink.


No pics at the river of my other fish or my dad's last, but those were the two we kept to smoke, so here they are. The bigger of the two is mine (almost 9lbs, and the smaller is my dad's)


Again, sorry it took so long to get the pics on.

BB

[MississippiBoy]

Good job, BB. Looks like fun.

You gotta keep a running count on steelhead in your signature line, now.

[bamabassman]

nice anthony. question....do you complently clean the fish before you smoke it? or just gut it? some folks just gut it, smoke it and then take off the meat. i always wondered about that.

[WTL]

Those are some great pics. The better you get at casting timing, the less you will fight the rod - the less tired you will be. Its not like throwing a baitcaster where the goal is to load the rod to increase distance. The line does the work, and to do that its all timing and form.

Gotta be graceful. Like a ballerina. Or Emmitt Smith.

[flbassman]

Sweet man! I love seein some trout pics every once in a while......This summer I broke off a rainbow that weighed all of 8 pounds in a little north georgia crick. Those are some pretty fish you caught!

[woody]

BigBassin, that was a great report that you gave, I really enjoyed those pictures too.
mmmm'...smoked trout, who says you have to eat turkey on Thanksgiving!

[zooker]

bb
what creek was that pic of your dad taken in??

think i have been there...

zooker

[BigBassin144]

bama, Our guide gutted them for us on the spot, he takes the eggs to tie spawn for bait, and then we filleted them at home. We froze the fillets with skin on, but I don't know if we'll be removing it or not.

WTL, I figured the better I get at it, the less tired my arm'll be. I'm going to be practicing with my dad's old fly rod this summer, I'll just have to get some good line for it.

Zook, we fished the Ashtabula River all day, but to me all the rivers in eastern ohio look the same. lol. Our guide told us that he can't even show his pictures to people cause they can figure out where he's fishing. I guess you'd know the differences if you lived out there and fished those rivers all the time.

BB

[Wishing2BFishing]

BB, what is the name of your guide and his phone number. I think I would like to give salmon fishing a shot.

[Jim80]

nice fish BB ....

Jim

[BigBassin144]

Wishing, Steelhead and trout are different from salmon. But We went with one guy the first year, and this year we went with a different guy who kind of works for or with the first guy. I'm get their names and numbers and PM you. They fish from The Vermillion [sp?] which is west of Cleveland and into PA. The guide we went with this year does not fish PA though, so if you don't want to fish Ohio, you'll have to talk to the other guy.

BB

[Wishing2BFishing]

BB, thanks man. If you have the chance, pass the guide information on to me. I appreciate it.