Eire Tomorrow ??

[Bruno]

Looking for advice. Erie Tomorrow ? or Erie next week?

 

[jayL]

Sorry to hijack.... Who's up for heading up there november 8th? I know we discussed it, but we should probably get something set for sure.

 

[JackM]

Erie or Eire? that'd be a long way to go for a fishing daytrip.

Elk may still be blown out tomorrow, but the other creeks will probably be good. Thing is, on www.fisherie.com, people are already having trouble getting hotels for the weekend. I would guess news of the rains have people excited, so tomorrow may be crowded as well. On the other hand, depending upon whether additional rains are expected, by next week, the creeks may be low and clear again.

 

[jaybo41]

Erie is always a crap shoot. I once checked weather before I had left and got there, only to find blown out streams. Undoubtedly, this last rain brought fish in. Like jack said, check www.fisherie.com for the fishing reports.

If you go tomorrow, you will get crowds I'm sure, but you'll also have a chance to fish over steelies that haven't seen quite as much action as if you would go next week. Depends on how long you want to go for. If you're making a day trip, I say go for it. If you're going to stay a while, I'd say wait until after the weekend. And that means after Monday.

Whatever you do, good luck. Let us know how you do

 

[albatross]

Bruno,

I'd say go tomorrow. Especially if you are familiar with more than one of the streams up there. As Jack said, Elk may still be blown, but the smaller creeks will undoubtably be low agian already. A clever fisherman could choose the stream in the optimal stage of runoff for catching fish. Not that I'm that clever, but I know they have published tables of runoff times for various streams in the Erie basin.

 

[CRB]

Yes, most of the hotels are full this weekend usually every week till Christmas. You should see the buses from Canada. Last week I counted 10 at the Mall alone.
Btw, Most streams have cleared and are moving to gin.

 

[Christian]

True, the streams have cleared. But they are expecting as much as an inch of rain today and tonight. Saturday morning could be blown out on the west side; east side might be fishable. Sat afternoon into Sunday morning should provide good conditions (follow the runoff tables and you should be able to make a good weekend of it). My kids have talked me into making the trip; it will be my daughter's first time steelheading.

 

[Acristickid]

My advice is to on a weekday and get to a good hole before light and move away from parking areas. The further you walk the less people- and by less I mean 5 in a hole vs. 35.

 

[Christian]

Stay away from the mouths of Elk and Walnut and the crowds diminish greatly, even on weekends. As much as I love fishing during the week, it is a rare occurrence to get the opportunity. With a good map and an idea how to time stream runoff, weekends can still be rewarding.

 

[TDB]

If you go during any portion of Fri, Sat or Sun - Godspeed!

I'll be at the PSU game remembering all the good ole days on the Erie tribs in the last 10-12 years when things were far from the way there are now. At least the PFBC is getting what it wants. Maybe if they put up a few more ads on their website, we can get every licensed fisherman up there and erradicate the steelhead and get this over with!

 

[ryguyfi]

I'm going up on Wednesday... I've never gone before so anyone have any good advise via exact places to fish, flies, equipment etc... thanks!!!

 

[Christian]

Just to follow up on all the doom and gloom about the Erie crowds. I did in fact take my 8 year old daughter and 10 year old son to Erie this weekend. We arrived at the Old Rt 20 bridge on Elk Creek (Maurice knows exactly where I'm talking about) at 6:30 Saturday morning. We were the second car there.

As the sun came up, we found ourselves sitting on a hole with about 150 steelhead mostly to ourselves. There were two guys about 30 yards below us, and a few scattered above us. I helped the kids for a while, we caught a few fish, and then they wanted to do it themselves. They didn't land any by themselves, but they did actually fair hook several fish. A couple jumps were near misses with my daughter nearly getting taken down by a feisty male steelhead taking to the air. October steel is much more acrobatic than December steel, and much harder to actually land!

The water was clear, and by about 10 am things had slowed down, so we took a drive to Walnut to show them why we don't fish there. As usual, it was a good example of insanity. We went over to Trout Run to watch the fish coming into the PFBC nursery, and got some nice pics. Ended the day fishing just below Follie's End/ RT 98. There were plenty of fish there, and were reported to have arrived on Wednesday. Hooked a couple without landing any. Not a lot of fisherman here either (maybe 8 cars at the campground).

Woke up Sunday and hit the RT 20 hole again, with similar results to Saturday. Left the water around 10 am and detoured to show the kids Niagra Falls on the way home. I hadn't ever been there either, and we all had a great time. I couldn't have asked for a more successful trip.

Moral of the story? You can't experience a weekend like that without getting out of the house and taking the chance. It was a weekend to remember for all of us, and it wouldn't have happened if I would have heeded the conventional wisdom and stayed home.

 

[JackM]

Christian, glad to hear of your great trip. I have never been disappointed by a trip to Erie this time of year, even when I take a skunking.