Dfishinfool's From The River Report Page
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By: Don Dfishinfool Mathews
With the end of the steelhead season close by, I wish to thank all those who have created the world class steelhead fishery we have. We should all pay thanks to the folks at the ODOW and the PA fish and boat commission, 3 CU's and the countless other clubs, individuals and web sites. I will try to get out a few more times this week then it will be off to Flordia for me. I hope to tangle with the elusive tarpon that has avoided me the last couple of years. I will continue to update this page periodicaly. I have many exciting adventures planned for this summer. I will be in Quebec chasing trophy bears, pike, and specks (brook trout). In july its off to Virginia with the 4 weight for trout and smallies. I will fill my off time trolling the depths of Erie for walleye when the wind gods allow on my boat "Miss-B-Haven" . I plan on starting my Salmon and steelhead season in New York at the Salmon River the first week of Oct. When I return Jeff and I will once again be guiding Ohio and Pa's Erie tribs for steelhead trout. I am predicting another great year. I still have many prime dates open a $50 deposit will hold yours. Tight lines and take a kid fishing !! Don
4-14-01 Spent Thurs ,Fri, and Sat. at the Maumee River in Perrysburg Ohio. Currently the river is rather high with the level at 582 ½’ . The water temp is 57* in the current and the visibility is 10”.The river has crested and is now falling. High water is making the fishing tough but the fish are here. The hot areas have been Orleans park and Fort Meigs. There are a lot of suckers in the river now. But still haven’t seen any numbers of white bass yet. About half of the anglers I saw leaving today were carrying limits. I am seeing some females now. We used floating jigs Carolina rigged . The hot colors were white and chart. We had to use ¾ or ½ oz. Egg sinkers to get down in the heavy current. Outlook for Sun and Mon look good as the water will now drop and clear. GOOD LUCK !! Don
4-11-01 Fished Lower Elk this morning and was surprised to find it in nice shape. If anything a little to clear. The rain must have stayed south last night. There is still a good number of fish in the river .I saw mostly colorfull spawners. Had good success with egg patterns although the suckers are becoming a pain in the butt. Fish seem to fight better in the warm water. Most fish are the Manistee strain now. Water temp was 47* in the current. Didn’t get to fish Conneaut today but it is in great shape. Flow is a perfect and I received a report of numbers of fish in the lower river on Tuesday. Tomorrow looks like it should be a great day for steelheading even a little rain wouldn’t hurt. This will probably be the last run of the year. I will be Fishing the Maumee river this weekend . The Main walleye run is in the river right now. This should be a banner weekend as long as the river doesn’t raise too much. GOOD LUCK !! Don Dfishinfool
4-09-01 I am sitting here looking at a downpour out my window. This rain will add to the high water we are already experiencing. Lets hope it stays to the south. The Grand and Connie may not clear soon enough to give us any more decent steelheading. If the rain should stop Walnut and Elk and the chagrin could be our last chance. I spent a long weekend at the Maumee river Walleye fishing and had fair success even with the high water. We managed to get our limits each day although many anglers didn't. This rain and the 47* water temp will bring in the main run of the season. We started picking up a few females Sun. I witnessed one boat accident and two wading anglers were lucky to get out alive after being swept away in the current. PLEASE wear your PFD while boating or wading in high water . Water levels change MUCH quicker here than we are used to in NE ohio. It rose 3' in a couple of hours Fri afternoon. Floating Jigs and clouser minnow streamers Carolina rigged were the ticket for us. Good colors were Chart , Sparkle green and Pink. GOOD LUCK !!!! Don
4-08 The Boys At The Maumee
4-04-01 Managed to fish the Elk for two hours this morning. Water and weather were beautiful .Fish were on the redds and I had better luck with the fish holding in the deeper water. Water temp was 44*. Saw lots of fish. Conneaut and ashtabula looked good from what I could see from Rt 90 . Good Luck !! Don
4-02-01 Elk Creek Fished good this afternoon. Fish are on the spawning redds and there is a mix of dark and fresh fish in the river. Numbers seem to be declining to me. Water temp was at 41* this afternoon. Fish were taking orange egg patterns. Elk and Walnut will both fish good tomorrow.Water is quickly clearing. Congradulations to the fellow who caught the new state record at walnut. Don
3-31-01 Fished Conneaut harbor and lower river by boat again. Nothing , Not a fish. Only saw two fish caught. Water had risen about 6" and turned very muddy. Walnut or Elk are only fishable waters for sun. Maumee river has been fair a little rain is needed there. Gonna be tough steelheadin tomorrow ! Don
3-30-01 Ne Ohio & Nw Pa. Steelhead Report
Fished the lower Elk this morning with Adrian and John Toon of Safaris Xtreme" Explorer Your Nature" Headquartered in Towle , South Africa. John is in town to donate a hunt to to be auctioned at Sat. nights Safari Club International banquet. The procedes will go to local charity's. John throws a tight loop and tells stories of flyfishing for 40 pound plus tiger fish in africa. He also does sight seeing tours and inshore and offshore fishing. Also along today was his U.S. booking agent Adrian Fauvie. It made for nice company on the river this morning. It seemed like all I did was run back and forth between the two netting fish.
