Usually the drive to Erie goes from seeing an inch of snow to 2 feet. This time it was the exact opposite. The Pittsburgh area looked like Erie and Erie looked like the Pittsburgh area usually does, very little snow at all.

Jamey and Doug came up for an ice fishing trip for Steelhead and had great success. Doug had never caught a Steelhead at all so to have his first fish through the ice is something not many fisherman can say they did. The first half of the day saw the most action with Jamey and Doug getting into fish on jigs and quite a few on single eggs. Skein produced a few more fish to my surprise in the crystal clear water. Fish were landed up to 29″ and some at the 8 lb mark. Quite a few fish never made it to the hole. Having a fish be almost caught and right below the hole can be quite frustrating when you just can’t get the head in the right position to be pulled out!

The action slowed in the afternoon but seeing a fish charge at the jig or egg below the hole still provided chances to hookup. Most fish that hit did so within 3 seconds of a jig or bait being dropped. It was interesting to see fish inhale a ball of skein as soon as it was lowered in the water. With that and single eggs producing, Jamey and Doug proved that sometimes you don’t need “the perfect drift” to catch Steelhead. In fact they hit eggs that aren’t moving anywhere in the current just fine.

Great day on the water and I’ll know I’ll see these guys on the ice again soon. No warmup in sight, better sharpen those auger blades!