Ladies Night at MRO

Ladies come shop at MRO with Clothing Manager Linda Farner from 5-9 p.m. on this special evening!

* Learn about our unique brands

* Enjoy some wine, cheese and more

* Take 25% OFF any purchase

* Additional 10% OFF on SALE items

* Have some fun...bring a friend or two!

No need to register...just stop by Tuesday December 4th from 5-9 p.m........Linda will be looking for you!

Mad River Outfitters

813 Bethel Rd.

Columbus, Ohio 43214

614-451-0363

admin@madriveroutfitters.com

Cyber Monday at MRO!

Starts at Midnight Sunday and runs through Midnight Monday! EST

It's Easy! Any Online Order gets 20% CASH Back! Place your order, and we'll include a Mad River Outfitters Gift Card worth 20% of the purchase total with your shipment.

Mad River Outfitters Gift Cards can be used for any purchase online or in the shop!

***Please note that NO COUPON code nor anything special needs to be done. We will simply include your Gift Card in your order with instructions on how to use. If you prefer, we can also e-mail you the Gift Card as well for INSTANT use on the website. Just let us know. If we don't hear otherwise we will include the physical card in the shipment of your order.


Other Specials Running Through Cyber Monday

* 25% OFF Howler Brothers brand
* Huge Savings on Tenkara USA Select models of rods and outfits
* 25% OFF all Leaders and Tippets


www.madriveroutfitters.com

* always FREE shipping on orders over $25.00
* same day or next day processing and shipping of all orders
* 1-4 days delivery to anywhere in the U.S.
* every item in our shop is on our website and inventory is "real-time"
* exceptional online customer service- we aim to EXCEED your expectations

Please remember that if you DO find a better deal out there for Black Friday/Cyber Monday etc.- we will most likely MEET or BEAT the price. Makes it virtually impossible to get a better deal than at Mad River Outfitters.  

* some restrictions of course apply- but we will always do our best to be fair, as long as you do- please see our website for full details


For our local friends:

Please keep in mind that you can shop on our website and pick-up in the shop! It's easy!

Thank you for supporting a family owned, small business!

Mad River Outfitters/Midwest Fly Fishing Schools

Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Guides, Hosted Fly Fishing Travel, Schools, Classes and more!

813 Bethel Rd.

Columbus, Ohio 43214

614-451-0363

admin@madriveroutfitters.com

www.madriveroutfitters.com

Quick Fishing Report- 11/24/18

PSA Announcement:  Deer Gun Season Starts on Monday.  Be advised when fishing next week that individuals should wear at least a Blaze Orange hat while fishing.  Be careful out there!

Mad River

Remember the land owners allow us to wade this river.  If you do find someone deer hunting then find another fishing location.  Flows continue to be elevated.  This weekend is turning into great streamer fishing as the flows start to bump up slightly.  With some more rain heading our way early next week these conditions will continue.  Pull out the streamer rods and cover some water.  

Clear Fork River

Flows have been elevated and with this rain the upper river is on the way even higher.  Fishing has been good, but this rain will most likely limit the upper river to streamer fishing.  The lower river is in great shape and has been fishing well. Rainbows are being caught! As long as the upper does not blow out the lower river should continue to fish well.  

Clear Creek 

Clear Creek will be closed to fishing from Monday to at least Wednesday for deer hunting.  With the rain this weekend the creek will not fish until then anyhow.  

Steelhead


Be aware of Deer hunting this coming week.  Although many of the fishing locations are parks the surrounding areas will have hunters.  Traditionally this has been a time of lower fishing pressure and the dedicated steelheader looks forward to this week each year.  Fishing continues to be fantastic.  Temps are cold, but there are fish around.  This rain will continue to add a little color to the water and flush out some more leaves. 

More to come next week but just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention. Stay tuned.

Congrats to our friend and customer Brayden Flake! His 1st Ohio Musky on the fly.

