One of my nymph boxes....

Small Buck from Chagrin Sunday Morning...

Upper Chagrin colored up Buck from Sunday...

Grand River Special gets em again....

The rains came down and the rivers are coming up, we will be out tomorrow to get a first hand look at our local tribs with pics and a fishing forecast for what to expect in the coming week and weekend. For now everything is blown, Elk Creek and a few small Ohio tribs will fish tomorrow while the bigger stuff is still a few days out. As always check back for the must up to date river conditions and most accurate fishing conditions on the web...

The next few weeks should provide excellent fishing and we are currently booking December guide trips so if you are looking to get out give us a ring...Remember to support your local fly shops. Till then tight lines...Dan, Peter, and Justin

New shop hours:
Monday: 10-6
Tue-Thurs: 10-8
Fri: 10-6
Sat: 8-6
Sun: Gone Fishing

Soft Hackle Caddis Larva...this fly is good for two reasons..there are plenty of Caddis in our rivers and the Steelhead like to eat them...also the soft hackle collar provides plenty of movement in medium to slow flows that can entice strikes...

A Soft hackle copper john...good for med-faster deeper water where you need to get down but slow enough where the wiggle of the collar can be perceived by the fish to help entice strikes...

Large Golden or black stones are very good in fast water and deep buckets were you have to get down fast to the fish or flies go over there head...this fly is more for effect as it gets in the zone quickly in those fast deep spots that are hard to fish with lighter flies and is large enough for fish to see and react to...

CDC Micro Stone...Good year round in most water types...excels in late winter early spring as Tiny black stones become more active in our tribs and fish begin to key on them...

This tiny epoxy minnow is great in clear water for fresh fish...you will notice if you pay attention when fly fishing that fresher fish come more often on baitfish patterns and fish that have been in the rivers longer will start to key in on nymphs and eggs...

Had to throw in some kind of fish pic...

The outlook for the extended Holiday weekend is just fair....there are enough fish present to get into a few if you are on the water early...i am anticipating large crowds on most rivers and their presence will have the fish on gaurd and tight lipped by mid-day...again all rivers are low and clear...look for feeding fish in fast deeper pockets and around any logs or timber with decent flow...in clear water steelhead gravitate towards these structures for cover...hot flies have been orange, Oregon cheese and cream egg patterns along with caddis larva, black birds nest, Grand river specials (shop fly) black micro stones and yellow psycho princes...

New store hours to better serve our customers...we will be staying open later for those of you who need supplies the night before and opening earlier on Saturdays...

Mon 10-6, Tue-Thur-10-8 Friday 10am-6pm Saturday 8am-6pm Sundays Gone Fishing...

We are still booking trips for December which is always an excellent month to be on the water....

May all your drifts be drag free and remember to support your local fly shops...Dan, Justin, and Peter...

Chagrin River Outfitters 440 247 7110

The next blog will be loaded with must have steelhead patterns from the shop...the best selection on the North Coast...

A small steel from the upper Connie...

One that accidentally swam into my net earlier this fall....
If you are wondering whats working stop in the shop and talk to Justin...He's been catching more fish than a gillnetter...this toad is from today on the Grand

Wild Alaskan Salmon makes a great stream side appetizer....

So far this season has been a roller coaster ride for most anglers in search of the steelhead ghost; there have been several periods of good fishing that are followed by longer periods of slow fishing. Most anglers are blaming the low flows, clear water and bright sun as the main culprits and i would have to agree that those conditions are tough for catching steel. However our guides have been getting clients into fish very consistently by adapting to the conditions and changing spots regularly. If you are not finding fish in your usual spots it is time to search out new sections of river and learn how to fish them. Since there are not the usual numbers of fish in the rivers for this time of year and they do like to move around on use (usually up stream:hint hint) you as an angler have to be willing to do the same thing. Now stay with me here, there have been several good pushes of fish and these fish move upriver, but there has not been many good pushes of fish lately soooo...where are these fish from earlier runs????

So what should we expect for December....great things...if we get water, which i pray we do. There is a great number of steel waiting to push into our tribs and water temps are still very good...when the opportunity presents itself be on the water...it should be a December to remember....

We currently have several openings for guide trips in December so if you are looking to get out give us a call...440 247 7110

Dan, Peter, and Justin

Releasing your first of the year is always special...

Mike sent us a pic of this beauty from the Grand....Very nice fish

Steelhead MOJO...swing this baby during low light and hold on tight...

Good news...we did get some rain and the creeks don't look like this anymore

A double is always nice....

and a second is twice as nice....

Well we did finally receive a little bit of rain on the North Coast and the fishing has improved as a result...the flows are up a bit and the visibility and color is about perfect on many of our Steelhead rivers...The Chagrin, Grand, Conneaut, Rocky, and Elk all received enough rain to keep conditions good through the weekend...according to anglers coming into the shop and our guides fish are much happier than they had been, resulting in many more hookups in the last couple of days than many anglers have expereinced in the last week, which is very good news...expect conditions to be good over the weekend on all our rivers and lets hope we get some more rain soon to keep this going.

As always for the most up to date info and hot fly patterns stop in the shop....440 247 7110

Chagrin: 179 and dropping slightly...color is great with about 3 feet of visibility, will be pretty clear by Sat. Afternoon/Sunday

Grand: 187 and dropping a little stained and leafy, fishing has been better the last two days with visibility around 3 feet...

