Weekend outlook and time for steel....

Perk Perkins discovers Ohio steelhead action with Chagrin River Outfitters...good angler that Perk

Justin Guided Doug to his best fish of the year, a 12.5# buck that went ballistic...Oh yeah Justins back...

Day glo green jackets are for clients that tend to wander away, we have lost to many over the years to take chances, if seen please return to Chagrin River Outfittters

Who doesn't like a double header?

The stars have aligned and all rivers will fish this weekend here in Northern Ohio's piece of Steelhead Alley. Look for fish in there usual fall haunts you would normally find them this time of year as they are beginning to distribute fairly well throughout the systems. With water temps around 48 degrees fish will be wherever they feel safe and secure, cover water, anything with a dark bottom, moving water, and enough depth to hold fish should warrant a few casts. Fish mornings and evenings(low Light conditions) for best results.

Chagrin: One of our favorites received a small dose of rain last night but will remain a little low and clear but has been fishing fairly well...

Grand River: The big river should fish well this weekend, good flow and good vis means happy fish.

Conneaut: This Eastern Ohio Trib started off hot then cooled and is now picking up steam again, will have good color and flow for the next couple of days and has received some fresh fish...

Elk Creek: what is there to report, a million fish and a fisherman for every fish, getting low and clear.

As always good luck be safe and don't forget to stop in the shop for all your steelhead needs...Dan, Justin, and Peter

Recent fish pics and current river report....

Scott had a very good day yesterday with his CRO guide, Many fish brought to the net including 3 over 10#lbs with this one being the biggest that tipped the scales @ 13.8 lbs, great job again Scott.

Nate sent us this pic and said giant lake run Browns love Chagrin River Outfitters streamer patterns...Nice fish Nate....

Rivers are in good shape or just coming into good shape all over northern Ohio right now and should provide very good fishing over the next week. The combination of wind and rain has gotten rid of most of the leaves that plagued fisherman earlier in the week and has also brought a fresh run of fish into our rivers. Look for those fresh fish to be pushing upstream over the next couple of days and target areas that will impede their upstream migration as likely holding areas. Cover water until you find an area holding fish as they will likely be scattered around a bit. Hot shop flies have been high water worms, flamingo and chart otter eggs, great lakes sparrows, purple buggers, steelhead princes, copper softies and lite brite princes.

Chagrin River: 141 cfs and dropping, plenty of visibility on the chagrin and the lower sections of river have been fishing fairly well.

Grand River: 565 dropping and clearing, the big river should fish by Thursday/Friday for fly guys, sooner for bait and have fish up to Vrooman road area.

Conneaut Creek: This river was hot early season but fish have scattered out and become more dispersed making them harder to find...should be prime by mid-day Thursday.

Elk Creek: Decent flows but becoming quite clear, look for best fishing to be from sun up to around 11am.

Down on the river...

As many of you already know, tis' the season for steelhead.



Brian was in town visiting some family, and decided to give these steelhead a try. He's the type of guy that's fished all over the country - and now wanted to give these Ohio steelhead a run for their money. As day broke we were walking upstream looking at water which had good flow, but was a tad bit on the clear side.

Regardless, small pale eggs and nymphs brought in bunch of fish throughout the morning. Here are some that fell victim that morning...


Nice fish that ate early in the day.


Holy smokes - a brown trout on a steelhead trip!?!?!?

After a fantastic morning we decided to do something a little different - we packed up shop, and headed to another stream to try our luck there in the afternoon. Despite having very tea stained water, and high sun, Brian was able to pull out a few more fish to end the day.


We ended the day on a high note with this beauty.

Overall fishing has been good considering the conditions. Recent rains have brought the water up but have also washed a lot of tanic acid in to the streams. This significantly changes the PH of the water, and adversely affects steelhead migration and behavior. The last push of water brought most of the leaves down and has cleared a decent amount from the river - however, look for these to remain an issue over the next couple weeks or until we have a significant amount of rain to flush them from the streams.

Good luck and tight lines.

CLIENT PICS FROM THE LAST FEW DAYS AND RIVER REPORT....

RICH CAME ALL THE WAY FROM FLORIDA FOR THIS TROPHY...

AND HE LET STEVE TAG ALONG TO CATCH THE LITTLE ONES....

BIG CREEK ON THE GRAND THIS MORNING....

THIS EAST SIDE TRIB FISHED UNTIL NOON WHEN IT BLEW OUT TODAY...

