Free Tying Classes

With Spring in the air, The Backpackers Shop is ramping up their tying schedule. Last week was tube flies, taught by Donny Richards with the help of Jeff Liskay, and Eric Lindstrom. All the spots in the class were filled and some pretty fishy bugs were tied.  Throughout the spring The Backpackers Shop will be holding free tying classes for all to attend. Below is a link to the upcoming classes and schedule.  Look forward to seeing you there.

http://backpackersflyshop.com/index.phpoption=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=49&Itemid=77

CHEERS,

OWEN

BACK IN THE SADDLE

It has been a whirlwind since the new year rolled in. My apologies for the lack write ups and just plain lack of fish pics. We had a great fall and are looking forward to the spring.

As some of you may know we recently teamed up of with The Backpackers Shop in Sheffield Village. This is an exciting time and we look forward to the opportunity.  With this partnership we are going to start unveiling plenty of tying classes, steelhead schools, casting clinics, along with some awesome destination travel opportunities. You will be able to view all the dates for the events via the OSD website and The Backpackers Fly Shop website. We also encourage you guys and gals to check us out on the OSD Facebook.com to get the latest up to date reports and info.

Getting on to the important stuff, the Rivers have crested and are on their way back to fishy levels. Look to Sunday as a possibility of getting out, if you don't mind some colder temps. As of right now you may be able to find some fish moving into some faster water but, I would try to stick to your slower moving areas, such as deep runs, pools, and tail outs.

Last weekend some of us got out and enjoyed the weather.

I Kinda Like This Fly Fishing Thing

I met up with some good friends/clients in for a quick steelhead fix. Game plan was to fish Wednesday evening and Thursday weather permitting . Kelly hails from Mentor so he can scratch the itch often, will comes to us from Austin, Texas.  We were unsure what we would be able to come up with yesterday with all the rain and such predicted. Dressing for the occasion we fished in and out of showers all day and found fish along the way.

Kelly has been trying to transform from a pin man into a fly guy, after yesterday I think the transformation is complete.

We threw multiple patterns throughout the day, taking fish swinging/dead drifting  white buggers and orange eggs patterns.

 Cheers,

Owen

Slow and Steady

Continuing to go with the flow and keep at the fish, I was knee deep again this afternoon. After swinging some big stuff for a bit, I came up with nothing and decided to switch gears. I threw some smaller nymphs and fished slooow moving water, almost too slow for my liking. I have nothing against slow water, but sometimes my attention span needs a little more action.

Once I switched gears, I was fortunate enough hook up and promptly break it off. After spending some time working over one run I was able to find a few more. All the fish were sitting in the very slow tailouts for me, and it seemed two toned sucker spawn was the gig. See you tomorrow river.

Get while the gettins good.

-O

A Great Morning After a Great Night

Spending last night at The Cleveland Museum of Natural History with friends and fishing enthusiasts was nothing short of good time. Over three hundred people were on hand to watch CONNECT a film by Confluence Media. The movie was excellent and opened doors to old memories of guiding the pristine waters of Montana.

Shaking off a bit of a whiskey hangover, my dog Timber and I ventured out to the East part of the state. My first stop being on the Ashtabula River. It seemed everywhere that look fishy already had someone working over the water and after watching one fly fisherman nymph up a steelhead, Timber and bounced to the Conneaut. After parking I walked probably for a good half to three quarters of a mile before I began to work over some great looking water. Swinging a sink tip and some big nasty flies I managed to hook into three and fortunate enough to land one of em. I tried to take some pics as best as I could on the river, need to teach Timber how to hold a camera ; ).

Ashtabula Water and Color Were Great

Finally a Good Connect

Solid Hen

Re Releasing for Another Day

Timber Not Happy About the Quick Release

Big Flies Cast Big Shadows

Warm Breeze

I was fortunate enough to leave work around noon today. Sunny, 60 degrees, and being the last day of January, it was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. After stopping by house to grab gear, cameras, bowl of oatmeal, and my dog, I raced down to The Rocky River to try and capitalize on an awesome January day.

I met a friend of mine Lee on the water and after catching up on the latest and greatest in our lives, we swung some flies. The river was starting to hold that nice olive/green color with decent visibility. We started at opposite ends of the run and worked towards each other, each hoping that one of us would get a grab.

As the time past, I enjoyed the warm breeze coming down the river and began finding myself not catching fish. Falling into a daze of just knowing I was knee deep in a river and not at work, my attention was gathered in an instant when my fly line began screaming out of my hand. It was the one thing that made the day and as the week progress I imagine the fishing will only get better. The fish was caught on a purple intruder and was sitting in the slower tail out of the run.

Spring days are starting to book up so make sure to get ahold of us for your spring steelhead season.

See you on the water,

Owen

Drift This

This should hold you over till the waters come back into shape.

Spread the word. Thanks to Eric Lindstrom for letting me video the day.

Must Be the Caddis

Was able to take off work today from (I guess my real job) to tag along on a guide day. Although I skipped work, I wasn't there to fish or guide, I was there to obtain some footage and take some pics. Needless to say the fish did there part and once I get the short video completed you guys can let me know if I did mine. Nice job today Richard!!

Cheers,

Owen

Steelhead n Hats

Took a drive down the to The Rocky River today to see what had come of the pst days rain. To much surprise the river looked tip top. So out came the rods and away we went.

I was able to manage a take swinging a minnow imitation but never laid my hands on the fish. After a thorough work over of the run with the streamer, I switched up to a nymph setup and was able to bring one in. Ended up going one for three and the three fish that I hooked into today seemed to be on the smaller side. No complaints from this guy either, some of the smallest silver bullets that hit our waters are some of the feistiest out there.

On another note, we finally have OSD hats!!!! I think they are pretty cool and will be rocking one on all of the tribs this fall. I will have them up for sale on our website soon.

Watch the gauges over the next few days and see what this rain and weather does to the water, until then I would find some time to hit the water.

Cheers,

Owen