Wishing For A Permanent Vacation - Day 5, 6 and 7

Sadly my vacation week has come an end and so will another steelhead season by the end of the month. If I were a GM or Chrysler employee, I would be enjoying my 4th month off and looking forward to walleye and perch season in May - motherfuckers. For me on Monday morning it will be listening to the three stooges at the office bitch about this and that. In reality, I probably couldn't take another week of fishing. By Sunday, I was burning out from getting up at 4:30A.M and driving all the way to Conneaut and fishing like a mother all day. Plus my debit card was burning as I spent over $100.00 on gas and food - but it was a small price to paid for the week of excellent fishing.

Good Friday turned out be Good Grief!! Where the fuck did all the people come from? I'm sure the 20 other dimwits fishing the same stretch said the same thing. As expected many had the day off whether they liked it or not. I was in sour mood as most of the streams out east were too high to fish - shit. I was resigned to fishing the urban sewer and the sewer didn't disappoint as nobody was catching anything. The only thing we were catching was flak from Walt who was standing on top the cliffs whistling some annoying tune and calling us homos. We dared him to jump and the pussy chicken out - lame. I fished the lower section and only saw two fish caught. As I drove through the metro park it was 10 cars here and a full lot there. The telltale signs of boredom kicked in and the thoughts of another two days left made me call it a day. I headed to gym to "ahem" work out and ogle at the collection of spandex and tight tops on the treadmills. Working out and scaling back on the fatso foods has got me down to 191lbs and in 3 months I've shed 22lbs. But with the season coming to an end, I be stuffing my face as the early symptoms of steelhead depression will kick in.

Saturday I was suppose to head out east with the crew but one of them slept in - booooo. Not wanting to wait until 9:00A.M as that's when sleeping beauty finally woke up. By then I was already banging fish with both bait and flies. Surprisingly the number of people was very low as I was the first to pull in at 6:30 and leisurely strolled to a favorite spot. A sign that the season is coming to an end are the smolts, and I caught a couple of them on sacs. Since Conneaut is stocked by both Pennsylvania and Ohio, I assumed it was a PA smolt as the Cleveland paper's outdoor section usually informs anglers when smolts in Ohio are being released. The release of smolts is easy to locate as you look for a huge flock of seagulls off the boat launches - heh. The little fella I caught was about 8" and it's hard to believe that next spring they'll come back as 1 pounders. Unfortunately the majority of them end up as walleye fodder and ask any walleye fanatic what's their favorite springtime lure when trolling off the mouths of rivers. The day came to an end when I slipped on the rocks and smashed my knee around lunch time. That's what happens when most of the cleats on my boots are missing. With a few choice curse words, I hobbled through the water and limped back to the Jeep. My knee was too sore to walk on and a stiff drink with Advil awaited at home.

Sunday I made the drive back to Conneaut as Bubba wanted to fish the Rock with brother as he was leaving after fishing. Once again, I stumbled out of bed at 4:30 and guzzled a couple cups of coffee. It was the same thing as yesterday when I arrived at first light - nobody was there. Today I knew the crowds would be low because of Easter and many of my fellow anglers were stuck at home and eggs were on their minds and it wasn't chocolate ones. Yesterday I caught a lot of skippers on the lower section and further upstream many fish were on the gravel. The river was lower, but the color was off slightly. The same spot coughed up some skippers and spawned out hens. Every spot I fished gave up droppies and freshies and I didn't see one other person which is very rare in April.

After the bite shut off, I drove over to the Grand. The Grand was unfishable all week due the snow melt. The river was still a tad high and dirty, but fishable. I could make out some fish darting around the gravel and most of them looked old and beat up. That was evident as I caught a spawned out hen and male that had his lower jaw torn to pieces. This old buck will be another addition to the fucked up fish folder. The things some fish will go through to unload their jizz. It was late afternoon and the sun and wind did me in and it was long drive home where I promptly crashed on the couch.

There some nice fish being caught on the lower sections of the rivers. Usually late spawning fish tend to stay in those areas and quickly do their thing and head back to the big pond. The weather outlook for next week is to be dry and several rivers are starting to become bathtubs. The fishing might be tough as many spots are being pounded. I figure most if not all of the fish will have finished spawning by mid week. But there are exceptions to the rule, as I and others have seen fresh fish push upstream in low and clear conditions. There is probably another two weeks left in the season and I'll be done by the end of the month........maybe