CONNEAUT WAS HIGH, LEAFY , AND MUDDY...JUST WHAT WE NEEDED...

The staff got out this morning to get a good look at our rivers and see what affect the rains had on our local tribs. It didn't take long to see that everything was on the rise due to the half-inch to inch of rain that fell early this morning. Look for this rain to bring in a significant push of fish - they have been held up in the lower rivers/lake, and now is their time to push upstream and really start the fall run.

The Rocky is at 675 and falling - look for it to fish early in the weekend.

The Chagrin is at 1200 and falling - look for this underrated fall gem to fish late Friday and thru the weekend.

Conneaut Creek: currently bank to bank and rising, maybe Saturday...

For anglers looking to fish tomorrow and Friday, consider fishing one of the smaller PA tributaries of steelhead alley - the miles tribs, Elk, and Walnut Creek will be fishing within the next 24 hours and should be loaded with fresh fish.

The Grand? Fogettaboutit for the time being - it's at 1300 and rising.

The Vermillion - call Eric Lindstrom for an up-to-date report.

With the high water, look for bigger flies that create a larger profile in the water to produce well - stop by the shop for a great selection of these types of patterns. Steelhead princes, superflash nymphs, brown and black stones, white, black, and purple buggers should all fish well over the next few days. Vary the colors and sizes of your egg patterns with the water clarity on the stream you are fishing. If leaves aren't present in the water consider fishing a streamer as these fresh fish often fall victim to a big fly.

As always, call the shop with any questions you might have. 440-247-7110. Tight lines and good fishin'.

Guide's Day Off

I thought of Wednesday as the calm before the storm. I needed to get away; someplace I don't fish very often. But needing a dozen dozen flies that haven't been tied for clients, and patching waders, tying leaders, finding the materials to tie that dozen dozen, an oil change, new tires, family obligations, oh, and "when was I going to take the trash out?" The correct answer to these questions is RIGHT NOW! (especially the last one). Except mine had a "but" at the end. But I am going to Cattaraugus to swing flies before I am guiding for steelhead (almost) everyday between now and Christmas. Everything else has to wait. Except the trash. We used a friend's Chautauqua lake house Tuesday night as a forward base camp (thanks Nate!).

We were prepared. Ok, ok. We had too much.

JD's first-ever steelhead.
Do not try this hold at home. I am a trained professional.

Bright colors were the ticket for swung flies.

Nice fish Jim!

12'8" 7 weight Scott ARC = being able to put the wood to the Chromers.

JD finished out the day with a nice chromer, his second steelhead.

All in all it was a very fun, productive day. Most of the fish landed were on large streamers. If you haven't tried swinging big flies you are missing out big-time. Stop by the shop and check out our selection. You will not be dissappointed!

Right now there are scattered fish around all of our rivers. We need rain! and it looks like we will get it. If you need a fix this weekend, search out the bigger deeper holes on the lower part of the rivers. Super-gin clear water means lighter flouro tippet (4x), and single-fly rigs. When the water is sloooow, usually no weight is needed. Just make sure your indicator is at the correct depth (1- 1 1/2x the depth of the water). Don't be afraid to set your indicator at 2'. Adapt to the conditions. If you'd like to swing, most spots will not even require a sinktip. A slightly weighted fly should do.

Good luck everyone. If you need something, you know where to find me:

New must have fly pattern for steelhead alley...

V-RIB CADDIS
DAIICHI 1120 SZ 8-14
CHART ULTRA THREAD 70
CHART VINYL RIBBING
INDIAN HEN BACK(GINGER) OR HUNGARIAN PARTRIDGE(NATURAL)
BLACK UV ICE DUB

LAY DOWN THREAD BASE AND TIE IN VINYL RIBBING

WRAP RIBBING FORWARD TOWARDS EYE OF HOOK AND TIE OFF LEAVING ENOUGH ROOM FOR COLLAR AND HEAD.

TIE IN COLLAR AND STRIP SIDE FACING FORWARD OR TOWARDS EYE OF HOOK.

WRAP COLLAR FORWARD WITH EACH WRAP BEING JUST IN FRONT THE PREVIOUS WRAP.

TIE OFF COLLAR AND DUB HEAD...WHIP FINISH FOR COMPLETED FLY.

