The Spring Season Continues... Steelhead Alley River Report

Well it's been another good week for the guys on our Lake Erie Steelhead Tributaries! The weather is good, the fishing has been good, and our guests have been a blast to fish with!!! Every tributary is fishable with the only bad news being the usual low and clear water conditions and the return of hot weather days to the alley... Fish are scattered out quite a bit and plenty of decent fish can be found in the pools if you are willing to walk and work for them.

Hot flies have been Robinson's Chicken Littles, Schultzy's Fry Buggers, Senyo's Ice Man Minnows, JC's Creatures, Caddis and stone fly nymph patterns, and small egg patterns to match the sucker hatch. Today, the hot fly was Robinson's new Chicken Hawk in orange. Here are a couple of pictures from the past couple of days with guests. We hope you enjoy them...

Joe with a beautiful, fat hen that taped out

at 30" but had an 18" girth...short but stout!

Bill and Joe with a little double action while

fishing with SAO Guide Patrick Robinson.

Bill with a bright Lake Erie Steelhead.

Pat with another fine Ohio Steelhead.

Pat with a great looking fish while

fishing with SAO Guide Scott McClintock.

The Hot fly For me the past couple of weeks, The

Creek Chub version of Senyo's Ice Man Minnow...

Mike hit three species during his visit to the

Alley! Here is a fly caught Walleye.

Gary with one of the Ohio Steelhead he

caught with SAO Guide John Miller.

Mike with a good looking steelhead! Species #2 for him on the day!

Mike with the trifecta while fishing

with SAO Guide John Miller.

Gary with another solid Ohio Steelhead.

Nick with one of the steelhead he caught

with SAO Guide Scott McClintock.

A nice Ohio Tributary drop back from this spring.

Tom spent two days on the alley and caught some stellar

fish! Here is one with SAO Guide Brett McCrae.

Tom with another good fish with SAO Guide John Clouser.

Doug with one of many steelhead caught with

SAO Guide Ben Barger.

Zac with a feisty Ohio Buck Steelhead.

Zac with another fat Lake Erie Steelhead while

fishing with SAO Guide Ben Barger.

We are out as usual through the rest of April and are already booking strong for Lake Erie Small Mouth Bass starting this May. If you are interested in spending a few days on the alley for Bronzebacks let us know, we would love to spend a day stream side with you...

I just got back from a week of trout trips and will have more on that coming soon! Until then have fun and tight lines!

Greg Senyo

Owner/Operator

Steelhead Alley Outfitters

Sunny Day Spring Steelhead...and Small Mouth!

As our steelhead runs come to an end and they start to drop toward the lower river, some of the best action of the entire year arrives. Freshly spawned out steelhead begin to mix with the few chrome fish making the late push. The lower rivers come alive with this splendid blend of silver! Streamers on the swing or stripped through the pools absolutely make these hungry fish go ballistic. If you enjoy cart wheeling, jumping, and hard charging fish this is about as good as it gets. The only bad news to this is that it is very short lived and you need to take advantage before the water temps become to warm and they are finally gone...until next fall that is...

Client fights a large steelhead that smacked a Emerald Egg Raider streamer slowly stripped through this pool. I wish I could have caught the cart wheels on film, but couldn't get the camera out fast enough!


The signs of spring are present every where, this means we have to start mowing again!

Our focus will be changing toward the Small Mouth here pretty quickly, and good numbers are already in the rivers. we are taking bookings for Small Mouth Bass on the fly at this time. The top water action will heat up here in the coming week, but they are striking streamers and leeches with a vengeance right now. The Small Mouth run fishes best until about mid to late June. If you are interested please contact us As soon as Possible because guide availability will go quickly for this exciting game fish. Contact Greg Senyo at 419-466-9382 for more information.

