I Take It Back

 The last post I said we need it to stop raining but now it hasn't rained in 2 weeks and the tribs are very low and need water. There are some steelhead in the tribs along with plenty of suckers and smallmouth. The tribs had gotten very warm and the suckers and smallmouth came in a little early and they have since cooled off again. With the very warm trib temps that came early in the season some think the the season could be over but the lack of reds and drop backs suggests that if the rains come so will the fish, at least that is what we are all hoping. We have been catching fish yet it hasn't been easy due to the dropping water and lack of fresh fish.
The weather service is calling for some rain on Monday but the amount may not be enough to raise the water levels enough to really bring a big run in.  Here are some photos of just a few of the steelhead caught in the past week.

Rain , Rain, Go Away

   Well back again to say that most of the Ohio rivers are not fishing right now because of all the rain that we have had the past couple of days but the good news is that Elk in Pa has already came down and is very fish-able. I have been getting reports that there are fresh fish in the rivers and I know that they are being caught. With the weather this coming week raising back up in the 60's for several days these fish will be seen on gravel so if you find yourself a cut near some gravel you will find the fish. You will have success if you just remember what these fish are here for ( spawning ) and look for the good gravel above or below deeper water.
   I would love to be out  now but the fly orders have flooded in and we have to do some catching up before we start our guide season.If you  are wanting flies for the spring , you can get your order in asap and we can get it to you.You can either go right to the site to order or on the site is contact info so that you may call. There are a few new patterns that were very productive this past fall that are not on the site yet that you can call and we can make that order up for you . Hopefully the newest proven  patterns and some new ones that we will be testing this spring will be on the site late in the spring after steelhead and when we are done with the trout guiding in Southwest PA. Good luck fishing and we hope to see you out on the rivers.

  Tight Lines,
  Chris

www.defranksflies.com
Owner: Mark DeFrank

Spring Steelheading Is Here

  Well it is that time of year again to get the equipment out and catch some Spring Ohio Steel. As most of you know the weather has been unseasonably warm with a day or two of cold weather thrown in the mix. The rivers didn't really freeze this winter so there has been people out and about over the winter months.  There have been some caught but the numbers are not in yet and that is the time that everyone is looking forward too.
  I am going to try to keep up with the blog a little more but it will be harder during my guide season due to the lack of internet where I stay for the season. I have been busy filling fly orders along with getting my fly boxes stocked up for my clients for the spring season.
     There hasn't been much to talk about as far as steelheading goes,  that is all about to change and hopefully this spring the weather will co-operate and we all can get lots of days of fishing in.If anyone is looking for a guide you can go to www.defranksflies.com and book a trip while there are still days available and it is first come first serve on the days and it is booking up fast. You can also visit the site and check out some of the new patterns we have to offer as well as the reports page that also has a fall steelheading video on it. Well hope to see some of the people that I met out on the streams this year and that everyone has a great and safe season.

Tight Lines,    Chris

IT"S STEELHEADING TIME !!!!!!

        Yes the time everyone has been waiting for is finally here. I know that there have been steelhead in but the numbers of steelhead that were waiting to come in finally had the rain they needed to make there run into the rivers. I have been getting many reports about good numbers of Browns that are being caught along with good size ones too. I know by now everyone heard about the 15lb Brown that was caught in the lake in front of 20 mile well that wasn't the only brown waiting to come into the rivers. In my opinion this is going to be a great fall for Browns which I am very excited about,I know that most people are going for steelhead but the chance to catch a trophy Brown is very exciting. I will be posting more reports as the season unfolds....

      Tight lines  Chris
      www.defranksflies.com

IT'S ALMOST TIME,


     That's right we should be in the chrome soon.There are a few here in there should be more by the mouths right now.We need some more rain to bring the water levels up so that the fish can start moving into the Tribs. Had heard of some being caught closer to the lake but really nothing to hear of further up. I will be going up soon to do some scouting around and to see what changes have happened to the rivers because they do change every year and it is good to see what has changed while the rivers are still a little low.I am hoping to see a good number of fish since the spring fishing was very limited due to the rivers being near flood stage for most of the spring months.Well hope see you out on the streams....

TIGHT LINES     Chris  www.defranksflies.com

Will The Rain Stop

Hello Again,

  Well the question of the year " will the rain stop? "  All that I can say is that the rivers are very high right now and there is more rain on the way, it will not take much rain to keep the rivers up. The good thing is that the temps have not gotten high and the water is still a little on the cold side so there are still fish waiting for the warmer water to make their run to spawn.If the weather man is correct for a change there is rain in the forecast through the first week in May which will keep the rivers up , but if we only get little amounts of rain there may be a few places that will fish but the water will be a little high. We all can only hope that the rain and the amounts that they are calling for just don't make it to us so that we can get back to fishing and not looking at rivers that are so far up that we just can't fish.
   Tight Lines  Chris

Photo missing from last post

4-8-11

Well I hope that everyone likes there photos an I hope to see all of you on the rivers again.

Guiding 3-31-11 Through 4-15-11

Hi Everyone,


     First let me say sorry for no recent posts where I am staying in Ohio I don't have internet service so I am writing this while in my car in front of a place that does....
  The fishing has started off slow and keeps picking up as the week goes on and if the rain will hold off the fishing will be great. I do believe that we will have a late season with the lower temps and the fact that the rivers are staying cold. When i first arrived a couple of days before my march 31st trip the lake still had ice on it as far as you could see, now the lake is clear of ice and fish are coming into the rivers in numbers when the water warms during the day.So far everyone of my clients have landed fish even though on some days the water conditions have been less than ideal. Some of those days we had to fish so of the smaller feeders because the main rivers were just to high to fish.
 Today is 3-16-11 ( Saturday ) and it is raining again but it seems like some of the rivers will still fish if we do not get all of the rain that they are calling for. I have been out today looking at numerous rivers and some look great today but that is not to say that they will not come up over night tonight, yet I think that there will be places to fish tomorrow that should still be real good. They are  forecasting more rain this week, we all just have to keep are fingers crossed that we don't get substantial rain and can keep fishing.