NOT ONLY A GREAT STEELHEAD PATTERN BUT A MUST HAVE FOR ANY EASTERN TROUT STREAM AND A GOOD LITTLE PANFISH FLY AS WELL, THIS FLY IS IN EVERY BOX OF EVERY GOOD STEELHEAD GUIDE I KNOW AND SHOULD BE IN YOURS AS WELL.

BEST FISHED IN AND BELOW GRAVELY FAST WATER AREAS WERE CADDIS LARVA TYPICALLY LIVE AND BECOME DISLODGED DURING PERIODS OF HIGH WATER.

CLIENT PICS AND FISHING REPORT....

That is a fresh one....

Close up of steel and CRO's steelhead prince nymph....

Chuck has one of his best days ever this week with CRO guides....
Congrats on a great day....

There were alot of smiles on fishermans faces this week as the October steelheading on Ohio tribs has been very good thus far. There have been good numbers of fresh fish in the East side tribs for the past couple of weeks keeping anglers busy. The bad news is these fish have been worked over pretty good and with the low flows and ultra clear water are becoming increasingly difficult to catch with each passing day. Downsizing tippets and flies is a good way to adapt to the current conditions, small 12-14 egg patterns have been producing as have small nymph patterns (12-16). The hot shop patterns have been sz 12 apricot eggs, phsyco princes, size 10 tangerine egg clusters, epoxy fry, lightning bugs, copper softies, peacock buggers in black, hot spot buggers in white/pink. For those of you that like to swing streamers take a break from it and break out the indi rigs...swinging with little flow and low clear water has been difficult at best...Good luck as always...Dan and Pete

STREAM CONDITIONS

RIVERS WILL REMAIN LOW AND CLEAR UNLESS WE GET SOME OF THE RAIN IN THE FORECAST...I WOULD FORECST CONDITIONS BUT AROUND HEAR LATELY WE JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE.

CHAGRIN: 102 CFS AND RISING VERY SLIGHTLY FROM YESTERDAYS RAIN BUT NOT ENOUGH TO BLOW OUT RIVER OR BRING IN MANY FRESH FISH. MAJORITY OF THE FISH STILL IN THE LOWER THIRD OF THE RIVER.

GRAND RIVER: 179 CFS LOW FLOWS AND CLEAR WATER HAVE MADE CATCHING FISH DIFFICULT THOUGH THEY ARE THERE, THE FURTHEST UPRIVER I HAVE HEARD OF FISH BEING CAUGHT IS AROUND VROOMAN ROAD.

ROCKY: 74 CFS AND HOLDING...OUR WEST SIDE CONNECTIONS HAVE NOT GIVEN US ANY GREAT NEWS ON THIS WEST SIDE TRIB THOUGH THERE ARE SOME FISH BEING CAUGHT IN THE LOWER STRETCHES, RAIN IS THE KEY RIGHT NOWO TO GET THIS GEM KICK STARTED.

VERMILLION RIVER: 32CFS AND CRYING FOR RAIN...VERY LOW AND CLEAR WITH VERY FEW GOOD REPORTS TO SPEAK OF...RAIN RAIN AND MORE RAIN IS NEEDED.

ELK CREEK: THIS FISH FACTORY DID RECIEVE SOME PRECIPITATION AND IS GETTING MORE AS I TYPE, GROUND IS PRETTY SATURATED WHICH MEANS MORE WATER MAKING ITS WAY INTO THE RIVER WHICH WILL BE A BIG HELP IN ADDING SOME COLOR AND FLOW WHICH WILL DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE THE FISHING. SHOULD BE A DECENT WEEKEND TO FISH WESTERN PA TRIBS.

RIVER CONDITIONS UPDATE AND FISHING REPORT...

SEARCHING FOR STEEL ON THE UPPER CONNEAUT...

LOWER CHAGRIN FROM SUNDAY MORNING...

CHAGRIN RIVER: 150 CFS, DROPPING AND CLEARING, CHAGRIN IS CURRENTLY VERY CLEAR BUT WITH ENOUGH FISH IN THE SYSTEM TO GIVE THIS EAST SIDE TRIB A TRY...

GRAND RIVER: 225 CFS DROPPPING AND CLEARING, PLENTY OF FISH IN THE LOWER AND MIDDLE SECTIONS OF THE GRAND FOR EARLY OCTOBER, VIS CLEAR RECEIVED DOSE OF LAMPRICIDE ON MONDAY SO IT MAY BE A LITTLE GREEN...