"My buddy and I got out to Alum Creek the day before thanksgiving. The flows were up at 600cfs. In 4 hours we had 8-10 follows, 3 eats, and I landed my first Muskie. It wasn’t a giant by Muskie standards, but it was probably the most satisfying fish I have caught after all the hours I’ve put in trying to catch one. It ate a variation of Scherer’s figure 8 that I tied that morning. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!"- Brayden Flake


Upcoming:

* OPEN Sundays- Noon-5:00 p.m.- through Christmas- rumor has it will be running "Sunday Specials" throughout the season!

* Cyber Monday- our biggest online shopping day of the year! FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00, same day or next day shipping, 2-4 days delivery to either coast. Click Here

* Tuesday, December 4th is "Ladies Night"- Join softgoods manager Linda Farner for fun, refresments and savings- Click Here

* In-Store Pickup- Shop our website, (which shows our Entire Inventory and Stock Status) from the convenience of your home and choose "In Store Pickup". We'll have your items waiting for you when you arrive.

Thank you for supporting a small, locally owned family business this Holiday Season!

Mad River Outfitters/Midwest Fly Fishing Schools

Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Guides, Hosted Fly Fishing Travel, Schools, Classes and more!

813 Bethel Rd.

Columbus, Ohio 43214

614-451-0363

admin@madriveroutfitters.com

www.madriveroutfitters.com

Black Friday at MRO!

Black Friday begins at 8:00 a.m. EST

We have alot in store for our friends and valued customers this Holiday season and it kicks off Friday at 8:00 a.m. Most everything detailed here but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to give us a call at the shop.


* 8:00 a.m.- 10:00 a.m.- Early Bird Savings-  Most everything in the shop will be at 25% OFF- shop early and save!     *some vendor exceptions will apply- see below

* 10:00 a.m.- 6:30 p.m.- Black Friday Special-  10% OFF your purchase OR 20% "Cash Back" on an MRO Gift Card that you can use later yourself or include as a Gift.

* Please note that the Black Friday discounts will apply to in-store or phone purchases only. We will although be featuring a special "Cash Back" offer for our online customers on Cyber Monday- Click Here for specials on internet orders from Midnight Sunday through Midnight Monday. Please call if any questions.


Other Specials Running Through Cyber Monday

* 25% OFF Howler Brothers brand
* Huge Savings on Tenkara USA rods and kits
* 25% OFF all Leaders and Tippet

Please remember that if you DO find a better deal out there for Black Friday/Cyber Monday etc.- we will most likely MEET or BEAT the price. Makes it virtually impossible to get a better deal than at Mad River Outfitters.  

* some restrictions of course apply- but we will always do our best to be fair, as long as you do- please see our website for full details

Also remember that we always accept "Coupons" from any of our competitors. We especially LOVE the Orvis offers! Bring them, send them.....we'll take them!!!! 


Other Holiday Events

* Small Business Saturday- Support small, local businesses this Holiday Season!- Click Here for details

* OPEN Sundays- Noon-5:00 p.m.- through Christmas- rumor has it will be running "Sunday Specials" throughout the season!

* Cyber Monday- our biggest online shopping day of the year! FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00, same day or next day shipping, 2-4 days delivery to either coast. Click Here

* Tuesday, December 4th is "Ladies Night"- Join softgoods manager Linda Farner for fun, refresments and savings- Click Here

Thank you for supporting a small, locally owned family business this Holiday Season!

Mad River Outfitters/Midwest Fly Fishing Schools

Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Guides, Hosted Fly Fishing Travel, Schools, Classes and more!

813 Bethel Rd.

Columbus, Ohio 43214

614-451-0363

admin@madriveroutfitters.com

www.madriveroutfitters.com

Andros Island Bonefish Club

Ready for an escape this Winter?

Andros Island Bonefish Club

February 16th- 23rd, 2019

with host Brian Flechsig

Watch the Video:

Click Here for details and pricing and be sure to contact Brian at the shop if any questions.

Mad River Outfitters/Midwest Fly Fishing Schools

Fly Shop, Fly Fishing Guides, Hosted Fly Fishing Travel, Schools, Classes and more!

