This was a trip that was supposed to happen the day before, and I was worried that the conditions were not going to be in my favor, since I was trying to hit higher, dirtier water, and this creek clears pretty fast. In short, I was fine. The fishing was excellent, and there were plenty of steelhead to be had.

Earlier in the season I'm having to make the longer trek to northeast ohio to try and intercept Pennsylvania fish which are fall runners. fishing near the PA border will generally win you more fish, but everyone else knows this too, so as a result you're going to have to deal with more fisherman.

There were a few spurts of crowds, but one of the best things about fishing Ohio is the ability I have to cover a lot of water, and get away from people. Most of the people are camping out at the big holes where the fish have been pounded and the action is slow at best.




Today was a little different than most of my experiences in ohio because I couldn't pin down a color that the fish were taking regularly. A lot of times there will be a certain color that the fish want over everything else (usually the color you are almost out of). But with today's bright sunshine accuracy was more important than color. Most of my fish came from under trees, against cut banks, and open spots covered with shade. It worked over and over and was pretty fun. I could come to a hole that had little structure and would normally produce if it were overcast and do nothing, and walk 100 yards to find some decent structure (shade) in a marginal hole and there'd be a fish there.


I spent much of the day trying to pull fish out of places I'm not supposed to. I concentrated on small cuts that were shaded but otherwise didn't provide much cover. there were fish here! Other holes that had the structure needed a perfect cast and I lost a lot of rigs trying to get closer than I should. This is probably the closest that steelhead fishing will come to bass fishing, where I'm pulling hot fish out of downed trees, and banging my rod on the bottom of the stream because of the side pressure necessary to keep the fish from snapping you off. Pretty neat.



Next weekend I'll be on the salmon river. Word has it there's some early season silver males in there of the large to very large variety. This is a trip I've been planning for a few months since I always like to make a mid-october trip for pure silver. These are my favorite steelhead of the year to catch. The early runs on the salmon river are perfect silver turbocharged rockets. Sure, winter fishing is great without the crowds, but for pure thrills, try hooking a 15lb chrome buck on a cool october day. The water will still be warmer and the fish are coming straight out of deep water in the lake, they don't usually sit in the estuary but bolt straight in. they have blue-black backs, and perfect silver sides, and not even a hint of pink on their gill plates. They are a different fish, and you become quickly aware of that difference when you loose 100 yards of line as fast as you can shout out an obscenity or two. That's the lure of October chrome.