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Addicted to steelhead

9K views 66 replies 24 participants last post by  hailtothethief 
#1 ·
Had an amazing day on the chagrin river yesterday(for my standards). I have been looking into steelhead fishing for a couple years and have made a few trips up over the past couple years with little to no success. I cant thank the members of this forum enough for all the good information i have read and put to use. Learning to understand the water flows and the methods people use.
The trip started with a 3 hour drive to get to the river. At the first spot my friend got 2 nice steelhead that where just under 5 pounds each. We then tried another location which odnr maps have marked. We tried one hole there and had no bites and quickly moved to diffrent hole on that stretch. There right off the bat my friend got another steelhead that was smaller. I finally got one that was also smaller. We fished that spot the rest of the day and i ended up catching 6 with the best being just under 7 pounds. My friend had 4 total for the day. We both lost some fish and had failed hook sets. It is a day i will remember forever and has me dieing to make another trip. Again i can not thank all the members of the ogf forum enough.
 
#32 ·
Probably would work! To make em last even longer for drifts tie em up in some chartreuse netting! That’s the beautiful thing about steelhead. A fish that are so frustrating to learn how to fish for turn out to be so easy once you understand them and how to present baits to them. You can catch them on sooooo many things. Presentation is the key to it all. You present that chicken liver correctly probably would work. Give it a shot and let us know!
 
#34 ·
I opened the fridge today and was looking for something to eat. Then i thought everthing in there is bait. So i guess i have a lot in common with my new favorite fish. As long as my fridge doesnt end up in the river i wont have to fight off steelhead for food lmao
 
#39 ·
Have you guys found if one bait works best and will get all the fish in a hole to bite or if each fish might want to dite something diffrent. Like eggs might get a few then jigs get a few and so on. Or what ever bait gets the most bites is what you would throw the rest of the day
 
#41 ·
Sometimes one bait gets all of them. Sometimes it doesn’t matter. Steelhead change their minds frequently. I have a go to bait I always use. The other day I was fishing from my kayak in no current so I used two rods. They slammed my purple jig non stop but wouldn’t touch anything else including my go to. Usually once the bite stops in a hole change baits or colours and you will pick up a couple more. Sometimes like the last few days it can be nonstop action for an hour and then completely shut off for hours.
 
#49 ·
Water Atmospheric phenomenon Sky Geological phenomenon Dust
Never seen so many shiners before. I was fishing behind the hospital, in Bula, and the ducks were pinning them against the shore and ambushing them. Pretty cool to watch. Fishing was so so. Caught a couple skippers, a real nice male, and a spawned out hen, all on spoons, nothing on jig and maggots.
 
#53 ·
Eyes are always hiting. Its just where at. You arent fishing the walleye run now are you? Ive gone for the walleye run on maumee once and it was people shoulder to shoulder waist deep and i had no waiters at the time. Maybe thats the next thing i need to work on.
 
#56 ·
Had an unforgettable day. first double digit day. Landed 18 and had action all day long. If i wasnt truly addicted before then i am now. I almost cant believe steelhead alley is in ohio. Steelhead may have bumped catfish off as my favorite fish now. Also had a good laugh watching a guy go for swim when he slipped(he was safe) and saw deer everywhere.
 
#58 ·
C.j. i actualy have never used shrimp for catfish. I use nothing but shad that i catch. I think i enjoy netting shad as much as catching catfish. On a good day i can fill a 5 gallon bucket in 2 throws of my cast net. The steelhead where biting everything i put on the hook with no best bait. Shrimp got maybe half of them then i had the container get nocked over by a flopping fish and used spawn sacs i had frozen from a few trips ago. Salmon and steelhead eggs. Cured uncured and even rotten stinky eggs.
 
#61 ·
It makes me wonder if times i didnt get bites if there wasnt fish there. It seems like if they see what you throw out then they bite or they just wont bite anything at times. Also i talked to a guy fishing and he mentioned he jasnt gotten any big fish in the past few years. Do you guys think the big 10+ pound fish are less common now? Ive heard a 10 pound fish is pretty much trophy size
 
#62 ·
There are more numbers now but smaller fish. From Nov to the end of season if conditions are right and I fish from dawn until about 11, if I don’t get 10 it’s a bad day. I am going places in my kayak most can’t get to though.
 
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