* 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
* We'd like to again THANK all of the folks who contribute to these reports. Sorry if we don't always get them up here....hard to do with the sheer number of e-mails, messages and photos that we get. It's with YOUR help and support that we are able to provide these reports and YOUR help and support that we even exist. Keep them coming and here's some highlights from the past few weeks......
* Josh and the crew arrived home safe from the Alaska Trip. As he said...."Helluva week". Here's a shot of his 1st fish of the trip...(true story)....
Looks like we have July 22nd- 29th reserved already for next year and the trip will be hosted by Brian Flechsig and Jerry Darkes. Also working on an August date that may be headed up by Josh McQueen and Jeff Liskay. We should have this all firmed up in about a week and will get it posted on the website.
In the meantime.......breaking news!
Jerry Darkes is looking for a select few anglers to join him in Alaska. October 1st- 6th and it will be a very special trip. You'd be catching GIANT rainbows on the Naknek but will also do a fly out to the Nushagak for the GIANT char and grayling. A very unique and "one in a lifetime" opportunity.
On top of that, we have negotiated a special rate! Normally this trip would run $3295.00.....we are looking for 4-6 guys and can sell the trip for $1995.00!!!!
We won't get this up on the website for another week or so but if interested please call the shop and we'll have Jerry give you a call.
* Brian is on his way to visit old friend Kelly Galloup at the Slide Inn tomorrow morning with the group. They will be fishing the Madison and possibly Yellowstone all week. He also has plans to get into Yellowstone and make a return visit to Grebe Lake and try for some Grayling. He says it's been 23 years since he has been there and is super excited to get back. He'll have internet access so should be updating during the week. In the meantime, here's a throwback video that Brian and Kelly did a few years ago about these legendary trips.....
* We'd like to again THANK all of the folks who contribute to these reports. Sorry if we don't always get them up here....hard to do with the sheer number of e-mails, messages and photos that we get. It's with YOUR help and support that we are able to provide these reports and YOUR help and support that we even exist. Keep them coming and here's some highlights from the past few weeks......
* Josh and the crew arrived home safe from the Alaska Trip. As he said...."Helluva week". Here's a shot of his 1st fish of the trip...(true story)....
In the meantime.......breaking news!
Jerry Darkes is looking for a select few anglers to join him in Alaska. October 1st- 6th and it will be a very special trip. You'd be catching GIANT rainbows on the Naknek but will also do a fly out to the Nushagak for the GIANT char and grayling. A very unique and "one in a lifetime" opportunity.
On top of that, we have negotiated a special rate! Normally this trip would run $3295.00.....we are looking for 4-6 guys and can sell the trip for $1995.00!!!!
We won't get this up on the website for another week or so but if interested please call the shop and we'll have Jerry give you a call.
* Brian is on his way to visit old friend Kelly Galloup at the Slide Inn tomorrow morning with the group. They will be fishing the Madison and possibly Yellowstone all week. He also has plans to get into Yellowstone and make a return visit to Grebe Lake and try for some Grayling. He says it's been 23 years since he has been there and is super excited to get back. He'll have internet access so should be updating during the week. In the meantime, here's a throwback video that Brian and Kelly did a few years ago about these legendary trips.....
* HUGE Congrats to our partner guide Captain Brian Meszaros. He boated this fish yesterday for a client up on Lake St. Clair. A giant Musky! We serve as a full booking agent for Captain Brian and can set you up with a trip. He says that July and August are his best months for Musky and would welcome the business. Click the link here to learn about booking a trip:
Here is what Capt. Brian had to say about this fish:
"Battle testing the new Scientific Anglers Figure 8 leader on their Sonar 30 Cold line and rocked it with this girl. 52 1/8 X 24...40.04 lbs on the Crawford scale. Caught her on my Hairry Pounder in Perch and yes...she ate it at the boat on the figure 8. Client Tom was elated to say the least. Great stick that deserved this fish."- Capt. Brian
Here's some other random notes and e-mails that we have received over the past few weeks:
* "Hi Guys and Gals, just a note to let you know that my 12 year old grandson and I had a great time fly-fishing on Monday at SunnyBrook Trout Club. You can see his smile in the attached pictures.
Jerry provided both an instructive and fun day.
Thanks for arranging." Patsy Metheny
* "Olentangy was a little colored up, but fished well. Smallies hitting hard on smaller flies in slow water. Carp feeding pretty much all morning, though the color made fishing them hard, had to get it close to them. Got a nice one that aggressively took the fly on the drop, broke him off trying to land him, but he tested my glass 6 wt's limits.
