Steelhead Fever – the Good and Bad

The Bad

The Steelhead season is here and some would consider in full swing, others say its off to a slow start. If you have are a tech savvy angler on the inter webs you have seen a common riffle through fishing reports: slow fishing in Erie.

Living in Carnegie / Pittsburgh area I rely on fisherie reports, stream gauges, friends of  RF facebook: (Nicks Fishn Hole, FISH West PA & SteeCity Anglers), and NOAA for updated reports. For the most part the season started off to a BOOM for all these guys but it seems to have slowed down for everyone. A few weeks ago Ted, Richie and I fished upper Elk and saw low numbers of fish in the streams. Most of PA is getting hammered with unseasonably cool weather pattern and dumping lots of snow.

So where is all the fish?

October

More rain than the average but rather warm unseasonably temperatures.

• The average rain fall for October is 4.06 inches.
• The actual rain fall for October 2014 was 5.08 inches
• The average temperature in October 2014 was 67 degrees

November

When the snow melts it should provide more water to the water ways which will improve fishing.

• The average temperature for November is 45 degrees. Today the temp high is 23 degrees on the high.
• The snow average from years past is 1.7 inches coming from colder months. Today there is currently 9inches average on the ground in Erie.
• Precipitation to date: 2.46 Normal to Date: 2.43 Normal Month Total: 3.93

Synopsis – Delays in migration have been observed in response to temperatures that were either too cold or too warm. Warmer temperatures in October could have delayed the Steelhead natural runs resulting in a slower start to our Steelhead season.

The Good

Next week is showing the weather graphs inching its way back up to normal with a high of 55 on Monday (again unseasonable). The snow will melt off and bump the streams up which should get some of the steelhead in the lower parts of the streams running. A good thing about this time of the year is to remember its only going to get better. I don’t normally make my first trip to Erie until around Thanksgiving and it seems to roll more frequently from there. In years past I wouldn’t communicate my first day of Steelhead season until the hunters set out to the woods for the first day of buck.

Todd Edward friend of RF Steelhead

Some things to keep in mind going forward:

• Stay patient and positive!
• Use your resources and pay close attention to weather patterns before you travel.
• Don’t always trust social media and what others are saying. If the conditions seem right – its worth a trip because it beats sitting at your desk.
• Clean up after yourself – don’t leave trash behind on the streams.
• Never touch a fish’s gills, they are extremely delicate and just touching them can damage them. Hold the fish under the gill latch in one hand, and just in front of the tail with the other.
• Snap a quick picture and get the fish back into the water as quickly as possible.
• Maintain Control of your Fish! Take a net! Don’t let the fish flop around on the bank and get beat up. “It’s going to die anyway” is not the right fishermen motto.
• Catch & Release is a #1 priority when keeping everything in mind stated above.

My 32 birthday has came and gone after celebrating for 2 weeks. Speical thanks to my Friends, family and my GF Suzy for making it special.  I was given new awesome RF fishing swag, International Angler gift cards, and visa gift cards that I plan to spend all on fishing gear. I ordered a new Simms Headwaters Guide Hip Pack with my gift cards and I plan to pick up a new pair of gloves when the pack comes in. I hope to test out my new gear next week in Erie.

Fish On! (soon…)

– Ryan