Paine Creek Chasing Waterfalls

Local Gems can be found anywhere

If you spend enough time out in the wild you can find some interesting topographical features. The Grand River Valley has such features. Some of her river valley walls are 100 feet to 150 feet high.

Some of the Grand River’s tributaries have walls as high as 200 feet.

Paine Creek has a few tributaries that have a gorge that is 200 feet deep.  A lot of these streams are ephemeral and have water falls in them.

This video was from January

I have hiked up Paine Creek and to the high falls several times.

The tributary I am going to explore this Saturday is one of them that has 200 feet high walls.

The only way I have accessed it is hiking up from Indian Point Park. The is a water-hike and your feet will be wet most of the hike.  There are many waterfalls in this gorge, and this is the main reason I am researching it.

The above video was from March

During the winter this area is highly treacherous. I would not advise going here in the Spring due to flash floods. In the fall it would be doable, but again it is subject to any rainstorms in the area. A person could lose their life if they got caught in a high-water event.

For my first time exploring I will be going up in late spring early summer so that there is a less likely chance of me getting into trouble because of a rainstorm.

The mouth of the tertiary stream is at coordinates 41.710822, -81.159653.

I just got back and this is a potentially dangerous area. Lots of wood in the small gorge and one could get stuck in one of the pieces of deadfall.

As you will see in the videos. Its a beautiful small gorge with about 6 waterfalls.

Navigating this with a lot of water running in it would be a bad idea. If one of those pieces of deadfall lets go it could seriously injure someone.

Lake Erie, Conneaut, Ohio Time-Lapse

3.30.2025 Hike - Paine Creek Ohio

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 visited Chair Factor Falls on my way home.

Spring Warmwater Fishing 3.29.2025

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.

Be well folks,

Sonder

2025 Spring Swing

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.

Two Days Two Hikes 3-8, 3-9 2025

 

Well, hello the month of March

 

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.

The Last Winter Creek Hike - Brandywine Falls, Ohio

So, before the prespring thaw I thought I would see Brandywine Falls from the bottom of the gorge. She never disappoints. The hike was extremely icy, but it could have been worse. The flow was a little higher than I would have anticipated, but again it has been over 33 degrees for two days.

This hike raised my blood pressure more than yesterday!

Winter Creeking Upper Paine Creek Ohio

Unknown variables can get a person hurt and possibly worse depending on the situation. I have been creek crawling in the winter time because I love the solitude.

I know there are a belligerent of variables that can go wrong in a heartbeat.

I have spent my entire life in the woods, on a body of water, or somewhere in between.

It’s up to you to stay safe and constantly remember every time you venture outside you run the risk of getting hurt.

I have chosen Paine Creek here in Leroy Township, Ohio for several reason. When its at normal flow her deepest hole is 5 feet deep, but those are at the shale waterfalls. Every where else its 2 to 3 feet max depth.

This is not to say you can’t get hurt, but it is to say you would have to be doing something really stupid to do so.

I used my hiking sticks as probes looking for hollow ice and of thin ice. I looked for pockets of air in the ice as I hiked. I found most of them, but as you can see in one video my foot went down 24” through the first layer of ice. Then as it traveled through the 24” deep air pocket my foot then landed on the other layer of ice.

I could hear the water running under my foot and I did not know how deep the water was. I saw this as a major issue. I did not go much farther because until this moment I had not had this problem.

I gathered my composure looked at the ice falls then turned around and retraced my steps to call it a day! It was an arduous 2.4 miles in the deep snow and the ice was well ice lol.

I was hoping the center channel was open in the creek then I ws going to hike 6 miles. I get-er done another time.