Lake Erie Steelhead: Trip Report
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I just completed the annual fall pilgramage to the tributaries of Erie and Ontario chasing the internal call of Oncorhynchus Mykiss and hopefully the occasional Salmon Trutta. Usually when you put a date on the calendar 2 months in advance you are bound to get blown out, rained out, or encounter some other unfortunate event that causes the trip to not live up to expectations. But, every once in while, even the blind squirrl (that would be me) finds a nut and the perfect trip shows up…and this is what happened to us over the last 4 days.
For those of you who don’t follow this fishery, the region of OH, PA and NY has been suffereing from a serious lack of rain since mid July. This had essentially caused there to be no steelhead fishing so far this fall. Well, about 3 days before the scheduled trip the entire area received about 2 inches of rain and more than half a million fresh fish that had been pounding the shoreline since September finally got access to the tributaries. And due to the dry and mild autumn, the colors we magnificent all week and provided an incredible backdrop to some incredible fishing, friendship, fellowship and food.
While waiting for our favorite river to clear we spent the first day fishing one of the popular and crowded streams of Erie, PA. After fighting off guys all morning we decided to risk a hike into some “quasi-private” water in search of solitude. After a mile and half down the Conrail tracks.
We found the first run and hole, under the train trestle free and clear of any other anglers. My second drift was met with an aggressive take and my first chrome of the season.
The next 90 minutes included over 20 hookups between the two of us and several “doubles” as we fought and landed fish on top of each other. After a visit from the landowner (and his dogs!) we were given permission to fish the day out and we headed downstream just to see what was going on. The amount of fish in the river was absolutely amazing. Thousands of fish could be seen moving up river and through shallow rapids, right in the middle of a bright sunny fall day. We spent the remaining few hours picking up fish in each hole, run, riffle and pocket and left the river amazingly satisfied with the first days results.
If you are in Erie, you must go to a small town due west called Platea. Here in Platea is one of the culinary gems of N.E. Pennsylvania. Crowley’s. A small family run restaraunt and bar where you can grill your own steak over a live fire in the dining room! So, in Mike Cline (and others) fashion, here is my IA Food Shot of the trip. When traveling between Buffalo and Erie, you must partake in Wings. There is nothing like Wings in this part of the country…
After a satisfying meal we made our way to the Shuffleboard. A must after the meal and some Canadian Bier.
The next day we were up early to travel the hour and half east to one of western NY’s biggest tribs. My favorite steelhead river. We made our way to a well known and historically productive piece of water on the reservation. There were only a half dozen other anglers and we managed to land quite a few fish in the a.m. fish. All fish were clean and bright, only a mile or two from the lake. Each of us took a fish that pushed 12 or 13 pounds.
Please ignore my buddies Yankees hat…good thing my Sox won while we were on the trip or it would have been unbearable.
The afternoon proved to be even more successful with each of us hooking and landing more steelhead than we had previously on a day in this river.
We even managed to find a brown or two that tend to trickle in to the tribs this time of year.
The next morning we decided take a slow start and get a hot breakfast at the local diner. There we decided to explore a new section of the river that involved a pretty decent hike in. At the foot of the trail we encounted a spectacular view of the river and our surroundings for the day.
The mornings fish was much quieter than the past two days but we had complete solitude in the valley.
We stumbled across an interesting sight. I had never seen anything like this before but someone had taken sometime to make four lounge chairs out of river rock, armrests, footrests included!
We found a few fish but most seemed to be 2 year olds. The smaller fish enter the river first and tend to be found upstream earlier in the year.
That afternoon we moved downriver once again, and while fishing was still slower than the day before we did manage to find some good sized adults. Most fish during the weekend readily took streamers (zonkers and buggers) and a host of egg and nymph patterns.
These are just beautiful and amazing fish and when the water level and clarity are right, they can be had.
The fourth and final day we parted ways after one of our best trips ever. My buddy headed to fish in OH on his way home and I fished a few more hours before heading east.
All in all it was a wonderful trip and I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to spend the weekend on the water.
Nice to see that someone is getting some chrome. The steelheading is crap at best over here in Indiana right now. Great pics and nice fish.
Thanks for the report and the nudge to tell another tale of PA steel!
A group of us went to Pennsylvania and New York to chase after steelhead last week.
Monday was a perfect driving day. On Tuesday we went to fish the Cat in New York before the rain that fell all day ruined it. We fished hard and hooked and landed a few before the rains flooded the river and turned the water the color of anti-freeze and drove us off.
The rain was a blessing as the steelhead in Pennsylvania who were staged and ready to enter the rivers but couldn’t because of the low water ran up those rivers in HUGE numbers once the rivers started flowing again.
Wednesday was one of the most amazing fishing days any of us ever had. The water was lowering and the rivers were chock-full of fresh, hot, hungry chromers who never saw a fly before. Wave after wave of fresh, hot steel made their way through the hole we fished all day. No need to move when fish are on the bite they say! We essentially had the rivers to ourselves as the locals were nowhere to be seen.
That changed the next day as the rivers got clear and low and all of the fish ended up in any hole available. Each hole was surrounded by far too many people as word must have gotten out the run was on.
We nailed it on Wednesday to the point we all left early as there was no way to cap such an awesome fishing day as we had on Wednesday.
My arm is still sore!
Big buck:
The good Captain:
Dans first steelhead:
Great fishing for sure… almost makes me want to go up north this weekend and chase steelhead, instead of Iowa to chase big bucks.
Zach,
Yeah I took these with my 100d.Zach,
Thanks for the feedback.
Great report seafood! And great photos too! It’s funny actually seeing what people look like around here sometimes. I always imagined you to be the guy in your Avatar with the bull horn! 🙂
Those wings really made me hungry. What flavor did you go with?
Joel
This great country is truly blessed with a lot of extraordinarily outstanding fishing–coast to coast.
Joel,
We went with half Cajun and half medium.
Quick question, can you use streamers (zoo cougars and double bunny’s) for Erie area steelhead????
Just wondering.I’ve not used anything like a zoo cougar there before but the double bunnies would get eatin’ up pretty quick.
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