Clearfork River Fishing Report - Mad River Outfitters

There are many different approaches you should take in order to get a good game plan for a trip or a day of fishing. Also remember that things change and these reports are what we know at the time of posting only. Keep in mind that we do express opinions and personal preferences from time-to-time which may be different from yours or what you may read elsewhere. Thanks for checking and don’t forget to call us if you need any further information or a more up-to-date report. 614-451-0363

Mad River

USGS Gauge- Urbana

USGS Gauge- St. Paris Pike

Mad River Map

Although the Mad since our last report has been really low and clear, the fishing has continued to impress. With the warmer temps over the weekend and until today there have been a good number of winter anglers out in pursuit. The Uppper part of the river continues to produce good numbers and we do know of some really nice 20+ fish caught in the lower part of the river.

Numbers are coming on nymphs. If you just want to catch fish, stick with smaller stuff like red or brown midge larva, zebra midges and the like. Fish are still focusing on these. Also have some size 14 black stonefly imitations. The Winter Stoneflies have yet to be spotted but rest assured the nymphs are down there doing their thing and making themselves available to the fish. A black Copper John typically does pretty well.

The good news here is that the water did come up and we are looking at some good streamer water the next few days. The weekend should be killer for those looking to get out. The upper river should be clearing and super fishable by today and the lower will come into good shape later today and tomorrow. Great time to chuck the big stuff…….especially in honor of Kelly’s visit to the shop on Sunday!

Which, by the way, if you are not that interested in the Super Bowl….we have a great option for you. Sunday at 6:00 we are kicking off a “Streamer Party” with special guest Kelly Galloup. Our good friend Jeff Aufdencamp from Mama Mimis pizza is bringing a new pizza cooker and setting up out back and we’ll have the Yeti Tanks full of ice and beer. Kelly will get his program going around 7:00 or so and we’ll probably be hanging around till 9 or later. If you have never seen one of Kelly’s presentations, you really should be here.

Click Here to pick up a ticket for the party. Just $5.00!!!!

Clearfork River

USGS- Upper Clearfork

USGS- Lower/Mohican State Park

Clearfork Map

The Clearfork has been super low and clear, especially down in the park. We did have anglers on both stretches this week and both reported pretty tough fishing although the upper seemed to be a bit better.

MRO guide and MWFF Instructor Graham Stokes fished the lower and said it was really low and clear and tough. He said he only saw one other angler and he was looking for a Musky. The deeper lies that held fish in December seemed to be void of fish which means that they have maybe taken up a winter mode here and are pretty dormant. He did say that he caught a few smaller fish on small nymphs under an indicator and also by throwing a small white streamer on a long leader. Stealth was the key to saving the day.

The lower stretch did come up a bit with the precip the past few days and it could be a good weekend up there. Well worth checking out and if you do, please let us know.

The upper stretch has been a nymph game but we have heard that streamers continue to produce well. This water has become a pretty good to great piece of river for “jerk stripping” large streamers and the size of fish we have been seeing this Fall and Winter has been impressive. A slight bump in flows should have this stretch fishing well this weekend.

Want to learn more about “Jerk Stripping”?

If you are not that interested in the Super Bowl….we have a great option for you. Sunday at 6:00 we are kicking off a “Streamer Party” with special guest Kelly Galloup. Our good friend Jeff Aufdencamp from Mama Mimis pizza is bringing a new pizza cooker and setting up out back and we’ll have the Yeti Tanks full of ice and beer. Kelly will get his program going around 7:00 or so and we’ll probably be hanging around till 9 or later. If you have never seen one of Kelly’s presentations, you really should be here.

Click Here to pick up a ticket for the party. Just $5.00!!!!

Clear Creek

USGS Gauge

Clear Creek Map

Clear Creek did come up the past few days and the ice along the edges and on the slow pools has been pushed out. It is coming down and should be in fishable shape this weekend. Could turn out to be a good streamer weekend down there.

Not much to report as we haven’t had any folks on the water due to the “winter mode” but hoping to hear something over the weekend.

If you do get out, nymphs and streamers will most likely be the ticket, although it’s a good bet to have some midge dries just in case.

Let us know if you get out on the water. Clear Creek was fishing surprisingly well before it began to ice up so we’d love to hear some good reports here.

In the meantime…..we hope to see you on Sunday….tickets available…..

Click Here to pick up a ticket for the party. Just $5.00!!!

