Erie Steelhead Dec 7 -10 2011

The rains came and so did the fish. I was there from late Wednesday to mid day Saturday and it was a trip to remember. Upper elk is full of spawning and even post spawn fish who had a liking to streamers on the swing. Incredible action on old beat up fish on Wednesday and Thursday, well up river, much further than I have ever ventured before. Many of the fish looked like they had gone through the dryer on spin cycle. Some gravel beds were littered with spawning pairs that completely ignored everything we threw at them. But once we found a pool or some decent holding water, there was often a player on every bend or so. Some of the females were obviously spawned out and had little fight. The old horse males who hang on a little longer to protect their spawning grounds had a bit more fight left in them but nothing like a fresh from the lake silver steelhead is supposed to exhibit. But we were more than 20 miles up river, these fish have seen extreme drought and flooding conditions in a creek not much wider than a pick up is long. It's easy to see how they may have taken a beating.

First fish of the trip on Wednesday afternoon from upper Elk.  I dropped my kids off at school at 8am in Maryland and still managed a few hours on the water that afternoon. This is probably an average female steelhead that was still relatively fresh and had not spawned yet.  This is the more or less the cookie cutter size or "regular grade" Erie steelhead of about 5 or 6 pounds and 22 inches long.  The other fish that afternoon were similar in size and therefore didn't get a photo shoot.  With dirty conditions, poor visibility, i.e. perfect water clarity, the white bead was still very effective.  This has been the top producer for myself and my fishing partner John Chucoski from The salmon river to Erie this season.  8mm white bead pegged two inches up the line fished under an indicator on 6 pound tippet, on a 6 wt fly rod and a number 10 or 12 black bird hook. AKA steelhead crack.

On Thursday morning we decided to hit lower Walnut at one of the most popular spots in the entire Great Lakes tributary system.  The thought was that the high water would bring in massive amounts of fish and mid week peak hunting season would keep the crowds down.  Plus I was hoping to show a couple green steelhead fishermen mind boggling numbers of fish even if it meant we had to fight the crowds.  Notice no one in the back ground?!  With a few fish to play with but no where near the numbers that are usually there.  I netted this fish before it had a chance to wake up.  Not a whole lot of fight to it for some reason but it may have been the largest fish of the trip.  A variety of factors go into a steelheads fighting ability; water temperature, how fresh the fish was, how much oxygen they receive, whether it has been caught before. I think this fish was just a little cold and a little lethargic being that it was holding in some fast pocket water.  If this fish was caught in early November, Matt would have seen his backing probably more than once. 

 

On Friday we decided to stay a little closer to the lake but hiked miles on one stream into NY and found gold or better yet Silver. Numbers were incomprehensible. I told my guys, one of them new to steelhead fishing that if you can find unmolested fish who haven’t seen a fly yet that day, chances are you'll catch them. I said the day before that one of my secrets is to walk far enough and fast enough to be the first person at a pool. Well, Caleb took that literally. Often bypassing and not fishing mediocre water to find that hidden treasure that may or may not have been around the next bend. If it wasn't for the one other hardcore fishermen out on Friday who kept alternating pools with Caleb, I don't think we ever would have ventured as far up river as we did on Friday. This one guy obviously knew what he was doing, as he did not spend more than a few casts at any one pool and was on a mission to fish a certain section that was only accessible by helicopter or a very determined fishermen. The two strangers chased each other so far up river that eventually the flat, featureless bed rock turned into an excellent pool:riffle:run ratio and with it the fish. These steelhead were not the way upper river spawned out fish that ran back in October. These fish were in near perfect condition, some fresh and dime bright silver, so full of piss and vinegar that you would think they were November fish, not December. A few snow flakes were in the air, we had pretty much the entire stream to ourselves and it was just steelhead fishing zen. I for once fished slower today and picked at the leftovers behind Matt and Caleb. But I'll take leftovers when there's ample reserves. Beads pegged up the line, in white, 8mm in size was deadly. Something most of those fish probably have never seen before. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of those fish have never seen any fly for that matter. Egg flies such as sucker spawn, glow bugs, san juan worms, stone flies and wooly buggers all got action too.  We just may have been the first fishermen these fish have ever seen. When that happens, success will follow. With the growing season over now the streams retain water and color for much longer than they did in early November and October. Thus prolonging the "perfect" green conditions needed for epic numbers on the Lake Erie tributaries so prone to flash flooding.  We were there at a perfect time when the streams were just receding from a high water event.  Friday was one of the better days I've had on those tribs in 10 + years. It took a little determination to put it all together but I'll take it. It was a group effort.

Here's a perfect pool with perfect water clarity with no one else around.  Most of the fish were holding in the narrower faster water to the left of the picture, not the usual, deeper, slower water towards the right of the picture. 

Here's Caleb working the deeper water.  Matt managed to land three fish from this pool prior to me ever getting there. 

Here's one of the three fish that Matt landed from the pool above.  Notice the girth of this fish and her color. She was full of attitude. 

Some beautiful scenery that is always that much more spectacular with no one else around. 

Here's one of my larger fish from Friday.  This old male had been in the stream a while but was still full of vigor. He's posing next to my size 14 boot and may have pushed that magic 30" number.   

On Saturday another one of the Depp brothers was going to meet us in the morning. I had promised my wife and kids to be home for dinner in Maryland but I also wanted to put Timothy on his first steelhead. Maybe even his first trout. Talk about getting spoiled. Well, we fished upper Elk again and once again had the place to ourselves. Tim first started off with a spinning rod and a spinner. Water temperatures had plummeted, air temps were well below freezing, our guides were icing up immediately and to say conditions were difficult would be an understatement.  The snow was coming down so hard that it made it difficult to focus on the float.  I let Tim use my noodle rod rigged with egg sacks under a float and within seconds, before I could even turn around he's already hooked up. This continued for the next few casts too. I think he hooked three fish in three casts from an area we had already beaten to death with flies. But like so many steelhead do, they managed to find freedom. Finding, then hooking steelhead is only part of the equation. Landing them is a skill only mastered after quite a few trials and errors.

It was nearing mid day when I had said all my goodbyes and was a little disappointed I couldn't get Tim into his first steelhead. I decided to take a few casts at the last pool of the day near our cars. Well, this one pool was well occupied with fish. I hooked up with a better than average fish and was able to pass the rod to Tim so he could land his first steelhead. Success! This particular fish went home for dinner and believe it or not, she had already spawned. I later learned that Tim hooked up quite a few more times on his own that afternoon as I battled the snow squall towards home. I managed to make it home by 7pm which found me instantly soaking my sore muscles in a hot bath.  To say steelhead fishing isn’t a sport is sacrilegious in my eyes.  When you hump all your gear, food, water, miles into steep topography, then go to battle with a fish as psychotic as a steelhead, you need to be on top of your game.  Crossing the river dozens of times, leg pressing the current on every step is not your typical pond fishing experience and not for the faint of heart.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.  As Larry Dahlberg once said, “A Good fishing spot is almost directly proportional to the amount of effort it to took to get there", or something like that anyway.   

My relaxing bath was soon rudely interrupted  when my 5 year old son came cannonballing into the whirlpool after he returned home from a friend’s house. I'll take it though. I think it’s almost time to show Ryan his first steelhead. 

The net job on Tim's first steelhead. 

Notice the smile.