Rocky: 258 and dropping, according to my sources this west side trib is in great shape and fishing has been decent yesterday and today...

Conneaut: Honestly i am not sure on this one right now so i will pass until i find out...

Elk Crick: Elk received some rain and flows are decent though water is still pretty clear, with the ungodly amount of fish in this river i am sure the catching is good...

If you have been waiting to pull the trigger on that new Helios rod now is the time, from now until December 24th purchase an Orvis Helios rod at Chagrin River Outfitters and receive a free Battenkill Large or Mid-arbor fly reel of your choice...

Free orvis battenkill large or mid arbor reel with purchase of Helios fly rod @ Chagrin River Outfitters...support your local fly shop

Another healthy specimen from the lake erie tribs...

Colored up buck that hammered a secret shop pattern...

Well we have still been out on the rivers but as most of you know fishing has been tough; Low clear water has fish holding in strange places and they are very spooky. With rain in the forecast that should all change by the weekend. If we get any significant rain look for the fish all ready in the rivers to be much happier and what i expect to be a large push of fish coming in behind them which will dramatically improve the fishing. That is about all for now but we will continue to keep everyone updated on river conditions as the rain falls(hopefully).

Chagrin River Outfitters 440 247 7110

As always keep checking back for up to date conditions...
Dan, Pete, and Justin...

Big fish make Dave smile....Dave smiled alot on Wed...

Followed by a chilly handed release...

One of several larger than average steel from Wed that Dave managed to bring to the net...

Followed by another gentle release...

This is always a very cool sight but catching can be very difficult...

From switch rods to nymph rods Chagrin River Outfitters has the best selection of Steelhead rods in Northeast Ohio...

For the best selection of Steelhead flies think Chagrin River Outfitters...over 250 Steelhead specific fish catchers for your piscatorial pleasure...

Justin with one from the Catt on Monday....

The swings the thing and the tug is the drug...another one from Monday that hammered a swung fly...

Customer/Client observations from this week: Customers in the shop and on the phone always seem very appreciative for the accuracy and details from our fishing reports and streams conditions...i never really thought about it much because it is just a service we are happy to provide to our customers to keep them up to date and offer them the best chance at angling success we can...the thing i realized is from talking to customers is that ours is the best, most reliable, up to date report out there, and it makes sense...we have guides on the water 7 days a week and through the course of the week talk to hundreds of anglers who have been on every river from Michigan (boo) to Ohio(yeah) to New York(crickets)....the point here is we are happy to provide you with what most deem the best reports page on steelhead alley, and now that we know you like it so much look for even more improvements in the near future.


The weekend outlook for the Ohio Tribs is what we would call fair/marginal... fishing success has been spotty with some anglers doing OK while most seem to be struggling to find any willing fish...if you are going fish early(first light to elevenish) and fish late (4 to dark) for best results. We have been having our best success fishing a single small fly on 3x fluorocarbon tippets in any area that should hold a fish and trying to fish as many of these areas as possible...Light pastel colored eggs, small (sz12-14) natural non flashy nymphs, and natural colored (Olive, tans, grays) streamers and buggers.

All the streams at this point are ultra low and clear with very little flow, walk softly, try not to get right on top of areas were you think fish may be and be careful when casting and pulling line off the water. The less commotion, noise, and disturbances you can make the better off your chances of hooking a few fish will be.

As always good luck and don't forget to stop into your locally owned fly shops...Dan, Justin, and Pete...

Chagrin River Outfitters
440 247 7110

Lets watch Matt in action....

Rigging up after getting a look at the river conditions...

Lets see, what shall we use this morning?

Good fly choice...Scooping the first of the day...

Followed by a high five....

The grip and grin...and repeat...no one does it better....

A few flies from the shop for our low clear water conditions...
movement, sparce, and not to much flash...

The more I steelhead fish and run the shop the more I realize that we as steelheaders like to complain about anything we can....be it weather, stream conditions the water is to high or to low, its to clear, to dirty, to sunny, not sunny, to many anglers, posted property, had to work, no fish, to many leaves, and the list goes on and on. I am not saying this is a bad thing, it is kind of a common thread we all have in common and can commiserate with together about.

Speaking of which the water is to low and clear and there does not seem to be any new fish pushing into the rivers right now, the middle of the week fished pretty well but as we got closer to the weekend things came to a halt. Some anglers had a little bit of success but overall it has been very tough the past 4 days. Bright sun had the fish a little spooky and anyone fishing mid day struggled to hook anything at all, early morning and evening anglers fared better and i expect this trend to continue for some time as it looks like there is no hope for rain in the near future. If you are going out fish early or late and look at the flies i posted in the pics as these are the types of offerings to be fishing right now for the best chance of success. Normally this is when i would post all the rivers and flows but i don't think it is necessary, just know that everything is low and clear and fishing has been tough, if you are getting into a couple of fish you are doing better than most. Again be on the water at first light and evening to increase your odds and stay away from mid-day. I can't recommend any one river over any others at the moment, the Grand has the most water which is always a plus, the others all have fish but not much flow, my advice would be go to spots you are familiar with and know how to best fish, use lighter (3x) fluorocarbon tippets, run only one fly and keep split shot as far away from fly as you can while stinn getting it in the zone.

Tight lines as always...The guys from the shop....