January 2013: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Things tend to slow down a little on the Alley after the 1st of the year.  The water is cool and often the tribs are locked-up.  But when there is open water, the fishing and the scenery can be spectacular.

My buddy Greg and I always hit the water on January 1st.  We both feel the need to get the skunk off for the year on day 1.  This year was no exception and we did get the skunk off in the middle of a true Winter Wonderland.

There was plenty of open water to be found across the Ohio and Pennsylvania Lake Erie tributaries for the first half of January.  I was able to spend a couple of fantastic days on the water with old fishing mates Buff and Ryan.  These guys both came away with the same Winter steelhead lesson.

Whether you are swinging or dead drifting for steelhead in the Winter, you have to make your presentation very precise and that includes being meticulous with line control and drifts.  When dead drifting you need to be very accurate in how you set your the depth of your offering and how precisely you add weight to the line to get your offering to the steelhead.  This is a situation where having the offering drop 90 degrees straight down from your indicator is very important.

Why does all of this matter?  Steelhead feed all Winter, but they are more subtle in how they hit in the cooler water.  When you dead drift, if there is a large belly in the line below your indicator, you will miss the hit before you ever get a chance to set the hook.  The steelhead will have gently taken in and expelled your fly before the indicator ever stops, let alone dunks.  Eliminate the extra length of line below the indicator, maintain your tight line (as you have heard a million times), and you will be detecting the hit with the indicator as it happens, not after the fact.  This will dramatically increase your Winter steelhead hook-ups.

In the midst of all of this great fishing, our good friend, Cleveland MetroParks Fisheries Biologist, Michael Durkalec was in a horrible automobile accident.  Mike's life's work is managing the fisheries of the Rocky and upper Chagrin Rivers in the Cleveland MetroParks.  Both of these Rivers are tremendous steelhead fisheries in the Winter and fantastic smallmouth bass, catfish, and carp fisheries during the warm months.  When you fish these waters, Mike's work has made them what they are.  Mike is healing, but his injuries were severe and he remains in the ICU today.

The weather warmed over the last week of January and tons of snow and ice melted off.  The Lake Erie tribs are blown-out and just getting back to fishable.  With the tribs being blown this week, I was able to take a day and hit a small wild brown trout stream that was high, stained, and perfect.  Brown trout can be pretty aggressive in cold water.  It was wonderful swinging big sculpin streamers in the tailouts of run and watch big browns turn on them.  And again, the scenery of the day made it all worthwhile.

In retrospect, let me tell you what really made January great.  I spent some fantastic time on the water with some great guys.  And while the fishing was wonderful, being on the stream and listening to these guys decompress and watch relaxation come across their faces was priceless.  Being able to pray for the situations in each of these gentleman's live's and believing God will move in their lives makes every day worth it.  And, spending the month, not only praying for Mike but asking other people to pray for him and the response other folks have had towards Mike's tragedy has been inspiring to say the least.

February is generally a tough month for steelhead fishing across Steelhead Alley.  Many years the tribs are completely locked-up with ice.  If the water is open and you want to get out, call me...LET"S GO FISHIN'!