Dan Pribanic of Chagrin River Outfitters on Learning to Fly Fish and Chasing Steelhead in Northeast Ohio: Q&A

Dan Pribanic just wanted to catch more fish.

Growing up in Sandusky, he started fishing for bluegill and panfish in Sandusky Bay at 5 or 6. Eventually, his nine brothers introduced him to fly fishing. While most often associated with catching trout, the flyrod, which uses a weighted line to throw a small, lightweight artificial lure, can be used to target smallmouth bass, carp and other Northeast Ohio natives.

“By the time I was 14 or 15, I was just obsessed with fishing,” he says. “When you’re obsessed about it, it's like adding another arrow to that quiver.”

The unique angling method has a tendency to hook those who bite, inspiring an almost religious devotion in them. Pribanic became a follower. In 2006, he opened Chagrin River Outfitters in Downtown Chagrin Falls as a hub for gear and learning and a launchpad for guide trips to local rivers and far-flung locales like Chile and the Bahamas. Beginner fly fishermen can join classes or simply find guidance on go-to steelhead flies, mimicking baitfish, eggs and nymphs. The shop’s social media channels offer indispensable tips on conditions across the local rivers.

While the flyrod is a great tool for all kinds of fish, from September to March, local enthusiasts target steelhead. These silver migrating fish, which are relatives of the rainbow trout and can grow up to 30 inches and 10 pounds, retreat from the lake, spawn and return between fall and spring. Local steelhead, both native and stocked for recreation, fight hard and photograph well; the perfect combo for a modern angler.

As the steelhead season approaches, we talked to this local expert about the ins and outs of steelheading and why fly fishing offers something special.

Q: When did you start fishing?

A: I’ve been fishing as long as I was able to. I didn’t start on my own. When you’re younger, somebody has to get you interested. You have to get lucky. I’m No. 10 out of 11 kids, 10 of us being boys. So I had older brothers who were constantly fishing, hunting, just being outside. Luckily, they were very good older brothers. Even though I’m sure I was a pain in the butt at five or six years old, they would take me with them, not all of the time but a lot of times. 

Q: Did you begin with a fly rod?

A: No. Spin fishing. I grew up in Sandusky. So a lot of spin fishing for bass, walleye, blue gills, crappie.

Q: So, when did fly fishing enter the picture?

A: I probably started fly fishing in Sandusky Bay for pan fish when I was probably 12 or 13 years old. A little Scientific Anglers outfit. I was super excited, and I may still have the dang thing somewhere. I was watching the Saturday morning fishing shows, and my brothers, who a lot of them actually live in Pennsylvania, were also fly fishermen at the time, so a lot of fly fishing in Central PA for trout. I wasn’t the first one to pick up a fly rod. They would show me pictures and talk about it. I’m like, I’m gonna try fly fishing just right in the backyard. People think with fly fishing, you got to go trout fishing. There's a lot of things to do outside the box, bluegill fishing, pan fishing, which is where I started. 

Q: Why use a fly rod?

A: At times, fly fishing is a very good option over spin fishing. You know, when I'm fishing those shallow weed beds and stuff. For the blue gills and the pan fish, which is what I started doing, like in the Bay, a fly that floats on top of the water with a weedless hook was just more effective than anything I could find to do with a spin rod.

Q: Many people think you can only fly fish in a river, which offers moving water. How do you fly fish lakes and bays without current?

A: Similar mindset to spin fishing with a plug: cast, retrieve, impart action. With flies, you strip line instead of reeling, and you can manipulate how fast or slow or long or short, and twitch the rod tip to make the fly behave the way you want to try to entice a strike. There’s a lot more casting. Strip it in, cast. Strip it in, cast.

Q: I think there’s another misconception that you can’t catch bass on the fly. How do you fly fish for bass?

