My son Jason and I met Bob at th

My son Jason and I met Bob at the Grand River Bait and Tackle on a beautiful Friday morning. Neither one of us had been fly fishing in our life. We were in the river by 8 am and Bob’s tutoring began. Within an hour Bob had both of us casting, mending, and spotting fish. The next step was going for the steelhead. We moved up river a little ways and went on the attack. Within minutes both of us had hits. By noon there was two nice steelhead on the stringer and some small mouth that we released. Bob served us baked salmon for lunch at noon and then it was back in the water. By 3 pm we had our limit of steelheads and had released several small mouths. Bob’s patience put us both in a comfort zone. His knowledge of the river and fly fishing made the day one we will remember for the rest of our lives. It was one of the greatest fishing experiences my son and I have ever had. I would recommend Bob and screaming reels to anyone looking for a great day of fishing and fun. Randy Kugler Wadsworth Ohio 2007

I just wanted to thank you for an incredible day of fishing with you on the Grand River on Saturday (April 26th). Not only did I catch my first Steely on a fly rod, but I think I’ve added a life long fishing friend to my “stringer”. The first time I bumped into you on the river (over a year ago), your willingness to teach and share your knowledge was a surprise to me. Must people wouldn’t consider taking time away from his/her fishing to make “the new guys” day on the river a better experience. I was excited to hear that you were starting a guide business. I can’t think of anyone that I’d be happier supporting by booking trips and referring to my friends. Not only have you shown me how to catch fish, but more importantly how to make the river a better place for everyone through etiquette. I’ve fished with other guides who don’t always teach (or even demonstrate) that. The rivers in Ohio are a valuable resource, as are the people that fish the river. Through proper education of catch and release, etiquette for sharing the river (particularly that favorite hole), proper techniques and equipment, I think you have helped me become a better fisherman and a better person. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard you offer up a good spot to an obvious “new guy” who hasn’t caught a fish all day…simply stating “I’ll move down here, there are a lot of fish in the river” or “here try this fly”. I wish you the best of luck in your guiding business and I’ll be sure to send my friends to you. Attached is a picture of my first steely on a fly rod. What a day!!

P.S. I’m done noodleroding. It works, but the experience is 100 times better on the fly rod. I’ll see you in the fall.

Hi Bob
Been wanting to write you to thank you for the great day of fishing you turned us on to. John Wisse, Joe Wynn and myself had a great time and learned a lot about Steelhead and fly fishing. The three of us have all fished from Key West to Northern Canada and up the East Coast but we all agreed that was the fastest action in one day that any of us have had. We drove up from Columbus early Fri morning met you around 7:00 A.M. and by 8:30 we were in waders standing in the Elk Creek. I told you that I was going to be using my 9' spinning rod well after about and hour of watching my buddies hooking up on fly rod's you had them using I gave in. I was very impressed with the time you told to show us the right way to cast and to land a fish on the fly rod. You were always right behind us with your hands behind your back telling us what we were doing right and wrong and to me that's a great guide. We figured that between the three of us we had over 100 hook ups and landed 30 to 35 fish. To me that's a great day. You know your having too much fun when the guided can't get in out of the water to eat the shore lunch he had brought. Any time the bite slowed down you were there changing our fly and egg pattern and then it was "fish on" We still are talking about how many fish and big fish that were stacked in that small drop off. I have caught a lot of 20 lb. plus Kings on spinning rod, but I'll take a 8 or 10 Lb. Steelhead on a fly rod any day. Thanks for showing me the way. To any one looking to hire a guided for N.E. Ohio fishing I highly recommend you to get a hold of Screaming Reels, Bob and George really work hard for clients to catch fish and have a great time. Really looking forward to the next time I have my waders on and am standing in some river fishing with Bob Williams. Keep your reels screaming. Your friend in Columbus, Oh.

My day of Steelhead fishing on Elk Creek with Bob Williams of Screaming Reels was my best day ever in 40 years of freshwater fishing! Really hard to imagine anything else that can beat it. Thanks again Bob, and we'll see you again in 04 and all our friends will be contacting you as well.

