Erie steelhead

Troutbum15

Troutbum15

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Jun 21, 2016
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13
Any advice on patterns for erie steelhead. Heading up there in two weekends and was wondering what to use. Nymphs, eggs, streamers, etc

thanks
 
All of those have their place.

Egg patterns are the old standby. But if the fish are heavily pressured they see the old standby's over and over, and it sometimes pays to switch things up. Streamers can induce reaction strikes from active, more aggressive fish. And nymphs can often be useful on the less active fish that seem to ignore everything else.
 
I like to use wooly buggers. They seem to work in just about every situation. Strip them like a streamer, dead drift like a nymph , or swing them and hold on.
 
Troutbum, I'm likely heading up the same weekend you are.

Pray for rain. Currently most of the chrome is trapped and stacked down in the lower portions. Need water to get them up. That said, the future looks bright (for the fishing that is, the actual weather looks bleak, which is good).

Last night - got a little rain. Enough to get close to median flow, but far from a good high water event.

Current Accuweather forecast:

Today: nothing
Tonight: Nothin
Tuesday: 0.02 inches
Tuesday night: 0.14 inches
Wednesday: 0.2"
Wednesday night: 0.47"
Thursday: 1"
Thursday night: 0.79"
Friday: 0.15"
Friday night: 0.02"
Saturday: 0.08"
Saturday night: 0.23"
Sunday: 0.12"
Sunday night: 0.1"

= 3.32" spread out over the next week. Slow ramp up to wet the ground and get creeks to a decent starting level, a deluge Wednesday late night through Thursday night, followed immediately by cooler temps and a north wind to fire up the lake effect machine and bring some maintenance rain to keep it from dropping too fast.

That'll do it.... Not sure I could have designed a better forecast to trigger fish movement (other than maybe having a few runs under our belts already, of course). Hope it comes to pass.

A bonus for us would be if it were unfishable through next weekend, and continued raining and unfishable into the following week, leaving fresh fish spread out and unpounded for an extended period of time. Then cleared up starting about Thursday before we get there. Bounce around and hit different tribs right as they become fishable, fresh off a week long blow out. That'd be awesome.
 
We did pretty well this weekend, 14/23 fish on red eggs and red, black, and or green nymphs. They preferred it stripped slowly along the bottom as opposed to dead drifted under an indicator, but I caught some both ways. Message me if you want more details.
 
Leaves will be down in a week and a half. Rained pretty good yesterday, last night, some streams got more some less. Storm-water retention has been making inroads during rain events.
 
around 3" of rain due in the next 2 days. That should get things moving up in Erie.
 
Don't over-think the patterns for Erie. The fish are not nearly as picky as they just want it in their faces. Make good presentations in the places where fish should be given the days conditions and you will catch fish. In all my years of guiding, that is the number 1 problem I have helped folks address in catching steelhead across Steelhead Alley.

The weather (in theory) is finally heading towards our favor. If all of the rain shakes out, my charter captain buddies tell me there is a large number of fish staging. These guys guide steelhead in the creeks as well. They think we're in for a pretty good run if we get some water. Keep your fingers crossed.
 
The weekend is setting up for the full blown shitshow!! I'll wait and hit it Monday, which will still be crowded, but nowhere near as bad as the weekend.
 
Weekend likely to be a little too high. Saturday, at least. I'd guess the smaller streams may begin to fish Saturday evening and Sunday. Bigger ones might be till Monday. Depends how much rain comes.

Right now they're predicting about 3.4" starting now and not ending till Friday evening. That's not just bringing the creeks up some, that's a full blown blow-out. The smallest of the PA tribs still take 24 hours to come down. 24 hrs = late day Saturday. The largest take close to 3 days. = late day Monday.

And that's assuming the rain actually ends on Friday. According to the forecast, that's not really the case. After the bulk moves through your still left with a showery, drizzly situation that'll put down another quarter inch from Friday night through end of day Sunday. This will slow the rate at which they come down. That combined with the situation that the initial high water will be VERY high,

And I'd say fish could be caught on Sunday in select spots, Monday will be better, and Tuesday is probably prime time....
 
PatrickC wrote:
Don't over-think the patterns for Erie. The fish are not nearly as picky [d]as they[/d] [color=990000]so you[/color] just want it in their faces. Make good presentations in the places where fish should be given the days conditions and you will catch fish. In all my years of guiding, that is the number 1 problem I have helped folks address in catching steelhead across Steelhead Alley.

The weather (in theory) is finally heading towards our favor. If all of the rain shakes out, my charter captain buddies tell me there is a large number of fish staging. These guys guide steelhead in the creeks as well. They think we're in for a pretty good run if we get some water. Keep your fingers crossed.
Click to expand...


There, fixed that for you.

You know what I am talking about. LOL!
 
Sometimes when/if the fish get selective during low flows, or are pressured, don't hesitate to try some more nontraditional patterns. Big streamers, worm patterns, etc. It may take some oddball fly to get their attention. Not saying they're top producers, but sometimes good for a fish or three when the going gets tough and they've seen the usual flies a million times. Even caught one on a foam hopper the other weekend.......ya never know what they may eat.

But yeah, as mentioned presentation and knowing where(including what water type) to fish during what conditions are the most important factors. Put an egg or bugger in the right lane and you'll get fish. And don't think you have to fish the popular spots....when there's actually water in the creeks people pass up a lot of fish, which are usually more willing to eat than the fish in the pressured holes. Move around. It can be hard to outwalk the crowds at places like Elk, especially on the weekends, but covering water is a good thing.
 
3" turned into 1.7" pretty quick. Ohh what it must be like to be a meteorologist and still get paid to be wrong all the time.
 
Ryan, that's 1.7 more. Estimates of 0.5 to 1.5 have already fallen, depending on exact location. 1.0 exactly so far reported at Erie airport. Band of 1.5+ just a couple miles to the south.

So yeah, future rainfall totals drop fast when they change to past rainfall totals.
 
Crawfish swimming and clouser type and black buggers . They look at a gazillion egg patterns and nymphs, throw something else.
 
Thanks for all the advice. Im gonna give it a try this weekend either way. Ill let you guys know how it goes
 
RAINS BEEN FALLING ALL DAY!! :lol:
Should fish for a while after this cool
 
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