A: Bass are pretty opportunistic as well. It depends on the time of year. Early in the season, a lot of bait fish, crayfish patterns, things like that, because the water is a little too chilly for them to come to the surface, and there's not a whole lot on the surface for them to be looking for. When you get into summer and you start getting damselflies around and frogs kicking around, your poppers and whatnot come into play. Through the course of the summer, it just kind of varies between, you know, bait fish, crayfish stuff, and then top water depending on time of day, light levels, etc. But if you have a box full of a dozen decent streamer patterns of a few different sizes and colors and you know, a dozen poppers and a half dozen different crayfish patterns, you’ll be in business. You don’t have to go crazy with it. 

Q: Fly fishing has this lore, maybe from writers like Ernest Hemingway or A River Runs Through It. Is there a “spiritual” or meditative side for you

A: 1,000%. That’s definitely more where I’m at in my fly fishing. It's a journey, and it's different for everybody. You'll hear a lot of people say when you first start, you want to catch as many fish as you can, right? And then you want to catch the biggest fish that you can, right? And then it's like, I don't really care how many fish I catch or don't catch, I just want to be out there in the stream, in the woods, in nature. Because really, I think that's the big picture. When it comes to fly fishing, it's a good place to be in your angling career because fish, no fish, sunny day, lousy day. You just enjoy it no matter what. Obviously, you still like to catch a few fish here and there, but it's really not the main reason for going. I just got back from a family vacation. We were up in New England. We were striped bass fishing. We were fishing off the beach. You’re in the ocean, so tides play a big role when and where you want to go with wind, etc. We went out with a couple of my brothers, a few of my nieces and nephews. We went out around midnight bass fishing off the beach. I didn't even take a run. All I did was help the kids all night, help them rig some plugs, help them with their fly cast. We had a really great night of fishing. For me, anymore, I just like being there, enjoying the experience and seeing other people catch fish. It's more rewarding for me to see other people enjoying themselves and having a good time and being out there than actually doing it myself.

Q: What do people overlook about Cleveland’s fishery?

A: Cleveland has a really strong fly fishing community. There's a lot of people in and around the Cleveland area who fly fish and travel. There’s guys that come in the shop that, anywhere in the world, you name it, they've been to fly fish. But a lot of times, that fishing that's in your own backyard kind of gets overlooked. We have clients that come from all over the country to fish with us every year, and these are guys that fish a lot of places, too. They're just blown away by how pretty the streams and rivers are and how good our fishing is. I don't know if it's a world-class fishery or not in Northeast Ohio, but it's pretty dang good. I'm lucky because I'm constantly reminded how good it is by all the people that. Come in and fish with us. You're gonna go out. If you come up here and go fishing for a few days, especially if you get a guide or something, you're gonna catch some nice steelhead. You know, you're gonna catch fish, and you're gonna see some pretty scenery.

Q: When is steelhead “prime time” here? Can winter be good?

A: Wintertime fishing, that’s one of the advantages you have if you live locally. In a mild winter, January and February can be phenomenal, but it’s hard to predict. Steelheading is very condition-dependent. You might get a six-, seven-, eight-week stretch where the rivers are frozen over and you really can't fish. So that's why it's hard for, you know, for a shop like ours to really have people come in like, Hey, I want to book a trip. When should we come? It's hard to say come in January, come in February, because you don't know what you're going to get. Anytime you're dealing with migratory fish and seasonal-type things, it's just, it's hard to predict. The steelhead, he doesn't know what month it is, or cares for that matter. They just respond to the condition. But the wintertime fishing can be as good, if not better, than fall and spring.

Q: Favorite rivers?

A: I like the Chagrin a lot, obviously, because it's close and it changes a lot. Up in the sorta headwaters, it’s kind of smaller and more intimate, you know, more trout stream-y. And once you get into the Middle River, it starts opening up a little bit and offers you the ability to indicator fish or use your spey rods and swing flies. And as you get down closer to the lake, it gets a little bigger and wider, and it's kind of like a totally different river down there, as well. Everybody likes fishing the Grand River, as well, especially if you're a two-handed angler and like swinging flies, which I really enjoy doing. The Grand is interesting because it's such a big watershed that it's blown out a lot. A lot of times it’s too high and dirty and whatnot to fish. So opportunities to fish that particular river aren't as many as some of the other rivers. So when you do get a chance to fish it, you feel like, Oh man, the Grand’s fishing. Let's go.

