Catching chrome
Steelhead trout are poised to run in Lake Erie and its tributaries
With a few soggy exceptions, Erie County has endured a long dry summer. Since the start of autumn, the region had seen only six days that dropped more than 1/10 inch of rain.
“It’s been pretty dry,” said Gary Heuble Jr. of Poor Richard’s Bait and Tackle in Fairview. “So dry you can barely dig in the dirt.”
Lake Erie’s tributary streams were low and gin clear, the ground stone dry, when the clouds were expected to open over Erie on Wednesday morning. That would have led to 2- to 3-foot waves on the lake and a broad mud ring trailing out of the creek mouths.
That didn’t happen. A second wave from the storm that missed Erie last week was expected to unload on the region this week, giving anglers time to prepare for the first big steelhead run of the 2019-20 season.
Stocked in streams as rainbow trout, the fish have been staging off Erie tributaries for weeks. Some were caught at the mouth of Walnut Creek at dusk and dawn, and Mr. Heuble said boat anglers have been hooking into chrome particularly off the protected nursery waters of Trout Run.
When the storm hits, expect the heavy flow to blast through sand bars blocking the mouths of Elk and other creeks and push each tributary’s chemical signature into the lake, triggering the spawning run across Pennsylvania’s 51 miles of Lake Erie shoreline.
In midsummer, conditions seemed ripe for an early steelhead run, said licensed Pennsylvania steelhead guide Dylan Yasurek of Chasing Tales Guide Service.
“That changed due to a lack of rain,” he said. “It really hurt the creeks. They [were] ridiculously low, lower than I’ve ever seen them. Fortunately, the giant storm over the Dakotas got sucked into the Great Lakes weather, and we’re [expecting] lake-effect rain [predicted to reach] 2-3 inches in two days.”
Anglers smart or lucky enough to be on unimpeded streams when showers start will catch the rising crest and perhaps the best fishing of the season’s first run. With rain absorbing slowly into the bone-dry ground, many streams may be quickly blown out and nearly impossible to fish for 24 to 48 hours. A thick band of muddy water will line the shoreline and put an end to a month of surf fishing.
The National Weather Service called for rains to slow or stop by Friday morning. The smaller creeks that drain faster were expected to be fishable before the evening. When heavy flow starts, the largest streams including Elk, Walnut and Twentymile will clear slower. As they do they should start giving up good numbers of steelhead.
“Steelhead can swim 7 miles every day,” said Mr. Yasurek. “By Saturday they’ll be everywhere, all the way up the biggest creeks.”
Tactics for catching trout in the first wave can differ from what works through much of the season.
“You catch them before they’ve been beat up, before they’ve been hooked and have seen other [anglers],” he said. “Fly rodding in that dark, murky first run, you want dark colors, big presentations with a lot of movement. Black wooly buggers, flies like that. Not the egg patterns, little nymphs and bright colors you may use later in the season.”
Spin anglers should focus on scent and sight.
“Egg sacks and skein,” said Mr. Yasurek. “Black jigs or VooDoo Maribou Jigs — baits they’re going to smell and see.”
It’s always important to get down to where the fish are. When waters are high and cloudy during the season’s first run, use sufficient weight to feel the presentation occasionally touching the bottom. If you’re not losing some hooks to snags, you’re not fishing deep enough.
The first waves of steelhead are usually hard to see in cloudy, slowly receding water. Anglers who rely solely on sight fishing are at a disadvantage.
“The first big steelhead runs usually attract a lot of [anglers], and a lot of them crowd around pools where they can see fish,” said Mr. Yasurek. “But as much as you can see the fish, they can see you. When it’s high and cloudy, [anglers are] only seeing a small amount of the fish that might be all around them.”
Avoid the combat-fishing crowds, he said, and assume that during those first waves of migrating steelhead, the fish are everywhere.
Mr. Yasurek said he puts clients where people think the fish aren’t holding.
“Two feet deep, running fast and you can’t see any fish? The fish go there because there’s no pressure,” he said. “These fish look for cover in the creek. They’re at slate ledges, behind rocks, in rapids where you can’t see them.”
The most frequent reason for not catching steelhead anytime of year is staying too long in one place.
“Don’t get stuck on a spot. Fish for an hour and move on,” Mr. Yasurek. ”Try other flies, other baits. Try other tactics. The odds are in your favor when you move.”