Paine Creek here in Northeast Ohio has a lot to offer if one
looks! I went on an almost 7-mile hike today in my waders on Paine Creek. I
wanted to hike up to the base of Paine Creek Falls. This is the only legal way
you can access the falls because the park has forbidden access close to the
falls because of people injuring themselves.
With all the rain we had overnight if Paine Creek was muddy,
I was not going to attempt this hike. You must cross the creek 5 or 6 times and
getting caught in a highwater moment did not appeal to me.
The creek appeared to me like it was clearing. Well, I would
be wrong, and the water level would double by the time I got to the falls.I reached the high Paine Creek Falls and put
it into high gear to get back to where I entered the creek.
A few times I had to wade across the creek with all my
weight on the balls of my feet to resist sliding and this is with carbide
studded boots mind you.
I did have one miscalculation today and had to claw myself
up a muddy bank lol.
On Paine Creek counting the high falls at the park I counted
seven total waterfalls in the creek.I
was nice to see mother nature’s handy work!
I had intel today about a dam in the Ohio River Basin that
had some fish chasing bait up to it. I decided to take my eggbeater and head
south.
I got up at 0200 and made breakfast for the little road
trip. I headed out with my thermos full of freshly blended coffee. I have become
so addicted to blending my own beans and grinding them. The tastes that come
out of them have been spectacular to say the least.
After navigating deer alley I made it to the dam. One truck
was there and I did not see any other signs of human life. Well, it helps
because at this point it was around 0600.
This larger tributary to the Ohio River was low, but still
very fishable.
I enjoy keeping it super simple when using my eggbeater. My
old faithful St. Croix Avid Steelhead/Salmon stick is not really made for this
type of fishing. I enjoy the soft tip and the bottom of the blank has good back
bone but chucking 1/2oz lead and a 3” paddle tail swim bait its under gunned
with a strong river current when it comes to fighting fish at times.
I use a Daiwa Ballistic MQ LT 4000. It’s been a great reel
well until today at least. I took it to Maine last year and the anti-reverse
would fail sporadically while fighting fish. So, that sucked to say the least.
I dropped the reel off for repair on Saturday.
Let’s get back to fishing. I knew with the weather forecast
that a lot of people would show up today.
I landed my first fish before the sun came up. This first
fish was a scrappy White Bass.I had to
push my casting limits to get to the fish.An hour later I hooked up with my first Wiper. It was 2-3 pounds and not
happy to have 4/0 hook in its mouth.
See the video below
The third fish came about an hour later. I would not land
this fish, but at least I got to see it.
It was a large Buffalo Sucker (Buff) with my swim bait in
its mouth! It gave my rod all it wanted. The Buff was I guessed over 10 pounds and
nearly had my rod flat.After a few epic
short runs, it found a rock and cut my line.
I greatly appreciated the gentleman to my right who let me
attempt to land the fish near him.
I walked back to my pack and rigged another set up.
I would connect with another fish, and it was a Large Mouth
Bass. When I initially hooked it I thought
that was a strange hit.It did not run
but sat in the current a minute. I though O God please not a Catfish on this
rod!
I pulled him out of the current and realized as I skated him
across the top of the water it was a Largemouth!
See the video below
I turned around and I saw the hoard of people that had shown
up! I decided that it was time to go. I bid my new friends good by and headed
home.
I took the day off work to swing some flies on one of the
larger Lake Erie tributaries for Steelhead.
I first looked at an access point down low and saw way to
many cars in the parking lot and proceeded to bolt upriver.
I came to the other access pint and did not see a soul on the
side of the river I was fishing for. Not seeing another person was my goal for
the day.
The river was low for this time of year.She is normally not even crossable this time
of year.I planned accordingly for my
switch rod leader set up. I would take my sinking 8’ - 1.5”/sec AirFlo Salmon/Steelhead
leader. I would run 4 feet of 12# floro followed by 2 feet of 8# floor.
The two flies I would use would be my Emerald Shiner pattern
on a #8 TMC 9395 and about 3.25” long. I am developing this pattern is a
variant of course. The hair is too long and fouls when swinging I found out
today when it is this long.
The other fly I used was my Silver Sides Shiner. This is
tied on a Daiichi #1 and about 3.5” long.
I walked upriver to the same perch as I did last time try to
redefine the definition of insanity.
As I wrote earlier, the Emerald Shiner Variant pattern deer
hair was wrapping around the hook shank. So, after untangling this mess a few
times it was time for the Silver Sides Shiner.
I walked back to the top of the run and started to fan cast
swing and step-down river.
I looked across the river and I could see a slick in the
water. A slick to me is where two or more river currents meet and make a calm
flat eddy on top of the water surface.
I belted out one cast and then another. The second cast
would be the Traci Lords money shot!
She rolled at the surface doing that washing machine. I
thought at first, she was foul hooked, but I later reelized no it was just her
shaking her head violently.
She had seen better days beat up from the spawn. Her tail
was down to the nub and her spent belly needed food.
The first time I tried to net her she was not having it. The
second time I tried to net her I had my handle fully extended and that did the
trick.
The river had between 24”-48” of visibility. She had that
brown algae bloom going on.
Today and good ole friend and I set out on a 9.5 Mile
hike.During the hike we would ascend throughout
the hike was 1442 feet and descend was 1193 feet.It was a nice morning that’s started out well
below freezing and supposed to be 50 lol but it was 41 degrees when we got back
to the vehicles.
It was a nice day to be out with my friend catching up!
Here you are
teasing us about temperatures we have not had in months. You’re making us feel secure in your web of
lies lol. We all know you are going to snow one or two more significant times
between now and April.
I went to an
extremely small tertiary stream that discharged into the Grand River. The
elevation at the top of the gorge is about 847.4 feet and at the toe of the
falls it was 760.6 feet.
The gorge
was 86 feet deep and extremely narrow as you can see from the videos. I was
smart to hold off after the snow melt and after ice out.
I have
attached the videos below for your enjoyment.
