First Trip to “Steelhead Alley” - Nicole Lewis

How this came about:

I listen to the Wet Fly Swing podcast, curated and hosted by Dave Stewart. In October, there was a contest to take part in a Midwest Steelhead School trip, December 4 – 8th, to learn from some of the best Great Lakes Steelhead guides, including Jeff Liskay.
I did not win the contest, but I reached out to Dave to express my interest. Unfortunately, the School had already reached its maximum number of participants. I told Dave I would be interested if he held a similar event the following year. A week later, Dave reached out to me and indicated that a spot had opened up due to illness. I was elated! I jumped on this opportunity to join.

maya

The Trip:

I decided to add a day on each end of the trip since it would be a 6 – 7 hour drive.
My Pontiac Vibe was packed with some room left for Maya in the back seat! On Saturday, December 3rd, I departed at 6:15 am from Orleans and arrived in Conneaut, Ohio at 1:40 pm. I went to the Day’s Inn (OYO) just off Interstate 90. I got into my waders and selected my gear. I use a cell phone application called DIY Fishing, which indicates public access points and suitability for walking and wading; I scouted out several spots on the Conneaut Creek. My motel was just a couple of kilometres from the first spot.

Indian Mound Boat Launch

Sunday, December 4th.

On Sunday, Jeff Liskay sent me a pin indicating a spot to fish. I went to Indian Trails on Ashtabula Creek. Dave’s bags were lost, and Jeff had to take him to get gear.

This was a beautiful spot. The road had been fenced off at the parking lot owing to the recent snowfall. It was about a half-kilometre walk downhill to the river. I watched as two doe whitetails leisurely crossed the road on the far side of the covered bridge (Smolen-Gulf Bridge). They were completely unhurried by the oncoming car…

It was early, and two other guys were in the parking lot getting geared up. I chatted with them. They were centre-pin guys. We met some fellows who had called it. They found the water too fast and disturbed. It was about -2C. The water was cold, fast and turbid. I fished the long run just before the covered bridges. I was fishing my 7-weight 13’3” Spey rod. No hits. I even put on a chartreuse game changer! The guides on my rod were freezing up. Maya was cold too. After 3 hours of swinging, Maya and I decided to find some warm food. We went into town and had lunch at Lunch Box – ample down-home food – I cleaned my plate. After eating, Maya and I drove around a bit.

Monday, Dec. 5th - Today I was paired with Jeff Liskay. His girlfriend, Karen, would take a video of me fishing.

We would also have Kendrick Chittock taking photos. It was a mostly overcast day, hovering between 5 – 7 degrees Celsius.
We started on the Ashtabula Creek at the Cederquist Park access. We did not have any hits until we crossed the river and fished down near the railway bridge. There were fresh fish moving in. Here I was using Boris’s Winston 4 weight Spey rod. It was lovely – I was able to cast it well right off the bat. It was like a little sister to my 7 weight of the same brand. Unfortunately I managed to hit the rod with a tube fly and I broke Boris’ rod!


I received much practical feedback from Jeff Liskay and Jerry Darkes, steelhead guide and author (Essential Flies for the Great ages Region: Patterns, and their Histories for Trout, Steelhead, Salmon, Muskie and more).
I lost two steelhead in this pool, while my partner Randy caught two and lost a couple.
In the afternoon we went to Conneaut Creek at the Creek Road Access point on the other side of the small covered bridge. Karen gave me a great tip on my casting. I needed to take my time with my initial lift. Jeff had probably indicated this previously, but I had not integrated it. Jeff was carrying @Tailwateroutdoors’ giant steelhead/salmon net. I landed two steelhead! That evening, Boris had to leave us. He was having too much pain from arthritis in his joints, especially his hands. Boris was quite gracious about me breaking his Spey rod.

Elk River Beauty
Grand River Entrance

Elk Creek Steelhead

Elk Creek Steelhead

I had never fished the south shore of Lake Erie. Depending upon who you ask, Steelhead Alley runs from Niagara Falls, NY to the mouth of the Detroit River MI. It incorporates many rivers and tributaries that flow out of the southern shores of Lake Ontario, but mostly Lake Erie. In this stretch of land, there are dozens of great steelhead rivers all within close proximity. Technically these rainbow trout are considered adfluvial trout. Everyone calls them steelhead. Also, everything was dog friendly, so I could bring Maya along.

Conneaut Creek

Saturday afternoon: Conneaut Creek at Indian Mound, just off Highway 7 – walking trails, boat launch, an old bridge.

The water was cold, high and a bit disturbed. I fished with my 7-weight 10-foot rod set up with a small airlock indicator – with an egg, a guide-style squirmy wormy, and one BB split shot. I got my first-hand look at the classic shale cliffs of the spate rivers in this area.

