As I confirmed in my last report there is open water and more of it every day. There is still significant ice in some sections. Some deeper holes still have thick ice while others are mostly free. Just the way things work in a slow melt. We should see continued melt over the weekend and by this time next week most if not all water will be open. Hard to say if we will see a blowout. That is dependant on rain. I’ll be on the streams heavily starting next week until the season ends.

I have added a new album on the pictures page showcasing fish from the 2009-2010 season either caught by myself or guiding clients. In this tough season between lower than average numbers of fish and a hard winter you’ll see that we’ve done just fine. While we didn’t have many 20 plus fish days like we are used to we caught a lot of fish when others were not in the toughest conditions in over a decade. The good news is that it’s not over yet. I expect a good spring season and to be catching fish well into the first week or two of April before it’s all said and done.

The streams won’t be quite as lonely as they have been in the last few months, but I welcome that, as I welcome hiking streams without a sled and an auger in tow. After 6 consecutive months of going after Steelhead one way or another it can be difficult to put on the waders before sunrise and fish hard 8 hours a day for 1 last month. Knowing that an entire summer will be near done by the time we do it all again is all the fuel I need to finish the season hard and strong. Some of the biggest and baddest fish can be caught at the end of the season. I’ll be out there and I hope you will join me for the 7th month of THE Erie Steelhead Experience. -JB

A surprising amount of open water was seen today on a number of streams and we should be back to full scale open water fishing after the weekend.  Did well this morning ice fishing a hole with jigs and single eggs.  More fish holding in current than I’ve seen since December.  Under the ice albeit but they were mostly all in the fastest current.  Deepest and slowest pools still have ice but some long stretches of open water are open and fishable as of today.  The lake is still frozen as far as the eye can see.  I am really looking forward to upcoming days on flowing water and fishing with a rod longer than 2 feet!  Cheers to a much needed late winter and spring Steelheading season….on slightly softer water than what we’ve been accustomed to since the first week of January.  Very mild day today and nice way to end my ice fishing season.  I know many will be fishing the bay for weeks to come but for me it’s back to flowing water.  See you on the streams.  -JB

Keep looking for that warming trend.  Saw one in the forecast for late next week a few days ago but even that seems to have disappeared.  Looks to be some warmer temps this weekend but not enough to really do anything significant.  I’ve never ice fished for Steelhead in March.  Starting to think that is a possibility.  It is fun but let me be clear:  While having safe enough ice to do this on the streams is nice, it also means it takes a significant warm weather and rain event to clear it out.  At this rate we could be Steelheading into mid-April with good numbers of fish.  It happened a few years in the earlier part of the last decade and this year looks to be no different. 

For now we can’t change or control the weather, but we can keep on pluggin’ away and continue to fish however we can to get through this winter.  Before we know it we’ll all be catching fish somewhere in t-shirts and shorts and marinating ourselves in sunblock.  I’ll be out on the ice this week again and hoping that it’s the last week I do so…..but the auger will still be well within reach in my garage for some time to come. 

On a personal note I am 31 today.  Looking forward to spending the weekend with friends and family and celebrating properly.  For some reason I’ve had an odd tradition of going carp fishing on a local stream for about 10 years now on or around my birthday.  Have to see how that plays out this weekend and if my first fish after the turn is a carp or a Steelhead through the ice.  I have always regarded both fish as stunning and beautiful despite popular opinion on each fish’s worthiness and appearance. 

Every time I think I’m getting old I think of my Grandfather who lived until 83 and in his later years was still whooping the Salmon and Steelhead population of Oregon on the Columbia, Willamette, and Sandy Rivers by accounts relayed to me.  I can only hope to live as long but also to have the will and strength to go out and bring in fish like this.  Judging by this pic I have a long time to go before I can think that I’m old, and Grandpa didn’t look like he cared how old he was holding this King.  I’ve been using Flatfish for Steelhead in Erie more than anyone with high catch rates for 10 years.  Guess who’s tackle box was loaded with them?  This man’s.   Thanks for the posthumous fishing tip Gramps.  -JB

The only change in conditions lately is that the ice is thicker. That still shouldn’t stop anyone from fishing, even for Steelhead. I’ve never been one to think of winter as a time to “reflect on the past season” or spend day after day tinkering with my tackle, or tying loads of flies and jigs for the Spring. I spend the same amount of time doing all of that no matter what month it is. More than reflection is my desire to continue fishing no matter what the conditions are. I don’t have much time to reorganize and think about what I’ve caught lately as the only thing on my mind is when is the next trip, what for, and how am I going to catch it? 20 degrees or 90, some combination of rods and tackle are about to leave my garage and go into my truck at any second.