813 Bethel Rd.

Columbus, Ohio 43214

614-451-0363

admin@madriveroutfitters.com

www.madriveroutfitters.com

Fishing Reports- 11/20/18

* Please remember to call us for more up-to-date or detailed information! These reports are not meant to be your one and only, daily source of information. They are typically general, even seasonal type reports and we currently don't have a set schedule as to when we update. Please, just because we don't update as often as we like, it doesn't mean that we don't care.

There are many different approaches you should take in order to get a good game plan for a trip or a day of fishing. Also remember that things change and these reports are what we know at the time of posting only. Keep in mind that we do express opinions and personal preferences from time-to-time which may be different from yours or what you may read elsewhere. Thanks for checking and don't forget to call us if you need any further information or a more up-to-date report. 614-451-0363

Thanks as always for reading our reports friends. As the weather gets more conducive we should be reporting more regularly....but we need your HELP!

Send any and all reports to admin@madriveroutfitters and we'll do our best to get them up.

Big Weekend!

Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our friends and family! We hope that you enjoy a day off with good food and good people.

Around the shop here, we are thankful for 24 years in business and counting...and we couldn't have done it without you....so THANKS!

Of course, we will enjoy the Holiday...and then things change for us on Friday. Big weekend ahead to kick-off the holiday season.

* Black Friday- open at 8:00 a.m. for "Early Bird" specials and then great deals and "Cash Back" awards all day- full details will go out via e-mail and social media tomorrow

* Small Business Saturday- shop small and support locally owned business.

* OPEN Sundays through Christmas- look for Sunday specials each week

* Cyber Monday- our biggest internet shopping day of the year and we'll be offering 20% "Cash Back" awards for every online purchase.- full details will go out via e-mail and social media tomorrow

* Ladies Night- join Linda Farner on Tuesday, December 4th- from 5-9 p.m.- Click Here


As usual, Thanks for taking the time to read and we'll be in touch!!!!!!

Brian, Andy, Pat, Linda, Ryan, Judy, Roger, Dick, Cristina, Kevin, Josh and Rogue



Thanks in advance for supporting a small, locally owned, family business this Holiday Season!

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Warmwater

Seasons change overnight here in Ohio it seems.  Summer to Fall right into Winter.  Fishing local has been a weather window game.  Understanding fish seasonal movements are a must.  Hybrid Stripers, Smallies, Saugeyes and Panfish are been the quarry.  Most individuals have targeted the dams during higher water.  Big shad flies are the common choice.  High water in these areas can be very dangerous for both boating and wading.  If you do brave the conditions grab a buddy.  Looking for schools of shad have provided the most success.  Most of the time these fish are visible as they school tight together.  Once you find these baitfish casting sink tips and matched sized flies to the edges get the job done.

Forecast:

Although we are technically still in Fall most of the fish are in winter mode.  With Temps below freezing and highs in the 30’s and 40’s bass fishing will be limited to just a few hours on the warmest days.  Targeting Panfish will be your best bet.  Hit the coves, fish slow, and send us come pictures! 

Pike fishing continues to be great.  When the rain has given us a break there has been some great fish brought to boat.  There are a few openings on our calendars so shoot us a call.   

Dave Wineland with one of the largest Ohio Pike we've seen on a guide trip in quite some time. Congrats Dave...and guide Josh McQueen.

Seasonal:

Fall fishing in Ohio means change.  Being flexible will keep you on fish.  We have many streams that have great Smallmouth fishing.  This time of the year the fish are starting to school up and push around baitfish.  Your summer 5wt or even soft 6wt gets up away and out comes the better bass rod sizes of 7-8wts.  Sink-tip lines like the new Rio Big Nasty and SA Titan are your best bet.  If you fish the big rivers then a SA Sonar sinking line with a longer head is a better choice especially out of a boat.  Most of these fish are targeting dense schools of Shad.  Flies like Whitlock’s Deep Shad, Clousers, Half & Halfs, Bottoms-Up, Dungeons, Peanut Envy and Double Barrel Baitfish poppers are great choices for a floating line.  While fishing the more productive sink-tips lines we focus on flies like Bang Tails, Modern Deceivers, Murdich Minnow, Gummy Minnows, Zoo Cougars, Wooly Sculpin, Todd’s Wiggle Minnow, Stacked Blondes, and EP Minnows.  

