By: Joe Valencic, NCFF

It was a great promotion for this wonderful fishery on the tributaries of Lake Erie, and a tribute to fly fishing as well, as most of the writers (the Lt. Gov. included) were testing their skills against these great fish with their fly rods. Many of them tied their own flies specifically for this trip, and everyone managed to catch at least one of our “silver bullets” while fishing the Grand and Chagrin Rivers.

Last year Laszlo Zala was one of the local angler-guides for this event, but he was unable to make it this year because of previous commitments. Laszlo recommended me to Jeff Frischkorn of The News-Herald to take his place, and I was privileged to spend the day with John Tertuliani from Columbus, Ohio.

John has been a part-time freelance writer for a variety of outdoor publications since 1988, and writes about all facets of hunting and fishing throughout Ohio. When he’s not writing, John works as a biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Water Resources Division, and was previously with the Ohio Division of Wildlife. His work with stream studies, aquaculture and fisheries stocking programs made him a fascinating partner to fish with all day.

I told John that we would be sight-fishing groups of steelhead spawning in fast, shallow water, and that we needed to be stealthy to not spook them. John had only fished once before for steelhead in October of 2001 (he caught one fish the entire day), and was eager to get on stream at first light to try his luck again. He tied some flies specifically for this trip, and I gave him a sampling of some flies that have been very effective for me lately to add to his mix. We went to an area I scouted the day before, and his first steelhead was hooked up within a few casts on one of his own flies. His reaction was something to behold as the line went screaming from his reel and the fish headed back towards Lake Erie. The fish soon came unhooked, but there was no removing the smile from John’s face. He had hooked into a silver bullet, fought it on a fly rod with one of his own flies, and wanted more of that adrenalin-producing action. It wasn’t too many casts later that he was into a first-year ‘skipper’ about 15” long which he skillfully brought alongside his leg and scooped up with one hand to unhook and release it back to the water. You guessed it, more grins! John got into lots of fish that day, and was able to take many memories home. (I’ll bet he dreams of steelies for a month!)

We were fortunate to be fishing close to Lt. Gov. O’Connor, and got to see her first hook-up on her second cast, but after a couple of head shakes it broke off. O’Connor was being guided by Phil Hillman from ODNR’s Division of Wildlife, and eventually she was able land her first steelhead. Hillman said: “She sure doesn’t need much instruction. She’s doing an excellent job without me.”

It was a thrill to be part of a day that will soon be written about all over the Midwest, and exciting to be around some of the Midwest’s best outdoors writers and Ohio’s Lt. Governor. I was able to talk to a couple of writers about North Coast Fly Fishers (NCFF) and the educational and speaker programs we supply to our members. I was told that our club should be proud of what we do for the hobby and for the hobbyists in our area, because not all clubs do it as well as we do. I expressed that we were proud of our success, and we continue to work to improve our programs so we can be even better in the future.

It was a great experience and I hope to be asked back for next year’s event.