Here are a few more of our recent spring trip photos:

Kevin with a nice drop back Ohio steelhead

Steve with a good fish of his own

Kevin lands this very nice steelhead with guide Will Turek

Dr. Nate's day two steelhead, while fishing will guide John Clouser

Nice fish Doc!!!


John Clouser with a late afternoon Ohio bronze back!

Senyo's Egg Raider tube hits another fat Small mouth.

The fishing is really good right now and all the rivers are in great shape! If you are looking for good weather and great fishing give us a shout we would love to get you on the river..

Have a Great Spring!

Greg Senyo

Owner/Operator SAO

Summer fly fishing for Bass and Panfish

On Monday I had a chance to meet up and take good friend and client Dr. Nathan Mayl from Florida, and go out for a day on the water while he was in the Toledo area visiting family. Nate just got the new Largemouth bass rod from Sage and wanted to break it in on some Buckeye bucket mouths and some river small mouth.

Dr. Nate with 5 pounds of Buckeye Bass

We started the day by hitting the Portage River in search of Smallmouth Bass, Gar, and Carp. The river was very low, warm, and like the Maumee river the fishing was very slow. We managed a average sized river Smallmouth and a few other misses. The temperatures continued to rise as the morning progressed, so we decided to work on spey casting while we were standing on some open water. Later in the day we moved on to some large farm ponds in Wood County for a chance at a trophy bass.

Bull Bluegill that took a leech bugger pattern.

I decided on a pond that had a great reputation for big Largemouth and Bluegill, I knew they were their because this is one of my favorite ponds in Ohio with a real chance for trophy bass up into the 8 pound range and bigger. Needless to say we lost count on the number of bass and big Bluegill netted that afternoon. Hot patterns were leech flies and Dr. Nate's Florida snook popper's. Over all another great summer trip and a great time had by all.  Dr. Nate see you in the fall for steelhead season and thank you for a great time!!!

Another small gill on the leech.

Well, Pat is in the air on the way to California in search of Golden trout, and the rest of the guys are fishing or casting somewhere or another LOL!!! Me? well I have numerous fly orders to tie and I am finishing out the summer guiding schedule. We will be in Canada in a month and I have been tying like a mad man to get everything done for this wilderness trip. Thank you to everyone for their orders, phone calls, and emails regarding my fly tier of the year award from Orvis, I really appreciate it!!!

Salmon tube fly for Salmon in Canada..

Tight Lines,

Greg Senyo

Owner/Operator

Steelhead Alley Outfitters

Cool spring rains mean hot fishing opportunities!!

Most of the rivers in Ohio desperately needed the cold spring rains this week provided. The higher water and the drastic change to cooler temperatures have allowed for, what may be the last push of steelhead into the lower sections of our Lake Erie tributaries providing a good mix of both drop backs and fresh fish. Most of these fresher steelhead have been smaller between 2 and 4 pounds, but as shiny as a new dime and full of fight.

We have had great success on the lower rivers especially the first half mile to the lake shore, steelhead have pretty much completely left the upper rivers now and Lake run Smallies have taken up residence. Most of the guys have been targeting the Bass and been searching out the local area and tri state trout streams.

The Maumee and Portage rivers are still providing excellent opportunities for White bass and small mouth bass on the fly, and will continue to get better as we move toward warmer summer days. I have spent alot of time lately with clients targeting the white bass and having a great time.

Our new warm water page is up at our http://steelheadalleyoutfitters.com/ website, and we have added another great new member to the SAO team to help anglers accomplish their spey and fly fishing goals. I will have this new and exciting addition posted shortly, with schools and trip information to follow. I know you will be as excited as we are to have this gentleman with the SAO team.

Our hosted events page should be up dated here this week offering several destinations across the country for trout, steelhead, and salmon. Our new tube fly line is now just around the corner and coming soon. I hope everyone gets out to enjoy some of the great spring weather; that is in between the rains :) and has a chance to relax a catch a few fish with family and friends!!!

Tight Lines and Good fishing
Greg Senyo
419-466-9382