Fishing report: Fly tied to benefit children with rare disease

A fly tied to raise funding for children with a rare disease made the day for one Pittsburgh angler.

Morning temperatures hovered around 20 degrees when Nico Summaria of Peters caught the day’s first steelhead on a Lake Erie tributary. When the sun rose above the treeline, he moved to Walnut Creek and landed two more with the Love for Leighton Pheasant Tail benefit fly.

“All fish were caught on a two-fly nymph rig using a pink Nuke Egg and a size 14 Love for Leighton Pheasant Tail nymph,” said Mr. Summaria. “Not a bad day for sub-freezing temperatures and iced up streams for most of the day.”

The fly named for Leighton Meister is a beaded nymph with hot pink legs tied by Pennsylvania-based Lively Legz Fly Fishing ($1.50 each at livelylegz.com). A portion of the proceeds benefit children afflicted with Infantile Batten’s disease, a rare neurodegenerative disorder for which there is no cure. Follow Leighton Meister’s story at #LoveForLeighton.

Lake Erie and tributaries (Erie County)

Monday’s rain brought good flow, fresh fish and better stream fishing. Catches were reported at Twentymile and Sixteenmile creeks in the east, and on Elk, Walnut and Crooked creeks west of the peninsula. By Tuesday, waters were high and muddy but steelhead trout and a few browns were taken on brightly colored egg sacs. Cloud cover was expected through the weekend with Sunday temperatures approaching 40 degrees.

Bradys Run Lake (Beaver County) Shore anglers took advantage of a good trout bite. The hot bait was live minnows.

Youghiogheny River (Somerset, Fayette counties) When flow conditions were optimal, rainbows were taken at the tailrace.