PA, OHio Steelhead Guides - Fly Fishing Reports, fly tying tutorials, videos for Steelhead Alley.: 2010

Monday, September 6, 2010

Ohio Steelhead Guide Report

Sorry I havn't reported in a while, I have been busy with competitions, classes, demos and plenty of fly orders. I would like to take this time and thank you all. I will continue to serve you with the highest quality flies and professionalism to help you to enjoy this sport of fly fishing and contribute to your angling memories.

I do not import flies and all are tied in shop. With that said, please don't wait until November to order your flies on short notice for a planned trip, because our Steelhead Guide Season will keep us very busy and orders will be delayed slightly. Now is the best time to place your orders. We are currently running at about a 1-3 business day turnout, but this will increase every week thru November and will be back to 1-3 days turnout after Thanksgiving.

Fall chills are in the air...do I hear the thrashing of tails? Oh yeah! Soon our Fall Steelhead season will be kicking off. The Steelhead have already been cruising in and out of the river mouths, but not in great numbers, it's still too early. We need the temps to drop some more and good rain falls to bring the water levels up. Do the rain dance people! I have been fishing the Great Lakes Steelhead Alley Steelhead Runs since the mid 80s and have been a Steelhead Guide since the late 90s. But last Fall, the leafs created one of the worst stream conditions I have ever seen during the Fall Steelhead Runs. The Fall follage was beautiful as usual and it is my favorite season to fish, but Mother Nature had to test our will. We had a big storm with high winds which brought all the leafs down at the same time and we had no rain for a good time after that. This was out of the norm and left the streams choked with leafs for close to 3 weeks and the acid content of the water was high due to low water levels. We needed a good 2-3 days of steady rain to flush the streams out which never came until late November. Regardless, we fought our way thru the tough conditions and put fish to the net and still had good times. It's fishing and we can't always have the best, you just deal with it and enjoy the times spent on the water sharing the great outdoors with everyone we are privileged to fish with.

Our Spring steelhead guide trips were awesome... We met so many great people, had great times and put alot of steelhead in the net. Presentation is a key factor when pursuing Steelhead. A drag free drift and with depth - you must get the presentation down to the steelhead. Many times, more often than not, it will be a subtle take, not arm-wrenching rod-ripping strikes. Personally, I prefer a tight line high stick nymphing technique over the indicator. I believe many steelhead fishermen/women miss many if not all of the strikes by having too much drag or slack lines. You must keep the flies in constant check using either method. A few of the top flies, not to mention scores of others that produced well, for the Spring Steelhead Guide Trips were the Defranks Grim Reaper, Defranks Wiggle Hex's, Defranks Blue Steel Caddis, Defranks Depth Advantage Caddis, Kazulens Caddis, Fox Squirrel Nymphs, Defranks Emerald Shiner, Oregon Cheese Glo Spawn, Steelhead Orange Glo Spawn, Champagne Glo Spawn, White/Orange Blood Dots, Dead Egg/Orange Blood Dots...

If you have never fished for steelhead, this Fall season should peak about the 3rd week of October and all of November, so if you're planning on using some vacation time to get out on the tribs and test your skills against this wonderful fighting game fish, keep that time frame in mind. Now is the time to book your Steelhead Guide Trip before all of the prime days are booked.

To reserve your dates call Mark DeFrank at 724-317-8582 or email mark@defranksflies.com