 

I fished under the overpass, crossed the river on the old bridge and tried the other side. No hits. After a while, Maya and I got back into the car to check out some other spots indicated on DIY Fishing. We picked up some dinner at the gas station/diner Mavericks just on the other side of the highway. Gas was $2.65 a gallon in Ohio, much cheaper than in New York State, where it was at least a dollar more.

Elk River

Elk Creek.

Our rendez-vous time was 3:00 – 3:30pm. When I arrived at the house, Jeff and the chef, Tyler was there. I unpacked all of my gear. The house is available on VRBO – it is well-appointed. It is on Conneaut Creek, but access there is challenging (wooded and steep downhill). The house had three bedrooms rooms upstairs and a couple of rooms downstairs. There was also a large common area for gear, tying, eating and gearing up. We were 6 all staying in the house. Dave Stewart was staying at a nearby motel. I had a room to myself with a private powder room. I was housed with Jim, the Coast Guard helicopter pilot, who had recently moved to Ohio; Randy, the IT guy in his 70s; Bill, who was quite an experienced Spey guy (also local); Josh, the young guide from Minneapolis (@Larrythelunker) and Boris, another local guy and radiologist. For the first dinner, we had pork loin with mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables. The food was good and plentiful. Jeff Liskay and Dave Stewart had dinner with us. Josh, the guide was set up and tying flies. I was too tired to tie flies, so I sat up and watched a bit. Maya picked her spot in the middle of the bed and didn’t move. At least it was a comfortable queen.

Tues Dec 6th

I was fishing with Dan Pribanic, the owner of Chagrin River Outfitters. We drove to a parking spot and were met by Bill and Jim, two local fellows who would ride us down to the river in their side-by-sides. Dan was a great guide. I had a tug, than a hit in the pool we were fishing. I managed to land one steelhead, a ‘drop back.’ We moved to the pool where Randy and his guide, Mike, were fishing. They went through the pool after me with an indicator set up. They both got steelhead. I had swung through the pool and natch! That’s how it goes sometimes. Dan and I drove to another spot where we hiked down a hill and crossed the river. Maya was not too impressed. The water was close to freezing. We passed one fellow fly fishing. Up ahead of the pool we chose to fish was a fellow fishing bait. We saw him land at least three fish. I had one noncommittal tug.

Wednesday, Dec 7th

Today I was scheduled to fish with Jerry Darkes, an author. We were also paired with Justin Pribanic, Dan Pribanic’s nephew, guide extraordinaire and fly tier.

We drove about 30 minutes from where we were based to Elk Creek, PA. This creek is stocked by both Ohio and Pennsylvania. It was my favourite spot in terms of beauty. We had access to a private run for two rods.

When we got there the river was low and clear. We set up our indicator rigs – Mine on a 10 foot 7 weight Moonshine Vesper – this is my workhorse rod. My goal was to outfish Randy. I landed 6 steelhead and had my ass handed to me but a torpedo of a male took me on the run of my life and then broke me off! I fished a small cream-coloured egg with a hook bend dropper of a small black beaded nymph (size 12 – 14).  I lost at least twice as many fish on this river. After an amazing dinner of chicken tacos, Jeff made a fire in the fire pit. We sat around and told stories and smoked cigars. ☺ It had been years since I had smoked a cigar!

 

The spectacular Elk Creek, Pale shale river bed.

 

 

More Elk Creek, action

 

 

Thursday, Dec 8th

 

Grand River with the boys. I headed out with Dave Stewart, Jim and Josh.

No grabs or tugs in the morning. Only Jim, who was the most familiar with this run had any luck. We used Jeremy Levett’s net (@tailwatersoutdoors) to land it. Jim caught this beauty on a black and chartreuse tube fly. Jeff Liskay joined us in the afternoon.

He continued to guide and help me sit up my line. I had one hook up on the Grand but the fish got off.

 

 

 

Jim’s steelie on the Grand.

 

 

 

We had lucked out in terms of weather: Sunday, December 4th was the coldest day with some sub-zero Celsius temperatures. We did not get much rain or snow. The temperatures hovered around 5C – 8C every day.  Everyone in our group landed several fish. I was probably the least experienced person on the trip. All the flies that I swung were either tube or intruder-style flies. I landed 9 steelhead in total and lost at least twice that number!

 

I drove home on Friday, December 9th.

 

All in all, other than Luc and my laker weekend on Opeongo, this was my best trip all season! The accommodations were wonderful, the company was quite collegial, the food top-notch, the guides were the best and the fishing was EPIC!  Dave Stewart and Jeff Liskay went above and beyond to ensure that this trip was a success for all. Interestingly, there are no fly fishing shops in the immediate area. I highly recommend that you check out this area for yourself!

 

A big thank you to Jeremy Levett for lending me his salmon/steelhead net! I plan on returning to Steelhead Alley in the Spring.

 

One of the successful hookups on Elk Creek: https://youtu.be/Xs2HH4x6DW4