Author Archive

The Pittsburgh Trib called me this week for some comments on early season Steelhead fishing. I gave the writer a lot of information but I knew he could only fit so much in. It was nice to be included and the print version has a photo of a client I guided last October and lists my website and phone number.

Other than that we have a few fish hanging around the mouths and some coming in early in the morning and leaving by 10 or 11 AM. I’ll be going up this week sometime to get that first Steelhead of the season. I’ll be throwing Flatfish lures in the stream the first few hours and maybe some spoons and spinners at the mouths. If fish are hanging around in one spot I’ll toss a jig or two. I’ll keep you posted on developments but it is very early and just a few have been caught. It will be a few weeks for a major first wave of fish to come in. Cooler nights and some rain will help the situation as always, but some years nice first runs of fish came in for no reason at all. That’s just the way it is.

Here is the link to the online article and a copy of the print version.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/outdoors/s_698109.html

You can see the professional operation I have going on here; a vice that is clamped onto a hardback book, tying on my sofa on a kitchen chair. The video didnt turn out too well but my wife tried with her Sony digital camera. At some point I’ll have to get serious and do it with a real video camera. This along with the jig tying post and photos should get your started, but if you have any questions feel free to email me and I’ll be happy to help further. This was just a basic jig tied with white bucktail and green Flashabou. Nothing fancy, but it’s a killer on Erie Steelhead.

I’m looking forward to the Fall season and something tells me I’ll be hooking into a few very soon to get an early start.

-JB

There should be. In the spring of 2009 the state started stocking Brown Trout in the lake near some of the creek mouths in hopes of having a legitimate trophy Brown Trout fishery along the shorelines and in the streams in the fall. They were stocked at about the same size as the Steelhead Smolts that are stocked each spring in the tributaries. Brown Trout in the other Great Lakes run into tributary streams in the Fall to spawn with Steelhead and other Salmon. These fish already ran in the streams last fall after just 1 summer and ranged from 14-17″. We caught quite a few last fall. Those fish that didn’t run should be doing so this fall and we should start to see fish in the 20-25″ class. This in addition to the trophy Steelhead that run the Erie streams adds a new wrinkle to a day of fishing that is already world class.

The only Browns we had before were from adult trout stockings done on a few of the streams in the spring for regular trout season. Those that survived the spring fishing would head out to the lake as most of the streams in Erie County are not suitable to hold trout over the summer. Those fish ran with the Steelhead in the fall but mostly were few and far between. Some big ones were caught every year and if you were lucky you would find a pod of Browns to fish over in one spot. In 10 years I wasn’t that lucky and have seen just a handful and have caught 2 in the 4-5 lb range. I look forward to having a shot at catching many throughout this season and future years. This is another wonderful opportunity and another great reason to visit our streams.

Big lake Brown Trout behave similar to Steelhead and can be caught using the same techniques. Jigs, Flatfish, flies, and any baits below a float can fool a Brown just like a Steelhead. In the lake you may find Browns staging earlier than Steelhead. Here spoons and spinners are the most effective options.

I’ll let you know when I see these fish this season and I will certainly post any pics of ones I or my clients catch on the streams. There are not many fish as beautiful as a large Brown Trout and it’s nice to know we may not have to go all the way to the Lake Michigan or Lake Ontario streams to catch them.

-JB