walnut creek, erie 11-24

ryguyfi

ryguyfi

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Oct 18, 2006
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fished the project water at walnut creek. It was my 2nd time ever for steelhead and got skunked the first time at elk so I def wasn't leaving until I got one. Once the sun came up the fish started hitting. In about 6 hours I had around 15 to 20 takes and landed 4 fish. Half the time I was too enthralled in watching everyone else catch fish and missed my own. Those things fight just as good as I heard. I will be going back in a few weeks pending there isn't 3 feet of snow. Check out a picture I posted in the photo section. Had most hits on sucker spawn and yellow eggs with salmon color dot and salmon color eggs. No such luck on any streamers. The project water has opened up the fishable water with good flow. Great conditions for any fly fisherman who likes a good drift presentation. I have caught my fist steelhead and first wild trout this year. I'm a fly fisherman for life!!!
 
Nice stringer buddy :-o
 
meh if he doesnt someone else just will
 
Never had a problem with a paying license holder keeping his fish. Given that he posted questions about good steelhead recipes, I'm sure they didn't go to waste.

Nice fish ryan.
 
Can't speak for Frederick, but I suspect he was ribbing him about the stringer, not the fish-- it appears he has a small length of clothesline, not a bad stringer for Steelie, but a bit unusual is all, I guess.
 
When I kept a salmon in NY, I knotted various lengths of clothesline that I found in the streamside mud.

Lengths of rope are common stringers for large fish, at least in my experience.
 
I purchased a stringer at Poor Richards that was nothing more than yellow braided nylon with a metal stake one one end and a metal ring on the other. I've seen these in all kinds of colors so this is nothing shocking to me.

With all that said, who gives a f* about the stringer, look at the fish! His first one at that. Congrats!
 
Just for all the stringer people out there. I did have a stringer in my bag but it was for some reason too small to gill the fish. So the only other thing I had was the rope that I was going to tie the stringer to. Yeah its a Mickey Mouse job, but I had to do what I had to do. I ate one that night and got 2 smoked. Thanks for all the encouragement. I'm headed up again in a few weeks and will release ALL FISH!! Sometimes you people in here have your spools a little too tight!!!
 
The steelhead do not breed successfully, though they will return to the Lake. But with the millions of smolts they stock and the tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands that return, keeping these fish is nothing to be ashamed about. If I wanted to take a few home and didn't have a stringer, I'd rope them up with my wading belt. But if someone wanted to poke a little fun at me for doing so, I wouldn't get too bent out of shape about it.
 
BTW Jack...the one I took home yesterday had a belly full of minnows. About an inch and a half long and silver. Probably whay those two guys next to us were using...not a single bug...just minnows.
 
Live minnows with a fly rod? Or a minnow imitation, like a streamer?

Nice fish!! and nothing wrong with the stringer! LOL that's better than the one I use.
 
The guys next to us were spinning...I caught my first one on a blue over white clouser. There was, among all the minnows, in her belly, a rubber minnow of the exact size and color of the real ones...
 
ryguy, For what it's worth, I like the stringer. Sometimes one just has to make do. And I just do not like those metal stringers that you can hear rattling around on a nice quiet day. Nice fish, good job. I haven't been out there in years. Looking at the steelhead on this site is giving me the urge to go.
 
I killed a steelhead this year. I am catch and release guy but my mom wanted one. What do you say to your mom- no?

Ironically- I hate the taste of fish unless it is grouper or mahi mahi.

I posted some erie pictures a while back and was waiting to catch heat from some board memebers because it was laying in the mud.

I did'nt have a stringer and kept the fish well away from the water until a seagull was trying to peck it's eye out while I continued to fish.
 
ryguyfi,

Nice Steelie and CONGRATS!

As for the stringer issue, last I checked the name of the site was PaFlyFish and not PaCatch&Release. :-D

JH
 
PaCatch&Release does have a nice ring to it . I just wrote nice stringer because I knew how it could go either way . But I know that people like to jump to conclusions on here and it makes for good discussion. Who am I to say that one can not creel fish :-D
 
Fredrick wrote:
....Who am I to say that one can not creel fish :-D
Click to expand...

Speaking of creels, I have a thin flexible one that I use for steelhead-- It is white and says "Thank you for shopping at Sheetz" on the side.
 
Thanks for all the compliments guys!! I wasn't that ticked of the stringer comment. You might have noticed my joking coment of having your spools strung too tight. Those were the first fish I kept all year. Even though I enjoy the taste of fresh trout, I didn't keep any this year. I knew I wanted to try some new steelhead recipies and maybe convice my wife to try some fish so I kept them. I also have a traditional Italian Christmas dinner every year (all fish, but cheap fish... shmelts, anchovies, etc... nothing good) so I wanted to bring some smoked salmon home. I did get one smoked but it won't be done till Christmas day. I did eat one the night I got home, gave one away to my brother in law who wants to go with me to catch steelies, he loved it. And I am probably trying one of the recipies that was posted on here sometime next week.
A fisherman is told to adapt to the conditions, and my conditions were without a good stringer. No harm no foul though. Thanks again for everyone and their help. My lazy beginning to fly fishing turned into a life long hobby no thanks to this board! Thanks guys!!!
 
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