# Black River Fun



## faceman9

Headed out with a buddy for a little river fishing after work. Love this time of the year when the river is low and you can walk it. started casting my favorite tube looking for a the hits like last week (30 smallmouth, all between 10-14) within 2 hours, that was a fun night. Anyways, Favorite tube was not working, finally nab a 8 incher and he cough up a shiner as I reached down to pick him up, changed over to a floating Rapala shiner and hit the mother load in my favorite hole. Pulled in about ten 14 inchers before this 16 incher hit hard.
Two cast later this 19 incher chopped down, what a good time when fishing ultra light. hope the weather stays the way it is.


----------



## Yanky

just curious as to whereabouts, in general, you like to fish. the areas i have hit give up fish but they are much smaller than that. 7 to 8 inches average i think. it would be nice to find an area with larger fish and more variety.

not lookin to snag any secret spots here. just a general direction to head.


----------



## flippin fool

i havent been to the spot in a looooong time but i used to fish the stretch of river between fuller rd. and the fourth st.bridge by the hospital. never anything over 15 inches but man was it fun and a lot of them.


----------



## Yanky

ill have to give that a try. the spots i usually fish get very shallow when the water drops so even though they are holes, theres not much in them and its hard to fish.


----------



## flippin fool

if you go to the lorain side of the metroparks and wade north you'll hit some deeper water. if you go far enough you'll hit about 30 ft of water near the steel mill.


----------



## faceman9

The park is called Days Dam which sets on 31st street in Lorain. This is part of the Lorain county metro parks and connects with Burr Oak park in Elyria. You can pull in to either one of the parks and just start walking the river, thats whats so nice about this time of the year. When the river is low you can see the holes where the fish are hanging out. "Tip Of The Day", from what I have found anyways, this time of the year alot of the smallmouth like to hang out where the water is moving at a good pace, rapids, falls, etc... I don't fishing big holes where the water slows down and nothing is moving. 
As for shallow water, that 19 incher below was sitting in one foot of water facing the rapids just waiting for food to come to him. If you are a river fisherman, its real easy to see where they are at if you go by this rule, it also makes it alot of fun when you hook one and they take off in the rapids, you really have to play them out, unless you're using a bass rod with bigger line. I use a Berkley lighting stike rod with a Shimano Micro reel, and 4 lbs spiderwire, helps get the snags out.
I went down on Saturday from about 2-5 in the afternoon, knowing that there wasn't going to be much of a bite during the middle of the day, but wanted to just out some other spots that I had not had the time to go too yet this year, some of the holes have changed from the winter flow but all are still there, nab 9 total with the biggest being 10 inches (have a pic, just not uploaded yet), good day, had fun. Took my daughter down last night, we each caught 4, all of them about 12-14 inchers, off of floating Rapala shads, because that was the only thing they are eating, the shads were all over, I was standing in about 4 inches of water and had 3 inch shad by the hundreds all around my feet, even saw a 8 inch smallmouth come up to a foot away from me to get one. alot of casting with so much bait fish swimming around, and the fish are getting fat. had one that had his belly full to the touch and and had the tail of another in his throat and still hit mine. 
Hope everyone the best and have fun on the water. I'm and catch and release type of guy, thats the way I roll, Later.


----------



## fishon

Great Post Faceman......

Sounds like alot of what we have done this summer on the Rocky as well...

Thank you for the pics as well...


Frank


----------



## faceman9

I like to hit the rocky and vermillon but have not had the opportunity yet this summer, I've had alot of success at both of them too. It makes it difficult to head 40 min away (to the waters edge) when I have the black almost in my backyard, but I do make trips here and there. Like Rocky river for steelhead, but then again I pulled in a 32" steel this past winter, again out of the black. No, I didn"t just say that did I. Pay no attention to the babble, you didn't read that. Summer is the fun time, talked to a guy walking out of the park on Sunday, said he got 4 white bass and 2 sheephead for those who are interested. Pound for Pound, smallies rule. If I can take my kids (14,13,5 all girls) down and put them on fish and see the smile on their face and ask me when the next time we can go is, thats a good day. Take a kid fishing and you will always have something in common. Keep the lines tight.


----------



## faceman9

Theres a pic of the 10 incher from Saturdays walk in the park, not monster but, put up a fun fight. What a good looking fish. Here fishy fishy, doesn't that lure just look tasty to eat.


----------



## flippin fool

the one thing i loved about fishing the black river was you didnt know how big your fish was til you seen it. the little ones fight like 3 lb. largemouth


----------



## faceman9

Typical spot to look for on the river, good flow water, rapids leading into a hole, pulled two from this spot here. how can you argue fishing area like this in the middle of the day.


----------



## Yanky

Thats just getting me all excited to head out that way again. I dont get out there as much as Id like being that its farther from me than say the hoga or the rock. I have enjoyed the seclusion though being out there. It always seems like its more relaxed, and less pressured, when i go there. Of the few times I have been on the black river, I have yet to see another fisherman. Perhaps Im just lucky.


----------



## faceman9

Yeah that spot is a good one, just one of many.


----------



## faceman9

Well, I'm starting to see a few more folks on the river fishing, stop and talked with a guy walking his dogs as I was heading down, he was curious as to what I was fishing for and if I did any good, ended up talking for 15 minutes. 
I must of been down about 10 more times with buddies and my kids but have left the camera at home each time, so my wife took the older girls shopping and I took my 5 year down to the river for Daddy /Daugther time, we had a blast, end up catching about 14 smallies and one that I am not sure of (any one tell me what the silver fish is). So, here are some pics of our catch, she reeled in four of them, (the first one is one of hers). By the way, all of the pictures were taken by my 5 year old.


----------



## faceman9

Oh, by the way, caught everything on white 1/8 roostertail, including a 3in smallies that my daughter got.
Taking your kid fishing $0
First cast, first hole, first fish $0
Walking out of the park and having three deer walk across the path in front of you 10 feet away and being able to stand there and watch them $0
Having your daughter say that was fun, your the best Dad ever and I love you. PRICELESS.


----------



## flippin fool

faceman9 said:


> Oh, by the way, caught everything on white 1/8 roostertail, including a 3in smallies that my daughter got.
> Taking your kid fishing $0
> First cast, first hole, first fish $0
> Walking out of the park and having three deer walk across the path in front of you 10 feet away and being able to stand there and watch them $0
> Having your daughter say that was fun, your the best Dad ever and I love you. PRICELESS.



YEP!!!! by the way that last fish is a sheep head. youll find alot of them down there til it starts getting cold. caught any gobys out of that hole yet????


----------



## Yanky

i hit the black river today after not having been down there for about two months and let me just say, man has it changed. the water was much lower than anytime that i have ever been there. there were a ton of new downed trees and large collections of washed out debris. the few large rainstorms we have did a hell of a number on the river. there used to be this huge tree that i would stand on and cast into a hole from, and it was nowhere to be found. it was amazing to see areas that used to hold water now completely filled in and super high with sand dunes and shale. 

i found a great spot of rapids east of the ford rd bridge, farther than i have ventured before, nearish to the golf course, and just destroyed the smallies there. fast water leading to a semi deep hole. i think on every 4th or 5th cast they were hitting. teeny little guys, 8 to 9 inchers, and one monstrous 14 incher that felt like an alligator pulling. i pulled in 10 total, all released. of course im standing in the middle of the water when the biggun hit and was too lazy to get my camera. figures. 

anyways, thanks for reading. today was the best day of fishing i have had yet this year. exciting and fun, except for the family of loud jackasses that decided to fish near me further downstream. they had absolutely no idea what they were doing and were so loud that its no wonder they didnt catch anything. i just had to laugh.

ill be heading back this saturday for more of that goodness.


----------



## flippin fool

anyways, thanks for reading. today was the best day of fishing i have had yet this year. exciting and fun, except for the family of loud jackasses that decided to fish near me further downstream. they had absolutely no idea what they were doing and were so loud that its no wonder they didnt catch anything. i just had to laugh.

it doesnt matter where you go anymore you cant avoid them.


----------



## faceman9

Yanky, glad to see that you made it out this way and glad to hear you caught some fish which always makes a it better when you have to drive alittle further.
I went to vermilion on Sunday and fished the Mill Hollow park area, be that it was the middle of the day I did manage to get about 10 smallies, all about 8-10 inchers, had fun but no real good holes.

Anyways, just got back from fishing the Black again, (normal spot). Not sure why, but decide to take the bigger pole and my ultralite rig, headed up river and stop at a couple of shallow low flow areas and caught 6 crayfish before going to the big hole pasted the bend, started throwing the shad rapala but the water was murky and nothing was hitting, probably because they couldn't see it. So, I set up the big pole with just a hook and bobber, (no sinker) and ran the hook through the back of the crayfish, tossed it out by the drop off and let the current take it, OMG, the first one I through out drifted about 20' in the hole and then went down, I'm thinking smallmouth, reeled in the slack then set the hook, and away we go, 5 minutes later up come a 24 inch bullhead cat, (measured). Did the same thing with the next 5 crayfish and ended up getting 4 bullhead cats with the smallest being 20 inches, and released all. Now, I love fishing smallmouth and was hoping to hook into a good size one tonight with the big pole in the big hole, but I have to say, those cats were a blast to catch. Now with no crayfish left and starting to get a little darker I thought it was time to go. walked back down river to cross but thought I still have time to fish the smaller hole, being that it is a shallower hole it was not as murky. Walked over to my normal spot and started throwing the shad rapala again out into the back of the hole and through the rapids but again nothing was hitting, Change up, started throwing up to the front of the hole right where the water come over the rocks and BINGO, guess where the smallies are. First one 16 incher, caught 5 more after that, all between 12-16". I didn't want to leave but the last cast broke the lip on my rapala and that was the end of that. What a good night, I think I'm going to start taking both poles from now on. Thanks for reading
Yanky, thinking about going down on Saturday too, let me know when your going if you want some company. Have fun eveyone, sorry that I did't take the camera tonight.


----------



## Yanky

while reading your post i was just thinking that some company and mutual share-age of holes would be cool. i am takin a buddy of mine on saturday who has been so busy this year that he hasnt been able to do much, if any, fishing at all. im not sure if were doing the morning or evening (my preference) so i will let you know as we get it planned. i dont usually head the way that you normally fish so id love to see the area.


----------



## bkr43050

That sounds like some great fishing to be had on that river. Crawdads can be killer on smallies as well...if you can keep the catfish away. You may want to invest in a couple of Rebel Craw lures. They can be super at the right time in the rivers.

Just a side note. I would guess that the catfish you were catching were actually channel cats or perhaps flatheads but more likely channels. Given the size that you indicated it is pretty unlikely that they would be bullheads. The state record for bullhead is 18.5" 4.25#. I suppose it would not be impossible to find one over 20" but that many seems rather unlikely. Next time don't leave the camera behind. Your earlier pictures look great by the way. Thanks for sharing the pics.


----------



## faceman9

My bad folks, it wasn't till after I wrote this that I went to the ODNR website and realized that the cats I had caught last night were channel cats. 
Thanks *bkr43050* you were correct with that one, I use to catch bullheads when I was growing up in the Grafton area of the Black, but they were always around 10-14". 
*Hey Yanky*, I've fished the Ford rd Bridge area quite a few times this year too, thats another good section with a lot of holes from the bridge to the GC, I haven't ventured that far in too the GC area since last year, but like you said, wow has it change, I know exactly where you are talking about with the sand dunes and shale, there are a couple of really good holes in there.
I have been doing some research on google earth following the Black River and have some spots that I am going to go check out over the next couple weeks but its always hard to go away from were you know there are. I will be packing the camera for all further fishing adventures the rest of the year (hopefully). As far as sharing info as to good holes and places to fish, I don't have a problem with it, its not like this is my secret spot and I'm not telling anyone, hell, you want GPS coordinates, ask.
Any who, I had so much fun last night, I'm going nuts just wanting to get back in there again, (don't think the wife is going to let me go again tonight though). Keep the lines tight folks.


----------



## flippin fool

you guys are killin me  i havent been there for about 2 years. im gonna try to get back there in the next couple of weeks.


----------



## faceman9

*flippin *, sorry man, if all of the talk is hurting, take a look at this. You should recognize this hole, my favorite and probably a few others.
*Yanky*, this is going to make want to get back here even quicker.

Well folks, after seeing the news tonight (weather forecast), rain is on the way for the next two days, maybe (depends on location) but I do think the river is going to raise up a little. We may not be able to get out on Saturday Yanky. 
I went out again tonight, favorite spot which you will all be able to see now, what a honey hole and now you will now why. Didn't have time to get crayfish which I wanted to do, so I started throwing out some crankbait till I found what worked. I did catch the little guy on a roostertail first but switched after that, ain't that a cute little fish, so back to the honey hole, 7 smallmouth, 1 largemouth, 1 channel cat, all on the same rapala. When was the last time you had a catfish hit a rapala. I won't drag this on, see the pics, don't hate me. everything was C&R. now you know why its hard to stay away from here. By the way, I wear a size 11 shoe, smallmouth, you figure it out.


----------



## Yanky

i think im gonna try to get out tommorrow night just in case we do get rain but i hope it passes without making a mess of things. it seems that every time we get rain, the black takes a big hit, fillin fast. we'll have to keep an eye on things for saturday.

i cant believe that cat hit a crank. seems very unusual but after seeing your results with cranks, i need to increase my stock and variety of them. i usually dont like using them as results are so varied, and losing a 4 dollar lure hurts.

way to go dude! i gotta get out again.


----------



## flippin fool

flippin , sorry man, if all of the talk is hurting, take a look at this. You should recognize this hole, my favorite and probably a few others

is this at the bottom of the hill when you come in right there through the woods on the left, follow the path to the river???????????? man your killin me   im gonna have to get out there with you one of these days.


----------



## faceman9

Nope, this is the one that is further down the path at the bend over looking the river. As much as I know we need the rain, I wish it would stay the way it is. Man, where did the summer go, it's already September. Remember when you were a kid and year seemed to last forever.


----------



## Yanky

yea this summer went by way too fast. i cant believe its already almost winter. totally not fair. 

its raining so i guess fishing is out unless it just stays a sprinkle like this.


