Archive for December, 2009

Spent the day on a stretch of a larger trib and most of the time I kicked out ice off of banks to get to fish. Hookups were hard to come by and ice and slush were everywhere. Streams are being taken over by winter and it’s not looking good for the next week or so. A few fish hooked on eggs, jigs, and a Flatfish lure but just a handful. At the current rate we may be ice fishing for Steelhead very soon. A few trips this week had to be postponed until our next rain or warmup.

Until then I wish everyone a Happy New Year and a safe and rewarding outdoor season through the winter and spring. Whether it’s Steelheading, ice fishing on the lakes and Presque Isle Bay, or hunting the later seasons, enjoying the outdoors through all 4 seasons is the best way to promote our outdoor passions to the next generation. While I would love a mild winter and to fish open creeks through April for Steelhead, a freeze up won’t keep me off the water. I’ll break out the ice fishing gear and hit the bay or a large hole on the streams and pull out some fish through the hard water. Hope you’ll do the same.

Slush and ice made conditions extremely difficult to get presentation down to fish most of the morning. Spent the day on two larger tribs with Matt from Eastern PA and float fished various offerings much of the day. Jigging was attempted but slush made it a fruitless effort. It was a beautiful day on the stream but hookups were at a premium. Matt was able to bring a few nice fish to the net after some suprisingly long battles. Rewarding to say the least when you fight the weather and conditions all day for a handful of hookups. Winter is bringing it’s A game right now and it is not looking good for the next week or so. Slower pools weren’t even an option with slush and ice covering those areas very quickly after the last rain. Here’s a few pics on the day.

Just want to extend holiday wishes to all reading these reports and especially those I have guided. To those I haven’t I hope to see you on the streams and I’d love the opportunity to guide you for big steelhead on the Erie tributaries. Its been a wonderful fall season and I know the winter will be outstanding fishing as long as the creeks are open. Again I wish all a safe and happy holiday season and hope you enjoy time with family and/or in the outdoors.

I wanted to share a nice email from an angler I guided last week. Knowing a fisherman succeeds after a trip with me is the true reward of guiding, and an email like this is the best gift I will get for the holidays.

“Hello Joe,
Lee and I had a fantastic time fishing with you. Your focus on teaching and how to interpret fish reaction was very insightful. I went back to where you took me and caught 11 steelhead and 1 brown trout. Your jigs you gave me and single eggs were the ticket. I had a four cast four fish result at 4:00 on Wednesday, a first for me. I had fly fisherman asking me what I was using. I will definitely be calling on you in the future, earlier in the year I hope! Thanks for the education. -Dave.”

Dave and Lee’s report for their day with me can be found under the 12/21 post.