Smallmouth Bass will feed heavily for the next couple months but you will need to target different water than where you find them in summer.  Look for the deeper water with good flow around large hard structure.  Bridge pilings, rip rap banks, large boulder fields, or other rock structure.  

Pond and Lake fishing also continues to be fantastic as long as the water temps stay in the 50s.  Largemouth will also start to school and cruse feeding on baitfish.  Sinking lines like a SA Clear Tip or Rio Big Nasty are great options for these fish.  Flies like the Barely Legal, Bang Tail, Todd’s Wiggle minnow, Dungeon, and Boogie Man work great for fishing fast.  If fish are not chasing then slow down with the same lines, but change flies to Super Worms, Reapers, Bottoms-Up, and Gulley Worms get the job done.  Do not overlook the Bluegill and Crappie bite also.  Fish bobbers/indicators with nymphs or Crappie Specials under them and keep them close to drop offs with structure.  

Pike and Musky fishing continues to be great from now into winter.  Slowly stripping big flies on heavy sink tips is the game.  Josh and Pat’s schedules are usually locked in right now, but both do have some open dates.  Make sure to call the shop for details.  

Mad River

USGS Gauge- Urbana

USGS Gauge- St. Paris Pike

Mad River Map

***PSA:  This time of the year the ODNR stocks small Brown Trout at various bridges along the River. These fish are the future of our fishery and need extreme care when handling.  They are easy to catch, but take a beating from the pressure.  We advise if you do find yourself catching a couple dull colored fish in the 8-10” range change locations to another stretch of river far away from the bridges.***

Trout fishing has been great with the higher water.  Fish are done spawning and ready to eat.  This is streamer season and the high water is cleaning out the leaves and sustaining height.  Most success has come from those coving water either floating or moving fast.  Sink tip lines and big streamers like the Mini Masked Deceivers, Modern Deceivers, all of Galloups patterns, Legals and Dungeons especially and Half and Halfs are a great start.  This type of fishing is your best chance at seeing a fish well into the 20” range.  Other successful techniques are swinging Soft Hackles and nymphing.  Swinging Soft Hackles in tandem on a floating line or with a Versileader sink tip is a great way to cover water and work on your single-hand spey casting.  For this setup we like to lead with either a Bead Head Soft Hackle or a very productive Swing Nymph followed by a standard Soft Hackle.  Nymphing though has been the most productive.  Heavy nymphs like a Cranefly Larva, Double Stone or the new Jig style flies are must haves.  Either drop an unweighted fly behind these heavier ones or utilize a dropper higher up on your leader.  Make sure you get long drag free drifts and you will see success.  Those familiar with Euro Nymphing have consistently caught fish.  The new Quil jig flies have been producing very well the past few weeks also.    

Forecast:

We currently have great flows and it should hold through the rest of the week.  There are some cold night temps though so make sure you are prepared.  Streamer fishing will continue to be good as well as the usual nymphing.  There is some rain coming next weekend so keep an eye on the gauges or call the shop.  We should see great fishing for the next few months.  

Seasonal:

The past few years we have had prolonged low and clear water in the Fall.  We love streamer fishing, but with the low water from earlier has made fishing difficult.  That is not the situation now.  6-8wt rods with Sink tip lines line the SA Sonar Titan Sink Tip or the AirFlo Streamer Max Short are a great choice.  Select flies in the 4-6+ range and make sure to have various colors and designs to figure out what will get the attention of the fish.  Most of us carry a large array of colors of the same pattern also.  We take Kelly Galloup’s approach of switching colors until we find out what they want.  A good place to start would be Bottoms Up, Dungeons, Peanuts, Drunk and Disorderly, Bang Tails, Modern Deceivers, Fat Heads, and other Modern Streamers.  Wading can be difficult if you do not know the area or new to the sport.  Make sure to call the shop for conditions and safe water level suggestions.  Nymphing is most consistent choice choice for numbers of fish though.  Euro nymphing is big talk around the shop and industry.  There is a little learning curve, but we can get you into the game with the basics.  We have the rods, nymphs, leaders, and lines to get you started.  Typically jig style nymphs are the flies of choice, but fall nymphing is not just a bug game though.  Nymphing Sculpin colored streamers like the Peacock Bugger, Strawberry Blonde, Autumn Splendor, Trick or Treat, Orange Blossom Special, T.B. Jig Bugger, Teds Swimming Hex, and Conehead Muddlers are great choices.  Drop a Soft Hackle, Nitro Caddis, or Swing Nymph off the streamer and you are set.   

Clearfork River

USGS- Upper Clearfork

USGS- Lower/Mohican State Park

Clearfork Map

***PSA:  This time of the year the ODNR stocks small Brown Trout at various locations along the upper river and Rainbow Trout below Pleasant Hill dam in the lower river. These fish are the future of our fishery and need extreme care when handling.  They are easy to catch, but take a beating from the pressure.  We advise if you do find yourself catching a couple small dull colored Brown Trout in the 8-10” range change locations to another stretch of river far away from the bridges.  The same goes for the lower river Rainbows.  If you find yourself catching a couple fish change locations as to spread out your impact on these fish.  It is legal to keep the Rainbows, but if we would like to catch fish through late Spring then putting them back is the best bet.***

The Clearfork is currently high in both the upper and lower river.  When the flows have been right the fishing has been good.  Many have reported that the stocked fish are very willing to take a fly, but there have been some larger fish being caught also.  With these high waters the locals or those familiar with the water have been fishing streamers with great success.  The upper river is small and challenging to cast a big streamer.  Those experienced with a fishing big flies on sinking lines are catching the biggest fish in the river.  Most numbers of fish have been caught on nymph rigs though.  Caddis larva like the Nitro Caddis, Flashabou Caddis, Core Caddis and Holy Grail are staples.  Team those up with a small Pheasant Tail, Gray Quil, Spanish Quil or Purple Hot spot for fishing slow and deep.  If you are fishing the faster and shallower water then a caddis larva and a small non-bead Pheasant tail or Hares Ear is a great choice. 

The lower river should start to drop soon offering you a great chance at catching some Rainbow Trout.  Nymphing bigger nymphs like the Rubber legs, Double Stone, Cranefly Larva, or even the TB Jig Bugger in conjunction with an egg pattern will keep you busy.  Fishing flashy streamers will also get the fishes attention.  For streamer fishing you will want some Skiddish Smolts, Crystal Buggers, Precious Metal, Egg Sucking Leaches, and Glass Bugger.  Swinging a light switch rod or using a sing-hand-spey setup can also be a great choice.  Here you can use the above streamers or a Micro Intruder. 

Forecast:  

The high water should slowly continue to drop thought the rest of the week.  There is some rain heading in this weekend so keep an eye on the flows.  This will mess up the upper if thing keep as forecasted, but the lower should continue to fish.  There are some cold nights heading our way so make sure to have some Stanley’s Ice off Paste for the early mornings.  Nymphing will be your best bet as usual for numbers.  Do not leave your streamer rod at home though.  Once the air temps are above freezing then stripping a streamer can be a good change to get the blood pumping.     


Seasonal:

In the lower river Rainbows are easily caught by small streamers, bright egg patterns and nymphs.  Once the fishing pressure picks up or we get a few rain events these fish will spread out and get selective.  If you are targeting Brown Trout then nymphing is a great choice, but streamer fishing should not be over looked.  Euro nymphing is big talk around the shop and industry.  There is a little learning curve, but we can get you into the game with the basics.  We have the rods, nymphs, leaders, and lines to get you started.  Typically jig style nymphs are the flies of choice but fall nymphing is not just a bug game though.  Nymphing Sculpin colored streamers like the Peacock Bugger, Strawberry Blonde, Autumn Splendor, Trick or Treat, Orange Blossom Special, T.B. Jig Bugger, Teds Swimming Hex, and Conehead Muddlers are great choices.  Drop a Soft Hackle, Nitro Caddis, or Swing Nymph off the streamer and you are set.  