I think of life as very short overall when you factor in how our time is divided up. Because of this I need to fish hard and fish often every day I can get out. Being frustrated at the hard winter and no real prospects for open water any time soon is energy wasted that could be used to go out once again, drill a hole in some ice, trek through the snow, catch fish, and enjoy the sport we’re supposed to love 12 months a year instead of 9.

My focus of course now is ice fishing for Steelhead, as we don’t often get frozen streams this long to really develop better patterns and techniques. Usually it’s a couple days of fun and we get enough of a melt to make stream ice unstable. With this sustained period I’ve not only been able to experiment with baits and lures but also had plenty of time to use the underwater camera and focus in on fish behavior, movement, and favored holding locations of fish under the ice in deep holes and long stretches of water where they are more spread out. I’ve also had a ton of fun and I’ll be doing it until ice out. I love ice fishing for any fish, but 25-30″ Steelhead on a 27″ or 4.5 foot rod is too tempting to spend my time fishing for anything else. Also, I didn’t name my guide service and website “Erie Bluegill and Perch Experience.”

If you’re itching to get out and want to take a trip shoot me an email or give me a call. I have available days this week for trips and it’s a guarentee we will have safe ice.

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!

What an absolute blast today! Went into the double digits hooking fish through the ice on a trib from 8 am to 1 pm. Another gentleman nearby kept up just as well jigging Swedish Pimples with minnows. I used jigs most of the day but also hooked fish on single eggs, mealworms, and even Jigging Rapalas normally used for walleyes and perch when ice fishing. The Rapalas saw really aggressive strikes and hooked a fish I thought may have been 12-13 lbs that was lost at the hole after a 5-6 minute fight. Quite a few fish were landed in the 8-9 lb range with one at 30″ and right on the 10 lb mark. With clear water I saw every strike as fish hit less than 2 feet under the hole. This type of fishing is super fun in this kind of winter and I’d do this all day any day over ice fishing the bay. Something about fighting huge fish through a hole in the ice. There were times when myself and the other angler nearby couldn’t keep fish off of our lines.

It looks as though this is the only type of Steelhead fishing to be done for a while so if you are interested in doing this please give me a call and we can spend a day on the ice cranking in these fish. A couple of the bigger fish yesterday went into 4 and 5 minute fights and arm cramping became a real issue, albeit a welcomed one. I’ll be doing this again soon as it’s just too much fun. While I long for open water to fish and guide on it’s hard to pass up the opportunity of this type of fishing. We usually do not have sustained periods of ice up like we have had this entire month. For me it’s far more satisfying than staying inside and tinkering with my fishing equipment in preparation for the next thaw….because that may be a long time off.

Beautiful day to be out yesterday as you can see in the pics. Took the camera out just a few times as most of the fish went right back so I could get back to hooking more fish. -JB

Because that’s the only way any of us will be getting any Steelhead for the foreseeable future. My philosophy of “use every method possible to catch fish” gets literal when I break out an auger and start drilling holes in the ice, popping the underwater camera down, and jig fish through the ice with a 27″ ice rod.

We should see some safe ice to do this again this week but if you go on your own be extremely careful. Ice over moving water is always a huge question mark. If you are interested in doing an ice trip for Steelhead give me a call and I’ll be happy to take you out.

Most baits used in open water will work for Steel under the ice and using a float, but I prefer to use my shorter jigs to get bit quickly. Often they hit them with enough force that they set the hook themselves. With just a few feet of line out and keeping a continuous jigging rhythm, if you feel anything out of the ordinary, it’s a fish that just inhaled the jig. If you keep the hole clear of slush you can often see the strike. Most often however they hit jigs hard and the fish is running and stripping line by the time you’re heart slows down.

I don’t think my Grandfather, a Pacific Northwest salmon and steelheader most of his life, would have ever believed that one could ice fish for Steelhead. Fortunately this is just another benifit of the Erie fishery. One of the true 365 day a year fisheries, whatever the texture of the water is.

Old man winter is bringing his A game this year and he’s bringing it for 4 quarters and 2 overtimes. I’m always prepared for the matchup. -JB