No obvious cicada action, yet though I've been hearing them more lately.
Have a good one"- Chris Schalz
* Daniel Etter and his father were out last Sunday with guide Pat Kelly. Daniel got his 1st Ohio Pike on the fly. In January, Daniel is going along with Pat on the Amazon trip and Pat will guide him to his 1st Peacock Bass on the fly! Lucky Kid!
Speaking of the Peacock Bass Trip- we do have 1st spot OPEN this coming January. If interested, please give Pat a call at the shop. He'd love to fill it and could probably "sweeten the deal" a bit if it helped pull the trigger.
Find the details and pricing here:
* "Hocking River fishing report since its too hot to fish Clear Creek. Smallmouth active early in faster water on streamers"- Steve Buckley
* "Update from the Northwoods- 47" Musky on my Sage rod (personal best on fly rod)- thanks to Pat for his instruction and helping me gear up!"- Greg DeNaeyer
* "Hey guys, i just wanted to report that the Brookville Tailwater is fishing pretty well in some areas. I took these rainbows on a Parachute Adams, and then on Dry Dropper; Elk Hair Caddis with a size 20 zebra midge below. Browns were hitting the Parachute Adams as well. It can get a bit crowded on the Tailwater, but a nice conversation with an old timer is what convined me to switch from nymphs to drys last Sunday. Love the old timers who are excited to help newcomers".- Bryan O'Maley
* "Went out to local stream Friday and undecided whether to target Carp or smallmouth bass. I entered the water at the bridge and immediatly saw a large Smallmouth cruising in shallow water. I tied on a blue Boogle Bug and tossed it 3-4 feet upstream from his position. He jumped on it right away and I had a fun fight on my 5 weight for the next few minutes.He taped out at 18” and was the best fish of the day. I did catch some very colorful longear sunfish that liked blue Boogle Bugs as well."- William Rice
* "Paul Thomas had a good first morning in the Trout Republic/Upper Green River, Wyoming. 4 fish 20+, 7 more fish over 17, plenty others. Just one of those mornings. Broke in his new net, had Tolley as net man to assist with others. Did a great job with the Scott Radian. This was a monumental fishing day for Paul, enjoyed as a result of all the help he received at Mad River Outfitters!"- Rob Tolley- Cora, Wyoming
* "Fished the Hocking on Saturday to check on flows. It rained hard Friday night and Clear Creek was pumping in "chocolate milk." Visibility was 0-3in most of the day. By around 10am it turned into a Zoo with kayaks and canoes. It was nothing to see 20 of them in a pack. Fishing was totally unproductive to say the least.
Sunday out with clients. Visibility was much better at around 12in+. The main issue was that the river had dropped 50cfs from the day before. Canoe hatch was not as big of a problem as on Saturday. It was tough conditions. Low water, very high pressure, and the canoe influence from the day before had the fish finicky. Stripping streamers with long pauses did produce some small fish. The guys fished hard and were rewarded with 10-12 smallies. Although nothing over 13in to hand there were a few lost in the wood cover that we will be thinking of for awhile. "- Ryan Ratliff
Tony Makris on a guide trip with MRO's Ryan Ratliff
Mad River
The rains the past few days have...unfortunately....not made a difference at all. We need about 3 days of steady rains to bring us out of this "funk". The river is becoming desperately low and the fishing is suffering.
There is some good news though. The fishing after dark has been decent, and mostly because of this guy:
There is some good news though. The fishing after dark has been decent, and mostly because of this guy:
A few weeks ago, our "top reporter" Ed Muldoon was fishing after dark and ran into a blizzard hatch of these "Drakes". This is not a bug that has been on our radar and a total surprise to all that fish the river.
They have been showing up around 10:15 or so and hatching for 20-30 minutes. The spinner falls have been good and also of course, after dark. We have sent the photos out to our "bug hero", Dr. Brian Armitage and are still waiting to hear back as to exactly what species it is. Best we can guess is that it is the Ephemera Varia, but still not sure. We'll let you know once we get it confirmed and hoping to hear back from him in the next few days.
The bugs have been on the water for a few weeks now and although seem to be slowing down, they were seen the past few nights in the upper parts of the river. If it is in fact the Varia, we could be looking at some steady hatching for another few weeks yet, again, in the upper parts of the river.
