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Mad River Streamside Report

June 2, 2002
Air Temperature: 65 degrees Water Temperature: 58 degrees Fished Lippincott Road down to Rt. 36 this afternoon from around 12:00-3:00 p.m. In the three hours I was on the river I noticed no risers, but I did see a few insects appearing to hatch. During the next few weeks we should see a nice Light Cahill hatch. I caught three during my time on the water the biggest being around 10 inches long. The water appears to be trying to clear up, but the further I worked down to Rt. 36 the cloudier the water became. The real excitiement of the day was when I reached down to unhook a stick on my leg (or so I thought) and it turned out to be a three foot snake that had wrapped around my leg. If jumping out the river ever becomes an Olympic event I may be in line for a Gold medal!

May 13, 2002
As Yogi Berra used to say "it's dejavu all over again"...Torrential rain in the Urbana area has made any fishing on the Mad not only impossible, but probably life threatening. Earlier in the weekend two young men lost their lives on the Chagrin. Folks, no matter how bad cabin fever might be it's not worth trying to wade the Mad when the river is up like this. Last weekend I was amazed at the amount of very large trees that have been in the same location for years that have been washed away due to the amount of water we have gotten up here over the last three weeks. Although the rain has kept us out of the river for the past few weeks it has not slowed down the TU chapter from working the trail areas along the Mad. Looking to get out of the house? Volunteer some of your valuable time to make a long term difference to our river and watershed.

May 5, 2002
Fished the Mad for about an hour this afternoon. Water temperature was about 56 degrees while the air temperature was about 60 degrees. Although the Mad is coming down from the tremendous amount of rain we have had in this area the river was still discolored. Seined the river and found some of the first March Browns of the season. Fished from about 11:00 till noon and saw very little hatch activity. Picked up one dink on a Tan Hare's ear just south of the Rt. 36 bridge. I was amazed at the number of trees that have been washed away due to the large amount of water we have received over the last two weeks. It should not be too much longer before we begin to see Sulphers hatching in the late evening. The best time of day for this hatch is usually after 7:00 p.m.

April 5, 2002
The weather looks like it has improved for this weekend! Hatches to continue to look for would include the Blue Quill, small black caddis, and the Hendrickson.

On another note. The owner of the canoe livery near Millerstown has recently purchased land south of Rt. 55. This individual is looking to continue the large canoe hatch on the weekends with this new livery. For those of you that have fished the mad on the weekend you know how tough it is to fish with the large number of canoers and the increase of trash and debris on the river from many of these weekend warriors. For the time being the trustees have decided not to approve the new zoning of this property.

April 1, 2002
The Mad continues to be up and muddy. It will probably be today or tomorrow before the Mad is ready to be fished again. It's about time to start looking for the Hendrickson's in the afternoon. Continue to look for BWO's and Blue Quills hatching in the afternoon. Plenty of midges in sizes #22-24 on sunny days.

March 28, 2002
The Mad is pretty blown out this afternoon with the melting snow and ice the last two days. Fished with a good friend from Sidney and we tried streamers in the murky water with little success. The Mad should be OK by this upcoming weekend. Saw a nice hatch of midges about 1:00 this afternoon, but with the river blown out nothing seemed to notice the hatch.

February 11, 2002
Usually the first hatch of the season is the Little Hendrickson. Generally this hatch will not occur until March, but with the warmer than usual temperatures we have experienced anglers could see a small hatch of Hendrickson's in the afternoon with warm weather and water temperatures over 50 degrees.

January 27, 2002
Warm weather should have translated into monster fishing today. However, fishing from Rt. 36 down to Old Troy Pike resulted in only about 8 total browns being caught between myself and my good friend Lou from Columbus. The Mad is in great shape and crystal clear, but we saw very few fish while wading the entire strech this afternoon. Beginning about 11:00 this morning a nice hatch of midges were evident on the River, but we did not see a single rise for the midges all day. Tried green caddis pupa, midges in various colors, streamers, and muddler minnows all with little success. About the only thing that seemed to be working were small Pheasant Tails. In addition to the many people fishing this afternoon we our first hatch of canoers out today.

If you would like to trout fish increasing your odds in catching monster fish try entering the ODNR drawing for a fishing opportunity on the Castalia Fish hatchery in Erie County. ODNR is accepting names to be one of 100 chosen to fish this hatchery between April and November. To enter send a postcard with your name, address, and daytime phone to Castalia Trout Fishing, c/o ODNR Division of Wildlife, 1840 Belcher Dr., Columbus, Ohio, 43224-1329. Of course if your name is drawn I would expect you would invite me as one of your two guests!!

January 21, 2002
Warning!!!! All who fish downstream from the Millerstown bridge the landowner is actively warning anyone who is getting out of the water. On Monday afternoon the land owner on the East side of the river was sternly speaking with anyone who got out of the water, even if they were on the wildlife trails. I know we have discussed trespassing regulations in the past, but he was making it very clear to the anglers I witnessed that he did not want anyone out of the water on his side of the river for any reason.

I fished the area around the Millerstown bridge for about two hours today. Several people were having success with Pheasant Tails. Streamers fished slowly seemed to be successful if you were patient and slow in your delivery. The Mad is very clear and a small hatch of midges appeared to be trying to get things going as soon as the sun came out around 1:00 p.m.

January 7, 2002
Fishing the Mad during the winter can be both challenging and exciting as your usually the only one on the river when the temperature dips down in the teens. Alhtough you might find a hatch of tricos or midges on those few warm days Streamers are still the ticket on most days.

December 9, 2001
Fished below Dallas Road this afternoon for about and hour and half. The river appears to be clearing up and with all of the recent rain I saw quite a few redworms just under the bridge. I unsuccessfully tried several San Juan Worm patterns and caught just two small brownies using a beaded Rainbow Prince. During the short time on the river I saw no noticeable hatches. This afternoon was nothing like the frenzy we saw on the Elk last weekend as we caught over 10 large steelhead in PA.

November 29, 2001
Thursday night's rain and all of the rain we got this week has made fishing on the Mad this weekend very unlikely. The river is swollen with water and probably will not come back to normal levels until probably late Sunday or Monday.

November 11, 2001
The phone rang Saturday night. "Would you like to tag along and fish the Mad"? Narrowing my choices between mowing the grass and fishing, it was a difficult decision. So Warren and I sat out to try our luck on the Mad. Let this be a lesson to everyone. Warren and I had met by chance on the Mad several weekends ago. As I was leaving I met him along Rt. 36 and said "if ya ever need someone to tag along with give me a call". Therefore, I now had an excuse to get out of yardwork. Sunday afternoon was simply beautiful. The temperature was around 60 degrees, clear skies, water temperature was about 52 degrees, and the Mad had regained its clear appearance.

We caught about a half dozen browns using Pheasant Tails and Rainbow Princes. Little was hatching on the river and we caught a majority of the fish dead drifting these flies. We fished from Rt. 36 down to County Line Road.