As for streamer fishing both in the upper and lower river these tactics will work.  6-8wt rods with Sink tip lines line the SA Sonar Titan Sink Tip or the AirFlo Streamer Max Short are a great choice.  Select flies in the 4-6+ range and make sure to have various colors and designs to figure out what will get the attention of the fish.  Most of us carry a large array of colors of the same pattern also.  We take Kelly Galloup’s approach of switching colors until we find out what they want.  A good place to start would be Bottoms Up, Dungeons, Peanuts, Drunk and Disorderly, Bang Tails, Modern Deceivers, Fat Heads, and other Modern Streamers.  

Clear Creek

USGS Gauge

Clear Creek Map

***Rainbows are scheduled to be stocked this fall. In fact, one round has been with more to come! Once fish do get stocked these fish are the future of our fishery and need extreme care when handling.  They are easy to catch, but take a beating from the pressure.  These fish are totally legal to keep, but we always encourage catch and release so we have productive fishing through Spring.***

Fishing has been good when the water levels has not been an issue.  We went from very low to high in just a week.  Fish have distributed themselves well and willing to take a fly.  Most individuals have been nymphing Flashabou Caddis, Hares Ear, Trophy Nymph, Jig Buggers, and others.  Streamer fishing has also been very good.  Mostly Buggers, Trick or Treats, Zonkers, Matukas, Skiddish Smolts, and Clousers are the best choices.

Forecast:  

We have gotten the rain that we needed a few weeks ago and it has not stopped.  The creek is currently high but will fish later in the week.  There is some rain predicted for Saturday so keep that in mind if planning on fishing this weekend.  Shoot us a call and we will let you know more specific if needed.  Bring some streamers along with your nymphing setup.  Covering water is a great choice with a streamer.  Make sure to have ‘Buggers, Zonkers, and other traditional streamers.  A sinking line is not a must but can help if you plan on stripping a streamer fast or swinging deep.  Nymphing rigs should have small floats like the Airlock or even a yarn indicator.  A simple bead head will get you down in most situations.  Also, do not overlook bringing your Tenkara rod.  These rods are great tools for this creek as you can fish many different techniques and offer a great fight on these fish. 

Seasonal:

Rainbows are easily caught by small streamers, bright egg patterns and nymphs.  Once the fishing pressure picks up or we get a few rain events these fish will spread out and get selective.  With these past rains we are seeing fish well distributed.  Nymphing is the main tactic for numbers.  There are a couple methods that we like to use.  Euro nymphing is big talk around the shop and industry.  There is a little learning curve, but we can get you into the game with the basics.  We have the rods, nymphs, leaders, and lines to get you started.  Typically jig style nymphs are the flies of choice, but fall nymphing is not just a bug game though.  Nymphing Sculpin colored streamers like the Peacock Bugger, Strawberry Blonde, Autumn Splendor, Trick or Treat, Orange Blossom Special, T.B. Jig Bugger, Teds Swimming Hex, and Conehead Muddlers are great choices.  If you prefer to indicator/bobber/float (just calling it what actually is here) fish then you can use the same technique, but just with your usual nymph rig.  We like to rig our droppers off our heavy fly (small streamer or big nymph) though.  Drop a Soft Hackle, Nitro Caddis, or Swing Nymph off the streamer/nymph and you are set.  If you do decide to try a small streamer then you should focus on small white or natural colored flies with a little weight.  No need to pack the sink tip and 8wt here.  A 4-5wt rod matched with a size 6-12 streamer is all you need for this small creek.

