Another Slow Ohio Summer

Fly fishing Northeastern Ohio tributaries in the summer is like the way Jim Thome runs, its pretty slow. The prime season for our lake erie run Smallmouth Bass is around mid spring to early june, and of course I got back from school in mid june. Smallmouth are the perfect fish for the fly rod. They are not afraid of anything and will hit almost any fly thrown at them. Adding to their willingness to take the fly, I'm sure that if they were boxers they would have the highest pound for pound rating of all time. The other game fish in Ohio tribs. are the elusive carp. I have read numerous articles on how to catch carp, watched youtube videos, and I have even bought a dvd on these fish, but these carp are not like your local carp. They only feed at the crack of dawn and after sunset. If they see you, hear you or feel your vibrations, the whole group will completely shut off. I know that people say that carp are good training for bonefish, but for me these ohio carp are more difficult to hook up with than bonefish. In 2 summers of fishing for carp I have hooked 5 and I've caught 3 fish. Out of the 3 times I've been out for bonefish, I've had 2 chances, and I caught 1. The other thing to consider is that these carp litter these rivers, maybe 50+ fish in a single pool. 20 pound carp straight up chilling in the river teasing every angler that sees it.







P.S. those are two different smallies that I caught on the same day

Late Spring Steelhead

In the Great Lakes Region, most fishermen put their steelhead rods down way too early. When the season has passed its peak, people think that the season is over. Contrary to common beliefs, some of my best fishing days have been when the season is so called "over". Last weekend was one of those days. The water was extremely low, so the holding fish weren't hard to spot, but the fish were far and in between. On both Friday and Sunday, we found a pod of about 20-30 fish throughout a run. Some in the tailout, and some were at the head. Between My dad and I, we might've caught or atleast hooked up with every fish in the run. We threw everything from eggs, the no fail stonefly to a gummy larvae pattern that I thought no steelies would ever hit. Some fish were beat-up post spawn fish, but a majority of the fish were fresh run drag busting steelhead. I got in and I went hard.

Montana/Idaho Fishing Trip

Last summer I went to a fly fishing camp in Wyoming. The camp sucked. Out of the 2 weeks the camp was in session, I went fishing 7/14 days. I expected fishing everyday, all day, but the camp was simply not well facilitated. I made up for the lost fishing days with my dad on our fishing trip to the Henry's Fork the following week. We stayed at The Trouthunter, which was a nice lodge with amazing food. We fished the upper Henry's Fork for small cutts and bows. We fished Hebgen Lake for the infamous "gulpers". Rainbows and Browns, who would sip on calibaetis mayflies on the glassy smooth lake. It was like fishing on the flats for 20" trout. My Favorite river we fished was the Madison. Technical nymphing and dry flying in a beautiful river and scenery. I'll never forget the fish that I lost during nightfall as it ran straight across the river and ran up stream into my backing. The fish wrapped my line around one of the many rocks in the Madison, and my trophy was gone. Last but not least we fished the world renowned Henry's Fork. We caught chunky fish in the box cannon, as well as got harshly rejected by the Harriman Ranch Rainbows. My trip at The Trouthunter was the perfect fishing trip that I would be lucky to go on again.


Here's some of the best pics

First Bonefish

Bone fishing is like kissing to a teenage boy. Everybody talks about it like its easy, but in reality its not as easy as people say(this is implying if you have good taste). And once you get it, you feel like a boss. My first bonefish came on a last shot opportunity. I was in the Bahamas, and my flight was leaving that afternoon. I woke up at the crack of dawn in hopes to catch the silver bullet. As my time was running down, I spotted 2 fish coming across the flat. I threw out a bomb, by far the longest cast I've ever thrown. I felt a thump, gave a strip-set, looked up and bam. The fish flew off across the flat. I looked at my reel and saw my backing for the first time. 2 more similar runs was all the fish had, and soon I held the fish in my hands. For a while I couldn't believe that it was true. It seemed too good to be true, it must've been a dream. A silver dream for the silver bullet.

Ohio Steelhead

My favorite freshwater fish is the steelhead. Steelhead-fishing is the best freshwater fishing hands down. The screaming runs that they make, the aggressiveness of one hitting your streamer, and the aerobatic leaps they make are incomparable with any other fish in freshwater. Fishing for great lakes steelhead is different than most people assume. Instead of fishing for steelies on 100 foot wide rivers, us great lakes fishermen fish for Steelhead in 50 foot wide rivers that average at 3-4 feet deep. The smallness of great lake tributaries makes our fishing more of a stalking game. During the spring when you can see fish holding in pools and runs, it becomes a game of "stalk your prey". Wild vs. Hatchery is always a common occurring argument, but I am just happy to have a good opportunity to catch a 25 inch trout every time I step in the river. In reality, who wouldn't want to catch a wild steelhead. Either way I have been one of the most fortunate fishermen to grow up on steelhead, because they truly are the cream of the crop.

Here are some of the best pics from the last steelhead season.














Give back, practice proper catch and release.

The Beginning

With a good idea from my Mom I have decided to start the blog. My dream is to make a living out of fishing, make fishing movies or host a fishing show like Larry Dahlberg or Mike Pawalaski. Basically, I want to become the next fly fishing personality like Joan Wulff, Lefty Kreh or Bob Clouser. However the chances of this happening are very slim, so in reality I will probably seek a white collar profession, because if I became a guide my mom would probably beat me to death. So in hopes of my dream, this blog will get my young fly fishing career rolling.


P.S. I will hopefully give an update every time I go fishing, however I haven't gone fishing in a while due to my current situation (boarding school), so for the first posts I will just show old pictures and tell stories of the past.