43
High on the lists of ‘bests’
Those who believe they have experienced The Best Fishing Day Ever may want to reconsider after they learn about John Breedlove’s recent steelhead fishing trips.
Breedlove, who resides in Girard, responded to last week’s column about lists of fishing “bests.” When he nonchalantly mentioned 42 bites and 35 landed steelhead – during one day of fishing! – we had to know more.
“The steelhead fishing has been unbelievable,” said Breedlove in what I thought might be the fishing understatement of the year until he trumped it with: “Plus a bonus 8-pound walleye.”
He has been towing his aluminum boat to Conneaut where he trolls the breakwalls in the harbor and up in Conneaut Creek. The fishing has been nothing short of remarkable.
“I have gone at least 10 times this fall, and every time has been great, but Black Friday was unbelievable. I boated 35 steelhead out of 42 strikes, with the biggest going between 11 and 12 pounds,” Breedlove said. He releases all of his fish, including the big walleye.
Many anglers don’t get 42 strikes all year. Even crappie anglers are pleased when a boat crew comes home with limit catches. But 35 steelhead in one day is enough to wear out the reeling muscles of even the sturdiest anglers.
Steelhead are trout that grow big and fat during the summer feasting on Lake Erie’s abundant forage fish. They return to harbors and rivers in the fall to winter in streams where they spent their first few months of life.
While Breedlove makes it sound effortless, his astounding success is clearly a result of his painstaking attention to details.
He has been scoring with two-fifths-of-an-ounce Little Cleos and half-ounce K.O. Wobblers. He finds the best colors are chrome and orange in the lake and hammered gold and orange in the creek mouth.
Lure placement and speed are crucial factors.
“I use inline planer boards to run the lines as close to the walls as possible, and I troll at 2.1 mph on the GPS,” he said.
Breedlove also is a big believer in quality equipment – from the terminal end of his line to the rods and reels with which he battles the acrobatic Lake Erie-run trout.
His rods are 7-foot medium action Bass Pro Shop Graphite Series trigger sticks. He rigs them with Okuma Magda Pro 20DX reels with line counters. The line counters provide Breedlove with exact numbers so he can duplicate the lure’s depth and distance from the boat after netting a big trout.
He drags the spoons on 15-pound-test green Trilene Big Game line. He avoids the inevitable line twist that would result from the twirling spoons by employing high-quality Sampo ball-bearing swivels.
John and his brother Jim have been avid anglers since their childhood. They learn from their own experiences and by a good bit of sibling sharing. One thing John has learned recently is that a lot of fish may eyeball a bait and veer away without committing to eating it.
“I have a Waterwolf inline underwater camera that I put a few feet in front of the lure. I watched fish after fish come up and seem interested in the spoons and even take a pass, but not get it because something wasn’t exactly right.”
With a bit of tweaking, from color to trolling speed and depth, Breedlove has come with an obviously pretty good formula – certainly one of the best.
If weight is the criteria, a 300-pound catch-and-release day puts Breedlove high on the list of “bests” among Youngstown-area anglers.