There will always be the first report of Steelies at X,Y, Or Z. It will always come SOME time ( days, even weeks ) after folks have started catching them there. And it will always come from someone who DIDN'T wait for a report to take a chance.
 
jonny,
 
As has been reported, there have only been a handful of folks trying their luck. There has ALWAYS been  the same number of early anglers from mid August on. Sometimes they are rewarded, sometimes not.

May be a reident fish,,,
May be a Photochopped Photo (what is wrong with his lefthand????)
 
 

ORIGINAL: mgolf92

Awesome, you know this is what we've been dreaming of...  This is *steelking*'s fish.

I'll tell you whats wrong with his hand. His fingers are all mangled up from typing bogus fishing reports. Nice pic of an April fish.

Its no wonder I pretty much stopped posting here all together. Seems if you post a fish pic here anymore you are a bragin sinner, a lier or a nasty spot burner. So since so many want to be jerks bashing this poor guy I will add my thoughts to this as well. #1 this is a total public accesss area so its impossible to spot burn it no matter what time of year it is. #2 If is so sinfull to post a pic of a fish well I guess all fisherman that ever took or showed a picture of a fish they caught are all burning in hell come on is that guy for real? #3 to all the sherlock holmes trying to call this poor guy a liar do some investigating, because their is always fish at the mouths of the streams early morings in mid to late August always. And the fact that if you realy look at the picture his licence is an 2008 and thier is no way thier was that many green leaves in the water in April just is not possible as they are just starting to grow. #4 I totaly belive he got the fish for the reason just stated and I personaly have been thier a few times already( sunday and wendsday) and caught and seen steelhead thier each time. No big numbers yet but is more then enough for some to be caught.Unless you just have to see for yourself I personal would not suggest traveling any distance to try just yet but for the locals to have a chance at a few early season fish without 500 people in thier hip pockets yes its worth it. I did not post any pics of ones I got so far this year cause its just not worth it to but yes did call a few people I know and let them know a few started to show up already. If you search long and hard through each years posts you will see anywere from the 15th to 25th of August thier is always someone reporting of a few steelies at the mouths and in the past i used to post a pic of an early season fish to get everyones blood flowing for anoughter season of fresh chrome. The large amounts of bashers and people calling me a liar brought this to a hault. Would like to add one last thing about spot burning most of you fail to realize and that is unless its a totaly public access like mouth of most all the tribs thier realy is not to many totaly open to public areas avilible, this is private land and just when did the land owner give you the right to advertize his or her land? The reason I personaly get so upset about spot burning has zero to do with wanting to be away from others more like I would hate to see more and more good fishing areas of stream posted cause a few not thinking individuals needed to beat thier chest over a good fishing day. Nothing wrong with telling the world hey I landed 50 fish today and so and so fly or baits just stop sending more and more people to private land that can and will get posted from to much traffic. Be glad Pa is so liberal as it is with access to the stream cause in Ohio you better have a signed permission slip for every section of stream you access thats not public waters cause thier you can and will get fined for tresspassing even if the land has no posted signs. So basicaly do yourself and all other angelrs that want to keep enjoying the streams for years to come a big respectfull favor and stop advertizing private areas of the streams, the landowers alow us the privilage year in and year out of stream access so do not hurt this privilage.Common sence people the more areas that get posted the less acces means more areas get more crowded meaning even more posting so stop the cycle before it gets worse.

ORIGINAL: gobyking

Ok, I posted the "sinner" stuff because everyone seemed to be in such a huff about this young man posting a picture. It was all in jest and don't understand everyone getting ****ed about it the picture. No one got that I was joking and maybe I should have made that more obvious. I don't even fish for steelhead but found this thread really funny.

Personally, I wouldn't want to fish beside someone if they got that upset about things that are going to natually occur every year. That is why I quit fishing the opening day of trout in this state 15 years ago, a bunch of A-holes. Not saying that you guys here are, but the ones I've run into in the past litter and push kids under 12 out of the way to get to a good hole, nice role models.

I'll stick with the bass and toothy critters, when I run into an A-hole, I'll just troll or motor away to a new spot. Fall is for hunting season anyway for me and this thread reinforces that thought.JMO

I understand what you are saying belive me I do not enjoy the Pa fall season as much as I used to. This is why I show up in August to get some early fish with no crowds and fish non peak times and off beaten paths in PA and NY to aviod the crowds. Used to fish the spillway at pyamatuning Lake ever spring for the walleyes but did not this year as I ust got sick of the crazyness that goes on there. Besides the tribs I spend alot of time on local lakes for panfish it helps pass the time during the off months the fish are not running. Never thought I would live long enough to say I remmeber the good old days but do remmeber them were you could walk miles of stream and never see anyone all day and thier was plenty of fish around , remmeber and seriously miss the big runs of Kings and Cohos we used to have.Back then the only area I remmeber being posted was the covered bridge area on Elk that was about it now it seems we are loosing more and more access every year and this is a sad thing but if it does ever come to a stop at least I will have had the chance to have experianced this great fishery and know I did not do anything to make it come to and end as I never litter, never invite the masses buy posting stream locations and when I see the landowers have always thanked them for the chance to fish thier land.