Bob, what a great day of fishing I had fishing with you John & Jeff. That was the best action I have ever had in one day of fishing in my life! Thanks, I still can't get over it and believe me when I say I even dreamed about it a couple times! If I never have another opportunity like you provided me with that day, at least I have the memory, and will definitely recommend you to all my family and friends! But most likely you'll see me again so I can learn another river with you! Keep up the great work, and how come you're not on a Pro Tour with your skills?

Hey Bob,
Thanks for a great day of fishing on the Chagrin. You put me on the fish, and all I had to do was catch 'um! It was a blast - - see you in the spring...My friends still don't believe me, but we both know what really went on, and I'll keep that day as one of my all time highs!

WOW is all I can say!! Screaming Reels provided a great trip. I felt like I knew Bob before I ever arrived. He provided information for hotels, what to bring, perfect directions etc. Plus shared a little un-known secret about my auto insurance carrier, seems that when you take a trip of 50 or more miles for any reason you can request "Short Term Travel Insurance" for little or in my case no extra charge! My whole trip was covered from loss or damage and even personal injury! Now all my Family and friends know and request that when out of town. George was our guide that day and what a great guy! After a few short minutes I felt as though I'd known him all my life, we just hit it off! The fishing was like none I had ever experienced. Truly an amazing experience and one I'll repeat next year. Although there were many fishermen out on the creek, we were the one's catching all the fish let alone the big ones!! I will definitely return for the fishing and the hospitality again.

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 10:41:16 -0400

Bob,

Just want to tell you that Joe and I had a great time fishing on the Grand River. It was great hooking into those smallies, and to have the opportunity to catch a 20 lb. carp. Since Joe and I have only been fly fishing for a few years it was beneficial having you show us great fishing spots, and teaching us a lot about fly fishing. Thanks and hope to see you again for a great fishing trip.

Sincerely, Tony Jennings

From: "William Wiley"
To: steelheader1@sbcglobal.net
Subject: RE: Good Day
Date: Tue, 05 Oct 2004 05:53:27 -0500

Bob,
I had a great time as a first time Steelheader. I was amazed at how quick we landed our first fish. You did a great job of teaching me the ropes as a beginner. You made sure I had a line in the water at all times, this definitely helped increase my chances of hook-ups. I look forward to taking another trip with you.

Good meeting you today. Nick and I had a great day also. He landed 6 I got three and several came off. Anytime time you guys are heading out give us a call. Here are the pictures from today. Hey thanks for the compliment in the fishing report. Have a good one.

From: jerald s brodkey <jsb@brodkey.com>
To: Robert Williams <steelheader1@sbcglobal.net>
Subject: Testimonial
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 19:18:27 -0400

Hi Bob,
Just wanted to thank you again for our day of steelhead fishing on the Grand River last Tuesday, 4/19/05. Having had only one previous experience steelhead fishing which was a disaster - long walk and never saw a single fish - I was a little dubious when a friend asked me to accompany him for a day of fishing with you. When we arrived last Tuesday at the river there was a lineup of cars and I worried that we might be fishing in a crowd - sort of like salmon fishing on the Pere Marquette. However you took us a short distance down to the river where there was a mother lode of fish but not a single fisherman. I hope all those other fishermen, where ever they were, had as good a day as we had. It seemed that between Dave and myself we always had a fish on the line or in the net. My wife also wants to thank you. In the bunch of pictures that you sent us I was most proud of those of me holding a big fish but she wants prints of me holding the rod and trying to land the fish. I'm only sorry that the season is about to end and we'll have to wait until next year for more Steelheading. Hopefully I can get my sons to Cleveland so we can do some bass fishing with you this summer.

Jerry

Thanks for the fishing report. Really wish I'd made a second trip. Next year for sure. Hope Alyssa enjoys these Pic's.

