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Dfishinfool's Guide Service
River Reports Page
No B.S.
"Steelhead Alley" river reports and stream conditions.
Compliments of Don Mathews and the staff of guides at
Dfishinfool's Guide Service.
Brilliant colors of buck steelheads cheek
3-30-08 Sunday
Had to cancel a float trip this morning. Was going to go
swinging flies with an industry rep. on the Grand River.
Of course the Grand is blown out, so we rescheduled.
I have been busy tying flies for this trip and I had
tied some of my favorite spey patterns on tubes last
week. Don's Sunrise Spey, Cheek Meat, and Barneys
Revenge all got adapted to tubes. I will be the
first to admit that I was skeptical that they would
work. I couldn't wait to try them so I headed out to a
Ohio trib this morning with a few buddies. Remember
almost everything is flooded so here I am fishing a tiny
stream with a huge tube flies. I took my 12' 6" two
hand. Got a brand new Vortek on it all spooled up
with the S A short head spey line. I was running my home
made Rio T-14 Tungsten Sink Tips in 3-5 foot lengths. It
was just cracking light as I made my first cast.
Wham. Good solid take but I was still half asleep. I
hooked up on my 3rd 4th and 6th cast of the day.
All the hits were the bone jarring takes that a
steelheader swinging flies lives for. What a way to
start. I wish I could say it was non stop all day.
Actually it was a rather tough day. We did better with
flies than the pinners did with bait today but nobody
really killed them. Water was 36* this morning.
Very few fish on gravel and guys everywhere. Today
was OCBS spring C&R tourney. With almost
everything blown out in Ohio the few small streams that
did fish were packed with people. Chagrin, Conneaut,
Vermillion and Grand are till a few days away.
With rain in the forecast it could be longer. Smaller
streams are fishing but there getting beat up bad as are
the Pa streams. Called it a day early so I could go play
with my new Yak a bit. Really wanted to run the Grand
but it was too high for my liking so I paddled around a
little on the upper Cuyahoga. Watch those flow gauges
and hope the rain stays away. Good Fishin..!! Don
3rd
cast of the morning on Don's Sunrise tube spey
3-29-08
Saturday All of the guys cancelled
their trips for this morning. Everything in Ohio is
flooded out. So I met up with Guide Jeff Novak his
morning over in Pennsylvania. We went to scout out
a section of upper Connie but there wasn't much to see
in the brown muddy flow. It will be several days.
Headed to Elk and it took awhile for the slush to burn
off but the water had a nice flow and color.
Smolts are everywhere so be extra careful over there.
We only got in about two hours but we landed a few fish
in surprisingly good shape. Stream was VERY crowded in
most sections. Stopped in and shot the breeze with
Clyde and Jim a bit at
Follys End Flyshop
before we called it a day. I looked at the Grand
on my way home and it is roaring. I would say it will be
Monday or Tuesday before anything but ditches fish in
Ohio. Again if you do fish the smolt factory in Pa
tomorrow please use extreme care with the babies. Good
Fishin..!! Don
one
of the very few fish caught in the state of Ohio friday
3-28-08 Friday 10:00
AM Update The sort term forecast isn't looking
good. I cancelled my float trip for today. Snow melt has all of the Ohio streams roaring.
Add to that the steady downpour we got last night and I
think it will be a complete blowout in Ohio until at least
Sunday. Once the water levels drop I look for some of
the best fishing of the season to happen. I got
home this morning and called my other guides to see what
they did. Jason called his trip also. Unbelievably Dick
Keagy is out guiding in Ohio right now and they are
catching a few in the high muddy water. If you can't
wait for the Ohio rivers to clear the lake shore at the stream mouths and warm water
discharges are stacked with fresh Manistee's waiting to run.
Our Centerinn Guide
Greg Lum has been working the lake fish hard with
his Pinn the last few weeks. He has been having great
success.
On the Pa side of
Steelhead Alley the snow was all
gone by Tuesday but mud coming off the high banks below
Follies has kept the
lower sections of Elk and Walnut dirty most of the week.
Last night Pa got three inches of snow instead of the
rain we got here in Ohio. Elk and Walnut are a bit
high but as of now they are both still fishing. There are
quite a few fish still around in the Pa streams... Good Fishin.!! Don
3-27-08 Thursday Report
Ever have one of those days? I fell in the river,
fried my cell phone, took a header down a muddy bank,
and forgot the coffee. At least the steelhead gods
took pity on us today. I started my day with three first
time fly fishers. Conditions were less than ideal.
99% of the water in Ohio is blown out so we were limited
to fishing the skinniest of water. Flow was strong
and visibility was about a foot. Luck was on our
side and we had an excellent day landing about 15 or so.
We had two fish in the 30 inch class and we lost a real
hog at the net. Not too bad for three first time fly
fishers considering only a small handful of people even
tried to fish in Ohio today. We got some real nice fish
today and a few were very fresh. Water temperature
jumped 6* in the last 24 hours and it turned the fish on
big time. In the warm water the fresh fish fought like
bulldogs and we were into our backing many times today.
Sort of nice to see fish jumping for a change.
Fish were aggressive today but they shunned our nymphs
and eggs. Buggers and maribou spey's were
the ticket.
Good
Fishin..!!Don
Please note:
A few words about the Orvis Endorsed Guide program. Dfishinfool's Guide Service has never paid ANYBODY for
an endorsement..!! I want to get something
straight with everybody. We are not Orvis Endorsed Guides.
