Steelhead 11/17/12 and Wild Trout

The last trip we made up to the Lake Erie tributaries for steelhead was Nov. 17, but it was the best trip of the 2012-2013 steelhead season so far! Of course the water was super low and clear as always on the PA streams, but we figured out what the fish were wanted and had a great time.  I think we caught around 12 and at least half that many came off.  Some were on the smaller side, some were average, and we got into two pretty big ones.  The biggest one was 30in(biggest this year!).  We didn't weigh him, but he was heavier than other 30inchers that we caught in the past.  13lbs maybe? Also got out first ever lake-run brown. White and black woolly buggers caught fish, as well as nymphs, eggs, and minnows.  Had a great time as always, but I think we're mainly going to focus on the Ohio steelhead rivers for the rest of the season.  Too many people in PA.

Last weekend we made probably our last wild trout trip of the year.  Caught a few fish, but not nearly as many as we usually get.  As said in one of my last posts I think the summer had an effect on the streams, and we fished some different streams this time so it wasn't just the one.  I still love fishing those small, crystal clear mountain trout streams even if the fish aren't biting.

More Steelhead!

We've been having some fun hooking into a bunch of hard fighting steelhead the past couple weekends in Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

Right before hurricane Sandy came through we fished Walnut and Elk, but they were rising and getting very leafly throughout the day and by the end of the day they were blown out.  We got one early before the conditions got too bad.

Once the streams became fishable again we made another trip up, but we were a few days late.  Everything was back to low and clear, except for Conneaut which was still up a little.  The fish were picky but we still hooked into a few.

 

Last Sunday morning we fished Rocky River for the first time this season.  The weather was nice, the water levels were good, and we even caught three steelies.  We got two on the fly rod with nymphs and one on a minnow.  There were a bunch of other guys out enjoying the nice warm weather and catching a few fish as well. 

 

 

Stocked Trout and STEELHEAD!

Last weekend we fished Neshannock and Cool Spring Creeks after the fall stockings.  Both streams were low and clear, but we stuck with it and caught around 20 rainbows total on eggs and streamers.

Yesterday we made our first of hopefully many trips up to the Erie tribs for steelhead.  The conditions were pretty bad, but we still caught some fish.  Our first stop was Walnut Creek.  It was super low and clear and there were TONS of people as always.  Even though the fish were super spooky we still ended up hooking up with 3. One on a hare's ear nymph and 2 spinfishing.

We took a break for lunch and then headed over to Trout Run.  People were lined up along the beach but we only saw one fish caught.  There was a good amount of fish in the creek, but it isn't loaded with fish yet.

The last spot was Elk Creek.  We walked about 3/4 of a mile before even seeing any fish, but once we found them we caught a couple pretty easily.  Beadhead white woolly buggers and minnows caught fish here.  They weren't as spooked as the ones on Walnut, but after we hooked a couple they did become spooky.  It was a pretty good start to the 2012-13 steelhead season!

 

 

 

 

 

Wild Trout, Pike, and Musky!

This past Saturday we made our last wild trout trip before stocked trout and steelhead season really gets going.  The first stream we fished is one of our favorites.  We only caught rainbows this time, but I did see a nice sized wild brown swim out from under a rock, check out my fly, and then swim right back under!  The little bows were very aggressive and we got into quite a few of them.

The next place we went to is one of our favorite warmwater streams, Tionesta Creek.  We got into a handful of hungry rock bass, smallmouth bass, and bluegills.  I even saw a bald eagle fly by which was cool. 

After lunch we headed over to a nearby brookie stream.  On the very first cast, Andy catches a small rainbow trout!  In the past we have only caught wild and stocked brookies here and one stocked brown, never any bows.  Interesting surprise

The very next hole upstream we catch this colorful native brook trout.

And the next hole up we get our first wild brown out of the creek!

Overall the fishing was pretty slow.  When we fished it last in May we either caught, had a hit, or spooked a brookie out of just about every hole, but Saturday we only caught maybe 3 other fish. The hot and dry summer might of had an effect on the creek. We did though see some very nice sized, colored up brook trout in the bigger holes spawning, or getting ready to. 

Now onto the big fish.....


This year has definitely been the year of the pike and musky.  We caught our first couple muskies this September, and caught many more pike this year than all of our other years fishing combined.  Most of the ones we caught while fishing for other stuff, but the past two weeks we started targeting them and have been hooking into a couple every time out. Landing them was a different story, but we still got some in the net.  They are a blast to catch(except for the teeth!)!

NW PA

Over the weekend we did some more fishing on French Creek, Shenango River, and another nearby waterway.  We caught a bunch of smallmouth bass on French as usual, nothing real big, along with a few rock bass and chubs and shiners.  Water was low. 

At a nearby place we caught a few small walleye, smallmouth bass, bluegills, crappie, perch, and a little musky.  The fish have been a little tough to catch there with all the pressure it gets.  Small streamers actually outfished live minnows. 

On Monday we fished the upper Shenango for only the second time this year.  We caught a ton of bluegills, crappie, 2 largemouths(no smallies this time), a yellow perch, 2 logperch darters, and our first white bass from that part of the river.

The steelhead should be running soon!!!!

Creek Bass

We fished a bunch of different places on a larger stream last weekend.  The creek was on the low side, but we still caught a bunch of nice sized smallmouths, 2 largemouths, and had a decent walleye hit and lost a huge one definitely over 20 inches.  Caught most of our fish on different streamers fly fishing and a bunch on different crankbaits.  Although we've been getting into fish all throughout the day, the better fishing has been earlier and later in the day.  Perfect weather for fishing too.

Drum, Bass, and Cats from OH, PA, and WV!

We have been catching a bunch of fish this weekend and last in OH, PA, and WV.  Last weekend we fished an Ohio River tributary and did ok, but the water level was very low and muddy.  Caught a few bass at one spot, and caught a ton of tiny white bass and/or hybrid striped bass down near the mouth.  Even caught our first freshwater drum of the year, and had our first ever encounter with a longnose gar.  Had the gar hooked for only like 2 seconds then he came off.  Lots of shad were everywhere in the creek and the bass were eating them and other baitfish aggressively.  Anything that looked like a minnow worked, and even topwater flies and worms got hits. 

After fishing down near the mouth of the creek we decided to head back into the park.  I decided to fish the creek some more, while my brother fished a little pond that's there.  After about 40 minutes or so I headed up to the pond to see how he was doing and he said he caught around 70 fish!  All TINY green sunfish with a few tiny gills mixed in.  I tied on  a dry fly and caught maybe around 30.  It was crazy, there was at least 10 fish coming after your fly on each cast.  They were fun though, especially seeing a fish flying back on your back cast!

Yesterday we headed down to a spot on the Ohio River in WV.  It was windy and a little on the chilly side, felt like we should have been steelhead fishing.  We caught a bunch of drum, and occasionally we would see a gar swim close to shore.  We got him to hit minnows and jigs, then I finally got him hooked on a fly.  The fish came off though after a very acrobatic jump.  Only saw some other drum, a small catfish, and maybe a hybrid caught by other fisherman.  Also got into a few decent green sunfish in the slower water. 

After fishing the river we hit the first creek again on the way home.  It was in great shape and the bass were biting.  Flies and crayfish crankbaits both caught fish.  And we fished the little pond again for those aggressive little green sunfish.  Didn't break 100 fish this time, ONLY 94, with most of them caught in the pond of course! hahaha

We haven't fished one of our local rivers in a while, so we decided to give it a try today.  The bass were biting pretty good, along with a bunch of catfish, bluegill, a largemouth, a walleye, and hooked a big carp on the fly.  The weather was perfect for fishing.