Grand River Steelhead

The Grand River is the biggest Lake Erie tributary in Ohio and carries more than fifty miles of fishable water. Among the rivers of Steelhead Alley it is the one most worth putting a boat on: guides run drift trips through the autumn and spring runs, and it holds fish when the smaller creeks are blown out or bone dry.

The fish are Little Manistee strain rainbows, stocked as eight-inch smolts and returning after two to four years in the lake at four to ten pounds. Twenty-pounders happen. The autumn run pushes in from late October and fish are still moving out at the end of April.

The river crosses the wine trail at the Harpersfield Covered Bridge, which is about fifteen minutes from us. A morning on the water and an afternoon in a tasting room is a very good day.