Erie Steelhead

Gauge Links and Maps

Great news up along the Lake!!! The waters have risen here this week and most of the ice has been pushed out and it looks like it could be a good to great weekend of steelhead fishing.

The Rocky has been the hot ticket since last weekend. It was about the only one with open water and a ton of folks were out fishing. Brian and Josh were up in Cleveland for the show last weekend and heard reports of good to great fishing. A good number of brown trout reported as well as nice sized steelhead.

All of the streams are up and dropping right now and most will come into play for the weekend. The Vermilion should fish Saturday or Sunday although it is just now starting to drop. It is time for the V to start producing big time and we know that our guides cannot wait to get the ball rolling on this important piece of water. The Rocky and Chagrin should fish Saturday and could be good “swinging” conditions.

The Grand and Conneuat are still a bit big and will probably take a bit longer here. The Grand for sure won’t fish until mid next week. The Conneaut maybe late Sunday or into Monday, depending on whether we get more precip.

Regardless, looks like we are getting a bit of a reprieve from Winter here and a welcome and somewhat unexpected window of opportunity for steelhead anglers in the region. Hard to say what the weather will do but we’ll try to stay on top of it and let you know.

With the higher water and somewhat warmer temps here it would surely be worth swinging or stripping some flies and see what happens. If not, hanging nymphs and eggs below an indicator will surely be the way to go. Our old pal Kelly Galloup always says that if the water is cold, which it will be, try a Blue Egg. Not that common a choice but is worth trying and you just might be rewarded.

Not doing anything important Sunday night…..now you can!!!!

We have a great option for you. Sunday at 6:00 we are kicking off a “Streamer Party” with special guest Kelly Galloup. Our good friend Jeff Aufdencamp from Mama Mimis pizza is bringing a new pizza cooker and setting up out back and we’ll have the Yeti Tanks full of ice and beer. Kelly will get his program going around 7:00 or so and we’ll probably be hanging around till 9 or later. If you have never seen one of Kelly’s presentations, you really should be here.

Click Here to pick up a ticket for the party. Just $5.00!!!

Regardless, we’ll try to touch base early next week with an update from the weekend. If you get out, we always love reports and pics!!!!

Mad River Outfitters

Fly Shop, Guides, Schools and more!

813 Bethel Rd.

Columbus, Ohio 43214

www.madriveroutfitters.com

614-451-0363

* Please remember to call us for more up-to-date or detailed information! These reports are not meant to be your one and only, daily source of information. They are typically general, even seasonal type reports and we currently don’t have a set schedule as to when we update. Please, just because we don’t update as often as we like, it doesn’t mean that we don’t care.

There are many different approaches you should take in order to get a good game plan for a trip or a day of fishing. Also remember that things change and these reports are what we know at the time of posting only. Keep in mind that we do express opinions and personal preferences from time-to-time which may be different from yours or what you may read elsewhere. Thanks for checking and don’t forget to call us if you need any further information or a more up-to-date report. 614-451-0363

Mad River

USGS Gauge- Urbana

USGS Gauge- St. Paris Pike

Mad River Map

The Mad did spike up a bit with the precip on Friday but is coming back down and looking really good. The streamer fishing has remained good to excellent as we have had much better flows in the past few weeks. Nymphing has also been very good as well. Same story….go tiny with midge larva if you want to catch numbers and go with larger, attractor type nymphs if looking for a larger fish. No valid reports of any dry fly fishing the past week or so as can be expected.

Although the fishing should be good, the temps the next few days and into the week are looking pretty prohibitive. If you go, make sure to have some Stanley’s Ice Off Paste to keep the ice from forming in your guides, especially if streamer fishing…..and dress really warm.

We have been talking alot around the shop at how many folks are starting to catch on to the fact that we look for high, dirty water events as “prime time” to hunt big fish. Used to be that folks would stay away from the river (or any river) when the water rose and turned to chocolate milk. These days, those in the know are looking for this kind of water, knowing that this is when the big fish are most likely to slam the big streamers, as you saw in our last report.

Amazing how our entire outlook on fishing has changed since we all read “Modern Streamers for Trophy Trout” and watched a few of Kelly Galloup’s videos!

Want to learn more….be sure to join us on Sunday, February 7th when we are joined by Kelly for a presentation on streamer fishing. We’re gonna get some pizza and beer and have a good ol’ time! And yes…we know it’s Super Bowl Sunday. We’d quite frankly learn more about streamer fishing from the master. Click Here to learn more and to sign-up for the party.