----------



## faceman9

this is a link that I think everyone one should have

http://www.weathernet5.com/mapsandradar/index.html

You can click anywhere on the map and it brings up the radar image for that area, the cool part is you go to the drop down list and can get a loop image for whats going on with the weather. Try it out.


----------



## Yanky

i prefer weather.com(put in your zip and choose the radar map). shows a more advanced radar screen, with the ability to zoom in and out, and an hours timelapse up to the minute. 

it looks like most of the rain has passed for now with nothing big looming in the near future. so for the rest of tonight we should be good and possibly for tommorrow too. cross your fingers.


----------



## jojopro

I drove through Cascade Park this evening, and the river had only risen slightly. It was just high enough to creep over the edge of the ford. The river still looked to have virtually no current, but it was looking just a little bit muddier. Unless we really get poured on over night, the river should still be low and fine for fishing this weekend. It probably would not be wise to wet wade though because of the combined storm and sanitary sewer discharges during rainfall. 

John


----------



## Yanky

is it really that bad to wet wade after the rains? i have done it before on accident, forgetting that it rained the day before, and nothing has happened to me. some of my spots really need to be waded or you cant get a good angle on them...

hopefully we dont get too much rain. im lookin forward to fishin tommorrow.


----------



## faceman9

discharges mischarges the only way I no how to get into places I want to get to is getting in the river and walking. Looking at the radar I think things are going to be good for tomorrow. Now trying to figure out where I want to go is going to be a different matter altogther. there are some really good hole in the middle of the park between Bur Oak and Days Dam that I have not fished since the beginning of the summer and don't believe anyone else has been fishing them either, a little bit of a walk but well worth it. (light bulb) I think I'll take the kids to the park tomorrow and do some exploring since I'm not fishing till at least 4pm or later. If I go down earlier and scope things out I can get back and schedule from there. Anyone that is interested in going, send me a PM and we can set things up. I think I'm babbling because I can't wait to get back down. Anyways, I'll head down and check things out in the AM. Everyone have a good time tomorrow if I don't see or hear from you.


----------



## faceman9

I have never had a problem walking in the river before, after or during rain. It has never even been a factor.


----------



## faceman9

Actually, now that I think about it, with the amount of rain that we had just made thing better, knock the bugs off of the trees, make the bait fish more availible, just enough to get the river flowing a little more and bring the food to the fish. should be like feeding time at the zoo. OOOHHHH I'm getting excited. should be a good day on the water.


----------



## flippin fool

i wish i could meet up with you tomorow, but i got to put my truck back together.


----------



## jojopro

Yanky said:


> is it really that bad to wet wade after the rains? i have done it before on accident, forgetting that it rained the day before, and nothing has happened to me. some of my spots really need to be waded or you cant get a good angle on them...
> 
> hopefully we dont get too much rain. im lookin forward to fishin tommorrow.


I've been wet wading all summer, (mainly on the Rocky River), even while having open cuts on my legs, and so far I haven't had any problems either. Bacteria levels in rivers will naturally be at their highest right after heavy rains that flush runoff into the water. So when the river is high, raging, and looking like chocolate milk I certainly wouldn't wet wade, but then again when the river is like that the fishing would be lousy anyways. 

Their is a sign in Cascade Park, (around by the bottom of the big sledding hill) that describes the sewage discharge during rainy days. I can't remember exactly what it all says but basically they advise you not to wade during rainy days. 

John


----------



## faceman9

Yanky, hope you got the phone message before you headed out on Saturday, no go for the river, high flow and chocolate milk. 
No fishing weekend really make coming back to work on Monday a drag. This week is going to be packed the whole week, so don't know if i'll be able to get down. I f weather holds out, will be going next Saturday.


----------



## Yanky

i did get the message, and thank you! i figured with the rain it wouldnt have stayed low and clear. 

i got out tonight and went even farther upstream, exploring new spots. closer to the golf course i found a bend with deep medium speed water and could not stop catching smallies. first cast to last i had one almost every time, which is nice because my usual spot was not producing today. 

from this spot i could see a water runoff outlet so i figured that might be a good spot to try as well. i got out and wet waded it, which may not have been the best idea on second thought, since the deeper water was out a bit. the water smelled clean even with a good amount of water flowing out of the outlet. i got out and casted a bit and the smallies are definitely there. however, as i was wading the shallows, i could see carp all over the place. i counted at least 20 big guys. i found a spot and started casting when a sneaky carp got himself about a foot behind me and then freaked out finding himself so close to me. this then led to him causing this huge loud splash, like a large rock being launched into the water, which scared the crap out of me. i think i actually yelled like a girl. haha 

stupid carp.


----------



## SteelyDeacon

Howdy! I'm a newbie to these forums. Seems like a fantastic place to share the BS (bass secrets, that is). Has anyone ever fished the Cascade pool below the waterfall in downtown Elyria? It looks like a great place to hold a lot of fish. Lots of deep, slow water, and plenty of swirling current and aeration from the falls. Do Steelhead get stalled in there over winter? Just figured they'd be like fish-in-a-barrel if they did.


----------



## flippin fool

ok boys...(faceman9, yanky, jojopro) im ready to go!!!! got my truck back together, now im ready to meet you guys down there for some fun.


----------



## faceman9

Sounds like a little fishing derby to me, 
Well, I've been watching the charts and the weather and by all counts, I'm going to bet that Saturday should be a really good day on the river. If anything goes the way that I hope it goes, I am planning on heading down sometime between 2-4 and hope to fish till around 6-8. have to put some gear together (gandermountain shopping) tomorrow, but looking to spend some time catching some crayfish cause I have a craving for some catfish, and I'll bet even money that the smallies are going to be hungry for some cranks and spinners. So, to all those that are interested, those of us that won't be in vermillion that is, we should have are own fishing derby on the black. 
Its been about two weeks now and I have been chopping and the bit to get back down on the water again. Looks like its going to be like 75 to 80 degrees on Saturday and the water level is almost back down to what it was before the storm came. 
A buddy of mine was telling his brother in Michigan about my fishing expos and pointed him to OGF and this forum and his all about coming next year. If I end up hooking into any steels this year and get some pics of those he'll probably come down this year. Anyways guys, I'm on for Saturday if anyone wants to join up and spend a day walking the river and catching some fall smallies, let me know.


----------



## flippin fool

faceman, did you make it down there saturday? i took my 5 year old crappie fishing saturday.


----------



## faceman9

Didn' t make down on Saturday, had vehicles that need some work done to them.
Went down on Sunday from 2:30 to 7:30, started out on the small hole with nothing happening either on a spinner or a crank. spent some time getting some crayfish to go up to the big hole. River is still up a few inches and the water color was ok, no luck with any lures, ended up using slip bobber/hook and crayfish. pulled in 4 channel cats between 14-18 and 4 smallies between 14-18. Should be some good eating tonight, yes, I keep them all. Seeing how this was probably my last smallie day and I have release I don't know how many this summer, I keep them, Man's got to eat.
No luck in the front of the hole, everything was hanging out at the back, floated down through the hole till I found them, funny part was, everything I caught was all in the same 10 foot area including the 30 in carp that took my crayfish just after tossing it in and hit it, thought I had a record breaking smallie on the line and and audience watching from the bank, took me 15 minutes to land that dam carp, thing just did not want to come in, hell of a fight though. One 18" smallie took the biggest crayfish I caught and headed straight for deep water after setting the hook. All of the cats had power too, one set himself next to a rock down deep, thought I lost him and got snagged instead, gave a couple of pulls with the pole and he finally came out. Anyways, I have a freeze size ziplock with some nice fillets in it that are getting fried up tonight. I see that there were some steelies caught at the Rocky this past weekend, won't be long till there at the Black, I have already been over to Lorain throwing spoons off of the break wall. No luck yet, I did find myself a good spot, at least I hope its a good spot, (picture prefect) for steelhead when they do make in to the river. Everyone have a good one.


----------



## faceman9

Flippin, any luck with the crappie, Where do you go? Need a good crappie spot to go to, but thats like asking someone for thier favorite steelhead spot. Heading down to the Black on Saturday, not sure what time yet, but we had the catfish and smallmouth last night that I caught on Sunday and the whole family is all about wanting more. Sundays catch were the first fish I have brought home all summer.
I have spent some time doing research on the black river through EPA studies, checking the toxicity level for the river and the extensive clean up and dredging that was done between 89-01. As it stands right now, there is no difference between the black, vermilion, or rocky river. Good for the fish and good for us. I have been very please to see that all of the fish that I have been catching in the black river for the last three to four years have not had any type leisions or tumors on them, which was my concern with bringing fish home for the family to eat. I have no issues with heading down to fish for the day and coming home with something to eat rather than just pictures to show. 
I think that there should be a BIG THANK YOU to the Lorain County Metro Parks for all that they do in providing us with the clean parks and beautiful places that we have to fish, along with all of the other activities. I have had park rangers stop and talk with me about fishing as I have been walking to or from, and even had a couple of them give me a ride back up to my car on evenings that I am trying to catch one more fish before heading home for the night and I'm walking back up the path to get out before they close, by the way, they can't close the park till all of the cars are out, have been the last car serveral times. 
Anyways, I am happy to have such a natural resource that we have to provide endless hours of enjoyment and entertainment.


----------



## Yanky

i would be up for some saturday fishin. i was down briefly this weekend but took a new fisher with me and couldnt make it to any of my spots. i got there with only about a half hour till dark.

so anyways, if anyone wants to coordinate something for this weekend that would be awesome. i havent been able to get out much these last couple weeks with all the rain and my early morning work appointments. i am itchin to get back to the black river and find some new spots in areas that i dont usually fish.


----------



## flippin fool

i think saturday will work for me. as for crappie i can think of a few good places closer to you for the crappie than norwalk reservoir.  its still a little too early for the crappie. but its time for me to get my butt down to the river for the smallies.


----------



## faceman9

I'm on for Saturday, still don't know a time yet, just a matter of, if the smallies are on. They seem to be tight lipped since that last big rain we had. Last Sunday they didn't want to hit anything but real crayfish, and I threw everything in the box at them. I did move down to the smaller hole for the last half hour of the day and pulling them in on every other cast on a 1/8oz white rootertail, but they were all 6-9 inchers, which was great to end the day with, but was only able to pull 4 smallies in 4 hours and that was with one pole drifting and casting the other. One of the guys on the Rocky post said twister tails were working so that may be the answer, but the bite has really slowing down now. Think I'll do the same thing again this Saturday, catch some crayfish and use one pole to float and the other to cast. Flippin, Yanky, anyone else, you have a certain time you want to start? let me know.


----------



## flippin fool

well lets see.... given the angle of the sun... the current weather conditions... the amount of flow going on the river... the ph balance of the water... according to my calculations we should start ... whenever the hell we get there   hows around 12:00 p.m. sound? come on yankee and jojopro dont hold out on us


----------



## Yanky

12 sounds good to me. i like that its not too early, because i dont do early on my weekends  where are we meetin?


----------



## jojopro

Thanks for the invite, but I plan to attend the steelhead expo at the Rocky River Nature Center. I've caught enough smallies for the summer, and now I've got the steelie fever startin up again. Good luck guys, have fun.

John


----------



## flippin fool

how about the 31st. park? cant miss me i'll be the out of place looking fisherman in the blue 4x4 dodge ram


----------



## faceman9

:S Went down last night with a buddy, I threw roostertails, jig and twisters tails, rapalas and spoons. I got nothing! Guys water in low and clear and the temp is still good enough to wet wade, which is what I will be doing. I did switch to a bobber and hook and crayfish, but only got two rock bass. Now to add to that, I did check out a different hole than I usually go to that I have not fished in a couple of years and it had changed, so, it wasn't as good of a hole as it used to be. Noon tomorrow should be good and 31st street park is as good a place to start as any. Yanky, take 90 to 611, make a right and go to the fourth light, think around 3-4 miles, make a left on E River rd and go till you have your first right on to 31st street, park is on the left side after the bridge. I have a pretty good crayfish catching tool, so I'm going to spend some time stocking up, have no problems catching some cats if the smallies don't want to bite. see you guys tomorrow. My name is Tom by the way, and I drive a silver escort zx2.


----------



## Yanky

sounds like a plan fella's. ill be there at noon. Ill be drivin a maroon mercury cougar. The name's Travis.


----------



## flippin fool

had a great time fishin with you fellas yesterday. definately have to do it again.
scott


----------



## flippin fool

next time i think we'll walk the river and not the jungle


----------



## faceman9

Saturday was a blast guys, got to walk some parts of the river that I have not walked before, found a couple of new holes to fish, and had some good company while doing so. I was really glad that we were able to hook up on some fish, didn't want you guys to drive all the way in an not get anything. Scott, next time we follow Travis, off the beatin path didn't work out to well in a couple of spots. I'll keep you guys posted as to how things progress here and let you know when its time to come back for the big fish. Hope you guys had as much fun as I did. Scott, I have the last week of Oct off, let me know if your available and I'll head out your way for some trout fishing. Travis, lets see if we can hit the Rocky sometime after work, know thats a little closer to your neck of the woods. Glad you guys came out, have a good one. Travis, how did that pic come out, mine didn't. should have taken a lot more.


----------



## faceman9

Between the largemouth and the smallmouth I don't know how many fish we caught, didn't really keep track quite a few between the three of us. Missed a good day on the river Jojopro, hope you had luck, how was the Expo?


----------



## flippin fool

faceman9 said:


> Between the largemouth and the smallmouth I don't know how many fish we caught, didn't really keep track quite a few between the three of us. Missed a good day on the river Jojopro, hope you had luck, how was the Expo?


yes you did. caught quite a few fish, saw 2 eagles in a tree, 2 ***** come running down to the water right next to faceman and swam across, saw 3 deer on the paved path ( which i think had about 7 bikers scared to death  ) it was a good trip


----------



## Yanky

definitely a good trip and im up for it again anytime! A trip to the rock would be great too although Im already itchin to get back to those secluded holes on the black. Once you get back in there on the bends, its like you are in the middle of nowhere and i absolutely loved that. seclusion and fishin, nothin beats it. ill get that pic posted sometime tonight. pm me your email if you want the full sized version for records.