  Tight Lines   Chris

3-31-11

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Guiding Ohio 3-19-11 to 3-20-11

Just getting going for the spring season. Went out on the 19th and was going to do some scouting and ended up taking someone with me. We fished in Ohio and had a great day of fishing. The waters were on there way down and looking very good. Between the 2 of us we hooked at least 20 and landed around 11. On the 20th I had a trip with 2 people with one of them being the gentleman that had gone with me the previous day . We arrived very early in the morning to a stream in Ohio where we waited for the sun to come  up in anticipation of seeing many fish. Once we were able to see where the lines they started to fish and it was not long before one of them had a fish on. It was a great feeling to see Al hook and land his first steelhead ever. Once it was light enough to see in the hole realized that most of the fish that were there the previous day had moved. I had a feeling since the water had came down overnight and you could see they bottom clearly  that they had moved up to the next hole which was deeper  and you really couldn't see the bottom clearly. I had Bob fish the hole up above while Al targeted a nice fish that I had spotted hiding be hide a big rock. It was not long before Bob was yelling fish on. I ran to net the fish and went back to Al and then he hooked and landed a very nice 29in buck. We then moved up to where Bob was and we started  catching , well at least hooking many fish .  By the end of the day which was around 1:30 because they had a long trip home they had landed around 20 fish and had about 30 hooked possibly more. What a great day of fishing.
   The rivers in Ohio were just getting good and then I was hearing about all the rain that was on the way which was disappointing .The one good thing is that the amount of rain that was in the forecast never came. The rivers did come up a little but should be fishable this week starting with the Astabula river and the Chagrin river. Conneaut is on its way back down and should be fishing good by the weekend if the rain stays away.
 As far as Elk in Pa goes it is looking good right now and I have hearrd of many fish being caught but get it while you can the Pa rivers will peter out first around the 2nd week of April.
The Ohio rivers will be getting better around the 1st and 2nd week in April with the Astabula petering out first.
 Well I am happy that I got to meet Bob and Al and that they both had a great day of fishing and I am looking forward to meeting some new people for my upcoming trips.  If anyone is interested in a trip you can give me a call.  724-322-4982      Book while there are still openings...  Tight Lines   Chris

Bob with the First steelhead caught on his new rod

Al with another nice buck

Bob with a great Hen

Al with a colorful Buck

Had to get a underwater shot of this colorful buck

Bob with his colorful buck

 

Season Is Upon Us

 Hi everyone,
   There were fish being caught yesterday on some of the Ohio rivers. Today everything is blown out but by the end of the week if we don't get a lot of rain some of the Ohio rivers should be fishing well as well as the Pa rivers. Guiding for me will be starting about the second week of March.and I will be posting photos from my trips as well as reports on some of the rivers I have been fishing. With the rivers up new fish should be moving into the rivers. I have talked to some of the other guides and they are saying that good numbers of fish are already being seen in some of they Ohio rivers. I am excited to meet some new people this season and to have some new experiences on the water..

  TIGHT LINES  Chris

Guiding On The Elk 12-06-10

 Wow, where do I start.... It was one cold day in Erie today. Elk was flowing good but so was the slush and sleets of ice. Despite the very cold conditions , snow, and the ice my guest was able to put 7 in the net today. The one good thing about today is there were no crowds and when I say no crowds I mean I seen 2 people and they  didn't stay very long. My guest was spin fishing today but we did use flies some of the day. Fish were caught on egg colored sucker spawn , small caddis, as well as egg sacks. The big problem today was getting it down to the fish with all of the slush and ice in the river. The line at times iced up bigger than the diameter of a pencil which made it very difficult to cast and get to sink. Once you managed to find a opening to get egg sacks or flies down to the fish they were very willing to bite. All and all we had a great time and it was an adventure I am not soon to forget.
  Tine Lines    Chris

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Steelheading Dec, 3 2010

 It is looking good for fishing the Pa rivers for Saturday the 4th. You may be fishing in some snow and I think there will be lots of people out but if you are willing to make that sacrifice fishing should be good.The Ohio rivers are still up but the feeders should have fish in them and  be fishable.As far as the bigger rivers go Ashtabula will be fishing first and should have fresh fish considering the rivers have been up for about a week now.The grand is still very high and will take a while to come back down as long as the precipitation stays to a minimal.The Chagrin should be fishing Sunday if not Saturday. As long as it stays cold and the snow that is on the ground and what is coming doesn't melt to fast the flows should stay good and make fishing good as well.

 Tight Lines  Chris   

Fresh Fish

 Get them while you can.I am talking about the fresh fish that have been coming in the past couple of weeks now that the water has come up.The rain has brought the rivers up once again and now that they are coming down they are starting to fish .One of my friends that is also a guide was out on one of the smaller steams and landed 11.It looks like by Monday the rivers in Pa will be fishing great and a few in Ohio should be prime.If you would like to go out on a guided trip with me before the rivers freeze just give me a call at 724-322-4982 or e-mail me at ckaz135@gmail.com..    Tight Lines  Chris

                     This was just one of the fresh steelies that was caught
                     after the last rain we had.