Erie Steelhead

Gauge Links and Maps

Tom Baltazar with a nice fish- guide trip on Sunday 11/18

Click Here for information and pricing on booking a guide trip along "Steelhead Alley"

STEEEEEELS as we like to say…well just Josh.  Fishing has been good between high water events.  The cold temps did put the fish in a bad mood for a few days, but there is a steady flow of fresh fishing moving into the tributaries.  Those who are seasoned to fishing the Steelhead Alley know that being diverse and flexible is a must.  Fishing egg patterns under a float/indicator/bobber is typically the best option for numbers of fish.  Having an understanding of a swinging setup though is always good to have when you need to cover larger slices of the river.  We are seeing a good number of fish being caught swinging now that the temps have stabilized.  We are just at the beginning of good numbers of fish so there is plenty of time to plan a guide trip.  

Forecast:

Fishing this week is going to be great.  We do have cold temps though so make sure to be prepared with good layering and Ice off Paste.  Keep your stream thermometer handy as the day progresses.  A raise of just a few degrees can wake the fish up, or a drop can put them down.  We are seeing fish in their winter holding areas though.  Make sure to target these areas to find the most fish.  Next weekend looks like some more rain and higher temps.  This is what we wait for after a few days of cold.  Shoot us a call for up to date info and to make sure you get on our guide’s calendars.  

Seasonal:

Cold water has put the fish in winter holding areas a little earlier than usual.  Cold water techniques mostly limit the angler to fishing slower water.  Active fish can be found in faster water, but usually with decent depth.  The key to fishing all of these areas is to make sure your rigs are down for as long as possible.  Plenty of split shop, stack mending, and advanced line control is a must.  Casting these rigs can be frustrating for beginners.  Guide trips will help you perfect the needed methods with hands on training.  Rigs for nymphing consist of 1” floats plenty of BB-3/0 shot and two flies.  Flies change per water type, color, temp, and time of the day.  A good steelhead nymph box consists of an assortment of different color, size, and designed egg patterns along with nymphs of the same stipulations.  

This game requires a lot of extra flies especially if you are fishing the right water and depth.  Egg patterns are Glo Bugs, Sucker Spawn, Crystal Meth, Cyclops and Scrambled Eggs.  Nymphs that are must haves include Steelhead Stones, Steelhead Candy, Chicken Littles, Flashabou Caddis, Sparkle Magots, Squirminator, Wiggle Stone, and Schmidts Caddis to name a few.  Grab a 10’ 6-8wt and aggressive nymphing line like the SA Anadro, and a nymph rig and you are set.  Using a Switch rod offers you much more versatility though.  Selecting the right setup can be very confusing so make sure you stop in or shoot us a call to simplify this journey.  Your basic Indi Switch setup consists of a 5-8wt rod, Rio Switch line to match the rod and the materials to build out your leader.  The longer Switch rod offers much better line control and ease of casting these heavy rigs.  You can then simply grab another spool for a dedicated swinging setup or grab the right sink tips to add to your indicator line.  

A dedicated swinging setup would consist of a Skagit head or integrated line from either SA or Rio, a running line if needed, and a variety of density and length sink tips.  Shoot us a call and we can help with selecting all of these.  If you need some help with learning the more advanced casts we are here to help.  Flies for swinging include Mini Indruders, Sili Leg Intruders, Jerry French Intruder, Dirty HOH, String Leach, Flow Ryder, A.I, Summer Sculpin and Stray Dog to name a few.  We have a lot of new flies for swinging so make sure to take a look as they have been treating us very well so far this season.  Calendars are filling fast for the remainder of the year so if you are planning on booking make sure you call in very soon.  We are here to help you with all your Steelhead needs.    

"Steelheading Made Simple" now available on our YouTube Channel:

Mad River Outfitters/Mad River Travel/Midwest Fly Fishing Schools

Fly Shop, Guides, Trips, Classes, Schools and more!

813 Bethel Rd.

Columbus, Ohio 43214

www.madriveroutfitters.com
www.midwestflyfishingschools.com

614-451-0363