Elk Creek, Erie County, 10/16/2010

[albatross]

Jack and I had a nice outing on Elk yesterday. Water was cloudy in the AM, but clear and dropping by evening. The fish we caught took egg patterns. All the fish were fresh and hot. I had one fish absolutely explode when I set the hook. It quickly threw the hook, but ended up jumping on shore before flopping back into the water.

My new Allen Alpha reel worked very well.

 

[JackM]

It was a pleasure. The fish seem to be pretty well upstream, but in smaller numbers than we would have liked. I think it is still a bit early in the season and think that maybe the runs that have come in have spread well upstream, but there are more fish that have yet to come in to the streams. I think it is safe to admit we were on Elk as it flows under Rte 20 and spent most of our time a good distance downstream from there.

The water was not high, but it was moving pretty well, allowing good drifts. As Alby mentioned, the murk dissipated as the day wore on.

I have video too, but I need to get it up on youtube to share it. Will post when I get that together.

 

[albatross]

Here's a pic Jack snapped of me...

 

[hughzar]

Thanks for the update on Elk! Tomorrow, my friend and I are heading up to Erie for our first steelhead trip. Hopefully our luck is as good as yours! Did you guys happen to see the condition of any of the other streams, or just Elk?

 

[JackM]

Just saw Elk, but I would bet that all others (except possibly Conneat and 20 mile) had less flow just knowing the watersheds as little as I do. If no rain fell Sunday or prior to your trip, the water is likely to be back to low and clear so fish the faster water and concentrate in the early or late periods of daylight.

By the way, check this out:

http://forums.fishusa.com/New_Perspective_on_the_Stop_Sign_Hole/m_349110/tm.htm

 

[PaulG]

Nice job Jack! There you go again Ably, with a great looking fish in your pic...you are the man!

PaulG

 

[hughzar]

Jack, that is ridiculous! I couldn't see how that would be any fun being should-to-shoulder like that. Hopefully, we'll have a quiet day tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!

 

[TUNA]

Awesome report guys! I hope to make it back to Erie this weekend, Oct 22-24, or maybe even the Salmon. I can't decide. I guess if the water levels are good I my hit Erie, if not I'll probably just stay here in Central PA.

I was hoping you guys might share what color egg patterns you were using? Last weekend, Oct 8-10, they seemed to like Peach, Light Pink, and Light Yellow, mostly all muted colors. I had a few on a Blue Egg, right before dark. We also did very well on lighter colored nymphs: Hare's Ear, a Gray Stonefly imitation, and a Light Yellow Bodied Prince nymph. It's great that you guys did so well.

 

[JackM]

I tried every color I had, but the only thing that got me a fish was a white crystal flash style egg. I typically use tandem eggs just a foot or less apart and will vary the colors until something works. Those lighter colors such as white, peach, pale yellow and even blue seemed to get more attention than red, purple, orange and chartreuse, but tomorrow it could be totally different. Good luck.

 

[David]

Nice job & report guys...Alby gives away his fly of choice if you enlarge the last picture!

 

[JackM]

David wrote:
Nice job & report guys...Alby gives away his fly of choice if you enlarge the last picture!

Well, I'll be darned!

 

[David]

No wonder Alby catches so many fish...he's using live bait!!!

 

[albatross]

I had takes on baby blue egg, white crystal meth, white blood dot egg, white egg. Don't know that I sorted the pattern out while I was fishing, but it does seem they were all pale egg patterns. I imagine a light pink, peach or yellow might have worked as well.

We were fortunate to find a cluster of fish that others had overlooked. I think between Jack and I we hooked 5 fish from my "secret hole". This was over half our hook-ups for the day.

 

[wgmiller]

JackM wrote:
By the way, check this out:

http://forums.fishusa.com/New_Perspective_on_the_Stop_Sign_Hole/m_349110/tm.htm

Just out of curiosity, why is that? Don't people want to walk for fish or are there just so few open access areas that conditions look like this? I hope it's the former because by the grace of god, both my legs still work fine! :-D

 

[Squaretail]

Nice job yinz guys.
Although you seem to take it on the chin during the hatches, when steelies start up your area of the state is prime real estate.🙂
Gonna have to get them movies goin' sooner or later. Neat footage.

 

[albatross]

WGMiller,

I don't know if they are too lazy to walk for fish or just don't know about the other access points and opportunities. Its hard to find solitude on the Erie tribs, but its never necessary to put up with the circus at the stop sign hole.

 

[jdaddy]

I like that Jack sticks to the pink/purple thingamabober to stay true to his avatar! Real nice fish!

 

[Acristickid]

Nice. Pics dont show many anglers from your outing.

Steel are funny to me.

There are times when I am convinced you can throw nearly anything to them and they will take when they are fresh from the lake.

Have also fished tougher days where I fished a small run and camped out over a half dozen fish or so and drifted over them 50 times before getting an eat. Why not the 49th time? They seemed like the identical drift to me with similar if not the same flies.

Then there are the really low and clear times; moreso earlier in the season that presents a real challenge. Fish are under pressure and get thrown at for days in a row and spook easy- at least for me.

Agree- Walnut is a hot mess.

 

[Maurice]

The reasons the holes near the lake are always crowded is because;
A. the fish come in from the lake so they come by there first. (more fish)
B. They are holes and the spin rod/float fishermen excel there.
C. The complacency of bait fishermen allows for elbow to elbow fishing.
D. Available parking and public access overload.

These are of course "lions share" observations and not absolute.

They are not looking for solitude, nor do they care to invest the time or energy to "seek out" better opportunities. Often they will through attrition, move up the criks when they find out about opportunities upstream.

 

[jaybo41]

Great photos and congrats on a successful trip "mup'er anat".

Regarding the crowds on lower Walnut in the photos and even lower Elk: the reason there are so many guys there because that's generally where the largest number of fish are. And that's where the highest number of fresh ones generally are. I don't advocate fishing there, but if it keeps guys off of other stretches of streams then I'm good with it.

Let them stand shoulder to shoulder and throw the same baits and flies to the same fish, I'll take a walk!