Lee S

Bob, I am the guy you met on the river at Gates Mills on Friday afternoon. I just wanted to thank you for asking me to come down to fish with you guys and most of all for giving me the tips. Shortly after you left, I had a hookup of a fish that was quite large and he broke my line. About 15 minute later, I hooked into a second fish and landed it! That was my first Steelhead ever! Wow! what a thrill...compares to getting your first deer! Awesome. I actually took it home and we cooked it for friends who came over for dinner! it was so great! However I am mostly a catch and release kind of guy. Anyway... I have been fishing every chance I get since first starting in November. I am very interested in taking a 4 hour trip like on Feb. 24 or maybe better on March 9. Perhaps you can suggest a better date. I am very interested in learning as much as I can by the time the spring run comes. I took up the noodle rod because I was getting frustrated with the fly fishing. I saw all of the guys who were catching them were noodle rodding while the fishing is tougher. Only a few I have seen taken on a fly rod. However, I am interested to do both. Right now my skills are better with the noodle rod. I am glad you gave me your card. I have had such a great time on the river and have met some really nice guys and I am really enjoying this sport even when the fish aren't biting. It was great to meet you and I will never forget that your tips helped me to catch my first Steelhead. It was a huge thrill!Please let me know your thoughts on booking a date. I am interested in fishing the local rivers...Chagrin, Grand or the Rocky (never been on the Rocky yet). I live in Bainbridge and those rivers would tend to be my haunts. So far I have fished Daniels, North Chagrin reservation, the Uniroyal plant access, Helen Hazen and another site out by Madison near the wineries. I went to PA. with a friend of mine and it was so iced up we couldn't fish much. Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you. Dana Roy

Bob

The pictures look great, some a little soggy, but they capture the moment perfect. We got home around 6:30 Monday evening. Saturday after we left you guys we went to lower Elk. Fishing was good, picked up maybe 20 with a lot more hook ups. Sun. we went back where you had us. We fished from day light till about 10:30 in the first hole, only picked up three. Then we went to the other hole you showed us till about 1:30, picked up around fourteen. Brent had the hot spot in the tail out. We had the hole to our self so we started playing around. Brent landed a handful of fish on 2lb leader and I landed a 4 pounder on 1lb leader, hard to believe huh, took me about eight min. I'll try to send you some pictures when I get my new printer hooked up. We then went back to lower Elk to see if we could hit a few more fresh ones. We did about the same, there were a good many fresh 2 to 4 pounders, I believe you guys call them skippers. The water was up about a foot or so from Sat. That being the case we decided to go back to lower Elk Mon. before we had to leave, there is just something about catching those bright silver fish. As you well know, there were a lot more hook ups than fish landed. There was a good many jacks, Brent landed a nice silver 8 1/2 lber. Tim and Tom did good below the boat ramp, Tim had a nice male on until someone on the other side fowled him up and broke his line, yes, there was a few foul words flying. Brent and I got into some good silver up above along the log jambs on the other side. However, as you well know, we didn't increase our line size and very few were landed. Four lb test is not near enough to keep them out of the logs. I lost a few very nice fish because I was to lazy to change up. The rain picked up around 10:30 so we called it a trip, and a good trip it was. The fishing was just that, you had to fish for these fish which made it more rewarding.

We had an excellent time with you guys. I'll let you know when were coming back so we can pound the streams together again. Keep me in touch with what is going on up there if you don't mind.

Hope to be up in the Spring if not sooner!

Pat

I was shocked to find such large concentrations of fish, in undisturbed water, only 20 minutes from downtown Cleveland. To put things into perspective, I have experienced some great fishing from Alaska all the way down to Panama. But the day I spent fly fishing the Chagrin River with Bob was one of the most memorable days I've had on the water. Literally, we fought so many large steelhead that my arm was soar at the end of the day. Unbelievable!"

Eric Preston, Cincinnati, OH

"I had the opportunity to try an Elkhorn fly rod while Steelheading this Spring. I knew I was in trouble after my first cast....what a powerful rod! It was light and responsive and felt perfect in my hand. Better accuracy, better hook sets, and a lot less fatigue. My old rod just doesn't measure up." Eric Preston, Cincinnati, OH

Eric Preston/Account Executive/Phoenix Formations