Believe it or not, this past week I was lucky enough to have a couple of days off work in the middle of the week. And you know what that means--- GONE FISHIN' ---Lol!Dad and I loaded up the Pathfinder on Tuesday around noon, and by 5 PM we had our waders on and were waste deep (Okay, maybe ankle deep) in Elk Creek. My Dad and I have been making steelhead fishing road trips to the great lakes region for nea
rly 20 years now... So every year when the heat of summer begins to fade into the longer, cooler nights of fall, it is a pretty sure bet that both of us are starting to think (at least in part) about steelhead.Fortunately, on this trip, we were able to encounter a good number of those steelhead that we had been thinking so much about... The trib conditions weren't perfect, in fact they were very low and clear--which actually equates to being pretty tough. Still, there were good numbers of fish in the creeks, and the numbers of fishermen didn't seem that bad honestly (considering we were fishing Erie in the fall).
Given the low/clear conditions, getting a proper presentation is of the utmost importance if you want to get bit... So we both spent our entire time float fishing, which tends to produce the best (IMO) when things get tough. As far as bait and terminal tackle goes, we had to fish very light leaders (like 4 lb, flouro) to get a decent number of bites, and you had to use very small hooks, small shot, and you needed to have the right bait for the type of water you were fishing.
As far as the fish go, it seemed that there was a pretty good mix of fresh (chrome colored) fish and dark battle worn veterans in the creeks... And with the weather being on a warming trend during our stay, the fish were fighting pretty hard as water temps rose throughout the day. We encountered a lot of great jumpers on this trip... In fact, my best fish of the trip (a nice 30" hen) put up an awesome fight--twisting and turning and launching itself into the air probably 5 or 6 times. I was probably lucky to land that fish on 4 pound leader.This was probably the only trip we'll be able to make to Erie this fall... And lucky for us the fish cooperated well enough to keep both of us looking forward to making another trip again come late winter or early spring, if all goes well.
I guess that is all for now... As always, I wish you all the best of luck in your outdoor pursuits, and thanks again for stopping by and reading. I hope you enjoy the pics! :)
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