I guess quite of few missed the horse beating gif....  As for high horses, it seems there are two camps in this thread; those want to rip on the young man for posting a picture of himself holding a fish and those that want to rip in the those who are ripping on the young man.  There is an old saying that when you point your finger at someone, there are three point back at you. 
 
So I will get on my high horse and tell all the guys in both of these camps to get a life.  The bashers of the guy who posted the picture, you all are evil sinners and in need of confession and absolution.  Please confess your sins immediately.  You know the formula,... "Father I have sinned...."  Once you have done that, your pentence will be to read the entire PA fishing regulations from start to finish 3 times and give one fly to the first 10 people you meet on the stream that are in your spot.
 
For the bashers of the bashers you are also in need of confession and absolution.  Follow the same formula for the confession as the first group and your pentence will be to pick up three garbage bags of trash the first three trips up this fall and give up your spot on the stream to one of the guys who was concerned about those who were spot burning.
 
Now if we all do as I say we will all feel better and the world will be returned to its original state as God intended it.  Thank you for your cooperation and may you all have a blessed steelhead season..... +

ORIGINAL: kyler16

johnny id suggest you read through this hole topic, there have been plenty of locals saying that this thread caused no  harm unless 4 youngsters fishing is causing harm i think you might need to rethink your out look on life.

The only thing this thread caused was an uproar from all the 3+ hour away people crying oh no there wont be any Steelhead left for me.

some of you sound worse then a woman on her rag that just got off the phone with their mother!

take a breath there will be many of steelhead in sept, oct, nov, dec, jan, feb, march, april and up to the end of may! 4 months at the most with out steelhead has some people acting like their suffering from withdrawls from herion.

I was just defending tippy. I think he just stated his opinion, I do not think he was attacting the kid as some others clearly have. I fish the salmon river for steelhead only.

I am glad I got the internet for 1. Met some really cool dudes here!

Congratulations on catching some early steel! I guess some people get upset because you took their fish, lol, and gave away the secret spot lower walnut because I am sure they are the only ones to fish it. I appreciate the post. Glad to be informed and if I was the one who caught the first steel, I would have done the same.

Everyone who is bashing this guy bear in mind. ITS A PUBLIC CREEK & PRETTY WELL KNOWN -obviously. It's not a wild trout stream that he and 4 other people know about!

wow, being a new person to this site, to come here and see all these crybabies posting stuff about steelking, shut up---were all going to see all you whinners soon enough, nice pic steelking and thank you.  ive been looking forward to some rain so they can move in, KEEP YOUR LINES TIGHT AND SEE YA'LL VERY, VERY SOON!!

I personally watched him pull in a steelhead on  Saturday August 16th , the same day he pulled the other 4 . I was also putting my boat in @ 6:30 AM on the 23rd and there was 8 total anglers in the same spot . WHOKarES cOmE Tri uR Luk SWANger? You're bogus get off the net strap on some tongs & catch some chrome dude. When was the second to last trophy brown caught ? Where was it caught? Let me save you the drama . July 4th @ walnut access imagine that? I guess you have to have you're line wet to experience this wonderful sport ?

Walcat01 if this site is so terrible and useless why in the world do you keep posting to it?  Now I know you are getting rather old and have always had a nasty streak in your personality (I know the same folks you do from Scottdale as I live in Smithton) but you know what if you don't like something then don't do it.  I am sure your smart enough to know this.  To be honest what have you ever done for these boards other than complain about people and other things you have no control over.  You complain about all the trolls but I have a feeling that is exactly what you are doing.  And yes I did bite but this is because I have actually met you before and know that your not all that bad of a guy.  But to go and blame the owners of this site and mods is just dumb.  If you don't like it leave then.  And dont let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya.
 
Egg sac leaving the boards did hurt the boards a lilttle.  Egg sac does know what he is doing and is always willing to help other anglers.  I had the pleasure of meeting him last year early in the season at the mouth of Walnut and he was full of knowledge.  But guess what Walcat he got sick of the boards and stopped posting.  And to be honest there are numerous guys on these boards that love to help other anglers.