Q: Have you seen an influx in participation recently?

A: When COVID hit, the whole outdoor industry saw a big influx in participants, whether it was boating, canoeing, kayaking, camping, you name it. You could see it right on the water. It was like, Holy mackerel. Where did everybody come from? Which is great, you know? I mean, it's not at times. It could be a little frustrating, but at the same time, it's nice to see people outside enjoying the outdoors. But you're definitely starting to see that taper off. A lot of the people that got into it during covid, they're not all going to stick with it. 

Q: When did you start the shop? What’s the mission?

A: We started in 2006. I just really enjoy sharing my passion and knowledge for fly fishing with people. So you need the shop for that to get people in the door in order to help people and get into the sport, have them enjoy it more. I get a lot of people who want to get into and buy some stuff online, but they get the wrong things. They don't know what the heck they're doing. It's not rigged up the right way. So the shop is a big help there. There's a huge difference between folks that come into the shop and let us help them, get them geared up and get them started, versus the folks who go out online and try and figure it out themselves. You're just going to be way, way, way more successful if you let people who know what they're doing help you out. You're not gonna go out there and just start catching fish and making great casts. It's just not gonna happen.

Q: You also do guided trips locally and in other locales, such as Chile and Spain. Why is having a guide so helpful?

A: For a few different reasons, depending on where you're at in your journey. If you're a newer angler, you're looking for some reassurance that you’re doing the right things in the right places. I'm rigging right. I'm casting the right way. I'm mending the right way. I'm getting the right drifts. I'm fishing the right water. You know, they help reinforce that. The guide, like this, really helps shorten the learning curve. If you know about fly fishing, you may want to hire a good guide if you're going on a trip somewhere, at least for a day or two. Fortunately, I’ve fished all over the country and a lot of the world. I always want to fish with a guide when I go somewhere new, because I want to fish with somebody on their water that knows what I know on mine. No matter where you're at in your angling career, I would definitely recommend hiring a guide.

Q: What flies should a steelhead beginner carry?

A: They swim around the lake for three years, eating all kinds of bait fish. So you want to have some bait fish patterns, something that mimics the Emerald shiners, the shad smelt, that kind of stuff, you know. And then they get into the river, especially when fish start spawning, you start getting some eggs floating around. They’re always going to eat an egg pattern. So you want to have some egg patterns to match, as well. Then, the longer they're in the river, they start to behave a little bit more like trout. A lot of our rivers do have some insect life, some nymphs and things like that. So when the water gets low and clear, you know, downsizing to some of those smaller nymph patterns, or when the stone flies are hatching, or something like that in spring, having some nymph patterns as well. So you don't need a ton, you know? You want some bait fish patterns, some egg patterns and some nymph patterns. And basically, you want flies to match the water conditions. When the water is stained and dirty and it's overcast and cloudy, you want some bigger, darker ones for a larger profile. And when the water starts getting a little lower and clear, you want some more natural stuff that looks like the actual bait fish.

Q: Why is steelhead such a good target for all skill levels?

A: They respond pretty well to any kind of fishing method, meaning when they’re in the right mood to bite, you’re going to catch them if you’re doing a couple things right. It's not a very technical form of fly fishing in a lot of ways, right? We don't have to cast real far. Our presentation doesn't have to be perfect. We don't have to be real stealthy. They’re not real spooky. So it's a great sport. It's a great fish for just about anybody. We take people fly fishing every day, every day, or maybe not every day, but oftentimes, in the fall, winter and spring, a lot of our clients have never held a fly rod before, or they do it once a year. You know, we take them out and they catch fish. You don't have to be an expert angler to go catch a few steelhead. At the same time, you can make it more challenging and more difficult (by swinging flies or using dry flies). Steelheading is a great sport.

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