2025 Turkey Day Spey Day 2

 

Here it is day two of Turkey Day Spey and it’s the last day. The drought has not been kind to the USA and not to the Great Lakes Region. I spent part of the day in Cuyahoga Valley National Park “CVNP”.

I chose to fish the Cuyahoga River “Hoga” today and she was in amazing shape for being low.  The river has always had good flow even in the dead of summer lots of different gradients.

The river was gin clear in two feet or less, but two feet or deeper she was green.  I saw several shad pooled up in the shallows I would imagine because of the cooler temperatures.

I would fish my sinking leader with 12-pound test tippet at the end along with a simple shiner fly pattern. The Skagit line is a 440 grain short head Freightliner by Scientific Angler. The leader set up was an Airflo steelhead sinking leader 1.5”/second.

I finally saw other anglers today. Two of the anglers were locals and one pinner was up by the bridge and did not come down.

The Hoga has a lot of silt, sand, and muck issues. Her banks are in bad shape from all the erosion. The Hogs River basin is rich and fertile for agriculture here in the CVNP.

I got to the river at 1030 am and with the highs today being 37 there was no reason to get there early IMHO.

I was ok with the slow day after all I always have zero expectations of hooking a fish.

It’s nice to be on a section of a river and not see trash and other footprints except for all the wildlife.

I could have fished another river, but I did not want to fish around other people.

Take care folks and be well!

2025 Turkey Day Spey Day 1

Well, the first day of Turkey Day Spey is in the books. Mother nature has worked her magic of freezing temps and lots of wind and that’s never a good mixture. I still tried, and I could not fish New York because of the weather and road conditions.

I am headed out this morning after I eat breakfast. There are only three rivers that are fishable right now, and I am choosing one that will have less fish and most likely less people.

2025 Turkey Day Spey I am headed to the river after breakfast

In twelve days, I will be participating in the 2025 Turkey Day Spey.  Next week I will be watching the weather like a hawk. I want to fish in New York or Ohio.  

If I fish New York, it will be the opening day of shotgun season, and most of the anglers will be off hunting Bambi. 

I will keep my eyes on the weather variables. Some of the variables will include the amount of snow on the ground. How much rain we have gotten and what rivers will be fishable by the start of Turkey Day Spey.

Here are seome updated weather forecasts. Its early and I will have the wait and see mentality.

Remembering the 2021 Turkey Day Spey Weather! 

Weather Forecast Monday through Saturday.

 

A strong cold front will cross the region late Wednesday. Winds will

increase along and behind the cold front, with wind gusts of 40 to 50

mph possible late Wednesday through Thursday night.

 

Lake effect snow will likely develop late Wednesday night and

continue through Friday night east of Lake Erie. There is

considerable uncertainty at this time range in regards to the

specifics of band placement, timing, and snowfall amounts. In

general, the greatest potential for accumulating snow and travel

impacts is expected to be across the higher terrain east of Lake

Erie and well south of the Buffalo area.

Ok, mother nature you win I am going to have to go south lol... Sometimes one has to know when they are beat!!

11.11.2025 Hiking through video

 

Fishing the Jawbone river in the CVNP

The days for me fishing with others around are rare unless you’re a friend. Even fishing with friends is close to rare as well. With that said I often fish in waters that have very few catchable numbers of fish on purpose.

On this day I choose to fish the Cuyahoga River. They did stock it with steelhead last year and we will see how the return is in three years. They will be stocking this river yearly with steelhead.

The access is plenty, but she has silt issues and has a lot of sand.  She has plenty of gravel sections and deep holes. In a lot of respects, she reminds me of a smaller Manistee River in Michigan.

I just pray that the areas that I have found over the decades will remain the same, but only time will tell.

So, today I headed out to the river. I found her with good flow and with 30” of solid visibility.

I needed a break from the restoration of my antique drafting table project.

I got to the river in one of my favorite spots. This time I saw boot prints on the trail, and this would be the first time I have seen another person’s footprints.

I would be swinging a sinking leader that would sink at a rate of 1.5”/second.  I used a number 6 streamer tied with a white body with an olive hackle collar.

I used 12-pound tippet and tried to redefine the definition of insanity. I walked about 7 miles between the two stretches of water.

I had a solid grab in a throat where two current seams converged. It was nice out today with the overcast skies and a gentle breeze.  I did a lot of bush-wacking to get into one spot lol I won’t be back there again. The wild razzberry bushes nearly ate me alive! Lol

I hope you enjoy the artwork.

Sonder

Ok, looks like better weather today

 Headed to the river later.  

Foul fall weather, but I am going to try to fish in it on Friday!

 Stay tuned its going to be wetter than water outside on Friday but you cant catch fish from the couch! 

Update

Rain, mainly before 4pm. High near 57. Southwest wind 15 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Yea, I am staying home!!

Fall Colors in the Brandywine Creek Gorge