----------



## faceman9

Yeah, I would say that was probably one the best days I have had on the river in a while. "WE" may have caught a few fish, but when you throw mother nature into the mix with the raccoons swimming across the river, hadn't seen that before. The eagles, man that was really cool, I had seen one of them before, but I think that was a nesting pair, that was really awesome to see, one more reason to know that the river is clean, don't think the eagles would hang around if it wasn't, and then the deer, just so many of them in the park your're bound to run into them somewhere down there, surprised Flippin and I didn't walk on top of one trying to cut our own path "just wrong" don't do it. I agree Yanky, some of those spots out away from the paved path were just so secluded, you just know that there aren't a whole lot of people that make it in that far to fish. Don't find that to often at the rocky. Yes "WE" caught a few fish but what a awesome trip, I almost hope that it doesn't rain to hard so I can head back in there this weekend. Have a good one guys, had a blast.


----------



## jb1136

nice fish,thanks for sharing


----------



## jojopro

It turned out that I wasn't even able to attend the steelhead expo.  Sounds like you guys had a good day on the river, and I'll have to catch you next time. 

John


----------



## faceman9

Yet another day on the Black that I have to write about. I have a new favorite hole and I owe it to Yanky and Flippin, had it not been for the day we walked the river I my not have fished this today. Walked up to the first bridge and started throwing a roostertail that was working last weekend, pulled one 7" after a couple of minutes but was really wanting to head back to this hole that we got into last week that I didn't fish as much as I wanted to. 

Talk about a dream spot, first cast pull a 10" but the crazy part of it was, as the fish was swimming around this monster 20+ smallie was chasing him all over the place. third cast, guess whats hooked up, probably the biggest smallmouth that I have ever had on the end of my line, 20+ easily, dam thing cleared 2 foot of water launching itself, the third time it jump, off the line, I stood there dumbfounded. Ok, back at it again, I think I landed about 10 fish total before I lost my roostertail on a snag. I switched to a 1/8 jig with a black twister tail, first cast I watch a 14" come up from the drop off to the shallow and eat it. I had 5 fish on the stringer when Yanky come walking in, I proceeded to catch three more bigger smallie and swapped them out with the small ones that I had. THe last one of the day slammed that twister tail like a freight train and after some nice jumps, the 16" ended up on the stringer too.
Take a look at these bad boys, sharks of the river.


----------



## Strike Fighter

Wow, this river looks like it is a good time fishin. I can't stop thinking about making a trip. Those are some nice smallies faceman9. I don't post on the OGF boards usually but I read a lot of threads and this is a great one. I am thinking of making a trip this friday the 10th of October and then heading to the Stealhead seminar in the evening. My younger bro will be joining me, hoping to catch some fish, relax and learn a thing or two. faceman9 hope you don't mind if I send you a PM with some questions about the Black but I will feel better if I do A little homework. Thanks!


----------



## Bucket Mouth

Nice pics. Too bad it looks like those smallies were about to be filleted.


----------



## faceman9

I started this post basicly as a journal to myself to keep track of my fishing adventures on the Black River, this way I could have a date of when I went, the type of lures that were use on those dates, places that I had fished and for the enjoyment of other to see that the Black River is an awesome trib from the lake. In the last three months of this post I have meet, fished with, talked to and written information to some great people. 
Now, I am mostly a C&R (catch and release) type of guy, but it is nice to put some fish on the table every now and then. I have only brought home fish from the Black two times this year both of which have been at the end of the season after the fish have spawned. Now that I have said that, here are some answer to some questions that I have recieved, based on my experineces.
In the beginning of the Summer the smallies like to hang out in the rapids face towards them waiting for what ever looks good to eat to come to them. This is the June, July, August time of the year. In Sept they start to move to some calmer water, holes is what I call them. Usually a spots like the pics that I have on here, rapids with shallows and deeps hole behind that for the fish to head into and not use as much energy, ambush spots. Towards to end of Sept and into Oct all of the fish that I caught were in the holes away from the rapids.
What to use? good question. thats based on what the fish are hungry for, now what I have caught them on. Roostertails 1/8oz white, gray, black have worked from June to Oct. you can head down and throw roostertails all day and may have the best day you ever had or may catch one the whole time your there, but your going to have your best luck with a roostertail, (what I always start with). 1/8 jig w/3"berkley leech in the June/July time frame works wonders at times. 3" floating shad rapala in Aug is about the only thing that seems to work, you will know when because the minnows are all over the place and the smallies start feeding on nothing but them. Sept is wierd, everything above works a little but the fish start getting tight lipped, I used and slip bobber and would catch crayfish and body hook them and float in the holes, Live bait seems to open them up when nothing in the tackle box does. As for the ones that I just caught, I was using a gray roostertail and was getting 6' to 13" ones for the first couple of hours, I switched to a 1/8 jighead w/2" black twistertail because of a post that I read on the Rock River forum when someone said thats what works for this time of the year, thats the only reason I have for putting on, and it worked great. Thats what I have been using this summer.
The River, as far as holes or spots or where to fish, my suggestion is to walk the river when it is shallow in the summer months and start casting. I go to Days Dam park on 31st between Lorain and Sheffield, Bur Oak Park on Ford rd in Elyria, (Bur Oak and Days Dam connect together), Ford rd bridge, you can park on the south side along the road and walk the river from there, Cascade park where the East and West branches meet, you can walk both of those to the falls are some good fishing holes, past that you'll have to find out for yourself, I know route 57 to Grafton and a right on Parsons by the bridge and at Indian Hollow Park have awesone fishing spots. Look for the spots that look like there holding fish and they usually do. None of the spots that I fish are pull your car up and get out and fish type of areas, There is hiking involved if you looking to find good sized fish.
Gear, not tackle but gear. Get yourself a pair of water shoes, got mine from Walmart for $7.00. Tackle box, get a shoulder bag, backpack, something lightweight you can put over your shoulder an carry what ever your bringing with you. The last thing you want is to hand carry something when your walking a mile or 2, need to be mobile epescially when your standing in the middle of the river walking and casting.
Yesterday the river was aveage height, not low, but not high either. The water was clear and cold, after 3 hours standing in the water I was freezing, then again, the time and distance it was back to the car, I was sweating. This week will probably be the last week you would be able to wet wade, getting colder by the day. I was standing in knee high water and you could see the bottom and all of the holes where the fish would hang out, started casting to them and you could see the fish come out from the deep holes to the flats and suck in your lure.
Don't know what else to say, hope that answered some questions for some folks, everything is based on personel experience. Try things out to see what works and what doesn't. Shoot me a PM if your headed to the Black and want some company, I see if I'm available.


----------



## faceman9

yes they are, and will taste good tonight.


----------



## Yanky

im still aggravated that i couldnt buy a bite for nothin, but you were pullin fish in left and right no more than ten feet from me. hahaha. ah well it was a good day anyways. with this week lookin how it is, it will be a great week for the river.


----------



## Strike Fighter

faceman9 thanks for the info it is really helpful and interesting. Ejoy the meal tonight it looks like a great bounty. Hopefully me and my bro have some luck Friday thanks to your Documentation. Look forward to more posts and pics about the black. Maybe I will have some to share saturday. Thanks Again!


----------



## faceman9

Going to try and hit the river one time this week after work, but with us loosing 1 minute day of sun going to make it hard to get in and get out and have some fishing time too. Weather looks like it will be good for the week, don't see any rain in the forecast till late Saturday so I'm going to try and plan a trip for Saturday morning into the afternoon.


----------



## faceman9

Steelhead seminar tonight, crappie and gill fishing tomorrow with the kids, SMALLIES on the river Sunday!!!


----------



## flippin fool

now thats the life  squeeze the kids in there just to make it look good... um huh were on to you


----------



## Yanky

you missed some good steelhead info at the seminar and a meet up with a couple other guys that have been fishin around in our general area of the black. i should be out sunday for sure, probably today some too. 

good luck with the gills and crappie.


----------



## faceman9

Such as life, wanted to go to the seminar, ended up going to a high school football game (daughters in the band). wanted to take the kids fishing today, all three of the kids have something going on and the wife and I have a party to go to at 4. I WILL be going to the river tomorrow, 79 degrees and sunny. I need to get out.
Yanky, let me know when your going, like to meet up and hear about what I missed from the seminar.


----------



## One Legged Josh

Yanky,
It was good to meet you at the seminar. I will most likely see you boys on the river this fall/winter. Good Luck to all.


----------



## flippin fool

sure wish i was fishin . im stuck making apple butter all weekend


----------



## flippin fool

anyone make it out over the weekend? any steelhead in there yet?


----------



## Yanky

faceman and i made it out yesterday and walked the river hittin a few holes that we havent been to in a while. our usual hole was not as productive as it has been in the past which was kinda a bummer. all in all i think we caught 7 or 8 between us. it was an absolutely perfect day on the river. great water temps, great air temps. great all around.

oh yea, we also saw about 8 or so wild turkeys (hens) walking around near the river. that was certainly a first for me. 

pics to follow shortly


----------



## faceman9

As some of you know, Sunday was definetly a SUN day and a Fun day. What was it, 75 degrees, the water was still nice enough to wet wade, and we were still pulling smallies. Yanky and I started south and walked our way north through the park. Although the new hole didn't bring the fish that we were hoping for, but we found some here and there. Jig and black twister tail seem to be the lure of choice. This was one of the holes that produce a few for us along with this 14" setting in about 1 1/2 fow up against a tree. We saw a few other guys fishing the regular holes, two of them were steelheading and said that they had gotten one, but I don't know, awful long way in for a steelie on a non-stock river and there not even that far on the rocky yet. Anythings possible. Looks like the weather is a changing, that may have been the last time for the smallies, what a run for the summer and looking forward to next year to do it all over again. Bring on the steelhead that we have been waiting for.


----------



## Yanky

as i was pulling the pics off my camera i saw that one and just had to laugh. the shirt says it all. "i know", as in "i know, my fish is pretty sweet. dont be jealous"

hahaha


----------



## faceman9

I saw that too and laugh as I was putting it up, figure someone would say something about it.


----------



## faceman9

Even though its the metro parks and you can't hunt, heres a pic of a hen that was with 6 or 7 more. They knew they were safe and we couldn't hurt them. Just sort of rub it in our face to say HAHA. They actually walked along the river with us a little ways.


----------



## flippin fool

nice pics. wish i could of been there.


----------



## grdhandyman

Just a question for you all. When river fishing, are you using an ultralight and how heavy a line?


----------



## faceman9

*grdhandyman*, I pretty much only use a ultra lite setup. Micro reel with a 5'5" rod, to go with that I use 4lbs spider line just because I think the line spins out better and lays flat, (also helps with the snags). 
This is also going to be based on what you are fishing for and how you are fishing, (casting lures or bobber and hook). I spend most of the summer just fishing smallies and have caught them between 3" and 19" and have not lost a single one do to line breakage or problem with rod and reel when bringing in the big ones. The small ones are always fun to catch and feel big on and ultra lite, but the big ones just feel like monsters and you know when you have one. I throw just lure with the ultra lite, but if I want to switch to live bait and bobber I switch to a regular spin rig with 8lbs mono. This is just because you don't know what going to end up on the end of your line if your tossing in a shiner or crayfish. 
Hope this helped, have fun testing what you feel comfortable with.


----------



## flippin fool

im a bit of a sissy when smallie fishing. i use 6ft.6 light action rod and 6# line. i like to think im gonna catch that 7# smallie in the river


----------



## faceman9

The day that I catch (lose) one that big, I'll switch to a bigger setup. 7# smallie on 4# test, would love to have the chance to see what happens.


----------



## faceman9

I just couldn't help myself, I had to go down after work before the rain came down any harder. Out of work down town Cleveland 4:30, at Days Dam at 5:05, down the path to the first bend out by the big tree and at the rivers edge at 5:15. Water is low and clear, raining steady. Started in the middle of the hole tossing a 1/16 oz jig head with 3" Black Twistertail up to a fallen down tree, nothing. Move to the front of the hole, nothing. Down to the back of the hole which was deeper with some big rocks in it, 13" fat smallie. Fished some more in the same spot with no success. Finally move back to the middle that had this fallen over tree half in the water, half sticking out. Just one of those spots that you look at and know that a fish is setting right there. About the fourth cast I hit that prefect spot, give about a 2 second drop and twitch it, and start reeling slowly, well I thought I had a little bite but, nothing. Now this is where the last cast come in, you tell yourself, ok one more cast and I'm done. Through right back in again and hit the same spot, 2 second drop, twitch, set the hook, dam I'm snagged, NOPE, it's moving, 16" hugh bellied smallie. I knew there was a fish sitting there. 99% of the time that last cast never works, heres to the times that it does. 
I'm on vacation this week so I am going to see how things go with the weather, planning on fishing some gills and crappie one day, bass another, steelies probably a few days seeing how I can get down with out the weekend crowd, maybe some trout one day. I'll let you know how it turns out. Would love to go out for some walleye or perch if someone has a boat and is looking for a tag along. Keep the lines tight.


----------



## Yanky

how was the water when you were there? too cold to wade or still bearable? im thinking that i might finally break down and buy some waders that way i can get back to our favorite holes, and for steelheadin.


----------



## flippin fool

travis... its time to break down and buy the waders


----------



## Yanky

dammit thats what i figured. i just wish they werent so expensive. ah well, i guess as long as i treat them well they will last. 

on the plus side, i am actually quite excited to get wadin and not get wet. and be warm. haha.


----------



## flippin fool

its good to know the smallies are still hittin in the holes


----------



## faceman9

Same here Yanky, I'm going to have to invest in some waders and soon. Well, I went again on Saturday, beautiful fall day. Pulled four total, here some pics.


----------



## faceman9

Have to love fall days


----------



## flippin fool

i almost came out that way today, but instead decided to go crappie fishing. do you know how much fun it is to crappie fish in a 12 ft. boat with 160m.p.h. winds  caught a ton of little ones brought 3 home. 2 were about 10.75 inches and the 3rd was just under 15. missed alot of them today. like to think the ones i missed were big fish too   still got a sh*tload of minnows left so probly go back out this week before work weather permitting.


