The Chagrin looked more like a spring creek this morning than an Ohio Steelhead river but the fish were willing if you matched the water conditions. Small natural colored offerings proved effective and usually outproduce everything else when the rivers are flowing this clear. The Chagrin has plenty of fish as do all the other East side streams and are fishing best the first and last few hours of the day. The grand is getting low but still holding plenty of color to provide consistent action. The Conneaut is also fishing well despite the low clear water if you downsize your presentations and stick with natural colors.

Lots of great fishing has been happening here on Steelhead Alley and elsewhere as well. First things first i apologize about the lack of reports but was out of town and Justin and Matt had there hands full tending shop and getting clients into some serious steelhead action.

Doug with his first steelhead. Ever. Not bad for a rookie! If you saw him fight the fish, you would've thought he was an old pro. Great job!

I fished the Chagrin today, and it was alot of fun. Not many fish around yet, but the weather was fantastic and the spey fishing was pretty good. The vis was about 16-18". I threw mostly big stuff; black string leeches and big deer-hair sculpins from the shop, and a few brighter patterns.

This was the big fish of the day:

What fly did it eat do you ask? Sorry. Secret pattern. Proprietary technology. Industry secret.

Oh, and this was one of the patterns covered in the CRO Big 'N Nasty fly tying class. It's called an "Intruder", and it was developed by a friend of mine in the Pacific Northwest named Ed Ward. Works great in the Great Lakes region too. Crafty tier, that Ed.

Conneaut Below rt 90 Grand @ Vrooman Rd.



Below: Steelhead Heads....


Pretty Freakin' High.....With more to come!!!!



However there were plenty of Steelhead on the move yesterday in and around the river mouths and the smaller tribs. We witnessed many fresh fish making there way upstream as best they could while fighting this spring torrent. Many where seen negotioating very shallow fast runs while others we watched trying to leap downed logs, waterfalls, and sometimes other fish because the were so thick.

Fishing today (Tuesday the 10th) has been very good on Elk, smaller PA tribs, and smaller OH tribs as well. If the rain holds off fishing should remain great on these smaller waters as the larger rivers are still a good way from being fishable. However 1"-2"'s is in the forecast threatening to at least blow things out for a while longer and perhaps flood some people out as well, lets hope that does not happen. One things is for sure and that is once this water comes down to fishable levels there will be more steelhead in the rivers than we have seen all year.

ENJOY THE PICS....

We hope everyone had a chance to get out this past week or weekend to enjoy some beautiful March weather and get in on the steelhead action. Most anglers we talked with in the shop and on the river met with some success, and were very excited with the extended outlook of our spring run. Minnow and streamer patterns produced many fish this past week as did black stones, caddis larva, princes, glo bugs, hot spot buggers, and psych princes.

As most of you know right now it is raining steadily and blowing out our rivers for at least a few days. The good news is this will provide for good fishing again later in the week and next weekend is looking very good. Until then fill up your fly boxes or stop in the shop to restock as it is going to be a great spring on steelhead alley.

Fish are on the move and on the bite is on.....Our guys were out again yesterday, leaving yours truly to mind the shop, and they had another memorable march outing. The bite was hot all afternoon with fresh fish blasting upstream through the riffles and into the tailouts everywhere you looked.

Hot flies, and i mean hot, were lite brite zonkers in white, hot spot buggers in pink/white, great lakes sparrows in black and olive, pink and orange glo bugs, and gorman eggs.

The Grand had some good fishing yesterday for bait guys while fly guys hooked some fish but struggled with the visibility and cold water temps for the most part. The Chagrin continues to fish very well with alot of fresh fish flitering in, the Vermilion has also been good and what we have heard on the Rock is second hand, so i will not post it here but i am sure things will be picking up there shortly. The Conneaut is in good shape and fishing OK and should be loaded with fish in the next week or so.

The boys in the shop have been playing some serious hooky this past week and the Steelhead have been paying for it. The fishing has been OK in some places and better in others but overall pretty consistent. The Chagrin, both upper and lower is fishing well while the Visibility on the Grand is OK for bait but marginal for flies. The Vermilion had a good push of fish and is fishing well while we have not heard much on the Rock. The Conneaut has lots of ice, especially down low but that will begin to break up here pretty quickly so that river will be an option this weekend. There is a good mix of fresh fish and older fish in the rivers keeping rods bent and the fresh fish should start to outnumber the older fish here in the next week.

The forecast is outstanding with temps that look like early April instead of early March with nightime lows not low at all so slush will not be a problem in the mornings for a while, Giving us all day to get out and fish which is all we have been waiting for.

Flies that have been working well have been our hot spot stones, Russian River Specials, scrambled eggs, Princes, glo bugs, and psycho princes.

This Wed. March 4th from 6-9 join Greg Senyo and the staff of Chagrin River Outfitters for an evening of fly tying that should not be missed if you fish for Great Lakes Steelhead, Bass, trout, pike, muskies, or any other predator fish that feed on baitfish, minnows, and leeches. There will be three excellent tiers for you to see in the shop on Wed. that are tying some of the most productive streamer patterns found anywhere on Steelhead Alley.

This event will features tube and extended hook flies that allow you to hook and catch more fish due to rear hook placement and the type of hooks being used on this style of flies. We have been using these flies almost exclusively for swinging streamers on switch and spey rods and have noticed an increase in not only the numbers of fish hooked but also in the numbers of fish landed as well. The tube flies are also being used to tie egg, nymphs, and buggers for indicator fishing and have proven very effective.

If you don't tie tubes come down anyway and get some ideas on new patterns, new materials, or ways to use materials you allready have that you may not of that of.

During this event we will be offering 10% off all fly tying supplies in shop as a thank you for stopping down and joining us.

We will also have in the shop for the first time a great selection of Eumer fly tying products including tube bodies, finn racoon, artic fox, and monster cones to name a few.