I headed out to western PA this weekend to visit my girlfriend and her family. One nice thing about visiting is that she is only an hour and a half from Erie; the even nicer thing is her dad Jim is also a Steelhead addict. With permison from our ladies we headed to 20 mile for the day. Last March we tried this trip, with less than ideal conditions; needless to say our results were less than successful, not seeing one fish.
Getting to the river around 10, our hopes were high with almost no cars at any of the access points we passed. The river was about average flow, and slightly off color. Sight fishing for steelhead can be very tough, not because the fish might see you per say; but it is very hard to hold your composure when you are looking at a 10lb fish right in front of you. Often times I walk away scratching my head wondering why it didn’t want what I was offering. When it all does come together, watching that fish hit a streamer or seeing the slight movement towards your nymph…well that’s what its all about!
January steelhead fishing often times is not a numbers game but more for the experince, so one or two fish is all I was looking for. Only seeing 4 other guys over about a mile and a half river all the while landing a few fish, it was a very successful day. Not to mention losing a couple in there as well.
Jim and I stopped mid-day to start a fire and have a cold beverage. Warming up and cooling down at the same time we cooked some lunch. We fished until around 3 and made our way back to the car. The deal was we could fish as long as we were home by dark, Yeah we were still late J
Here are a few pictures from the trip:
Hot Patterns: Copper John, Egg sucking Leech, Little Black Stoneflies
good stuff man!
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