----------



## faceman9

Well, I don't have any pics to go with the fishing report here, guess I'll have to start packing the camera again.
I have been on the river at least once a week since the beginning of April and it all good. I guess I should have posted earlier for those of you that would be interested, so here goes,
Total to date is 
4 Large mouth between 10 to 13 inches
15 Smallmouth on average of 10 to 14 inches with a couple of smaller ones and with one 17 inch, needed the camera that day.
1 Black crappie, first time I have caught one in the Black and it was 13.5 inches, now that I know where there are I'll be targeting them more often.
32 White bass, yes the Black river gets a white bass spawn run and they are a blast to fish for right now.
I have been targeting the white bass for the last couple of weeks,having a average of 4-5 on the stringer but catching about 12-15 each time I go. Take homes are all in the 12 inch range with one 15 incher on this past Sunday.
I am heading down tonight about 6:30 if anyone is interested to get a few more white bass. The smallies have been pretty tight lipped while spawning, but you still get them here and there. I would really like to get some more crappie if they are going to bite tonight. On that note, I say Hey to those that I have fished with before and I'm back. Have a good one folks.


----------



## flippin fool

you're alive! welcome back, glad the river has been good to you. i need to make it out that way soon


----------



## faceman9

Went down last night with one of my daughters and set her up on some white bass. Spend most of the time teaching her some techniques of fishing with a spinning reel and inline spinners, once she got the feel of how to keep the blade spinning, fish on. She caught 2 and I caught 4. There seems to be alot more people down there fishing lately, don't know if its because of the white bass run or word of mouth, guess I'll start walking into some of the more secluded areas that the bankers won't walk too. Anyways, water level is dropping fast now that the heat is up and rain is gone (for now). Have not caught to many smallies, not sure if they have started coming in or spawning and not biting. Thinking about heading inland aways and see what happens this weekend. Tight lines to all.


----------



## Yanky

Hey there! Ive been down there just as much as you have and Im surprised that I havent run into you yet. Was gonna email you and see if you were getttin out but I see you are. Yea the river is heatin up bigtime and Im lookin forward to this summer. Let me know when youre down there next and Ill meet ya there.


----------



## flippin fool

its about time we all hit it again


----------



## Yanky

absolutely. ive been doing really well down there and with all the winter floods, some of the spots from last year are better than they were. some of the deadfalls have moved and created some very good holes. im lookin forward to this white bass run thing. ive caught a few down there but never though of keeping them. if they are a decent eatin fish, and they are running now, i might just keep a few to eat.


----------



## flippin fool

im going bluegill fishing for food tomorrow. hopefully i can get about 25 big ones


----------



## Sundance

has you seen any catfish in the river?


----------



## faceman9

Well I see that we all made it through the winter. How's it going Yanky, I figured you would have made a trip or two down. Surprised that I haven't seen you too. 
Flippin, looking to do the same thing with the kids on Saturday, take them out and catch a mess of bluegil someplace. Not sure where we are going yet, maybe Findley Park. 
Well, three day weekend, not sure of everyones plans, do have somethings that need to be done around the house. In my head, I have been telling myself that Monday would be a good day to do a 4-5 hour river trek, although I will stop in a couple of times before than. What's everyone else got going on?
White bass is about the only thing that I have been catching as of late, few smallies here and there, 1 very impressive black crappie in the big hole at the bend, which I have have been trying each time I going to catch more of, but no luck. Let me know what you guys are thinking.


----------



## Yanky

Im absolutely down for a river trek. Let me know what time you are plannin for on monday and Ill be there. I think Ill be down there today too so perhaps Ill run into ya.


----------



## flippin fool

i might be able to swing it monday for a little while? have to see what the warden says?


----------



## faceman9

I'm on for Monday at 12 noon. Gander Mountain is open from 9am-6pm, stopping by there first and will be at the parking lot at noon.
Travis, I hit 5 smallies Friday evening after you left, nothing big but still smallies none the less.
Scott, hope you can make it out. We can talk about boat fishing some more.
See you guys tomorrow, leave the waders at home.


----------



## flippin fool

cant promise anything. i might be able to make it down there but not for long. got to be at my sisters house out that way at 2.


----------



## Yanky

faceman - I got to the parking lot at 12:20 and couldnt find ya anywhere. I walked our usual trek and never did run into you. We must've just been far enough apart all day to never cross paths. That said, you were right about the white bass. I caught a total of 23 fish today. 5 Smallies (only one decent size, pic to follow), 1 bluegill, one unidentified fish (workin on it), and 17 very nice white bass. They are all over the place. I should have kept a few for eatin but I didnt want to lug them around with me all day. Theres always next time.

PS. I was hoping to run into you today, cause I found an AWESOME new hole. I caught 1/3 of my white bass there today, and my biggest smallie. Ill show ya where next time.


----------



## Yanky

oh yea, i totally forgot, i also fell in about 2.5 feet of water. slipped on a very slick rock about an hour and a half in. that was NOT fun, especially with all the wind. totally soaked my shorts, most of my shirt. luckily my camera side was not the one that went in (wore it on my belt) and only the bottom of my pack got wet so my phone survived. man am i happy that i put it in there today.


----------



## flippin fool

yanky.... ZIPLOCK BAGS...  cant ask for anything better for those situations


----------



## Yanky

oh why didnt i think of that. from now on, ziploc bags for all the important stuff, including camera. just in case


----------



## flippin fool

plus if you have them full of air they should float too. that it always very important


----------



## faceman9

Put enough of them together and you can try floating down river, haha. I can see it now, Travis is no where to be found but theres a bunch of ziplocs floating around. They do work though. 
Sorry Travis, I waited till 12:15 and started walking down, keep looking back at the parking lot while walking but never saw you.
I took the first trail going to the big tree and started heading back toward the 31st st bridge. I made it all the way and alittle past, the area looked good and I am sure when it is around July and August it will be a good area. As it stands, I pulled 4 smallies, 6-8 inchers and 2 white bass. I ended up walking back to the bend of the big tree and tried there, nothing but I did not expect to see the 3 Gar that I saw, could not get them to bite on anything though. So, I ended up fishing the normal spots from the first set of rapids to the big hole. So we just missed each other Travis, will get ph #'s next time. I can say this, the bass (large and small) are both in full spawn right now. I saw 5-6 big female smallies depositing eggs with males right next to them. I saw 3-4 big largemouth males sitting on nest. So the biggest part of the day was spent trying to figure out what they were going to bite on. Original 3" floating shad rapala was the ticket, I tried everything else and had fish follow, but the rapala was the only one they would bite on. I ended the day at 4:30 with 14 smallies, 3 largemouths, 10 white bass, 3 bluegill, 2 rock bass and the highlite of the day was hooking a carp that was at least 30 inches while working a jig, so I am using a micro reel with 4 lbs test, I tried and tried to get that thing in, everytime it got close to the surface, back down it went, (this was at the big hole) fought that thing for 15 minutes if not longer before my jig finally came out. Starting thinking grand ideas of biggest carp on 4lbs test. Anyways, the day was a blast, here's a couple a pics of the two biggest smallies of the day. 14 and 16 inches, have a good one all.


----------



## J-rod

Hey everyone, thinking about trying to fish the black river either tomorrow or Thursday after school. I have been to the metro park (1350 Ford Road Elyria if that helps) with my family on bike rides but have never fished. Not looking for any honey holes but is this a decent place to start at and wade up or down from?


----------



## flippin fool

to answer all your questions... yes. its a good spot, go up river , go down river, it doesnt matter. there really arent any bad spots in the black river from the lake all the way to grafton.


----------



## J-rod

flippin fool said:


> to answer all your questions... yes. its a good spot, go up river , go down river, it doesnt matter. there really arent any bad spots in the black river from the lake all the way to grafton.


Thanks, I am going to give it a try today if the weather cooperates.


----------



## flippin fool

you might be pleasantly suprised at the size of some of the fish you pull out of there.


----------



## faceman9

J-rod, if you go back through to the beginning of this thread you'll see some pics and some write ups that I have posted from last year that will help. Flippin said it best not really any bad spots on the Black. Try some of the shallow holes in fast moving water right now and you find some fish that you might not have thought were there. I would be willing to give a guided tour in exchange for a chance to fish that pond you were talking about, haha. Is that where you pulled that Largemouth, nice fish.

Two guys came to the park on Monday that had a OGF sticker on the back window, If I remember correctly, was it Jim, didn't get the other guys name. It was nice meeting you, hope you guys had fun and did well. Drop us a line and let us know how things went.

I am on call for the evenings this week so I have to wait till the weekend to get back out. Anyone want to plan something let me know. Tight lines all.


----------



## J-rod

I went today before the rain came in and did pretty well. I caught one carp about 20 inches that was a blast on a ultralight. I also caught a few smallmouths on jigs but none over 9''. They are still fun though.


----------



## flippin fool

give it enough time and you will start pulling 3-4lb smallies out of there


----------



## Yanky

faceman - as long as the weather cooperates for the weekend and the river evens out from all this rain, im up for a trek. i can show you that new hole and you can show me under that overpass that you visited. let me know how the weekend looks for you as it gets closer. maybe we can even get scott in on it this time.


----------



## flippin fool

i bet you guys are gonna be fishing chocolate milk! id like to but im going to new london reservoir to chase some big smallies around.


----------



## Yanky

yea i think were out of luck for this weekend. the rain was just too heavy at times and now the water flow rate and river level are just too high. im sure itll be back to normal by next weekend, but hopefully in a few days. i dont want to wait till next weekend to get back on the river!


----------



## faceman9

So with all of the rain we have been getting and the river looking like chocatate milk for a week, I have been trying some spots that I have found on google earth. Tried Clague park in westlake, there is a pond there, pulled about a dozen largemouths between 8-13 along with some palm sized bluegil all on a trout colored roostertail. I went to Westlake recreational park on Wednesday, heard that it may be a good spot to go for trout when they stock, didn't catch a thing, they stock in the beginning of April. I through spin,jig and crank, saw one 9 inch LM come and look at a crank.
Stopped at the park last night and the river is still chocolate milk. Don't think it going to clear up for awhile if we are going to get the rain that they are talking about us getting. So with that in mind, I am going golfing on Sunday, and since Monday is my birthday, I tooked the day off and I'm going golfing then too.
Flippin, how was New London, after talking with a buddy and looking it up, I'm thinking about going out there soon. Sounds like a good place to go.


----------



## flippin fool

never made it out there


----------



## faceman9

So, Black river looks like chocolate milk, and the Rocky needs some water. Since I haven't been to fish the Black, I've been fishing Rocky the last couple of weekends. Went out once with my daughter and once with Yanky. Two 12" smallies on Sat 5-6, and One 13" on Sun 5-7. Yanky, you still have that pic? Haven't found that many holes on Rocky yet, been trying new areas off the beaten path, just have not found any good stretch of river with more than one hole. I'll keep searching, since the Black doesn't look like its going to be good any time soon.
Flippin, nice fish. saw the pic of the two bass. when we going out on that boat. 
Talk too ya'll later


----------



## flippin fool

soon! we can go out and play in the lake also


----------



## Yanky

i hit the black last night, on the opposite side. the water is still stained but not as bad as it has been. visibility was maybe half a foot. it must really get a lot of sediment washed in because flow rates and river height were at their norms, but still dirty. its frustrating as hell. 

i did manage a couple nice 8" smallies and one fat 14" catfish. 

and of course while walking a stretch that i havent visited since last summer, i managed to fall into a hole that is deeper than i am. walking along shore in about a foot of water, take one more step and straight down, soaked all the way up to my upper chest...didnt even know it was there. man is that embarrassing. im getting pretty good at falling into water. haha.

flippin, the ziploc bag trick saved me last night. my new pack is pretty much watertight but if i hadnt started putting all my valuables in the bag, instead of carrying them in my pockets, i wouldve lost my phone for good. thanks for that tip!

faceman, i do have that pic. ill try to get it to you today.


----------



## faceman9

I went out a quite a few times last week since I was on vacation. The river was still stained quite a bit from the rain, so from Fri 6-26 to Mon 6-29 I fished with nightcrawlers and minnows on the break wall and marina. We had some fun, my daughter ended up out fishing me each day. She pulled and couple of LM in the marina area, 11" and 12" when I got skunked. That Saturday she hooked into a smallie that was about 17/18" and just as I was about to grab it, it broke the line, she was seriously bummed about that one, so was I, we should have played the fish out more. Anyways, she made up for it on Sun with a 17" sheephead, 14" white bass and a 9" white bass, again me and a buddy just skunked. So, getting tired of being out fished I headed to what I know, The River. We got quite a bit of rain last week but it was all around the coast, not really anything major inland. With that in mind I headed out to the Grafton area of the Black river, what I used to fish when I was younger. On Tues, the river was a little stained so we fished with minnows and bobber, caught 4 total with the biggest about 11", on Wed, I went back out and was determined to figure out what lure to use, 2" floating shad rapala thrown across the river and pulled until it was on the bottom, then slow twitching it, had two 12" one 13" and two 14 1/2". With the water still alittle strained, all of the fish were holding up in the deeper part of the holes. I took Thur, Fri, and Sat off for family things, but went back down on Sunday.
What a day it was, for those who know the area I fished the Indian Hollow Park on Parsons Rd outside of Grafton. This is a part of the Black river and there is hole after hole after hole along this part. The go to lure of the day 1/8 jig head with 3" black twister tail, I went out by myself and fish from 9am to 2pm. I didn't get any big ones, 11" was the biggest of the day, but I caught 21 smallies and 4 rock bass. It only seemed to be one to two fish per hole and that was all you were going to get, move on to the next one. I had loads of fun since I have not fished this area since like 1985. The highlite of the day was the beginning of the morning, I was walking up the to second hole, nice spot where the river is about 20 feet across,the hole was about 30 feet long, trees over hanging the bank on the opposite side, about a 5 foot long section of rapids going into about 3' to 4' deep. The sun was coming through the trees making a 3' round circle of area in the middle of the hole with a patch of sun on the water. Right in the middle of that patch of sun were 4 smallies in the 16 to 19" size range, so I got real low to the ground and start sneaking up the casting distance. I through everthing in the tackle box, zip, zero, zilch, they went to deep water on the fourth cast and never saw them again. Have a good one folks.


