Steelhead 2013-2014 Thread

[fishingood]

I don't know if you'll have that problem this week, I don't see any snow forecasted, and the rain coming this week seems to be more of a "warm rain," with the temperatures in the upper 50s to mid 60s. May actually bay a great time to be up, hoping to head up again myself for Saturday.

 

[StarvinMarvin]

Back to low and clear again. Snagging was terrible yesterday, sickening actually. Very cool to see that wild steelhead, thanks PatrickC for correcting me.

 

[StarvinMarvin]

Also, leaves are becoming a pain, make sure you run a heavy point fly to get casts down quickly and find free water to cast at. It takes more time but the results will pay off. Lots of guys were fishing flies stuck to leaves and never reaching a fish for a half hour at a time.

 

[salmonoid]

fishingood wrote:
I don't know if you'll have that problem this week, I don't see any snow forecasted, and the rain coming this week seems to be more of a "warm rain," with the temperatures in the upper 50s to mid 60s. May actually bay a great time to be up, hoping to head up again myself for Saturday.

I'm pretty confident that snow won't be an issue. My concerns are low conditions and an aggressive leaf bite

And it looks like I will have to contend with those items.

 

[pcray1231]

Saturday especially was really windy. And yeah, leaves were annoying. I doubt they decreased the effectiveness of fishing all that much though. Maybe a little.

Every 3 or 4 casts you'd pick up a leaf when lifting up to make the next cast. 4 out of 5 times you'd be able to cast it off. The 5th you'd have to bring it in to remove it by hand. After an hour or two of occasional leaf casting, you'd twist up the tippet pretty bad and have to replace.

 

[perrycountypappy]

It was tough fishing at times this past weekend, especially Friday but it was still good fishing. Elk was a bit high and muddy Friday morning but we ended up at the upper mile creeks which fished as good as you would like. Crowds were normal for end of October. Leaves were normal too, I seem to forget about the darn things till I get up there and see them again.

The cold water definitely created some lockjaw on Friday, imo, but it lessened by the afternoon and was just good fishing the rest of the weekend, There are just times that you have to work for what you get up there early on in the season and I for one thought that was what it was this past weekend but good fishing, hated to have to leave to come home on Sunday.

Only saw one guy snagging a fish and told him about it. I know some may not say anything to them when they see it but I do. I watched it for the first couple years I went up there and didn't say anything and thought how terrible it was for them to do it and complained about it later. So I got to the point were I not going to just complain about it, I'll tell them about it. I don't want some guy wanting to fight about a fish but I'm no wallflower either so I had to start saying something.

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Looks like I'll be in Erie PM the 7th .Anyone interested in meeting up then,pm,or the 8th for some fishing? GG

 

[trike23]

I see lots of rain in the forecast thursday untill monday. Was thinking of making the trek up but not sure if its worth the 6hr drive. Nothing like making the drive and having blow out conditions. I dont feel like I got my fill yet this season with fishing being so good.

 

[FarmerDave]

Gulf, I went fishing with PatrickC yesterday and he showed me some new spots. (I bought new waders) Actually it was a good day for scouting because the water was low and clear. Hooked one for sure but it got off after a couple of head shakes.

Saw a lot of fish in shallow clear water, so I could have easily flossed a few, but I'm not going to risk losing flies over that. ;-)

Oh yea, I'd be up for the 8th.

 

[FarmerDave]

In case you have ANY doubts that pcray is an engineer... link

But I have to admit the numbers seemed about right to me as well.;-)

 

[PatrickC]

Well, yesterday was just "one of those days" on the creek. FD and I hit it a daylight, because in the low and clear....well that is your best time to get one.

So, we joined up with a thousand of our best friends and gave it a go. There are plenty of fish around and most of them spooky as all get out. So, you have to find small deep moving pocket water to be successful in these conditions AND you have to go small. Nymphs, eggs, and 4x is the ticket in the low and clear.

We were able to find a few gamers throughout the day, but with tiny nymphs, small tippet and fairly hot fish....getting them to hand is another issue.

That being said, it was a beautiful day. FD learned some new spots to take his posse during the Stealhead Jam and the low and clear let him see the structure in those area. Hopefully there will be some flow at that time and it will pay some dividends.

Good fishing with you Dave.

 

[fishingood]

I wouldn't worry too much about a blow out this weekend, based on observations of the gauge and a lot of the reports I'm hearing, the streams are back down to low and clear, and most of the heavy rain should be in by tomorrow night, giving the streams part a bit of time to drop and clear up a bit before the weekend. The forecast I saw yesterday predicted about .3 inches of rain tonight, and half an inch of rain Thursday night, but that has now changed to be spread throughout tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night, which is good, it's better to have the streams just high enough for fish to move in and move up over a period of time, rather than have it blow out, and come right back down a few hours later. All that, combined with the fact that many of the heavy rains systems forecast for this year so far have dissipated right before hitting the Erie area, leaving what was supposed to be about an inch of rain no more than about a quarter inch. If anything, sounds like you could get into some decent conditions to me

 

[fishingood]

Nice fish, PatrickC, that one in that second picture down looks like a real hawg.

