sat sun mon

   Sat got there late- all said good river action and lotsa browns along shore in the lake.
   Sun  - went to the lake with cleos- no luck then went to the river and shared a spot with 3 boats- none of us hooked up. Today, Mon, walked a mile of a feeder and saw ZIP- VERY FEW new beds and no suckers in there as yet either.
   Sat in the 50s - Sun cloudy misty and foggy at the lake in the 40s - Today (mon) in the 20s in the Am and bright and sunny.
   Water dropping Sat PM and came up a lot by Sun AM looked to be rising all day. didn to go to the big river today.

Clint-
  Talkin bout Spring Steel is like talkin bout August Kings. If ya believe all the reports ya think ya missed the action and its over already- didnt really even get up and runnin very much yet.
      Even DSR reported Sun as a tough day on the river with the changing water levels happening. Gotta wonder if most of the drop backs bein seen or caught in the Sr are coming outa the hatchery as opposed to the natural spawners as they dont seem too busy yet in the feeders . Would think the main river isnt too different. Some probably but NOT a main thing as yet. IMHO.
      Krikies they aint even staging yet in the feeder I was in. They always seem to be runnin in about a week before they spawn there.
     BTW folks dont tell me bout low feeder water- seen it worse than this and they manage to get there and take care of business.Even with more snaggers an herders showin up there should be fish pre spawn pretty soon.

     No beds to speak of in the feeder Tuna- Have been fishin it for over 30 years an know where ta look.   They simply aint been in there in any kinda numbers spawnin . A bed here or another there but the gravel beds are pretty much barren of holes.
    Places where ya walk a hundred yards and see a coupla dozen beds only have one or two as yet. Even those barren bad years  had far more action than is there as yet.
Main river always has them active before the feeders though and this IMHO represents the start of it -actually kinda on time too- not the end.
   Will be sooprised if my 'secret main river spots' dont have spawners in the third week of May as usual. Love dem areas below the springholes.
     Water seepin into my right boot ( gotta throw them old hip boots) was COLD still. Might agree that its on the early side of normalcy but not some sooopprising thingie thats all out of the normal paramiters.
      Dont count them out Tuna ya might miss a good trip up there. Have never seen the main river all done before they get up into the smaller waters.
BTW all the reports I heard  from last week indicated a good catch while the weather was decent and the water stayed regular. Mostly the guys who were on the float trips seemed to have done better than the waders as seems to be normal for most in the higher levels. Folks who went way North and up stream were also happy.

I have a feeder of a small stream that runs through our back yard. Been here 3 springs. The first spring, perfect conditions, no fish. Spring of 2011, I found 5 fish 2 females 3 males all large fish, water was very high. This spring very low water, I mean a trickle. 9 fish, tough to get close to them, very spooky. They appear to be smaller fish. If a Red squirrel were to cross the creek I think these fish would head back to the lake.

I was one of the guys that did DSR last Saturday with the 1800 cfs. I caught two hens early in the day, picture of the nicer one below. Both where fresh fish. I also saw a boat get a very nice fresh fish around lunch time.

Rt, you may be right... and as I thought a while back; there are still freshies to come... great to see they still are. 3rock, nice hen man. I had about 1hour to fish down at dsr on Saturday. I worked from right below the stairs down to the island on the stairs side. Nothing for me in the hours time. I prefer fishing that area from the other side but didn't take the chance of crossing...especially with limited time.... welcome aboard ....

Hey guys, not disputing anything about fish yet to come.. Here is what happens in my world.. If the fish hit the creeks in force which may or may not happen, that is not a givin.. When they are on redds heavy in the river.. When they are post spawn and finally when the hatchery is done taking eggs.. It's about toast to me.. Maybe I'm missing something here .. I don't normally do the drop back thing because that means to me it's the end of a cycle, not the begining or middle but the end.. I have no issues with fishing them at all, it again, means to me another cycle of fishing has begun (stripers, brookies and stream trout)..

So those above facts to me are IMO steelhead season is coming to a close very soon.. Can you still find fish, fresh or otherwise ? OF course !! I bet your right RT, some fish will be found or had in the criks in May but just not by me..

Have fun and have at it :)

DIME- your box is full.

ORIGINAL: hot tuna

Hey guys, not disputing anything about fish yet to come.. Here is what happens in my world.. If the fish hit the creeks in force which may or may not happen, that is not a givin.. When they are on redds heavy in the river.. When they are post spawn and finally when the hatchery is done taking eggs.. It's about toast to me.. Maybe I'm missing something here .. I don't normally do the drop back thing because that means to me it's the end of a cycle, not the begining or middle but the end.. I have no issues with fishing them at all, it again, means to me another cycle of fishing has begun (stripers, brookies and stream trout)..

So those above facts to me are IMO steelhead season is coming to a close very soon.. Can you still find fish, fresh or otherwise ? OF course !! I bet your right RT, some fish will be found or had in the criks in May but just not by me..

Have fun and have at it :)

It all comes down to personal preference tuna... its all about what it means to yourself. 100%. Its pretty shocking to see though. Water is still below 40 and with the looks of the 10 day forecast it may now hit mid 40's until mid april... im sure the late fresh runners are dwindling at this point. The drop backs are starting to show up in decent numbers in the lower river now. Im interested to see what will happen with the lack of actual flood waters this year. There's usually a few week period of 2000-6000+ where the fish have ample time and flows to drop back with out being bothered. It looks like this year it may very well be a fishing in a barrel type of blood bath...time will tell...hope you're hooking up with some bunkers right about now. Tight lines

OVER DUE is more like it im hoping for a solid half or 3/4 day on Sunday.

I've got a 2 man pontoon with a front casting platform as well. I've yet to target pike. Hopefully will get the chance this spring... summer sallies is a definite staple though...also looking forward to hitting some sullivan and Delaware county streams...tight lines