----------



## Yanky

i had pretty much given up on fishing last week due to all the fluctuating rains that came and went over and over again. its good to hear that you did pretty well. now that things have seemed to calm down, hopefully the river clarity has returned. 

let me know if youre gonna be getting out again soon. ill join ya.


----------



## texasfisherman

where is the black river located at?


----------



## flippin fool

texasfisherman said:


> where is the black river located at?


lorain/elyria great river to fish


----------



## faceman9

I'm not going to be long winded about this, went down last night and fished from 7pm - 9pm. I hooked into probably 15 smallies, only landed 4. lost a couple of big ones too. Here's the pics, who wants to go fishing


----------



## Yanky

i was really lookin to get out there again this weekend after my skunk earlier this week. looks like the storm has crapped all over that idea. dammit.


----------



## flippin fool

i hope that storm this morning doesnt screw up the river too bad. i'll be there in the morning for a bass tournament


----------



## bassmanmark

The flow chart says that it's blown out but dropping crazy fast. Bet it's muddy though.


----------



## Yanky

yea it got a lot of water but not as much as some of our usual storms. it didnt get nearly as high as other fiercer storms so i would expect it to be back to normal pretty soon. the mud is what im worried about. it seems that the black always gets a ton of sediment, and it takes forever to clear up. 

it needed the water as it was really really low this week, but the chocolate milk will be just as bad. the meters show that its almost back to normal flow and heightwise.


----------



## bassnassassin

I was looking for a River I could fish tn. It looks like the river is back to its normal flow as you said. If anyone has seen the river today and can let me know what it is looking like that would be great. How muddy is it?? I was hoping to fish sometime later this evening.


----------



## faceman9

Give me a bit, I'll head over and check it out with in an hour, I'll give and up date after.


----------



## faceman9

dam it, just to much rain. As much as I was looking to get back down there, its muddy. Hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday it will be good again. 
Flippin, hope you did good in the tourny, going to take some mad fishin skills to pull something today. 
Think that storm just messed eveyones river fishing trips up this weekend. Have a good one folks.


----------



## bassnassassin

Man, that sucks ha. Its been too long for me... Thanks a lot for the scouting faceman. Maybe I'll try it later in the week. I usually fish the Rocky, but a new river would be nice to hit. I'll be reading through this thread to get some info.


----------



## flippin fool

river looked good down by the steel mill and north. no color change from last week at all. no current noticable from the storms. BUT....... the fishin sucked! 3 fish won today. something like 4.5lbs???? we had one keeper a little over a lb and a half  fished the snot out of the harbor and walls. just a bunch of short fish today  no smallies weighed in today either?


----------



## faceman9

Yeah, I thought that was going to be the case Flippin. 7 day forecast looks good, Wenesday appears to be the only day for rain and hopefully that won't be local. I'll swing by the river on a daily basis and give up dates as the week goes on. Black river always seems to be the one that takes the longest to clear up. Later folks.
Flippin, I have the first week of August off, maybe we can schedule some lake fishin then.


----------



## faceman9

No rain, no rain, no rain please. Went down last night from 6-9, it was a smallie fishing heaven. I hooked into way more than I caught, somewhere around 25 smallies, I lost count. Most were between 10" to 14", at least 8 were 15/16" with 4 in the 17+ range. All were C&R with a 2" floating shad rapala, it never ceases to amaze me how those dam fish can jump out of the water a get off of a treble hook. River looked excellent, slight tint but you were able to see where and what you were walking on in 3 fow. Flippin and Yanky, you guys remember that picture perfect hole we found last year, that was the only place I fished last night. That freaking hole is a breeding ground for some big ones. I had one 18" on and was playing him out, just as I got him close enough to grab, I see he is barely hooked, one more shake of the head an off the hook right next to my feet, dropped my pole to grab him with both hands, slipped on the rocks, down I went, landed on my reel, got soaked up to my chest, dam that was a fun night. So now my ultra light sound like the gears are grinding, its locking up, going to take it apart sometime before the weekend. Didn't have the camera with me and kind of glad I didn't. Only landed about 10. I don't think I am available to go out again till Sunday. Have a good one.
No rain, no rain , no rain please.


----------



## crittergitter

faceman9 said:


> No rain, no rain, no rain please. Went down last night from 6-9, it was a smallie fishing heaven. I hooked into way more than I caught, somewhere around 25 smallies, I lost count. Most were between 10" to 14", at least 8 were 15/16" with 4 in the 17+ range. All were C&R with a 2" floating shad rapala, it never ceases to amaze me how those dam fish can jump out of the water a get off of a treble hook. River looked excellent, slight tint but you were able to see where and what you were walking on in 3 fow. Flippin and Yanky, you guys remember that picture perfect hole we found last year, that was the only place I fished last night. That freaking hole is a breeding ground for some big ones. I had one 18" on and was playing him out, just as I got him close enough to grab, I see he is barely hooked, one more shake of the head an off the hook right next to my feet, dropped my pole to grab him with both hands, slipped on the rocks, down I went, landed on my reel, got soaked up to my chest, dam that was a fun night. So now my ultra light sound like the gears are grinding, its locking up, going to take it apart sometime before the weekend. Didn't have the camera with me and kind of glad I didn't. Only landed about 10. I don't think I am available to go out again till Sunday. Have a good one.
> No rain, no rain , no rain please.


Sounds like a good night. I think those fish were putting on the feedbag between storms. It's definately gonna rain tonight, but glad you got into a good bite. That's some GREAT smallie action!


----------



## Yanky

man i really wanted to get out yesterday too but work kept me busy till about 10pm. sounds like the river is better though. im heading down to medina in a couple minutes for work and so im gonna try and hit some spots down there. I remember you said something about the good fishing down there faceman. If work allows today, give me a call. I could use a little advice on where to hit since its new to me down there. I remember you posted a little about it too so im gonna look that post up and try to figure out where to go. 

hopefully we can get together sunday and fish. ive been achin for another mid afternoon fish fest.


----------



## Yanky

damn. i just realized it was grafton not medina that you were talkin about. guess im hittin our normal spots then tonight


----------



## faceman9

It was, I tossed out a jig and twistertail to start with and hooked into a couple of nice rock bass that gave me a couple of good runs, but after about 10 casts and no smallies I switched to the ralapa original F5 floating shad 2". Through it in a slow moving current, gave it a couple of little twitches to get it below the water line and made a real slow retrieve. The smallies smack the crap out of it. I was fishing in a big hole that has a shale plate that runs across the whole thing, you can pretty much walk across the entire thing casting to either slide of you and not hit a bank. There are pocket holes throughout and some get pretty deep. Theres and good flow current in the front of the hole that runs throught, the smallies were all longs the current run in the middle and the sun side of the hole. You just kind of walk to the side of the current and follow the shale to where you can walk, most of it is thigh high, some will make you pull your drawers up. You can see where you want to walk and where you don't. Then cast to what look deeper than the rest and thats where the smallies were. Once I made it to the middle of the hole, I started casting the clock, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2 ,3. Once you weren't catching anymore, you walk about 10' further, cast the clock again. I lost a bunch of them, either going airbourne, or head shakes from some of the big ones. I had two hit the rapala at the surface when it landed, one of them I was not ready for so when he hit it, I had a bunch of slack line out, reeled in quick, set the hook, still there. It was a good evening of fishing, nice when they happen.


----------



## faceman9

Go to the 10-5-2008 date in this post and you can see where I fished and the size of the fish I was catching.


----------



## bassnassassin

Faceman, when you start at Days Dam do you start heading north or south on the river? Lots of good information on this thread (much better reading than work stuff!)


----------



## bassnassassin

might have been a dumb question.... I think I got it figured out ha (south)


----------



## faceman9

bassnassassin, you got it, south. Just follow the paved trail, that will take you right down to the river. It's killing me not be able to get back down there, once again I am busy tonight.
Anyone make it out last night.


----------



## flippin fool

its killing me not to be able to get down there at all so far this year!


----------



## faceman9

Alright boys, I have worked through all of my plans that are going on for the rest of the week. Sunday is the only day I have left, so Sunday is a fishing day. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and things stay the way that they are. I am thinking about noon and having a little 4-6hr fishing trek on the black. Start at Days Dam park and have at it. I know there has been a few of you who have been interested in doing this, so let me know who all is available. My name is Tom, I will be driving a 94 blue escort wagon. Anyone need any info other than this, let me know.
Yanky, you make it out last night?
Flippin, hopefully this is enough time to let the little lady know you are going to be gone for the day. Don't make me have to throw a challenge out there.


----------



## Yanky

yea i made it out last night. a few small smallies and a couple small white bass was all i could manage. i threw a huge variety of stuff out there but they just werent really there. had a lot of hits that either got off or didnt get enough of the hook. im wondering if its just bad luck or weather or something. i stayed near the front rather than spend the time to walk all the way in to our spot. i wish i would have gone further now. i might go down tonight and try again.

anyways, im down for sunday. 12pm it is. Ill show ya one of the new spots that i found and hopefully its still productive.


----------



## bassnassassin

Decided to go ahead and hit the Black tonight. Just got back a little bit ago. Spent about the first hour just exploring and walking in the river. Got one dink on a pin minnow while just kind of casting while exploring. After walking awhile in the river didn't see any good holes (didn't really get all that far, didn't take near an hour to get back where I started I was just going kind of slow and wasn't taking the quickest path). Anyways got back to one of the holes I passed. Caught four more. Nothing special size wise. All in the range of the fish below. Fish came on a black mepps, two on a pop-r, and one on a torpedo. Missed about two more.
Thanks for helping me get started on a new river. Nice scenery, not a lot of fishing pressure. Was a decent amount of trash, didn't have a trash bag on me but maybe next I go. I guess you will have that pretty much anymore. Good luck if you can get out Sunday. Forecast looks a little iffy but maybe it will hold off!


----------



## faceman9

I have noticed the samething with not as many fish in the first couple of holes, I don't know if it because of more people fishing them or what. Hence the reason why I went further into the park on Tuesday. Think it kind of goes along with, those are the easy spots to fish so more people fish them. Get back deeper into the woods and where the trail is not so close to the river, and you find those secluded holes and a real peaceful atmosphere, thats what were going to do on Sunday, get off of the beaten path and hit some out of reach areas that don't get fished that often if at all. Weather looks good for Sunday so lets hope this rain today and tomorrow will be a just a misting.
So far it looks like just Yanky and me.


----------



## bassnassassin

Yeah, thats what I figured with those first holes. The garbage and easy access kind of told me that they may be fished a decent amount, although they definitely still hold fish as I caught a few and dee see some actively feeding. Next time I'll definitely trek further and find some better holes. Wasn't taking the fastest route just walking in the river so it took me awhile to cover not a lot of distance. I would like to join ya sometime, but I don't think Sunday is any good for me. Good luck.


----------



## faceman9

Looks like we have one more day of 40% chance of rain, (hope its the same as day). Bassnassassin, if all stays the same your going to miss some good fishing holes and definitly a better looking river than what you saw. I was kind of looking forward to seeing you fish that pop-r, I have never used one, but than again I already have to much stuff in my bag. Looks like you have been doing pretty good on Rocky this year, couple of good pics that I saw. Well, where ever you end up, have a good weekend. We'll meet up somewhere along the line.
Flippin, whats going on man? you up for a walk in the park. 
Yanky and I will make sure we put some pics up.
Someones going to hook up on a big fish, you all just keep making the odds better for me by not coming out.


----------



## faceman9

Spoke to soon, this is what happens when you start talking a little smack about fishing. Mother nature comes along with a dose of reality and rains on your parade. rain, rain, go away, come again another day ( not tomorrow).


----------



## Yanky

i was driving to and from jobsites today and drove through the center of the storm on 90 westbound, right about at westlake. it was pretty heavy rain but didnt seem to be a very large stretch. i was in and out of it in just a few minutes. so far the river gauges show very little rise in height and flow. hopefully, the small bit of rain that we got today didnt do much at all. we just may have escaped the hangman on that one.

hopefully, theres no more till after sunday. im tired of being skunked by rains. so far, radar doesnt show much comin our way. a little here and there but no big cells. 

cross your fingers.


----------



## flippin fool

sorry guys... with my wife in school i have very little free time this year  but it will be worth sacrificing 1 year. im gonna try to get down there at least once this year with you guys, just don't know when.


----------



## faceman9

I went by the park to check out the river last night after work, kind of looked like chocolate milk again, and with the rain that we got last night. I will swing by and look again today, but I din't think the outlook is going to be good for the river. We may want to try some place else though. I keep you guys posted. 
Not a problem Flippin, we'll get together sometime. 
Went to the First Annual Joe Thomas fishing derby today at the Westlake Rec center. It was a kids only fishing derby, good times, Oldest caught a 5" catfish and youngest caught 8.5" bluegil, had it measured to see if it qualified for Fish Ohio, needed to be 9", she didn't care, just had fun.


----------



## flippin fool

glad to hear the kids had fun


----------



## Yanky

Well thats a shame about the river. I was hoping that the short squal didnt do too much damage. Hopefully its better tomorrow or perhaps we could try a different river. Ive done pretty well at the vermilion river, out of the Bacon Woods park area. The bad news is that right now a squall is right over elyria and the black river, dropping rain. Its small so it might not do too much to the river but Im not liking our chances. I was really lookin forward to hittin our favorite holes too. 

Tom, give me a call in the morn and we can figure out what to do. Ill be comin from vermilion, so if the black is out, something on this side of the black would work better for me.


----------



## faceman9

I think the outcome was good. 8.5" bluegil


----------



## faceman9

Good Day 
Joe and the Kids


----------



## bassnassassin

Hey there... you guys make it out Sunday? Looks like the Joe Thomas fishing derby went well, some neighbor kids did that and got some nice free stuff.
How does the river look today? I was thinking of hitting it again or the Rocky tonight (not positive if I will be able to or not). Any information is appreciated thanks. Forecast doesn't look great for river fishing this week.


