Oak Orchard 11/12 - 11/14

I fished Oak Orchard 11/12 through 11/14 with a friend on our annual steelhead and brown trout fishing trip.  We left Ohio a little after one AM and arrived on the river right at first light.  The water that first day was slightly turbid and had a perfect flow and the level was just right.  I wouldn't say the water was low or high but in my opinion just about right.  Visibility was at around 2 feet give or take.  We started at the dam and fished a good part of the day there.  We managed to get into a bunch of fish at the beginning of the morning, which is the norm for this stream.  As the day wore on we decided to move downstream to see if we could get a spot in one of the more popualr holes on the river. 

As we arrived at our next spot we found a couple of small openings where we thought we could manage a few drifts.  I started out drifting with eggs and adjusting my shot and float as the conditions dictated.  After a few drifts I hooked into my first fish at this hole.  After a short fight the fish managed to pop the hook.  Unfortunately this was the recurring theme for the day at this spot which in my opinion wasn't such a bad thing because trying to land a fish on the cliff side of this hole with a 15 foot float rod is a bit of a chore.  Most of the fish my friend and I hooked into were brown trout mixed in with a few steelhead.  As the day wore on we continued to hook into fish needing to change up our presentations when the bite went stale.  So... After a few more hours we decided to move up river and back to the Jeep hitting a spot here and there.  The last spot we fished was just a very short walk up river and found a few hook ups just above the confluences of the turbine channel and the overflow channel.  A few fish later we decided to call it a day and grab a bit to eat and a few beers to celebrate an awesome day of fishing.  All in all I would have to say that this was one of the best days of fishing I've had on this river in quite sometime.  I really didn't count how many fish my friend and I hooked but I would have to say that we were fighting fish at least 70 to 80% of the day.  Most fish caught that day were browns with hardly any size to them and they almost all had loose eggs.

On our second day we made it a point to be the first ones to the last hole we had fished the previous day.  As our luck would have it we were the first ones on the river.  We set up "camp" and waited till we could see our floats before making any drifts and got our rigs in order so we could make that perfect first drift.  When there was enough light so we could see our floats we made that first cast.  My buddie was the first to hook up (as usual) and  brought in a nice brown to the bank.  The fish was then promply released.  I managed to hook up with a nice hen brown and brought her into shore snapped a pic then gave her a prompt release.  The fishing went on like that for most of the morning.  We would hook into a bunch of fish then the bite would go stale, we would switch up tactics and manage to hook a few more.  As the morning went on we then decided to do the unthinkable... We got up and walked back up river.  Keep in mind that the guys we were fishing next to the previous day had been there the WHOLE DAY and not moved from where they were fishing in the morning. 

From this point on on the Oak my friend and I would hook into some of the largest steelhead I have seen in some time.  I lost two of the largest steelhead I hooked maybe in my lifetime of steelhead fisshing.  Since the river was down at least a foot since the day before I downsized to four pound leader in order to get a better presentation and possibly fool a few more trout.  After having a very large trout break me off I switched up to a six pound leader and did just as well and managed to land a few fish.  Then at our last spot on the Oak I hooked a fish that bolted downstream towards Lake Ontario breaking water as it went down stream.  Much to my dismay after running downstream trying to catch up to this speeding silver bullet it broke off.  Now I know that this sounds like one of those exaggerated fish tales but believe me....  This is not a far fetched fish tale... This actually happpened.  But, as usual my buddie puts on a clininc showing everyone on the river how to catch fish.  I've been fishing with this guy for almost 20 years and I am still amazed at how he does it.  Sometimes it can be down right frustrating at just how good of a fisherman he really is. 

Later on that day we drove to another stream where we gained permission to fish some very nice private water.  The stream seemed to have filled in one the holes we did quite well at last year.  This low depth could have also been a combination of the stream being way down also.  We had set our floats about 1-2 feet above our bait.  We moved up and down this stretch of river until my friend found a nice pod of fishi hanging out.  A few minutes later I joined him and we ended the day with my buddy hooking and landing two fish that in my opinion had to be pushing up into the upper-teens.  I was teasing him about the size telling him that they were minnows compaired to the fish I saw in his pictures from his most recent trip to British Columbia.  In reality the fish were literally couple of real river monsters.

Here's  my friend with two of the largest steelhead I have seen caught since we've been doing this trip.

 

 

On our last half day of fishing we got to one of the bridges before first light and again waited till there was enough light, cast our floats and then it was fish on again.  My friend had the first few hookups landing every singe one of them.  After I get my act together and reset my float to the right depth I was then on the fish.  I believe all in all that morning the two of us hooked well over 50 fish.  And some of them twice (do we still count those as separate hookups?).  After that we went to the previous days private water and the fishing wasn't anywhere near the quality of the day before.  Then we decided to call it a day and head home.  As we did that we decided to check out a couple of bridges.  At one of them a ways up river we found a fairly deep hole for this stream and managed to hook the last fish of the day.

Yours truely with a nice hen brown trout

 

Me with a one of the few male browns caught

That last day and a half of fishing I used one of my Raven float rods with a different tip section.  The rod still uses the original butt and midsections and a tip from another rod.  This is the rod from my previous post about the wire guides I made.  Just like my trip to the Salmon River and the Oak a few weeks before the guides performed flawlessly as did the rod.  So far I have not noticed any grooving in the guides from the line.  They are still holding up as well as holding their shape and have not yet deformed.  The jury is still out on how well the guides are holding up.  I will conitnue to test them and refine the design.  So far at this point in-time I am very happy with how well they are performing and just how durable they are.  I know it seems like with all the technology out there and the quality of the guides being produced and sold I am taking a rather large step backwards by switching back to stainless steel wire for guides.  I understand this thinking... But... I am convinced that these guides are much lighter and thus maintains the original tip action in blank form.  But only time will tell.