We have never paid any money to Orvis to say we are
super guides and we never will. Myself and Jeff have
been provided Orvis equipment at a discount price for
our guests to use. WE DO NOT PAY ANY MONEY TO ORVIS we are not
obligated to use or endorse their equipment. Many
leading fly fishing manufacturers provide us with discount
pricing on
their gear because we are professional guides. They do
this so our guests can see the quality of their products
firsthand. I'm sure many of my clients are
familiar with the fit and finish of the Green 10 foot 7 weight
Orvis Power Matrix Rods we used to use. Those who know
me, know that I'm not a wishy washy guy and I'm
not afraid to call it like I see it. One thing I can
guarantee you is on our guide trips you will use only
the best of the best. It doesn't matter to me who makes
it..!! We use some Orvis equipment and like it.
But we also use gear from Scott Rod (made in
USA) , Fenwick, Penn, Cortland, Hardy, Nautilus Reels,
Teton,
Scientific Anglers, Berkly, Seaguar, Dr.Slick, fishpond, Rio,
Redwing tackle and other leaders in the industry.
Our reputation
is built on hundreds and hundreds of guide trips over
the last 11 years. If you want an endorsement talk to
any of our past guests or simply go thru the over 900
pictures on this website of my smiling guests holding a
steelhead. Simply put we are the busiest Guide Service
on "Steelhead Alley" for a reason. We don't need
to pay anyone to say we are good guides. We are so
confident of our ability to put you on the fish that we
offer the "You Catch Fish or You FIsh Free" policy on
our guided trips. Enough said about Orvis.. Good
Fishin..!! Don Mathews
Good
Fishin..!! Don
3-26-08 Wed
Report I'll keep it short cause I'm real tired
tonight. I was disappointed this morning to find the
Ohio streams had came up much more than expected from
overnight snowmelt. Tried to start where I left
off yesterday and it was too high. Punted and headed for
the far upper stretches of a larger trib and found clean
water but a strong flow. Pay dirt lots of chromers
until the stream blew out in the afternoon.
Swinging Crystal minnows and buggers kept me busy
netting fish. My prediction is Ohio will be red hot when we
can get at them. Things are kind of looking bleak for
tomorrow. I think continued snow melt may blow
everything out. I'll keep you posted..!! Good
Fishin..!! Don
3-25-08
Tuesday Report With most everything in Ohio still
high and muddy we started at a smaller trib this
morning. There we found every other guide in Ohio
but we didn't find many fresh fish. Moved to
bigger water after lunch and had it all to ourselves. It
was still a bit high but we found some chrome.
Should be much better in the morning. Still a little
snow left and as it melts it adds to the flow.
If it stays warm at night the rivers may stay high until
all of the snow is gone. My prediction is the next
few days will be touch and go depending on the weather. Grand is dropping fast and
may fish by the weekend. Pa streams are low and clear
with fair numbers of fish in them. Small black stones
were every where today. Despite this we did our
best on crystal minnows and wooly buggers.
WE
ARE YOUR SOURCE FOR QUALITY
STEELHEAD FLIES..!! WE HAVE OVER 1,000 DOZEN
FLIES AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY..MORE PATTERNS
ARE COMING SOON.. I have been working hard with the best
"Steelhead Alley" guides adding new cutting edge
patterns to our line. Flyshops call
for volume discount pricing..!!!
WATCH
OUR FLY SHOP FOR SOME GREAT
NEW PATTERNS. GUIDE PROVEN STEELHEAD CATCHING PATTERNS
TIED ON TOP QUALITY HOOKS THAT WILL NOT STRAIGHTEN OUT
ON BIG FISH. WE ALSO HAVE INDICATORS, SCENT, SHOT AND
HAND TIED LEADERS. REMEMBER OUR MOTO OUR FLIES ARE
"CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN"
-
3-21-08 Steelhead Alley
Report Here we are in mid March and the main
spring fishing hasn't even started. Now there
calling for up to 6" of snow. We have been catching fish
most days but we have had to fish the ditches.
Most of the larger Ohio streams have been unfishable for
almost two weeks. To be honest I haven't seen a whole
lot of fresh fish recently. Most are old males and
spawning hens. I think the best is defiantly yet
to come. It will be Sunday before anything of size
fishes in Ohio. Pa is fishing good. Quite a
few fish in all of the Pa streams. Its your best bet for
Saturday. For those fresh Ohio Manistees, Watch the flow
charts and hit them when they drop. Good Fishin and
Happy Easter..!! Don
***We still
have a few openings for our Fall 2008 Garden River trip.
Enjoy the best Salmon fishing in the Great Lakes region
with absolutely NO CROWDS. See
our website for more info
Fish The Garden and
Garden
River Trip
3-10-08 Steelhead Alley
Report Friday and Saturday was the worst winter
storm of the season along most of Steelhead Alley. Some
areas of Ohio were in a State of emergency and all roads
were closed. I got 18 inches at my house in North
Eastern Ohio. The snow wasn’t lake effect so most of
the Lake Shore areas received about 12 inches. All of
the snow quickly slushed the streams up Saturday.
Sunday was sunny and the slush burned off of most of the
streams by late afternoon. I saw the Chagrin and upper
Grand this morning and both were still high but free of
slush and major side ice. Chagrin should be good by
tomorrow. There are good numbers of fish in all
of the streams in both Ohio and Pa now but getting
around in knee deep snow isn’t easy. Problem is going
to be snow melt the next few days. I look for the
streams to blow out this week when all of this snow
melts. After the melt fishing will be good as they drop.
Lets hope were done with the snow..!! We still have two
openings in next week ends steelhead school if anybody
is interested in learning access points on the Ohio
streams.
http://www.steelheadschool.com/steelhead_school.htm
Good Fishin..!! Don
For More "steelhead
Alley" Fishing reports Click here
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