Erie Tribs Steelhead

[Treebeard]

I love Steelhead fishing.. While I've fished the NY streams since I was about 17, during the past 10-12 years I have been going the extra distance to fish the tribs that feed lake Erie. These streams get phenominal runs of Steelheads in the fall, and the fact that there are well over a dozen good streams within about a 30 mile stretch usually insures one of finding fishable conditions. With Erie PA. being about in the middle of the it all, starting just  west of the NY border, are the "Mile Streams" (4 mile, 12 mile 16 mile, etc..) These are smaller creeks, and tend to drop and clear faster after a rain event.. Further west of Erie are the 2 largest and most popular streams in the area, Walnut, and Elk Creeks.. These get the most pressure, but can really load up with Steelies.. By having so many streams in close proximity, the Steelheader is afforded a much larger window of opportunity as the different creeks are effected and recover from rain at varing rates, and as any Steelhead nut will tell you, stream conditions are a huge key to success.. The area itself is beautiful..Rolling hilly wine country..And while the crowds can be a factor, there is always enough options available to find a bit of solitude.. Here is my older Bro' Jack and I with his 1st ever Steelie..A nicely colored spring fish

Fall on one of the "Mile" streams

[IrishAyes]

Nice report on the area. Great pics. 

[Luna Sea 5]

nice pictures

[brijones1]

NY is not worth it at all for steelhead,  I usually fish walnut creek and have no problem landing 20 steelhead with the right conditions on the fly rod.  I'm originally from the Pittsburgh area ( go pens ) so the erie tribs were not that far from me.  Some locals from erie I'm friends with have had 40+ days last year   

[wb]

good post and pics thanks 

[Treebeard]

NY is not worth it at all for steelhead,  I usually fish walnut creek and have no problem landing 20 steelhead with the right conditions on the fly rod.  I'm originally from the Pittsburgh area ( go pens ) so the erie tribs were not that far from me.  Some locals from erie I'm friends with have had 40+ days last year   

Bri..I purposely didn't mention the kind of numbers possible up there, as I feared most guys familiar with fishing the NY tribs may find them hard to believe.. But yea..it can be sick.. I too have had a few 20+ days there, and double digit hookups are the norm most days. The fish seem to average a bit smaller than the eastern Lake Ontario fish, but the numbers more than make up for it IMO.

[brijones1]

I believe the numbers for the average run in NY was only around 6,000 compared to the 30000+ numbers in erie.  Not to many guys will drive 6 hours to erie though.  The cool thing like you said about erie is, that if you know the area and have holes not known to the average guy who come up, your always going to have good days.  I only go when I get the okay from my buddies in erie, poor richards has a site that he gives out pretty good conditions as well.  Gotta love catching steelhead on the 6wt, fun fun.