Cleveland for Steelhead from Lou Forbringer:

Wait, what?!?  Yep, that’s right.  I went to Cleveland to do some steelhead fishing.  On November 1 & 2, I reconnected with my good friend, Chris Bamford, who I haven’t seen in far too long and we went steelhead fishing for two days.  Chris, a fly fisher of great skill, has contacts in the fishing community and hooked us up (pun intended) with Harrison Vondreau, a local guide who has been fishing the waters of Steelhead Alley since he was 8 years old.

A little background-Steelhead Alley refers to the many river tributaries that flow into Lake Erie from its southern shore bordering Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. Each spring, the three states stock hundreds of thousands of 1 year old steelhead trout into the tributaries. These trout immediately migrate into Lake Erie after stocking where they feed on a variety of abundant food sources. After 2 years in the Lake when they return to spawn, they have grown to an average 23-inches long and 4-5 pounds. After 3 years they are 26 inches and 6-7 pounds and 4 years are 28 inches and 8-10 pounds.

The prime months to fish for steelhead are late October, November and December in the fall and winter and March and April in the spring. The eastern Ohio tributaries fish well in both fall and spring, whereas the central Ohio tributaries fish best in the spring.

The fish ranged in size from 18”- 28” and as you can see, the fish were very fresh bright chrome and had  plenty of energy!  We waded Elk Creek in PA on the first day and float-waded the West Branch of the Rocky River in OH the second day.  Using mostly 10’ 7wt rods, we floated tandem rigs with beads on top and minnow pattern streamers as the point fly under an indicator.

As I reflect back on this trip I find myself in agreement with the quote found on the FATC site that reads:

“One thing becomes clearer as one gets older and one’s fishing experience increases, and that is the paramount importance of one’s fishing companions.”

John Ashley-Cooper

Thanks to my good friend Chris for a great two days and to Harrison for putting us on fish!