Thee Doggy Days of Summer

I had to go to Wood County Ohio today. I took the long way to get there good ole 224. I was in zero hurry. I then and went to fish and western stream in Ohio. I had zero expectations then traveled to the lowest access point armed with my two switch rods in the weights of a 6wt and a 7wt. I would throw on my back pack and walk to the river. The river I fished lays west of Cleveland Ohio. The sections of river I saw was mostly exposed bedrock “limestone” with an occasional ledge pool. I would see gar basking in the sun and then for was ever reason feeding or just acting out like pure craziness surface and slap the water with there face. I would use a floating fly like a gurgler / crease fly. This would be black over white and later changing to the all white version. I would also notice the larger gar 48-60” chasing down bait or loose pieces of fish flesh. I plan on developing a shallow swingable flesh fly for this reason. I do not use the common rope fly for gal cause the take and the temporary fight with the fish with out landing them for me is fine. For those fly fisherman who have landed large gar you know how dangerous it can be to release one unharmed with all those teeth and that alligator skin. I would find the holding lies for these. I fair hooked about 12 and the largest looked to be about 48” and not happy. The river was stained with that brown algae. Summer flows are upon us so please be careful while fishing cause the oxygen levels are very low. I hope you enjoy the photos. I need to purchase a new digital camera and so sorry for the not so stellar photos.

July Trip Entry

Well the trip was great it was good to see ole friends, fave stretches of water, and find / catch fish! I loaded up the vehicle on Thursday morning the 2^nd. I was to leave right from work and drive to the camp site at Top-A-Rise Campground https://www.toparisecampground.com/

I arrived at 2000 and found the camp ground with out an issue. This area is really hilly and with all the deer please be careful. The deer will stand in the drainage ditches along the road way and without hesitation be right in front of you car.

The Campground was nice, clean, and the all the people where extremely nice and polite. Just dot speed yes 5 miles per hour is slow, but they have a lot of kids that don't pay attention at times. I have the only tent space available they have others, but this is primarily (not all look at the website) a year round resident campground. I mean there are ppl who move there 5^th wheeler in there and don't pull them out until they close on October 15^th. They can accommodate other ppl with 1-3 man tents, but call them ahead of time to figure things out. The camping fee was $20.00 a night. The communal showers can accommodate three people at a time and they had lots of hot as hell water “lol great job Claudia, her sister, and to her husband”. The owners are hands on kinda ppl they live there, and they are all about getting to know you and making your stay as comfy as possible. They have satilite wifi at the wash house. They have a small laundry facility on site. The campground is extremely quiet at night after say 2200. This is not a place to let loose and get your party on Garth! This is a place meant for making new friends, petting a few new furry friends, and exploring what this region has to offer. I met an extremely cute couple “think the movie UP” they have been married for 57 years and what decent people they are. From what I could tell the grounds have good drainage. Even though my tent site was not flat. I pointed my toes down hill to sleep on the gentle part of the slope and had not problems falling asleep.

Alright the fishing well I had always fished the Lake Erie tributary around the third week in May when the majority of the steelhead are gone! This time cause of my life issues :lol: I could not get away until July 2 – 5. I'm convinced that all the smallies caught normally during that time frame are from the lake. There where very few resident fish in the three popular areas I fished it in. One huge spawning channel cat was caught on a clouser grey over white. I caught one small resident smallie. We found in typical fashion the extremely lower end of the river was up 2-4 feet cause of the rise in the lake levels.

So would at the end of the day turn my eyes to an inland lake close by the camp site called Lake Flavia at Country Side see link https://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/42806.html

This lake is filled with lots of aggressive large mouth and they did kamikaze the Berkley https://www.berkley-fishing.com/berkley-bait-hard-bait-berkley/choppo/1454439.html?count=1

It was about searching and finding the fish and when you don't know where to start looking with an egg beater and this searching pattern its very deadly. I used my Bass Pro Tournament open face reel 10 ball bearings lined with 6# dia but has 15# test strength and casted and cranked that thing until I could not do it anymore. I caught 6 nice large mouths and they where hitting that thing in open water coming out of unknown depths.

The big fun would come from me wet wading the river that connects two of the Great Lakes together. Just like in the ocean I found rip currents so be careful out there boys n girls. I took the egg beater again cause I'm searching for fish and the fastest way to do that effectively is with a egg beater not a fly rod and a stripping basket sorry! I have done that when ocean fishing for stripers and it can be unruly!

I would loose a few fish, but was rewarded with a dozen or so smalljaws and two that where 18-20” long! Sorry no fish pics but there are other pics enjoy!

Headed back to my Hollow Fishing Grounds...full report when I get back