----------



## faceman9

As of Sunday evening, no good. I didn't get a chance to look yesterday, but I don't think it made a difference. I would go with Rocky River tonight if your looking to get out.


----------



## bassnassassin

Thanks faceman, didn't make it out last night, but might try to again tonight if I get time! Get a look at the river today? Haha don't worry I won't start asking you everyday.


----------



## Yanky

thunderstorms are rolling through right now. i would say that the river is f'ed for the whole week. at least.


----------



## faceman9

I don't know why, and I am not going to question it. Just want to the park to look at the river, it's good and fishable, I will being heading there after dinner about 7pm.


----------



## crittergitter

According to the river gauge it is at normal flow right now. If you guys aren't familiar with the USGS site then you should bookmark the link below. It might save you a drive some day or show you that it is fishable so you don't blow a chance to hit it.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?site_no=04200500


----------



## Yanky

we are familiar with the flow gauges, however, they are no indication of the muddiness of the river, long after its returned to normal stats. usually it takes 4 to 5 days to become fishable again.

thats what faceman was talking about. with all the rain, the river shouldve been pure mud. its quite a mystery.


----------



## crittergitter

Well, the ground had been really dry and with all the foliage this time of year it should take a LOT of rain to increase the turbity of most flows. Yesterday's rain was a welcome site for us in central Ohio as most of our rivers and creeks were getting to low so we should have some good fishing this weekend.


----------



## faceman9

Yeah, we have had quite a bit of rain as of late, but the last storm that rolled through did not drop as much in the Lorain area compared to the Cleveland area, hence the reason why Yanky and I were able to hit the river last night.
Water level is up a little, but thats a good thing. Color had a little tint to it, not bad, great evening to get out an walk the river, overcast, haze in the air, to bad it wasn't dinner time for the fish. I managed a couple of dinks but they weren't hungry. Now witht he rain we got last night and its suppose to rain all weekend, it will be awhile.


----------



## faceman9

Took a look at the river last night, little strained, not bad looking though, and the flow is coming back down. I busted out all of the honeydoo's over the last three days, so, if the universe is aligned and the dam rain will stay away, I am going fishing tonight.


----------



## bassnassassin

faceman looks like the universe aligned for you, hope to hear a report. If the universe stays in alignment for me I will be out tomorrow night.


----------



## Yanky

i was stuck with the lady yesterday so fishin was out of the question. 

if the weather holds out, ill be down tomorrow. we have storms headed our way and as long as they arrive tomorrow night, it might be our last day for a little bit.


----------



## faceman9

Fished the first hole to the big hole at the bend last night, decided not to walk very far and wanted to see if any smallies were holding in that stretch of river with everyone talking about not getting anything there. River look good, there was a nice flow and the visability was clear to about 1.5', little brownish/greenish tint but not bad. Walked up to the first hole which had another fisherman there, so I moved up to the 3 little holes in the rapids and started throwing a white roostertail to start off the evening. Did the norm, casting up stream to the head of the hole. I had a couple of tail whacks, but didn't get anything after about 20 casts working the whole area. I changed to a jig/black twister, but ended up with the same results. About that time the guy who was at the first hole packed up and left, so I moved back down to the hole and switched to a 2" floating shad rapala. I tossed the first one right into the little falls and was hit as soon as I started to reel, ended up with a 9" with a good sized scare on his back from an attack where something tried to eat him. That was to only thing I caught there after working the whole hole down to the tree in the water, I switched to spinners and jig and tails and still did not get anything else there. I put the rapala back on and made my up stream the big hole at the bend. Start off at the back of the hole and worked it up to the falls, once I got to the point where I could cast it right where the falls come over, thats where the fish where. I pulled two 10s and one 12 out of one spot right in the fastest part of the current. So, I managed to get 3 out of it, but nothing else. I worked to area for awhile longer then headed back downstream. Got back over to the three little holes and pulled one from each with the rapala, 9", 8" and 8". I set myself back up on the first hole again after seeing a 12" go airborne in the middle of the hole. After the first couple of cast I got a 9" at the head of the hole right in the fastest part of the current, pulled a 11" from the middle and then one more 10" as I was standing above the hole and keeping the rapala right over the falls, he hit that thing and jumped the falls at the same time landing by me above. So for the best part of the night was about 15min before that last one, I was casting over to this sand bar thats coming out into the right side of the hole that is only a couple inches deep, but has a good flow and seeing how it goes from a couple of inches to about 3' real quick, should be a good spot. It was about 8pm at the time, and I started seeing boils and fish jumping (new hatch on the water), most of it from the back of the hole, but they start getting closer and closer. Then I start seeing dark shapes in the water, must be carp or something, but there like 16 to 20 inches long, and about 8 of them, then these massive body rolls at the surface, there smallies. I'm casting and casting trying to buy a bite, I threw the rapala over by the sand bar and let it float into the hole keeping it on the surface and twitching it, 3' into the hole I get a boil, line goes tight, set the hook, oh boy, thats big. After 3 or 4 jumps, 4 runs of at least 20 yards of line, 5 minutes into the fight, I lost the biggest smallmouth that I had ever seen on the river, easily shoulder width apart in size, I felt like crying. I twitch the rapala on the surface for another 15 minutes with no luck before it was time to head out. I saw some big fish breaking surface last night, but other than the one, could not get them to bite. The fish were getting real active when it was time to leave the park. Would have been a really good night for that POP-R that bassnassassin was talking about, guess I need to add another weapon to the arsenal. Hopefully the river won't get to bad with the coming rain, I am on vacation next week, so anyone looking for a day out on the river let me know. Have a good one folks.


----------



## Yanky

well i hit the river last night and moved further in to one of our spots from last year that has become a decent spot again (the fallen tree). i think the heavy rains/flooding has opened it back up because for a while it was really shallow and unfishable. Got 4 8-9" smallies there alongside the rapids or in the water right after. i spent a little time up front on my way out but didnt get anything. i think the bite had just shut off, or they didnt like what i was throwing cause i was seeing signs that they were there.

all my fish were caught on a floating rappala, finally. i made it my task for the day to catch at least one fish on it. i got one picture, and ill post it tonight


----------



## faceman9

I'm guessing the feeding time must be during the day sometime, same thing happen to me last night. I decided to get a little smarter this time, I took my bike and rode it in to the big hole since it takes so long to walk there. Prefect night, water was clear. I lost a 10" on the second cast and said that was enough of that, so I sat back down on the bank and sharpened and straightened the hooks on the rapala, I understand now why I was having fish get off of a treble hook, dam things were all flared out. So now with the lure fixed, back out casting again. Caught a 8" then another 8" then a 9" then a 10" all within 10 minutes, I'm thinking this is going to be a good night, and the fish keep getting bigger. Pulled a 11" within 5 more minutes, than nothing. They were jumping, rolling, boiling, popping the surface, but they weren't biting. It was like, feeding time is over, sorry, cast as much as you like, were not hitting it haha. I switched up serveral times and went bigger to a 3" floating rapala, fish said no. 
I am on vacation next week so I am planning hitting the river quite a few times. Going to work some of the back country that no one gets to, let me know who's available. See if I can find out when the bite is happening.


----------



## Yanky

im up for fishin anytime so count me in. the rain last night didnt really hit the river so it should be decent fishing until we get some more. some of the backwoods spots have gotten better and so im interested to see how they do as well. and i definitely want to get out in the early afternoon some and test the theory of when theyre biting best.


----------



## faceman9

So I end up fishing Thur, Fri, and Sat morning. I walked somewhere around 5miles on Sat, I walked all the way inthe park first, then fished down stream and back up again. Thur, and Fri I expected to do a lot better that I did, Ideal conditions, Sat was more of checking out the river and seeing what had changed. Some of what I caught was on floating 2" shad rapala on Thur and Fri but changed it up on Sat at the end of the 5 hr trip that I did, Bobber and hook with a crayfish, wish I would have used that the whole morning. Didn't start using crayfish till 1pm at the very first hole after walking all the way to the first bridge and back and only got two (9am-2pm). I found a bottle along the river and start catching crayfish in the shallows, got 8 of them and started tossing them out into the first hole. Thats what they wanted. I put pic of the river later after I have resized them but here are some pics of the fish for those days, no big ones, but made the pole bend anyways.


----------



## faceman9

Surprize, guess what I found.


----------



## faceman9

Just a good pic


----------



## Yanky

i had planned on going out saturday but didnt get to, and surprise surprise, more rain comes and screws the river. im sure levels are back to normal now but i can only imagine how chocolaty the river is. i might get out tomorrow and see what it looks like just for the sake of getting out. 

if you manage to swing by the river, let me know what it looks like.


----------



## faceman9

river looks prefect right now, good flow, great visibility, very clear. Who wants to go fishing. I'm ready to go, I'll keep checking this till about 4:30pm, but I'm heading down from that point. I'm going to take the seine and bucket and get minnows and crayfish and just fish the big hole at the bend.


----------



## Yanky

well faceman and I hit the river today, and it was an exciting day. it started out pretty ho-hum as the fish just werent hitting anything. I tried inline spinners, twister tails, a floating crank, a plastic craw, and plastic minnows without even a bite. we made our way to one of our usual spots towards the end of the day and netted some craws and minnows to try under a bobber. well it sure got crazy after that. faceman picked up a couple channel catfish (ill let him add the pic for that one) and I snagged one as well, all on live craws. Then we moved one final time to a small set of rapids as the sun was going down. We were still using craws under a bobber, and i saw my bobber go sideways so I set the hook and the fish took off like a bat out of hell, screaming my drag. Luckily i had it set pretty light or that fish wouldve snapped my 6lb line easy. I would estimate that I fought it for around 10 minutes and when we finally got it up to shore....its a huge CARP! Biggest Ive ever caught. i cant guess at the weight because i was too in shock but it was heavy and approx 24". From the pic (the fish is almost touching my body) its from about the middle of my upper thigh to my armpit, and Im 6'2". What a great fish for the end of the day.


----------



## NorthSouthOhioFisherman

Great reports guys!!


----------



## flippin fool

nice fish travis, sounds like you 2 had a good time. im still trying to find a way to sneak out and meet you guys down there


----------



## faceman9

Here's the pic of the cat that i caught from our Monday trip, I think I have converted Yanky to live bait fishing now, you guys should have seen the smile on his face when that carp started peeling line out. Good times man, good times.


----------



## peckwadsworh

good stuff guys. i just recently started fishing the black river. i put my small boat in at 14th st. and head upriver. Ive caught some decent large mouth along the shoreline and got lucky on a few cats. How far upstream are you guys fishin? If you ever want to plug the shoreline from a boat, let me know.


----------



## peckwadsworh

id love to get into some smallies... never had any luck.


----------



## flippin fool

peckwadsworh said:


> id love to get into some smallies... never had any luck.


next time you put in on 14th street. head towards the lake. go out in the harbor and fish the rocks. you will get some smallmouth and largemouth


----------



## Yanky

id love to head out on a boat sometime. i never get to do that and i think it would be a fun change of pace


----------



## faceman9

River looks good right now, Thinking aobut going down tonight, not sure yet, been working a garage sale all day, if not tonight I will be going on Friday from 4pm till ?. Have a good one all.


----------



## Yanky

i was down last night so i dont think ill be going down again tonight but if you choose friday then ill be there. let me know what you decide on.

T


----------



## faceman9

So after being out in the sun all day and draggin ass, I decided to head down to the river and see what I could do. Went to the normal spots at the front of the park, started throwing the normal lures to see if anything would work, not. Went to a little hole that I knew had about 5, 8-10" smallies hanging out, (flat part of the river with one small hole about 2 fow and 15' x 15'). Ended up pulling 4 of them before heading back to the big hole at the bend, talked with a couple of guys that I have seen fishing before, they were seining for minnows and crayfish and fishing the deep water of the hole that Yanky and I caught the cats from, they were saying the same thing about the SM bite being dead. With them at the back of the hole I stayed to fish the front in the rapids, start throwing the rapala, nada. Switch to spinner, nope. Changed to jig and twister tail, not. Tooked the twister tail off and put on the 4" worm, zilch. So I remember someone saying one time before, keep trying different things, even if you do not have much confidence in using it, so I pulled out these softbait 3" paddle tail minnows that I got form gander mountain and hook one up with a jig, 4 casts later I am hooked into a 14" smallie, I heard one of the guys tell his buddy, He's got one, as I hold it up and say "there still here". I tossed it out a couple more times before wishing the guys luck and I headed down to the first hole to try my luck with this new found (been in my bag for 3 months) lure. I stayed on the opposite side of the river and just above the rapids, tossed it acrossed right into the rapids, 12" smallie, 4 casts later another 12" smallie. Came down into the hole alittle so that I could cast into more of the rapids, working each little section, I found a 16" sitting in about 8" of water right at the face of the rapids, he had suck it in before I could flip the bail closed, half a turn of the reel I knew something was there and set the hook. My bad guys, I did not take the camera, I know, this is a sin. So I think I have figured out what I can get them to bite on, I will be heading down on Friday some time between 4-5pm. Planning on heading into the park to the honey hole and starting there before going in further towards the Bur Oak side. I will take the camera. Yanky, let me know if 4pm is good for you or do you need more towards 5. Have a good one folks.


----------



## Yanky

ive got work till 3 or 4 so i might need till 5 to get there but i wont know until work gets going tomorrow. ill give ya a call to let ya know once i know a little better. im looking forward to exploring a bit towards the other side, and checking out those awesome holes near the bridges.

oddly enough, i try those plastic minnows from time to time and they just havent been paying off lately. perhaps i should try them again. i had decent luck the other day but had to be right on the bottom. i think too often i dont let the bait fall enough and so im just not in the zone where the fish are. i talked to a fly fisherman who was there using a little jig drifted along the bottom and he was just hammering the fish one after another. so they are there, just difficult to get at with the gear weve been using. i had some ideas about trying worms wacky style or perhaps texas rigged to get em on the bottom. might be worth it, might not. 