Also, good to see there are still good hearted folks out there willing to help others out.

 

[PatrickC]

No hawgs yesterday, just a couple of pretty fish. Took a little while to land them with the small tippet.

All I did was show him some water. It was a good day to be out. The weather was PERFECT.

I NEVER worry about a blow-out. They are the best things that happen to the tribs! ;-)

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Very nice fish! Looking foreward to it. GG

 

[pro4mance]

I'll be heading up on the 7th as well GG, was planning on fishing Friday for sure. Thursday is a maybe depending on arrival time. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the JAM Norm

 

[FarmerDave]

PatrickC wrote:
Well, yesterday was just "one of those days" on the creek. FD and I hit it a daylight, because in the low and clear....well that is your best time to get one.

So, we joined up with a thousand of our best friends and gave it a go. There are plenty of fish around and most of them spooky as all get out. So, you have to find small deep moving pocket water to be successful in these conditions AND you have to go small. Nymphs, eggs, and 4x is the ticket in the low and clear.

We were able to find a few gamers throughout the day, but with tiny nymphs, small tippet and fairly hot fish....getting them to hand is another issue.

That being said, it was a beautiful day. FD learned some new spots to take his posse during the Stealhead Jam and the low and clear let him see the structure in those area. Hopefully there will be some flow at that time and it will pay some dividends.

Good fishing with you Dave.

Well, that explains why I didn't catch any. I was using 3X Fluorocarbon. Some guide you are. :lol:

Seriously though. I like looking at the bright side. Fished all day with a professional guide and he only caught a few more than I did.;-)

Glad you didn't take a picture of me lying on the ground.

We'll have to do it again some time, maybe over at my brother's place. He has been itching to get out. Just be careful, he is a little bit nuts.

 

[PatrickC]

Well, that explains why I didn't catch any. I was using 3X Fluorocarbon. Some guide you are. :lol:

Seriously though. I like looking at the bright side. Fished all day with a professional guide and he only caught a few more than I did.;-)

Glad you didn't take a picture of me lying on the ground.

We'll have to do it again some time, maybe over at my brother's place. He has been itching to get out. Just be careful, he is a little bit nuts.

It's always awkward fishing with someone that already knows how to fish. When I'm guiding, I'm instructing folks on what to do all day. When I'm not guiding, I find myself not quite knowing what I should do. That's why I said...."Let me know what I can help you with today." I don't want to be yakking at you all day like you don't k now what's going on and I don't want to not be helpful if you need help. You seemed like you were just enjoying the day at your own pace, so I tried not to say much.

It was a tough day for catching. I hooked 8 fish yesterday, but only kept 2 from giving me the slip. The longer you play a steelhead on a #14 hook, the more likely you are to loose it. Unfortunately, it's a little tough to just horse them over with the 4x.

 

[FarmerDave]

PatrickC wrote:

Well, that explains why I didn't catch any. I was using 3X Fluorocarbon. Some guide you are. :lol:

Seriously though. I like looking at the bright side. Fished all day with a professional guide and he only caught a few more than I did.;-)

Glad you didn't take a picture of me lying on the ground.

We'll have to do it again some time, maybe over at my brother's place. He has been itching to get out. Just be careful, he is a little bit nuts.

It's always awkward fishing with someone that already knows how to fish. When I'm guiding, I'm instructing folks on what to do all day. When I'm not guiding, I find myself not quite knowing what I should do. That's why I said...."Let me know what I can help you with today." I don't want to be yakking at you all day like you don't k now what's going on and I don't want to not be helpful if you need help. You seemed like you were just enjoying the day at your own pace, so I tried not to say much.

It was a tough day for catching. I hooked 8 fish yesterday, but only kept 2 from giving me the slip. The longer you play a steelhead on a #14 hook, the more likely you are to loose it. Unfortunately, it's a little tough to just horse them over with the 4x.

I'm sure you realize I was only joking, but believe it or not I was actually going to ask you if you had any 4X fluorocarbon. But after picking up and using a bobber that you had dropped, asking for tippet might have been pushing it. :lol:

Smallest fluorocarbon tippet that I had on me was 3X. I likely had smaller conventional tippet on me at the time, but chose to stick with the fluorocarbon because of the conditions.

I very much enjoyed it and thanks again for your help. Hope your wife enjoys the peppers.

P.S. The bobber is mine now.

 

[FarmerDave]

PatrickC wrote:

It's always awkward fishing with someone that already knows how to fish. When I'm guiding, I'm instructing folks on what to do all day. When I'm not guiding, I find myself not quite knowing what I should do.

All you have to do is think of it as fishing with another guide. In this case, a very bad one.;-)