* 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.
**We forgot the last go-round to give a "shout-out" to our good friend and great customer Eric Clapton. He caught a ginormous Atlantic Salmon in Iceland back in August. In fact, it was the biggest of the season there. Quite an accomplishment. Hope to see you in the shop again soon!
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.
**We forgot the last go-round to give a "shout-out" to our good friend and great customer Eric Clapton. He caught a ginormous Atlantic Salmon in Iceland back in August. In fact, it was the biggest of the season there. Quite an accomplishment. Hope to see you in the shop again soon!
**Special Thanks also again to the Buckeye United Fly Fishers for having Brian down to the September meeting. Turns out his "Make Fly Fishing Great Again" Campaign speech was pretty well received and many have claimed that he earned their vote. He's looking forward to coming back and doing the Casting and Knots and Leaders Classes soon.
Warmwater
* The "green and brown" fish have been the hot ticket most of the Summer and that seems to continue. Warmwater fishing in the region has been...well....HOT! Even despite the low waters throughout, things have remained steady and strong. Many folks still out chasing smallmouth, as they should be with temps in the high 80's today. Lots of reports the past few weeks of folks doing very well on crayfish patterns and large, white streamers. The popper bite continues to be strong as well although that may slow up a bit as the temps cool.
* Our friends with the Buckeye United Fly Fishers are having their Little Miami River Cleanup on Sunday, October 2nd. They need some volunteers to help float down river and clean up trash, tires, or whatever else they can find. They have 8 canoes, so they have space for 16 people to help for this event. See their website HERE for more details or call Bryan Tudor at 513-827-5437.
* Pike fishing has remained steady throughout the Summer and should get only better as the Fall progresses. The Northeast part of the state has actually gotten and few pushes of water and kept things a bit fresher than the Central and Southern parts of the state. Pat and Josh actually had a few trips postponed due to high muddy water the past few weeks which is something we haven't had to do much of this Summer.
* Our friends with the Buckeye United Fly Fishers are having their Little Miami River Cleanup on Sunday, October 2nd. They need some volunteers to help float down river and clean up trash, tires, or whatever else they can find. They have 8 canoes, so they have space for 16 people to help for this event. See their website HERE for more details or call Bryan Tudor at 513-827-5437.
* Pike fishing has remained steady throughout the Summer and should get only better as the Fall progresses. The Northeast part of the state has actually gotten and few pushes of water and kept things a bit fresher than the Central and Southern parts of the state. Pat and Josh actually had a few trips postponed due to high muddy water the past few weeks which is something we haven't had to do much of this Summer.
Superstar Ethan Hall with a recent Ohio Pike on the fly!
* Musky fishing should heat up a bit here and remain strong through the Winter. Pat should start doing some trips here shortly and we'll hopefully be sharing some pics soon. In the meantime, good friend and great customer Ryan Srbljan sent us this pic and note:
"Things are heating up as the temps and rain cool down... Tell people to call Josh & Pat and chase some toothy critters! They've got the feed bag on!
PS - This was on the 10wt stick I won at the legends banquet. Flips donation has been from Canada to the Caribbean and caught skis to poon. When's the next banquet?- Your friend,
Ryan"
* Our good friend Michael Palatas sent us these notes and pics here in the past few days....pretty much sums it up:
Early morning fishing in riffles and runs with articulated streamers has been ridiculously successful! The smallies are aggressive and range from 12-24". Lately, I've been reluctant to take pics due to the unfortunate loss of my previous phone after an amazing smallmouth got the last laugh after a few nice pics and a release that involved my leaving the zipper open on my phone pouch and said pouch taking on water. Truth be told I'd throw my phone into the river if it promised to bring me another one like that!
Anyway, the takes are aggressive and the fish have been downright violent on the fight.
This fella raced downstream toward a sharp rock so hard after the set I got the stripping line wrapped around my hand before I even knew what was happening!
Here we have one that, once I stopped his progress down stream, turned and shot right at me toward the bank, made a loop around me, went back into the main current and jumped like crazy!
Come mid morning I've had luck swapping to smaller streamers fished through similar areas. Generally a little less size 10-16" but fun's fun. Speaking of fun let's talk channel cats.
One of the joys of warm water fishing is the variety of options one has with respect to species. Channel cats, even more so than smallmouth, cannot resist a dark leech pattern. Find a good riffle or just moderately fast water that drops into a deep pool where the stream bed widens such that a slow eddy develops on the surface were the water releases at the beginning of the pool. Toss that leech up at the top of the riffle and let it get down close to the bottom. At the front of the riffle you have the option of catching smallmouth or smaller channel cats (my experience has been smallies on the edges and channel at the center).
Not an amazing fight but beautiful looking fish.
Once you get to the eddy get that fly up by the bank and slowly bring just across. The fish will be sitting deep so you want to make sure you get the fly down just above the bottom. Once I know I'm down I prefer a slow sweeping motion with the rod tip as it allows me to keep a good connection to the line and I feel the bottom structure better. Typically when they hit the fly they hook themselves. BAM!
A few final observations.
First, last year it was rain all summer long and while this year hasn't been without rain there has been significantly less of it. I mention this because it a very interesting and significant aspect of our sport. The tactics I've used this year for success relative to what worked last year: it's like fishing a different river. So that's awesome!