T


----------



## ransome71

We'll guys, I've followed this thread since it began, I also fish the Black River,
I went down there this morning around 8:30. overcast sky ,light rain..Not bad.
1st. hour tried a few diferent thing,,tubes,cranks,plastic craws & minnows..Nothing! So I went to a favorite of mine, The floating jointed rapala...That seemed to be the ticket...went down to the 1st. set of rapids and seen minnows splashing all over..must be feeding time huh? I threw over to were that was going on and bang ..1st. smallie, It was non -stop for about an hour. ended up with 8 smallies and 4 white bass..missed atleast 5 others. Real fun morning...Then my wife calls my cell phone, which is in my back pack and it just seemed to shut down,once again she gives me the shlepp!....Faceman, Yes I have met you once down there..early June maybe, I was with my brother who snagged his brand new lure across the river on his 1st. cast..He lost it by the way, after swimming over to get it and the line snapped.''Well I look foward to meeting you guys and maybe I can fish this " Honey Hole"
My name is Jim by the way. I did take pics and will post once I figure out how to.
Good Fishing guys! Later


----------



## ransome71

OK...How in the heck do you post pics?


----------



## faceman9

Hey *ransome71*, I remember that day, you guys had the OGF sticker in the back window of the truck, haven't seen you down there since but glad to here you have been and doing good. I recall your brother be a little peeved about getting snagged on the first cast, so he went in after it huh. How deep was that hole by the way? About the only thing that I can see that you did wrong was keeping your cell phone on while you were fishing, can't have interruptions when the bite is on, thats just wrong. 
Posting pics, I usually download them from my camera to the harddrive, resize/rename them, then when you make a post, use the paperclip/attachment button to add your pic. If this does not help there is a forum about posting pics, do a search for it, hope that helps.
Glad you had a good day out, hope to see you down there sometime.


----------



## faceman9

After calling Yanky and letting him know that I was heading out at 4pm, he said that he would not be able to make it till 5. I started at the first hole just to make sure that the paddle tail minnow that I was using the night before would still work, yep, pulled a little 8" after a couple of casts, that worked time to move on down to the honey hole. Long walk, I'm there, so I cross the river way upstream and try and sneek into the hole so I don't disturb anything or any fish for that matter, I work my way along the back side and then start casting. Minnow is working just fine, I pulled 3 smaliies out of 5 casts, being the nice guy that I am and not wanting to pull all of the fish from the hole before Yanky got there, I sat back and had a smoke and waited, aaaannnndddd waited, another smoke and waited. Thats enough of that, I 'm going to catch them all now, well needless to say, about the time I got myself back into position, he comes Yanky. So I make my way back over, we shoot the s**t for a couple of minutes and then start doing some fishing. I put him right into the spot and he nabs his first one of the night.
We worked the spot for about a half hour, then started moving upstream. We ended up fishing till dark and being the last ones out of the park,(rangers were nice). Yanky caught the big one for the night. Smallies seem to be starting back up again. We didn't catch any monsters, but it was nice to get back into them again since the beginning of the week started off slow. We ended up with 10 a piece. The wierdest part of the night was when Yanky was fishing one of his favorite hole, I start making my way upstream some more, I was in this straight slow flow area about thigh deep and about 5' from the shore, I can't see my feet in the water because of the murk that I kicked up then this big splash behind me scares the crap out of me, I looked back see a large thing swimming away, ok, must have spooked a big carp and left it at that. Now, you know when you get that weird feeling when everything calm and no noise and you are the only one around, (Yanky was about 100 yards away), I was still casting when I see this animal swimming out from the bank till it gets out about 15 feet, its a beaver, cool, I have only seen a couple of them before on the river. Now at this point I am thinking, get the camera out an take a picture, well the dam thing turns and starts swimming towards me (remember high thigh water) then goes under water and I can't see it, freaky. So I started moving towards shallow water and casting again an hook up on a little smallie as I am still walking. Now I'm in knee high water and I can see my feet again and feel more comfortable. I turn the smallie loose and look back to where I heard the splash and I see this dark shape under the water swimming towards me about 15 feet away, This ain't know little beaver either, freakin thing is huge, and swimming under water coming towards you is not a comfortable feeling. I start moving a little quicker and get up to this branch from a tree hanging out over the water to get to the other side of it, only ankle deep now, dam beaver swam right up to the branch and popped his head out of the water and just looked at me for a moment as if to say "thats right, this is my spot, go away". He ducked back under the water and swam away before I could get a pic, and no I am not going back to get a pic either, beware of the evil beaver. So I do have to laugh about the whole thing because Yanky had to go through the same area to catch back up to me, nothing happened to him but the bad part was we had to go back through the same spot to get back to the path, I went through real quick and alot of noise. LOL. I have more to come about Saturday in the rain with the kids and Sunday (you know how hot) big time smallie bite with the family.


----------



## Yanky

man that was a great day! i went down to clearfork resevoir and rented a boat with some friends today but i am anxious to hear about how the rest of your weekend went. did you hit the black again? i was tempted to hit it today when we got back but it was just so damn hot out that i said forget it and went home to the cool a/c heh.


----------



## flippin fool

im thinking i can go down saturday between 3:00p.m? and 5:00 for a couple hours. let me know if you guys can make it?


----------



## faceman9

Hey Scott, think you could make it a little earlier, if not thats cool. Think I am going to go down around noon or 1pm, have a buddy's b-day party that starts around 5. If you can't make it earlier we could just meet up some where along the path at a certain time, let me know.


----------



## faceman9

Rain rain go away. So I'm watch the radar online and see a break between fronts. Looked at my 13 and 6 year olds and said who wants to go to the river and go fishing. The response, but daddy its raining out. I know, I going anyway, they decided to come too. Drove down to the Bur Oak side of the park to go hit a couple of small hole that I knew of, after walking the path and trekking thru the woods in the rain the whole time, we made it. I let my daughters fish the hole first to see if they could get something. While they were fishing the one hole, I was looking down stream and see this boulder in the middle of the river that has a nice eddy coming around behind it with about 2 fow. Told my 13 year old, you see that big rock right there, walk down a little an cast to the rock and just reel slowly (jig/white 2" twistertail). 2 cast later she yelling I have a fish, I have a fish, she played it out and got it to the bank, she got a 12" smallie, her first one, now she's hooked like dad. Now its starting the rain a little harder and we start walking back up stream when I stop to cast a couple of time in another hole, fish on, I handed the pole to my 6 year old and let her bring it in, she got a 8" smallie. Dad is proud, We got soaked, didn't care, had a blast.


----------



## peckwadsworh

ok black river guys, so i am a largemouth guy. I'm dyin to catch some smallies like you do. Looks to be a blast. how far can i get my 12 ft. boat upriver closer to some smallmouth action from the 14th st. dock? Ive had limited success in and around the henderson bridge for largemouth. What is your primary lure of choice? If you ever want to try for some largemouth out of a little boat, let me know.


----------



## Yanky

youre not gonna be able to get it anywhere close to where we fish. its all too shallow and rocky for any kind of boat. even when ive seen the random kayaker noisily plowing his way through, hes usually dragging bottom most of the way just to find the few spots with enough water to float comfortably in. i would guess that you could probably get a little further than where the dredged area is, depending on what the water looks like. i dont go down that way because its all flat, slow water and its hard to get in there by foot. the river fluctuates along there from chest deep in spots, to sandbars and calf deep. get in your boat, see how far you get, take some pics, and post back. then we can all see what some of those more secluded, boat only sections look like. 


face, looks like a good time for a wet saturday. did you see anything you liked over on that side? is it worth a few hours trekking around on a saturday? im down for this saturday. after our last trip, i cant possibly say no. my holes are a callin me. walking down a bit past the bridge might be fun too, to see whats there.


----------



## faceman9

Took the family down to the river minus the 13yo, she went to a friends. We got down about 1pm in the heat of the day, packed us some lunch and camped out at a spot that I will not mention right now, Yanky know where I went, and some of you should be able to tell by the pictures. Caught a bunch of minnows with the seine and just tail hooked them under a bobber w/small split shot about 1.5-2' down. This is the easiest way to put it, we fished till 5 and the first two hours I never through my line out, let the kids fish only and I just baited the hooks and took fish off. Crappies, Smallies, Catfish. Didn't get pic of all of them, but here are a few from the day. I pulled 6 smallies with the last 7 minnows that I had, the 7th fish was a small catfish. The biggest was the 14" that my youngest caught after I asked her where did her bobber go. Awesome day even though it was hot, but we played in the water for awhile to cool us off. Check out the smiles.


----------



## peckwadsworh

will do, thanks. nice fish faceman


----------



## Strike Fighter

Faceman, It is good to see this thread still going strong. Looks like the kids, Yanky, Flippin and yourself are enjoying the river once again. Funny how when you take the kids you really don't do much fishing yourself. My brother and I went to the Black last October and did good on the smallies wading the river. It was one of the last warm days we had last year. We started at days dam and later in the day moved down to burr oak. walked up and down river, what a beautiful place! We have both been waiting to take another trip, we are shooting for Sunday August 16th. We love to hike and fish. If anyone has some free time sunday maybe we can hook up. we will probably be there all day, If anyone is interested maybe we can set a time to meet up and get to know the river a little better. We would love the company!


----------



## bassnassassin

Nice job on the fish lately faceman, glad to see you and family are having success! Skitter Prop was the ticket again! Hope the bite is still on tonight for you, they were definitely active this morning. Wish I could go back there tonight, but I have bowling.... 
If you catch the fish with the Sammy hanging out of his mouth let me know! As of right now I am game for a river trek this Saturday, looks like you guys are thinking of the afternoon. Keep posting your thoughts or PM with what you guys are thinking. Like I said of right now nothing and it would be nice to hit the river with you guys before I head back to school.


----------



## peckwadsworh

i took a peak during work today at a few holes. looks good, cant wait to try it out. Maybe you guys can teach me a thing or two saturday.


----------



## faceman9

Alright guys, looks like we have a river trek on the agenda for tomorrow. Since I have things going on later that day, I am planning on be at Days Dam parking lot at noon and starting from there, I am also planning on fishing till 4 or 5 pm. I hope these time work out for everyone,
I believe Yanky, bassnassassin, peckwadsworh, and myself will be heading out at that time, flippin fool would be able to get out till 3pm, Hey Flippin, if you want to meet us out by the honey hole, I believe you know which one, if not PM me.
Guys, since tomorrow is going to be the 1 year anniversary of this thread, I can not think of a better way to celebrate it than to be on the river fishing it. I have stayed away from the area that we are going to fish since Mon night, so hopefully the smallies will be eager to bite. 
I took my 13yo down last night to the Bur Oak side of the park, she out fished me again by catching 6 total to my 5. Of coarse I put her in all of the spots to catch the fish before I fished them. Biggest one was 11" hers. I pulled all 5 from one hole from 8:30 to 8:45 with the biggest being 10".
Guys, I look forward to meeting some of you for the first time and hopefully we will have a good day, let me know if the time frame works for everyone.


----------



## Yanky

12 works for me. We may need to spread out a bit though cause 4 or 5 people all trying to fish the same area/hole may not work out so well.


----------



## faceman9

We should be alright, I am kind of planning on taken some pictures tomorrow, so I have no problem standing back and trying to get some fish on action shots. That or I'll just fish the back of the pack and catch everything that you guys miss, should be plenty left.


----------



## flippin fool

i will be there as close to 3 as i possibly can. i should catch up to you guys somewhere. the bad thing is i got to be out of there by 5:15-5:30. or dark and risk divorce...lol


----------



## bassnassassin

Not sure where my head was at, forgot to check back on the departure time and just woke up ha. Plan on heading out in a min so I'll find you guys down there somewhere.


----------



## bassnassassin

Couldn't make it happen, look forward to seeing some pics of the action. I will probably be going to down there either Sunday or Monday evening. Hope it went well.


----------



## flippin fool

i made it down about 3:15. didnt see anyone at the first hole and didnt have enough time to really go any further  i think i parked next to you yanky? red cougar? and i did see to kids come out of the woods with poles and asked if they saw anyone else, they said yes 3 guys.... so i'm guessing it was travis and tom? hopefully next time i can stay longer. by the way i never got a bite


----------



## peckwadsworh

anyone headin out this evening


----------



## Yanky

yea that was me. we were further in at the honey hole. i was afraid that you wouldnt remember where it was. next time we will have to plan better, if there is a next time. those first few holes really get a lot of pressure and the fishing seems to be hit or miss. sometimes i do well, but mostly its a tough bite.


----------



## flippin fool

there will be a next. just don't know when. im hoping to get some time to take you and faceman out in the lake for some smallie fishin


----------



## Yanky

oh man that would be awesome! a change of pace and some fresh waters


----------



## faceman9

You say when Scott, I'll be ready. Sorry we missed each other on Sat, kind of figured with the tight schedule that you had.
Well guys, Yanky and I had a pretty good afternoon on Sat, I hooked up with a couple of 8" before moving to the big hole at the bend. Yanky came walking in within a couple of minutes after that, we worked the hole for about 20 minutes, I pulled one 12" out of the rapids at the head of the hole, but that was it. We worked are way upstream for the next three hours hitting pockets here and there, backwood areas were the real producers. I think we got 10 to 12 piece just from the backwoods alone, then we made it to the honey hole where Yanky nab 6 to may 4. We had a couple of dinks but most of them were in the 9 to 12" range. All in all, we had fun. Both of us have pics, we will get them up when we can. Sorry you guys missed out, we will have another outing before the summer is over. Have a good one all.


----------



## bassnassassin

Hey guys, look forward to the pics. Got out today for a couple hours and did real well. Finally got one of those big ones that is in there. I posted in the NE forum.... I guess I am just used to posting there and forget to post in NW. Anyways I'm heading back to school but look forward to seeing some of the action from the river. Good Luck!


----------



## flippin fool

when i used to wade from the lorain side all the way to the elyria side we would get a handful of those big ones every time. it was common to have 100-150 fish days walking the 3 mile stretch.


