Elk Creek, Erie County, 26Dec2008

[albatross]

I had the pleasure of fishing with JackM today in Erie on Elk and Walnut Creeks. We started on upper Walnut and didn't do too well. The fish were sparse and between the two of us we lost a few fish and landed no fair hooked fish. The water was slightly green, but pretty clear.

We headed for lower Elk. The water here was more off color, kind of greenish brown with limited visibility. I did well here landing several nice fish including the largest fish I've ever caught (a big female) and a pretty male with orange cheeks. Jack hooked a few fish here and landed a jack. All fish were released to fight another day.

I estimated the weight of the big hen by estimating the length from the photo and using the formula for weight here http://steelheadsite.com/content/weight.php.

I'm hoping to get back to Erie one more time this year.

 

[Squaretail]

HOLY SMOKES nice fish!

 

[dryflyguy]

Alby:

I'm thinking of going up next week
Any snow still on the ground up there?

 

[Acristickid]

albatross- That's a nice one!


DFG- are you goning to dry fly fishing for'em?

 

[JackM]

As always, a good time in Erie with Greg. I had trouble closing the deal on my normal-sized fish I fair-hooked. I tried to take one photo when Greg was fighting his big fish, but my lense had fogged over. I present it below as an "artistic impression."

Greg is so excited about his 12 pounder, he forgot to mention that he was doing well with a large black stonefly nymph. The fish I hooked up well on were on egg patterns, blue, pink and chartruese. It didn't seem to matter.

 

[albatross]

DFG,

There is a little snow left up there, maybe 4-5 inches inland a ways. You can see an iceberg in the backgroud in the shot Jack took of me. The area near the mouth of Elk was just littered with these icebergs.

Jack and I had planned to fish the Laurel Highlands, but we found everything blown out. Erie was the one area of the state that had gotten a little less precip, so we headed up there. Good call.

 

[David]

Nice fish Albie!!!
Love the gill plates on the buck!
Were you sight fishing them or fishing blind with the water color?

 

[albatross]

David,

It was all blind on Elk. It was much easier to maintian concentration after we started catching fish...

 

[dryflyguy]

alby:

thanks for the report

acristic:

I actually caught one on a dryfly last fall - when the weather was much warmer.
I'm sure it would likely be a waste of time now however
Believe it or not, I do have a box of "junk " flies for erie-
wooley buggers
stonefly nymphs
sucker spawns
crystal meth

I have trouble with keeping my focus while fishing that stuff however, and 1 day is about my limit for fishing subsurface

 

[Flyfisherman_PA]

damn, missed the good fishing by one day, lmao.