Second, not only is the faster water where you'll find a majority of active fish but it's also more forgiving to beginning anglers and way more fun to fish with a fly line. Fishing articulated streamers to the bank and Gallouping (jerk-stripping) them back to you is fun and effective but in the fast riffles I've had more control and success throwing well past 45 degrees up stream. I'll swim the fly with various size bellies in the line and subtle flicks of the rod tip. When I see something especially attractive I'll be sure to broadside the fly across it but have experienced a lot of success just using the swimming technique. If you're pulling the fly by flicking downstream and happen to miss the first few hits switching to an upstream flick usually takes care of the problem. I usually start with the down stream as it is easier on the wrist and more often than not successful. If you aren't seeing fish lengthen the leader 10" with piece of one size smaller tippet and see what happens. The fish aren't leader shy but the fly swims differently. The same tactics work for the smaller streamers as well but I find a floating line with a longer leader to be a better way to present the fly.
And in a nutshell that's the fun of it; letting your tackle do the work and making minor adjustments until you see success. A river is just an ever changing constant: tiny little mind games and variations upon a theme as broad and as long as your imagination and feet or oars will take you!
Thanks for being there to introduce me to the sport MRO and thanks for giving me a place to post my appreciation and progress!
- Michael Palatas
* Let's not forget everyone's favorite fish...the Largemouth Bass. Fishing has been good all over the state! We've had some folks going down to AEP and doing VERY well! Neighborhood ponds and farm ponds have all been producing well and the surface bite hasn't seemed to slow at all yet!
Here's a few from frequent contributor Joe Olivas-
Mad River
Not a ton of submitted reports the past few weeks. Seems that most, even die-hards are chasing warmwater fish. Probably the better choice.
Not much has changed since our last report. The river is ridiculously low and clear and fishing has been tough. Those that have been out have been catching a few fish very early or very late.
There have still been some of the Ephron mayflies hatching in the lower stretches of the river but most of the activity has seemed to be after dark. The White Millers are still around but seem to be tapering off. They will mostly be found in the upper parts of the river for the next week or two. A #14 Green Soft Hackle is all you need for this although we have had a few folks doing well in the evenings on the #12 Fat Head Moth pattern. Great idea to fish that with a Soft Hackle behind! Otherwise, best bet is small caddis in the evenings.
Brian is floating a couple from South Africa tomorrow. Despite the warnings of the low and clear water, they just want to see and fish the river...so it's on. We should have a report and hopefully pics later in the week.
He is also doing one of his "On-River Seminars" at Birchbark Canoe Livery this Sunday. There are a few spots open if interested. You must be prepared to learn ALOT about trout fishing and the Mad River in particular. You can Click Here to sign-up.
A few notes on what our friends in the Madmen Chapter of TU have on their Calendar:
October 9th- Last Stream Monitoring and Trail Maintenance
October 15th- Mad River Cleanup
October 29th- Mad River Public Forum- Urbana Theater
For more information please see their Calendar HERE!
Let us know how you are doing our there! We are looking forward to writing some more promising reports.
Clearfork River
Same old story! Low, clear and warm water. Not many reports the past few weeks.
A few folks have been fishing the Upper Clearfork here the past few weeks but fishing has been slow. Really slow. Some fish caught in the evenings on Caddis dries and pupa but not much else. Too low for streamers!
The lower is pretty much a smallmouth fishery, and a decent one if you walk a ways. It will be until we get some water and cooler temps before we start chasing trout there again. Just too warm to stress the fish right now.
So...same report.....we need water!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A few folks have been fishing the Upper Clearfork here the past few weeks but fishing has been slow. Really slow. Some fish caught in the evenings on Caddis dries and pupa but not much else. Too low for streamers!
The lower is pretty much a smallmouth fishery, and a decent one if you walk a ways. It will be until we get some water and cooler temps before we start chasing trout there again. Just too warm to stress the fish right now.
So...same report.....we need water!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clear Creek
Probably don't even need to tell you.....Clear Creek is super low and super clear. Same story....same report. Talked again to Ryan here in the shop and he says it's still too warm. Not a good idea to stress the fish with these warm temps we are experiencing.
Most folks in the area are heading down to the Hocking and doing pretty well on smallmouth. The surface bite continues to be good to excellent. If not, try big white streamers!
Hopefully we'll get some relief here and get back at it in late September/early October but we'll need some water before we do!!!
Most folks in the area are heading down to the Hocking and doing pretty well on smallmouth. The surface bite continues to be good to excellent. If not, try big white streamers!
Hopefully we'll get some relief here and get back at it in late September/early October but we'll need some water before we do!!!
Erie Steelhead
Nothing really to report yet! Some anglers fishing the mouths and catching a few fish but we are still several rains and a big drop in temperature away from Steelhead season. As things begin to happen, rest assure that we'll let you know here.
In the meantime......1 spot open on the Sunday Class with Jeff Liskay which will be held on the Grand River-
Click Here to register! (If it says Temporarily Out of Stock...the spot already sold)
Mad River Outfitters
Fly Shop, Guides, Schools and more!
813 Bethel Rd.
Columbus, Ohio 43214
614-451-0363
