Combat fishing
Where to catch steelhead trout without fighting the crowds
TERIE ributaries emptying into Lake Erie’s southern side — from Ohio’’s Vermilion River to New York’s Cattaraugus Creek — are internationally famous for annual spawning runs of transplanted Pacific steelhead trout. Pennsylvania’s 51mile-wide Steelhead Alley offers miles of freestone fishing, but the final stretches of some streams are infamous for close-quarter combat fishing.
When good steelhead runs occur on fair-weather autumn weekends, thousands of anglers may be on the water from state Route 5 north to the lake. Many mass within a few hundred yards of the mouths of the three biggest creeks: Elk, Walnut and Twentymile. Bumping, crossed lines and aggressive claims to fishing spots are so common that some anglers believe that’s what steelhead fishing is all about.
But it doesn’t have to be a contact sport. Plenty of Pennsylvania’s steelhead make it south of the gauntlet of hooks. On larger streams, trout can travel inland dozens of miles, and research shows that the farther south they travel the less likely they’ll be harvested if caught.
“When people ask where they can fish without the crowds, there are a lot of places where we can send them,” said Justin Dirado, director of social media and community outreach for FishUSA.com.
In addition to publishing fishing reports at FishErie.com, the company also runs a fishing pro shop on Route 20 in Fairview. “The Fish and Boat Commission has a lot of easements [south of Route 5] that provide good access for fishing.”
Three roads — state routes 5 and 20 and I-90 — cross the Erie County panhandle, creating convenient landmarks for charting the southward progress of steelhead. The roads also denote a progressive change in angler culture. With a few easy-access exceptions, the farther south a steelhead is caught the greater the chance that it will be released by the angler.
In 2003, a very good year for steelhead runs, the state Fish and Boat Commission conducted a tributary-specific creel analysis documenting catch-per-effort and catch-and-harvest data on Pennsylvania’s steelhead tributaries. The highest collective steelhead harvest rates occurred near the Walnut Creek Access Area, built by the state to provide optimal angler accessibility to steelhead. The creel survey showed that of 62,103 trout caught from the mouth to Manchester Road, 19,981 were kept, for a harvest rate of 32 percent.
Harvests were also high just upstream at the Manchester Pool (59,317 caught, 11,990 harvested, 20 percent harvest rate) and under Route 5 (1,521 caught, 645 harvested, 42 percent harvest rate).
Elk Creek, at 30.4 miles in length, is the state’s longest steelhead stream. It gets heavy angler pressure and sustains high harvests where access is easiest.
South of Route 5, however, where fewer anglers fish, the survey found more interest in catch and release. South of I-90, the harvest rate at Folly’s End campground was just 12 percent. And it’s mostly catch-and-release anglers who make the long upstream wade to Streuchen Flats, where the steelhead harvest was just 9 percent of all fish caught.
“How someone chooses to fish is really up to the individual. Whether they harvest or catch and release, you would hope they’d be courteous and ethical,” said Jim Phillips, owner of Folly’s End Campground and fly shop on the bank of Elk Creek, about 12 miles from the mouth.
“Early in the fall when the fish are just coming in, it makes sense that [anglers] would be crowded where the fish are. Later in the year, some who are more experienced and have access to information have alternatives. They may follow the fish to other places.”
In an effort to stretch the fishery farther south, Fish and Boat has invested nearly $7 million to improve public access to Lake Erie and its tributaries.
“We currently have a total of 45 easements and 18 acquisitions in the Erie watershed,” Scott Bollinger, the commission’s statewide public access manager, said in an email. “The total amount of stream frontage obtained through acquisitions and easements is 136,074 linear feet, or 25.77 miles.”
Much of the funding for steelhead fishing access was raised through the sale of Lake Erie permits ($9.90), required in addition to a general fishing license (adult resident $22.90) to fish the lake or its tributaries. Some properties in the steelhead access program are acquired through partnerships with other state agencies and conservation organizations. Mr. Bollinger said the commission raised $4.5 million in outside funding to help bankroll the program.
This year, Fish and Boat acquired nearly 200 acres and got conservation easements on sites on Elk, Crooked and Conneaut creeks. The most recent fishing access acquisitions, announced last week, provide more than 270 acres and 6,000 feet of Elk Creek access near Girard, Pa.
FishUSA.com will soon update its Erie tributary maps downloadable for free at www.fisherie.com/Maps. Fish and Boat’s extensive and scalable Erie Fishing Easement Map highlights dozens of steelhead access points. To open the interactive map, go to fishandboat.com and search for “steelhead.”