Here's some reports from Ed over the past few weeks as he was discovering the "Mad River Mystery Drake":
July 10th
"Hey guys, started tonight at 7 to throw some terrestrials and maybe get some late rises. Took a few on Turks in a riffle and then a good one on a deep woven nymph. Very few rises before dark. Fished a very healthy Trico hatch but it was super selective, still nice to see. Size probably 22. Headed back upstream at dark, turned on my headlamp around 10:15. I was covered in flies within two minutes. Big ones. Either brown/slate drake or Hex, I'd say Hex. The next two hours was the absolute, without question, biggest hatch I have ever seen on the Mad. I stopped counting and being amazed after about twenty minutes. Hundreds of duns. Fish we're extremely selective, took a couple good ones not over twenty but they were out I am sure. Don't care, this was the coolest, most unexpected hatch I have ever been in. I literally went out just to cool off and catch a couple fish on an ant. I was stunned, took about 50 pictures and even a video. Why did this happen so late in the month? Spinner fall will be utterly insane tomorrow, I envy the person that lucks into it if it isn't me. Got out around 12:30. See pics. Wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't there."
Fish caught by Ed on the mystery Epemera
July 17th
"Flies came off again last night 10:10-10:45, this is over one week long now. Same place. Less intense but still plenty. This was a big spinner fall, hard to figure these bugs because during the spinner fall I picked up an intact shuck and there were plenty of them on the water. The duns came off very fast I guess and I missed them. I have some if anyone wants to take a better look. Attached pic you can really get an idea of the nymph, gills and all. Took a good fish with my spinner, walked into three large fish that must've been involved somehow but they weren't many audible rises. Same weather yesterday, 80s and hot, rapidly dropping into 70s and 60s around 10.
Earlier around dusk a Goddard caddis took a few rising fish but I had to travel very far to find them. Very big caddis hatch in a remote stretch. I only saw four rising fish, even during another great Trico hatch earlier there was no rising whatsoever. Good bugs wasted.
Checked upstream at 55 and saw no evidence of any of this. Moused till around midnight and it was not productive. Thought it would've been with the waxing gibbous, plenty of natural light on the water. Wonderful night. Water still pretty cold, wish I had a thermometer. Had fun."- Ed Muldoon
For those that aren't into the "Night Thing", your best bet right now is fishing terrestrials. Ants and Beetles have been and will continue to produce fish. You need to be stealthy though! The water is super low and super clear. Caddis dries and pupa have also been producing a few fish in the evenings as well.
It's likely that the reports won't change much here until we get some measurable water. We will be looking out soon for the White Miller Caddis and the Ephron- White Mayflies. Keep your eyes out in the lower river and in the evenings the next few weeks. Can provide some good to excellent evening fishing, even with the low water.
Let us know how you are doing!
Clearfork River
The Upper Clearfork did push upwards a bit with the rains the past few days but nothing to write home about. The lower has been low and clear for weeks.
Not many reports coming from up there. Most have been fishing down in the park for warmwater species and pretty much leaving the trout alone for a while. Might be a good choice until we get some more reasonable temps and flows.
If you were to fish the Upper, fish early or fish late. Terrestrials and caddis have been producing a few fish. Caddis larva fished deep in some of the holes is a good bet also. Streamer fishing has slowed to a halt for the time being.
So...same report.....we need water!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not many reports coming from up there. Most have been fishing down in the park for warmwater species and pretty much leaving the trout alone for a while. Might be a good choice until we get some more reasonable temps and flows.
If you were to fish the Upper, fish early or fish late. Terrestrials and caddis have been producing a few fish. Caddis larva fished deep in some of the holes is a good bet also. Streamer fishing has slowed to a halt for the time being.
So...same report.....we need water!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clear Creek
Probably don't even need to tell you.....Clear Creek is super low and super clear.
With the temps the way they have been, it's probably best to leave the trout be for now and head down to the Hocking for some smallmouth action. If you do fish...do it early or late and try not to stress the fish too much. Terrestrials and caddis would be the way to go on the surface.
Hopefully we'll get some relief here and get back at it in September but we'll need some water before we do!!!
With the temps the way they have been, it's probably best to leave the trout be for now and head down to the Hocking for some smallmouth action. If you do fish...do it early or late and try not to stress the fish too much. Terrestrials and caddis would be the way to go on the surface.
Hopefully we'll get some relief here and get back at it in September but we'll need some water before we do!!!
Erie Steelhead
Believe it or not....some folks already talking steelhead!!!!
Obviously nothing to report yet...but it won't be long now!
Guide trips already starting to book for peak season.
Check out the details and give a shout to get a date on the books.
Mad River Outfitters
Fly Shop, Guides, Schools and more!
813 Bethel Rd.
Columbus, Ohio 43214
614-451-0363