----------



## faceman9

I believe I am going fishing after work tonight, I have two places in mind.
1. Ford rd, on the south side the road to closed going down to the bridge, but there is a place to park at the top of the hill and Yanky says he thinks there a path going down to the river. I have not fished this section since early last year and I know there are some good hole back in there between the bridge and the treatment plant.
2. Cascade Park, where the east and west branches meet, I have never fished this section before but have walked the area and there are some good spots on both sides heading towards the falls, and seeing how the river is as low as it is right now it should be real easy to find them. There is also a nice set of rapids under the turnpike, not sure if I can get to it or not.
Not sure if I am taking the kids tonight or not, I'll have to wait till I get home to see what the plans are.
Then again, I could just take the seine and bucket, get some minnows and set up on the big hole. I don't know, anyone have any ideas let me know.
*bassnassassin*, good luck in school, we'll meet up sometime.
*Strike Fighter*, you guys have any luck on Sunday.
*Yanky*, let me know what your doing tonight.
*flippin fool*, hows your schedule for getting the boat out on the lake.
*peckwadsworh*, when you thinking about going in the boat on the river again.
Hope everyone doing good.


----------



## Yanky

well we hit the river tonight from about 6 to 8:30 when the storms rolled in and the lightning scared us out. i did pretty well with 6 smallies, 2 of which were about 13". I think faceman got 3 or 4 smaller ones. The river was pretty low and definitely needs the rain that we will get tonight. We found some good spots that will definitely need to be explored further when the river is a bit higher and when we have more time. All in all it was a great day out on the river. 

Also, I ended up with a leech on my foot. that was pretty gross. its now residing at pump 7 of the speedway in sheffield village, right where i found it on my foot.


----------



## flippin fool

leeches work well for bait!  i don't know what my schedule looks like yet? my wife will start her last quarter of school in a few weeks then i will get an idea when i can get out? ill let ya know as soon as i can. those lake erie smallies are just a little bit different than those in the river.... they can eat them


----------



## faceman9

That had to freak you out a bit, guess I should have changed my jig up to a leech instead of a minnow, I probably would have caught more than the TWO that I got. Yanky was the one pulling them in last night, I couldn't buy a bite. I'll see if I can get the pics up tonight from the last couple of trips. If the weather hold out tonight, I think me and the kids are going to scout out Cascade park tonight.


----------



## Yanky

well we appear to be getting some decent storms rollin in. the black, rocky, and cuyahoga all have risen in height and flow. if it gets much worse, this weekend might not be worth fishing at all. 

if you get out, let me know how things look. maybe they didnt get much sediment, as the flow and height didnt raise that much yet.


----------



## flippin fool

if you go towards the turnpike bridge you will find deeper water.


----------



## faceman9

Took one of my daughters out before we were all suppose to go out on that Saturday to do a little prefishing. This was her big fish of the night.


----------



## faceman9

Here's a couple of pic from the Saturday that Travis and I went out.
Travis you have some of those pics too


----------



## faceman9

Here's Travis's big fish of the night when we hit the Ford rd side, his favorite hole. Nice fish.


----------



## faceman9

So we went down to Cascade Park today in the rain and all. Wanted to get some pics of the area and scout it out for the next fishing trip. I think I am heading there tomorrow. I found some excellent holes on both the East and West sides. We made it to the West falls, but were not able to get to the East falls, if I was walking the river I would of made it, but took the wife and kids, so we were limited to the paths and the east side path was washed out. Anyways, river looks good and is fishable, That a look at some of these spots, and the pics do not do it justice. I would have taken more but the batteries in the camera died.


----------



## flippin fool

as always nice pics. you should see that area in the fall when there is water in it


----------



## faceman9

Well, after yesterdays walk at cascade, I knew that I wanted to get back down there today. Parked the car at 9am and started walking the path along the river, as I am coming up to the first good hole (right where the East and West branches meet) I see this big fish at the tail end of the hole. I found and spot where I could get down closer to the water, I can see shapes swimming around but still can not tell what they are, (I'm thinking carp). Made the first cast towards the middle, nothing. Made my second cast towards the back of the hole, fish on, first fish landed for te morning is a 18" smallie. Thats the way to start the day and it stayed that way all morning. I fished just the East side and made it all the way to the falls, there are some fantastic holes up that side that just produced some monster smallies that I have been looking for all summer. I pulled 23 SM and 1 LM from 9am till noon. Not a single fish was under 12", and although I did not get my PB that I was hoping for, I landed a 18.5, 2-18", 2-17" and about a dozen 16". I may have found my favorite section of the river. I didn't that pics of all of the fish because my batteries were low again, but I did get the big ones, here you go.


----------



## Yanky

you and i need to hit that and i mean soon. a nice explorative outing, and fishing, to scout it in great detail. i am so jealous.


----------



## flippin fool

man you're gonna be spoiled now  see what i mean about getting the big ones in the black?


----------



## bassnassassin

real nice fish faceman!! those look like some cool new holes you found there, have fun fishing them!! i haven't gone in about a week and half..... having withdrawal.....


----------



## faceman9

I don't know about getting spoiled, it was just nice to find some good sized fish. The normal area just hasn't been producing this year like it did last year, don't know if it has been because of this Thread or just the state of the economy and more people fishing for food instead of C&R. Some of you know me, I do mostly C&R, but I also keep some for the dinner table ever now and then. Anyways, I want to get spoiled by going out on the lake an hooking into some smallied out there, like Flippin said, most of the fish we are catching in the river are bait for the ones on the lake. I have not been on the lake fishing in years, just never know anyone with a boat, guess thats why I fish the river so much. Also like to challenge of trying to find them and getting them, I'm kind of a nature freak anyways, so just treking along the river is my excape from reality. Thinking about going back down tonight, not sure of the plans yet, but its been three day since I've been out, I know the withdrawal feeling. bassnassassin, week and half, sorry bud, let us know when your back in town we'll hit the river together. later guys.


----------



## Yanky

I could be down for tonight, just let me know when and where. I did ok when I went down last night. I got a couple little smallmouth and one really nice 15" on the west branch. I walked the w. branch up to the falls and then started to go up the east but ran out of light. Mostly I was exploring since that stretch is new to me. There are far too many people there for that to be a comfy area. Jackasses shouting all over the place with no regard for anyone else's sanity. I did see some nice holes though that Id like to explore further. 

I might hit the rocky too so let me know what you plan. Today has been a hell of a day so I gotta get out.


----------



## flippin fool

yanky... le tthe weather cool down and you won't have the idiots out and about everywhere


----------



## faceman9

I was suppose to meet Yanky in Cascade park on this past Thursday, on the way there my car decides to stop working as I am driving down the road, everthing still working, Radio, lights, etc... just no power found the motor. turn into the next driveway, lift the hood to see if I can figure out whats going on. Ended up calling step-dad to come and tow me back home. Wasn't able to start looking into what was going on till Saturday morning, checked all the normal things, replaced the plugs (they needed to be) replaced the battery connectors (they needed to be too). checked connections, hoses, fuel cutoff switch, bunch of crap. get online Sat night to look some stuff up and what I should check for on Sunday. Turns out to be the timing belt, called step-dad up and told him, he came over to look, we ended up doing it ourselves. Replaced Timing belt, serpentine belt, water pump (leaking around the bearing). Started at 1pm, finished at 6pm, neither one of us had done the job before and everything works, I just saved a boat load of money. All parts cost a total of $124.00, what do you think that would have cost to go to the mechanic. So now I am up and running again, the river looks like chocalate milk, figures. have a good one all


----------



## Yanky

well im glad to hear that it didnt cost you very much! you got lots of maintenance done for not too much money in parts, and thats always a bonus. plus theres that "i did it myself" factor. besides that, you didnt miss any fishin this weekend. hows that for luck? hopefully the river gets clear soon as the river needed to fill a bit and may just be better fishing now. i stocked up on some gear so im itchin to get out and try some of it soon. 

i finally got some time to get the pics off my camera from our last couple outings and they should be up later tonight


----------



## flippin fool

you probly saved your self about $1,000.00. now you gotta convince your wife to let you spend that much on fishing


----------



## faceman9

LOL, you a funny guy, like thats going to happen. I was lucky enough to have the $124.00 to get the parts. Now that the car is fixed, the washing machine stop working yesterday, it is sitting on the basement floor in pieces right now. Took it apart last night, the motor is binding up from the dust and dirt, going to blow it out and lube it tonight and put it back together, there's another $300. saved.
Looks like the only night that I have available this week is Thursday, Wed is a meeting in the evening, Fri is the HS football game, Sat, Sun and Mon I am working a booth at the Cleveland Air Show. I sure hope next week is nice.
Yanky, let me know if you want to hit Cascade on Thursday night.
I do like the I did it myself factor, and for not ever doing that before and having it work is a satisfying feeling.


----------



## Yanky

Oh im always down for fishin  Let me know what time when the day gets closer


----------



## faceman9

I'm having a hard time deciding what to do. I still have a bunch of things to do before Fri - Mon get here. But the water gauge is down, the weather is awesome, it been awhile since the last rain so the river should be perfect and I know where all of those big smallies are, at least the ones that I caught. What to do?


----------



## flippin fool

stay home and clean out the garage


----------



## Yanky

We did hit it last night and it was a hard bite for sure. Face started off just before I got there with a couple small fish, and I picked up a decent 14" smallie from a small fast undercut hole that I wasnt expecting any fish to be in. The rest of our spots provided not even a nibble until we started on our way out. We stopped at the same spot where face had started with his 2 and i nailed about 4 or 5 more really decent fish, smallies and a largemouth, one right after the other. Then it turned off again. Go figure.


----------



## faceman9

Sorry its been awhile, with all of the things that the kids are involved in at school and working the Cleveland Air Show, took me three day to recover from that, and no its not because I'm getting old, even the kids that I had working for me said it took them and couple of day the recoupe, but then again, I am getting old, dam I hurt after working that thing. 
Anyways, I took the kids down to the river on Sunday, could not figure out why it was so murky, chocolate milk, only about six inch visiblity, so we used the seine to get some minnows a crayfish. after about 30 min with bobbers in the water tossing out here and there, my 13 yo said she had something on the line. She played it out and got it to the bank, 15 1/2" smallie on a minnnow just after the rapids. So she's all happy about landing the fish but now I have a 15 and 6 yo that want something, especially the 6 yo, she walking around saying "I'm jealous of your fish" and saying how she's not going to get anything. I'm sitting there laughing to myself of course, as I put a crayfish on the 6 yo line and walk over to my goto spot and cast it to the other side of the river right where it needs to be, its not 30 seconds and the bobber goes down, I set the hook and hand it to my 6 yo, took her 7 minutes to bring the in and what does she have, 17 1/4" smallie. she walks over to her sisters and says " beat that". We didn't catch anything else but had fun. i have pics of both fish, I'll try and get them on tonight.


----------



## faceman9

Went down on Sat, from 5-7:30pm. The river is at its lowest that I have seen it this year, the water is clear and cool, just one of those evening you look forward to, and hope that the bite is on, it wasn't. I caught three smallies with the biggest being 12", but it was all good. Its been about a month since I had been out fishing by myself, so it was nice to sit back and enjoy nature a little.


----------



## Yanky

I hit the ford rd side tonight in my work clothes as I was out that way on a couple jobs. I landed a couple dink smallies but thats it. The water is gin clear but really low so its hard to find the good holes with good flow. Wish I couldve waded but I forgot to throw shorts in my car.


----------



## Yanky

here are some pics of our last few outings (finally). i think the day of the first two is the day that faceman broke his ultralight rod. total bummer.


----------



## Intracoastal

Gorgeous scenery + nice smallmouth = nice day to be out! I'm addicted to fishing creek/small river smallies! Unfortunately the Black River is out of the question for now, as I live in the Easter portion of the state. But I did about 15 smallies to 13" on the fly rod today at my favorite creek. 

Keep up the great work guys


----------



## flippin fool

nice pics travis i hope i can make it back down there with you guys soon


----------



## danishmaggot

where was that at Yanky? The wife and I went to Cascade park yesterday. We went on that little island in the middle of the river right next to the parking area. Cought 2 carp (finally) and one catfish. I love that place, but I wish people were not pigs and would stop throwing all their garbage in the river


----------



## Yanky

Those most recent pics are from the days dam side of the black river. I like it better on that side since the water is larger, its easier to get to spots where nobody fishes, and there are a lot of fish to be found if you know where to look. Its just more serene and feels more like an out of the way area.

The cascade park area is an interesting spot to explore and I would like to get back there again sometime soon but I wouldnt fish it regularly. Far too many jackasses, too much noise, and lots of small pools.


----------



## alock0889

Was wondering if the smallies are still biting this late into the season. I will be in that area the following weekend for my Dad's birthday, and would love to go out to the Cascade Park or Carlilsle Reservation, but I dont know if itll be worth the trip. Any advice would be great!


----------



## faceman9

The smallies are still there, its just a matter of when the river will be good enough to fish. With all of the rain that we have gotten, the river looks like chocolate milk and is up quite a bit. If we don't have rain for a week, you might be able to get in a find some. Just a waiting game till it clears out again.


----------



## alock0889

Perfect. I am pretty new to river fishing, but do you think some rubber worms Texas rigged or maybe a jig tube setup would work?


----------



## Yanky

Jig and twister tails, inline spinners, imitation minnows, minnows under a bobber, and minnow crankbaits have all been the best providers for me and faceman. i would start with those.


----------



## alock0889

Thanks for the advice. Im just crossin my fingers the river is fishable when I come home that weekend


----------



## Yanky

Got out yesterday for about an hour and a half and got one nice 13" smallie in my fav hole and a few smaller ones. Other than that it was sluggish but then again I didnt have much time to check other spots. The fall bite is still on!


----------



## faceman9

This has been a wonderful thread and I am glad so many people got use out of it. There is some awesome info in here that I know I will go back through and read again. I am starting a new thread for the year, Black River Fun 2010, talk to you'll there.


----------



## flippin fool

i guess this is the end of chapter 1...lol


----------



## faceman9

The end of one Chapter, the beginning of another. For those who fish the Black River that have not seen this thread. Don't post on here, post on the new *Black River Fun 2010* Thread


----------

