I flew into Pittsburgh on Thursday morning, October 5th, 2006. Mike picked me up at the airport, and we headed directly to Erie. After stopping at the BAC Bait and Tackle shop (814-838-2850, good people here – PTO approved), we headed to Elk Creek. The streams were up and very muddy. Mike and I approached the stream with caution, realizing that most fish would stay close to the shores, avoiding the raging currents. We covered probably 6 miles of the stream within about 4 hours, working various baits and lures. Absolutely no luck! For the last several hours of the day, we fished about 3 miles of Walnut, working our tails off. Unfortunately, no luck, again…
After a big, hearty meal, we got well deserved good nights of sleep. We worked the mouth of Walnut from 6:30am till 8:30am, again, no luck. The water had come down dramatically, but the water still had a nice, light brown color. We drove upstream several miles, and began our walk away from other anglers. The fish were on the move, but were taking breaks in the pools and runs.
Mike was drifting various colors of egg sacs, and I was working some black mini foo rigs. I hooked two small-to-average sized steelies, by keeping my mini foos suspended just below a small waterfall (I was positioned directly upstream from the fall). Aside from these two fish, the fishing was unproductive, and by 11:00am, Mike and I were beginning to fade…
But, we never stopped experimenting, and more importantly, we never stopped smiling and joking on the stream. Because let’s face it, being on the water, appreciating the many facets of a stream, and hunting for fish with a great friend is just about as good as it gets…well, not as good as it was about to become.
Remembering Brad and Eric’s experience from 2005, I tied on a yellow rooster tail and worked a swing retrieve from beneath an over-hanging Pine. We could not see any fish back there, but this is a good sign, as fish love cover. No lie, on this first cast I hooked into and landed an enormous female. Wow! After landing her, I worked downstream about 30 feet and hooked into another steelie on the
> swing!
I walked upstream, around the corner, and out of site from Mike. I worked the spinner from directly above a small waterfall, letting it move back and forth just below the tumbling water. Again, I could not see fish, but I just knew that this was a perfect spot for a resting/feeding steelie. Crrracckkk! I fought the fish down stream, tumbling over several small falls, right back into Mike’s spot on the stream. Well, after this third steelhead, and boy was it a beautiful one, Mike tied on a non-typical blue rooster tail, and headed upstream with me.
We approached the tail-end of a 45ft long pool. The sun was shining bright and the water was still milk chocolate. We stayed as far from the fish as possible, and Mike tossed out a spinner in the direction of 12 o’clock. As he swung the spinner across the pool as a surging wave approached it! Unbelievable, we saw the steelhead charging!!! Mike kept his cool and his retrieve steady, as we watched the steelie unleash a huge hit! He landed his first steelie of the day, with a huge smile.
We landed about 8 more out of this spot alone, losing probably just as many. After fishing for about another hour with spinners, we landed about 20! Every single hit was huge, and every fight felt unbelievable. Mike and I could not stop smiling, shouting with joy, and thanking Brad for introducing us to the idea of spinners for steelies. Hands down, the best steelhead experience ever.
