Firelands Fly Fishers

I won a great raffle prize to fish Sunny Brook Trout Club http://sunnybrooktroutclub.com/ at this year's Firelands Fly Fishers picnic.

So, Alex my son and I met up at Denny's for breakfast, it seemed like the right way to start today's father/son fishing adventure. Today is a special day for our family because it's Alex's grandfather's Birthday who passed away earlier this year and today we celebrate his life. After breakfast we drove an hour to Sunny Brook and met up with Joe Sloboda and a few other Firelands Fly Fishers members.

It's tough to get a day's fishing in with Alex because of  his job, his MBA studies and his family responsibilities. I hadn't fished with him in a long...... time and it was no surprise to me, he still has it. I think by the end of the day his numbers were better than mine.

We start fishing a pool 50 yards or so above the Rt 2 bridge. And from there the plan was to work our way back towards  the club house. In a few casts Alex is landing his first Rainbow of the day.

We took a break for lunch in the club house which I must admit the food was outstanding. Afterwards we started fishing the mile or so of  water behind club house. Cold Creek is a spring creek that winds through the clubs property which is littered with beautiful Oaks and Willow trees everywhere along its banks of which Alex marked by back casting a few flies into them. It is like a picture in a book, breath-taking beauty with well manicured grasses on its banks.

Throughout the creek it appeared we were catching more Brook Trout than Rainbows. The Brooks seemed to be a little more aggressive than the Rainbows or the Rainbows were smarter over all.  I did see a couple of  3-4 lb Brooks though and had one of them on for a brief second or two. I would've loved to taken a picture of one of those big ones, but all I can do is only imagine the colors.

Towards  the end of the day I pulled this huge 12 lb Rainbow, what a pleasant surprise. Without a doubt the biggest rainbow I've ever seen or caught in my life. I can't think of a better way to end the day other than to have watched Alex catch it.

 Keep Fishing!

Big Steelhead Making Me Wonder

I'm thinking Big Steelhead, are you?

The 2011-2012 Steelhead season is fast approaching and it is time to set goals for a big fish, such as Jason Brooks' Steelhead caught in 2010.

An Ohio state record Steelhead, weighing 21.3 pounds, was caught by Jason on June 25, 2010, while trolling off Avon Point in Sheffield, OH. Brooks’ record Steelhead is 38 inches long with a 22 inch girth.

That catch replaces the previous state record Steelhead that was caught from Lake Erie by Mike Shane in October of 1996 weighing 20.97 pounds and was 36-½ inches long. I believe it was caught off Conneaut.

Ken Harper is no stranger to local steelheaders and some of my clients. Sometimes, Ken helps me guide large groups when they request an additional guide.

He caught this Rocky River monster male in late spring of  last year and he believes it is comperable to the size of a big fish we landed in Conneaut years ago. And believe me, he has landed plenty of big Steelhead and remembers each of them by name. If it was as big as the Conneaut monster, then this fish had to of weighted at least 17 pounds.

I got his phone call just after he caught it. There was so much excitement in his voice that he wouldn't stop talking and you couldn't get a word in. He released the monster and just maybe, maybe it will return from the lake again this year as the new state and this time bite my fly.

Several Client Photos from 2011-2012

Guide Trips

The following link 2011-2012 some client photos
will show you to a slideshow at  www;steelheadguide.com  of several clients who wanted their pictures shown on my site.

Tarpon on the Fly

Location: Boca Chica Channel

I spent the first week in June in Key West with George and Linda on their Sea Catamaran. If you can't  read George's 'T' shirt, it says;

Sell Your Stuff
Keep The Dog
Live On A Boat

so that is what they did. I can't thank them enough for their generosity and hospitality and I'm looking forward too the next time.

George has fly fished since I've know him. He has been a long time friend and steelheader from Ohio that I've known forever. We fished Giant Tarpon everyday in the Boca Chica Channel and managed to hook one to three tarpon daily, accept for one day, we were skunked.

Left is a worked over tarpon fly returned to George from a five footer. The 80 lb shock tip is no longer round, it's oval and looked like you worked it over with a hammer. The saltwater tempered hook is straighten and twisted.

Below is a look from the beach of Boca Chica over the flat and the Boca Chica channel beyond. The shadow in the middle is a hooked-up tarpon George battled for 30 or more minutes.