We had a very successsfull morning on the river. Fish were thick in the lower Elk and I saw lots of fish running upstream.Water had clouded a little from yesterday . Water temp was 35* and the color was a perfect greenish. We found lots of fish willing to hit a assortment of flys . If I had to pick one that did better than the others it would be a cream color succer spawn size # 10. Remember Light tippets will result in more fair hooked fish. We did not get very much rain and I think it will fish good tomorrow. From what I saw this week fish are upstream in good numbers as well.
On the Ohio side Conneaut had not changed much from yesterday water color is still sort if brown with 18-24" visability. Sorry no temp. Flow is still strong with water level slightly above ideal. We took Fresh Fish in the lower river yesterday and I would bet they are moving upstream here as well as Pa.
Jeff fished the grand last night and I got good report. Fresh fish spawning in the rapids and fish in the regular holes as well. He reports that succer spawn was hot here also.
All in All it looks like it should be one of our last good steelhead weekends. We are supposed to get some rain tonight after midnight. As long as we don't get a major downfall most of the rivers will fish good tomorrow morning. The fish in the rivers right now are the manistees. Will you break that state record tomorrow you will never Know if you don't go. Good Luck !! Don Dfishinfool WWW.dfishinfool.com
If you are interested in a first class African Safari Conact Adrian Fauvie at
3-30-01 John at Elk Creek Pa.
3-30-01 Adrian's Hog at the Elk
3-29-01Thurs Report
Fished Conneaut harbor and lower river by boat today. I took my 15 year old nephew Nathan. We trolled and had fair success. Tried spoons at first and only picked up one fish. Switched to Yo-Zurui Pin Mins in a shiner color and thats what they wanted. Saw a good number of fish caught . All appeared to be very silver and most were smaller sized. Most people were floating minnows or sacks. Did catch two females who were still silver and full of eggs. This rain headed our way should bring these fish upriver.
Conneat creek is starting to turn a nice green color although the flow is still a little high.If we get much rain tomorrow it will probably not be very good this weekend. Water temp was 36* in the lower river.
Drove over Elk creek and it looked a nice color . If we don't get a major shower tomorrow I think it should be good for sat. Have gotten reports of good catches this week.
Jeff is on a afternoon trip to the upper Grand. Ill update this page when he checks in tonight. Good Luck !! Don
3-29-01 Nathan at Conneaut Harbor
3-28 Mid Week Update
Decided to skip Pa. and scout a little in Ohio. Fished Harpersfield area of Grand This Morning. Flow was about 580. Water color brownish about 24" visibility. Water temp was 35*. Fished first hour right below dam caught one big dark male. About 8 guys there saw no other fish caught. Started to walk and found a few spawners in the rapids. They were active and full of fight. These fish were bright silver manistees. Broke a couple off . I was using 6 lb tippet and wished I had 8 lb. These fish fight so much harder than their Pa. cousins. Fish wanted Peachy King Succer Spawn Size #10. Saw FishDon there and he was having good sucess on spawn sacks .I ended up with 6 fish in 3 1/2 hours .Grand should stay about the same through tomorrow morning. It will get a slight meltoff today. Rain is forcasted for tomorrow afternoon so the morning should be good . I think i will try my luck a little further East tomorrow Plan on starting on the Connie. GOOD LUCK !! Don
3-26-01 midweek update
Fished Elk Creek on Sat and Sun . Had Great success both days. Did some walking and found fish scattered but active. Water temp hovered around 38* in the current. Fish were taking a variety of offerings from egg patterns to minnow patterns. Alot of the females are spawned out and appear to be dropping back.Water is increasingly clearing which may hurry the fish out of the river. Grand river is comming down to a decent flow and I look for a Bonanza of fresh spawning manistees when it does. Have heard reports of fish at Conneaut but haven't fished there since Fri. Starting to catch alot of succers. This usually signals the end of the run.