Fishing Erie tribs

[Wayne92]

Me and my wife and father are planning a trip up to fish for steelhead the weekend of February 20. It will be our second time ever going up. We went up last year with some success. I was wondering if anyone had any advice or knew what the weather and conditions and fishing is like up there now. If the conditions aren't good we could push it back to the middle of March. Just looking for some advice as spring steelhead is still pretty new to me

 

[Biggie]

Uncle Johns Campground has a live cam on Elk.

 

[turkey]

The water conditions change quickly up there. If it's blown out the smaller tribs can start to clear up within a day. Conversely a heavy overnight rain can get them roaring by morning. I don't start looking until 4 or 5 days before I head up.

 

[Mucka]

What turkey said. Things rise fast and fall fast. Planning 2 days in advance can be stressful sometimes based on weather forecasts! The ice is off the streams now, but within 3 weeks that could all change too. The safer bet would likely be to wait unless you can afford to wait a few more weeks to make up your mind IMO. If you can afford to wait and can make the last minute call, I'm sure plenty of people will be able to help with conditions again in a few weeks.

 

[Wayne92]

We aren't committed to any day's yet the weekend of the 20th just fit all our work schedules. I plan to start watching the weather closer to the date. The other time we could come up would be mid to late March. Is that to late for good steelhead fishing in the tributaries

 

[Mucka]

Nope its not, March can have some great fishing

 

[Wayne92]

Well then we will probably aim for the 20th because it fits our schedules but watch weather and push it if need be. Is there any websites you normally use to watch stream conditions? Thanks for the help so far

 

[pcray1231]

Here's the gauge for Walnut Creek:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv?site_no=04213152

Knowing which streams fall fastest and slowest, and you can make a good prediction what they all look like based on this. Small streams in general fall quicker, large streams slower, and Walnut falls about in the middle.

Goal is to get it after a spike, while falling, and just becoming fishable.

 

[turkey]

http://www.amazon.com/Steelhead-Guide-Fishing-Techniques-Strategies/dp/0966517245

John Nagy's book has some very useful information on the tribs from Ohio to New York. I still reference the included chart on USGS flows. I'm not sure if it's still in print or not but there are probably quite a few copies out there.

 

[CRB]

Remember the weather up here can change very quickly. Some LE snow this week who knows the next. Lake is mostly ice free.

 

[SoYoCoTransplant]

Yesterday a buddy was up, per his report all of the tribs were locked up except for Sixteen Mile. He only fished for an hour because his seven year old got wet playing so they headed home. However, in that hour he did manage a pair of nice chromers.