Steelhead Thread 2014-2015

HA!

Here are your early season tips.
1. Back off of your drag.
2. 4x tippet
3. NEVER underestimate the power of a single egg pattern

:-D
 
For the love of god man, stop it! But keep me informed, haha.
 
46F here in SEPA this morning - mist on the Lake and i could see my breath in the car.

hell yeah, those fish will start moving. on the shore as well as the lake.
 
Saw temperatures as low as 40F in low lying areas on the way to work this morning. Unfortunately there will not be any significant rain for awhile. Could be weeks.

Good for farmers, but bad for steelhead fishing.
 
Accuweather shows precipitation estimates throughout the month.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/erie-pa/16501/september-weather/330296?monyr=9/1/2014&view=table

We need the walnut gauge to hit 400 in a big storm to push the stream flow. Once that happens it'll get the fish into the stream.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=04213152

Doesn't look like we have a big gully washer coming any time soon.
 
There are fish in Walnut now. They were catching them in Manchester Hole this weekend. You need flows of 400cfs+ to push them past the train trestle.
 
Bit the bullet and made the trip up, and did alright.. Caught two on elk, and six on twenty mile, all on minnow colored streamers. On twenty mile, was some artificial color yesterday from them cutting trees up above.

Some fish are definitely, but no current and little water. Keep doing them rain dances.
 
I too made the trip up. Checked out Conneaut(the OH portion), Walnut, Elk, Trout Run, and Crooked. Only fished Conneaut though..........just walked around and watched at the other places. It was more of a scouting trip than anything. Didn't feel like fishing puddles for fish swimming in circles with the rest of Erie....

Picked up 2 fish on Conny and lost 2 others. Covered a LOT of water. Only a few fish around and they were skittish. Couple of other guys out and about fishin but the creek was empty compared to the PA tribs.

Saw an ok amount(for this time of year) in Walnut at the Manchester hole and the stop sign hole, as well as a good number of fish along the wall. Didn't see anything caught while I was there except for one fish that was lost on the wall.

Not as many fish in Trout Run than I thought but there were a handful. Saw one fish caught along the lake and another guy had 2 on a stringer.

Only checked out Elk at the mouth. Saw one really nice fish jump multiple times, and saw another guy lose a fish. People were lined up from the boat launch down but not much action while I was there. Couple guys in the log jam hole. Nothing at Crooked

I'll throw up a couple pics tomorrow once I get them on my computer. Overall a nice day on the water and it feels good to start the season!!!! Like fishingood said now we just need to continue the rain dances...
 
As a side note, the fish I saw jump at Elk had a lamprey attached to it, and I saw a lamprey on a fish at Conneaut as well.
 
Thanks for the updates guys. Knowing I only have a few punches in my "get out of the house free" card from my wife and kids I appreciate the info. Looking forward to it. It's only a matter of time.
 
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IMG_3916_zpsd4aaa5b1.jpg
 
awesome fish.

how long is that?
 
Thanks. Didn't measure it but I'm guessing around 28-29in. Fantastic fighter, as are most fish this time of year.

The first one I got was a whopping 13in lol
 
Streamerguy,

I am curious to what your setup and rig you have pictured...looks big?
 
It's an 11ft 6wt "switch" rod. Got a great deal on it so I couldn't pass it up. Saturday was my first time using it and I'm liking it so far. Pretty light and it's not as top heavy as I thought for being a low end Cabela's rod.

Hoping to do more swinging on the OH tribs this year in the higher flows and that extra length helps with nymphing as well. Saturday I was mainly just working the pools with small streamers(no indicators, and occasionally a tiny split shot) in the low and clear water and the rod worked great. Currently I have a regular 8wt WF floating line on it.......but that may change.
 
Streamerguy I truly think lamprey are responsible for the poor steelhead returns the last couple years. Noticed lamprey wounds on lots of the steelhead I caught last fall. On top of that many to most of the big walleyes I caught out in the lake this summer had lamprey wounds. This was from last year but this shows they know whats going on with poor steelhead returns.http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2013/04/explosion_of_sea_lamprey_aroun.html
 
That's a nice Steel! Another possible reason for fewer Steel in Erie tribs is the bumper crop of Walleye.I have seen reports of Walleye with several smolts in their stomach when cleaned.The eye is a very hungry predator!
 
Luckily, the walleye and other predators take the weakest for the most part, thus increasing the fitness of the remaining specimens.
 
1st day of fall today - and it felt it - 41F in SEPA this morning.

i did see a pretty heavy fleece hatch going on with the mexican landscapers. lol.

 
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