CONNEAUT CREEK: THIS EAST SIDE TRIB HAS BEEN GOOD BUT TODAY RECIEVED A HEAVY DOSE OF LAMPRICIDE, I WOULD NOT RECOMEND FISHING IT UNTIL WED...

ROCKY RIVER: 135 CFS, EVERYONES FAVORITE WEST SIDE TRIB IS FISHING FAIRLY WELL FOR EARLY OCTOBER BUT NOTHING SPECTACULAR, LOOK FOR IT TO HEAT UP IN THE COMING WEEKS

VERMILLION RIVER: 81 CFS AND DROPPPING, 3 FEET OF VIS.. THIS FAR WEST SIDE TRIB HAD BEEN DISAPPOINTING THE LAST COUPLE OF SEASONS BUT THAT COULD ALL CHANGE THIS YEAR, SO FAR VERY FEW FISH IN THIS STREAM BUT THAT IS TYPICAL FOR OCTOBER, LETS GIVE THIS ONE ANOTHER MONTH AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS...

CATTARAGUS: 515 CFS AND DROPPING 18INCHES OF VIS... THIS NEW YORK GEM HAS BEEN FISHING WELL WITH PLENTY OF CHROMERS IN THE SYSTEM...THIS IS PROBABLY MY FAVORITE TRIB TO FISH IN THE FALL AND WILL BE HEADING UP THERE SHORTLY TO GIVE IT A GO...

ELK CREEK: PLENTY OF FISH IN THE ELK, PLENTY OF FISHERMAN TO...ON THE LOW AND CLEAR SIDE WITH FISH UP TO FOLLEYS CAMPGROUND...

Our guides have been out pretty steadily allready this season with clients and have been doing fairly well for early October in Ohio, averaging about 6 fish per day...hot flies for them have been white and purple buggers, super flashy pheasant tails, caddis larva, yellow and red soft hackles, cream scrambled eggs, orange glo bugs, and chartruese estaz eggs...

Good luck as always and keep checking back for updated reports, river conditions, and hot flies...
Dan and Pete

First Fishing report of the year and weekend outlook...

Matt casting on our local tribs with CPX switch rod...

The Grand at Paine Creek...

Fisherman on lower Elk...

Smallmouth hookup Yesterday on Local Trib...


We got out yesterday to get a good luck at things and try a little fishing, not necessarily in that order. We started the morning on one of our local east side tribs swinging streamers with about 12 inches of vis and 58 degree water temps. We fished pretty hard for a few hours with 2 hard fighting smallmouth to show for our efforts. We wrapped up our fishing around 11am and began scouting around to let you know what to expect on our local tribs. Obviusly at this point everything is pretty blown out, but thats a good thing...more cold rain is falling today lowering river temps and more importantly flushing all the sedimant from the summers out of the system...I expect fishing on the East side to start gaining momentum mid-next week as fish have been staging for a few weeks and are ready to begin their annual migration. As always the East side tribs will be better earlier, that is Eastern Ohio and PA and with better fishing gradually working its way West.

The larger Ohio tribs should be fishable Tue-wed while the smaller Ohio and PA tribs will work Late Sunday, Monday depending on the amount of rainfall. For flies stick with your traditional patterns while keeping in mind that these fish have been in the Lake all summer eating large baitfish so....streamers and baitfish patterns will produce very aggressive strikes...

Good Luck and stay tuned as we will be reporting back every few days...Dan

Shop day line up....

When: Saturday October 10th
Where: Chagrin River Outfitters

10am Introduction to Steelheading with Matt Hynes....Matt is on the water 250 days a year guiding between steelhead alley and Alaska, we can all learn a little something from him

11am switch rod casting demo w/Will Turek...Will's demo covers the basic of casting two handed rods and why they are so beneficial to great lakes steelheader weather indicator fishing or nymphing...

12 am Matching the hatch for lake Erie steelhead w/ John Rochus...discover the most readily available food sources for Steelhead once they enter our tribs and which flies best imitate them...

12:45 Rigging for steelhead with Brett McCrea...Take the guess work out of your steelhead rig...fly selection, split shot placement, choosing the right indicator...

1:45 Comprehensive look at our steelhead fishery with Jeff Liskay...where to target and catch Lake Erie Steelhead from October thru May in Ohio, gear choices...covers both indicator fishing and swinging streamers...

All day fly tying by Gregg Senyo, Matt Hynes, Brett McCrea...learn new petterns, techniques and materials for steelhead alley