Mad River Streamside Report
November


November 12, 2000
It's hard to believe it's only two weeks before Thanksgiving!! The temperature is 54 degrees and sunny and the water temperature is 50 degrees. I caught at least ten browns ranging from 6-8 inches using aTan Hare's Ear Nymph. In addition, I caught my first crappie on the Mad using a Woolly Bugger casted against a stump south of Rt. 36.

Last week I spent an enjoyable Saturday afternoon fishing for 20lb. Salmon in Michigan. The Salmon are still there and the Steelhead are moving in and are very aggressive. If your looking for some fun with a 8 weight 9 1/2 foot rod and don't mind a six hour drive from the Mad head to Michigan for some monsters on a fly rod.


November 22, 2000
Brrrrrrr!! For those of you that thought winter might never arrive this year I guess it's here. The temperature was 34 degrees today and the water temperature was 42 degrees just north of Springfield. The sun was out at 1:00 this afternoon, but the fish did not seem to cooperate. Caught only one small brown using a San Juan Worm. I fished for about two hours, until I couldn't feel my feet. The weather is supposed to get a little warmer this weekend.

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.

November 4, 2001
I'll blame my slow reflexes this afternoon on the New York Yankees. I must have been suffering from a lack of sleep from the late night ballgames this past week. I caught a handful, but probably missed twice as many as I caught this afternoon.

The temperature hovered around 65 degrees and the water temperature was at 52 degrees. Although I have to say it sure felt colder than that this afternoon. I fished downstream from Rt. 36 around 4:00 this afternoon. The bridge was pretty crowded, but everyone seemed to be fishing upstream. Caught a couple on very small BWO's. The water appears to be trying to clear up, but the rains the past few days still are making the Mad a tad discolored. The leaves are pretty much gone and were not a problem all day. Hopefully with game seven of the World Series we will all get a little more sleep this week.