April 2023

I didn’t name the fly…  Don’t blame me…

I headed back to the Rocky on Day 3 hoping to improve upon my current catch-rate of one Steelhead per day. As you could see from the last post, the water was fairly murky toward the river mouth.  So, I moved farther upriver for better water clarity enhanced by a primarily slate bottom. 

I have caught as many as twelve Steelhead in a day.  I’ve seen posts where people claim to have caught twenty and I’m not doubting their numbers. 

There are small choices and color patterns based on the season that can make the difference between catching one fish with a tremendous amount of effort or catching five in one large pool within an hour.  You can use the exact same lure with the exact same profile, size, vibration, etc., change the color, usually dramatically, and the same fish that ignored it a minute ago will strike.  I’m just saying, sometimes we all get into a rut of patterns and colors, based upon our previous successes and we can let that dominate our strategy.

I was guilty of that on this day…

As I waded out at first light into the pool below the weir, I could see numerous Steelhead moving upstream and rising and jumping throughout the majority of the fishable water.

Yes, that’s a Steelhead clearing the water to taunt me; and it wasn’t alone.  I could hear water movement behind me that didn’t align with the natural flowing sound of the river a few minutes before.

Yep…  Four Steelhead swimming toward and past me on their journey.  So… basically fish everywhere.

I stood in the river trying every lure and fly I had in my possession: no takers.  After two hours and hundreds of casts, another fishmen stepped into the lower section of the pool to try his luck.  It was an extremely large pool.  He didn’t infringe on the section I was targeting, so no issues.

On his first cast, he hooked up on a fresh chrome Steelhead and the fight was on.  It wasn’t a long fight as he lost the fish within 10 seconds or so.  Five minutes later, he was hooked up again with the same result.  Over the next hour, I watched this event continue to unfold.  With six fish hooked and six fish lost thus far… the ‘Curse of the White Death Fly’ tale begins…

After three hours with no results, I knew I needed to regroup and try another location.  I carefully waded back through the far edge of the tailwater as not to infringe on his area.  He asked if I was leaving for the day, and if so, could he have my spot.   It was a much better river section and provided a reasonable casting distance to the weir.  Of course, I said, ‘yes, help yourself’.  As we passed in the river, I had to ask the obvious question…’what are you using’?

Turns out he was local to the area and had been fishing the Rocky his entire life.  Keep in mind, although I usually only make one trip to Cleveland in the Fall, I’ve been doing so for 16-years, and I don’t consider myself a novice. 

However, this was my first Spring Steelhead run ever in Cleveland.  We talked for a few minutes discussing the subtle differences in the two runs.  He swore white-colored patterns worked better in the Spring.  He showed me the fly and said it was called ‘White Death’. Even considering he had lost every fish he hooked to this point, that didn’t impact me.  The fly was extremely effective to say the least.  Knowing I had nothing on me at the time resembling that pattern or color, I left the river in search of the White Death Fly…

I frequent two locally owned fly shops in the Cleveland area: one on the far west-side, the other on the east.  They are both quality establishments and I happened to be on the west side.

I continued west from the Rocky until I reached Backpackers in Sheffield, OH.  I have purchased numerous items from them in the past including two Scott fly rods, two Abel reels and my current Simms waders.  They have a large section of high quality items including hand tied flies.  And…you guessed it… no White Death flies. 

So, with half of the day remaining to fish, I left the store empty handed and continued west for 20 minutes to fish the Vermilion River as it was on my list of five rivers.  I chose to use the lures and patterns that had worked throughout the years during my visits and were effective on day one and day two of this trip. 

I’ve only been to the Vermilion once before in the Fall and it was basically a scouting mission while allowing Trigger to play in the snow as I scoped out the water.  The water was murky on this day and I don’t have enough knowledge or visits to the Vermilion to provide any relevant commentary. 

After hiking the pathway to the river and in my third pool for the day, I had a hard strike and hooked into a fish.

I’m still batting 1,000% (ish)…. 3 Rivers/ 3 Days/ 3 Fish…

Smallmouth Bass enter the river systems from Lake Erie much like Steelhead to spawn. Although some are always present in the rivers, this one was probably from the start of their run.  They are an extremely hard fighting fish for their size and fun to catch.  Pound for pound, they’re strong.  But there is a big difference between a three-pound Smallie and an eight-pound Steelhead.  I would definitely recommend scaling down on the tackle to make it more challenging when targeting these fish. 

After leaving the Vermilion and on my way back to the east side of Cleveland, I stopped at Orvis to purchase the fly that had eluded me.  The person in the fly department said he was familiar with the pattern and knew immediately they did not carry it.  However, he stated they carried flies, based upon my brief description of the events that happened earlier in the day, that might work and provided some options.

Before we left on this trip, my theme was ‘5 rivers/ 5 days’.  In our prior visits, it’s something I never considered.  To be clear, it’s not some big accomplishment.  I’ve mentioned the close proximity in rivers in a prior post.  So, I basically drove, fished, ate lunch, fished again, and went back to the In-Laws for dinner. 

Although I had found a similar pattern in color and shape at Orvis, it was not the White Death Fly.  Knowing I did not have my ideal option and left with no other choices, I prepared for my travel back to the Rocky before first light.