We’ll try to check-in soon as we know more but in the meantime, here’s a few pics and a report from our new friend Ben Soltis:

“:I recently moved to the area from out of state and have been fishing the Mad. Today I caught a pretty nice brookie below the Dallas road bridge. Have brook trout been stocked or did this fish come down from the headwaters? It was pretty cool to see this fish, not the species I thought I would be catching today. Caught on an EP fiber dace pattern. Pictures attached, looked to be about 17″.”

Thanks,

Ben Soltis

Clearfork River

USGS- Upper Clearfork

USGS- Lower/Mohican State Park

Clearfork Map

Not too many reports in the past week or so from the Clearfork. Guide and Instructor Graham Stokes did get out last week and did very well and from what he has seen recently, the river is fishing much better this winter than it has in many years. From the reports that we have been getting all Fall, this appears to be the case.

Both the Upper and the Lower are in good shape. In general folks have been catching more fish in the Lower stretch and larger fish in the Upper. Not sure if there is much to that but it does seem to be the case.

The streamer fishing in the Upper has been extremely good and some really nice fish caught. The Lower has mostly been a nymph game but still a good idea to drag a big streamer through some of the deeper holes. Especially if you get further away from the covered bridge. If the big stuff doesn’t produce, try going with something smaller and see what happens.

With the weather and precip expected, please be careful if heading down into the park…could be a bit treacherous at times.

On a side note, it’s also a good time to think about chasing Muskies in the lower. Not a high numbers game, but if you take your time and throw a giant fly, you just might be rewarded. We are still waiting on that “Winter Musky Pic” to come through Facebook or E-mail but it’s bound to happen soon. Let us know if we can help you get rigged up…..it’s worth your time if you are willing.

If you get out, send us some pics and reports!

Clear Creek

USGS Gauge

Clear Creek Map

Clear Creek did come up with the precip on Friday but is coming down and looking good for the week as far as water level goes. Problem is that it will probably start to freeze up with the temps expected. We’ll see and try to let you know.

The good news is, as in our last report, that the fishing has been pretty good. Surprising numbers of holdovers all of a sudden are being caught. Most have been on nymphs and small streamers but don’t rule out dries if you get a warmer, sunny day. The midge bite down there can be pretty good at times.

Hopefully we’ll get some eyes on the stream this week but in the meantime, read our last report where Ryan Ratliff gave some pretty good tips on fishing Clear Creek in the Winter.

Erie Steelhead

Gauge Links and Maps

Bre with a nice Winter Steelhead from last week!

We have definitely moved into “Winter Mode” here when it comes to Steelhead Alley. Although, there are plenty of fish around, we just haven’t had that many folks out chasing them. A few folks did report in this week and plenty of fish caught…especially mid-week as the temps rose a bit. Otherwise, things were starting to slush and ice up quite a bit.

The region did get some good rains on Friday and into Saturday which brought the streams up and they are starting to drop nicely now. The rain and higher temps did slow the ice and slush and may provide for some pretty good fishing the next few days, although the temps are dropping again and they are calling for the lowest of the season this week. Very likely we will quickly be back to talking ice and slush. For sure your target time of day will be in the afternoons with the mornings likely being a “slush story”.

The Vermilion is dropping nicely and coming into fishable today and should look great the next few days. We have finally been hearing some decent reports, but most still closer to the lake. Still hoping for this sleeper to turn on here, which might happen after ice-out which isn’t that strange.

The Rocky and Chagrin are about the same but have been fishing pretty well. They both should be in great shape for the start of the week. The Rocky in particular has been pretty hot.

The Grand is way up and probably won’t fish this week and Conneaut and Ashtabula are both up and muddy but should come into play early in the week. They should both fish well, again depending on the situation with ice and slush.

Steelhead guide Josh McQueen was out this week and snapped the pic above with client Bre. She had a pretty good day! Josh pointed out that as the streams start to ice up, you might think about the Cuyahoga as it rarely freezes over and can fish pretty well this time of year. He also said that most fish were found in slow, deep tailouts behind the riffles and that most fish were eating eggs and stoneflies drifted below an indicator. Swinging flies and stripping streamers has seems to slow to a screeching halt here.

We’ll try to watch the situation throughout the week and keep you updated on what we know about the ice and slush conditions…..if we don’t, feel free to give us a call as always.