Bug,

Sorry you had bad experiences on Opening Day.  There are quite a few places around that are stocked and receive very little, if any, opening day pressure.  I have not fished the same areas twice in the past 5 years.  I knew where people would go, and I just avoided those places entirely.  Sort of akin to Steelhead.  In the 7 years I have fished Erie waters, I have not fished" combat" conditions ONCE!  There are simply too many areas to go to avoid that.  If one area gets a little crowded, I move to another.  It is too bad that many people I have talked to at the Butler Show, and here in Clearfield, believe that Steelhead fishing is "combat" fishing.  Similarly, it is disheartening to hear that many believe that 50% of the streams are posted.  Furthermore, they believed that the East-Side had no fish in them at all!  After educating these folks to the reality, smiles were brought to their faces.  Guess where these poor souls get that mis-guided notion from?  Here is a hint...from reading these threads!!!!!!!  A great disservice is being done regarding the fishery.  All I spoke with (and I was not the only one talking) were pleased to hear about the expansion on 4-mile and the impeding improvements to 16-mile (fish ladders and splash dams.  They did understand landowner concerns and agreed that too much pressure in one area was a bad thing.   They were happy to know that NUMEROUS options existed. 

People simply do not have to fish "combat" style for Steelhead, nor stockies.  That is the beauty of it all.

Hope your future adventures are more smile worthy.

Doc

Nothing beats Oil Creek from late April through June for stockies. 

"After educating these folks to the reality, smiles were brought to their faces.  Guess where these poor souls get that mis-guided notion from?  Here is a hint...from reading these threads!!!!!!!  A great disservice is being done regarding the fishery."
 
Thank you for setting all of the misinformed people straight.   
 
I guess it did not occur to you that others may have had different experiences fishing the tribs than you have had.  Of course, if they post that here, they are doing a disservice to the fishery.  Maybe we need to post only the positive and ignore anything that might be viewed as negative.  We would not want to put a frown on anyone's face.   Or maybe we should not give our opinions if they disagree with you.  I will be sure to run my comments past you in the future before posting them so you can determine if they may be doing a disservice to the fishery.  I would hate to be seen as harming the fishery.
 
Have a great opening day.
 
 
 

ORIGINAL: ShutUpNFish

I only trout fish to take my daughter.  Its local and a good experience for her.  Kind of a tradition in our family since dad used to take me and my 2 brothers on opening day every year.  We use spinning gear, drift bait and small jigs.

---

Bug ,thats what it is all about.

That's what it is all about right their. Taking the kids fishing, i remember back in the day my father would take me fishing all the time alot of great memories right their. Now i have to take my dad and hold his hand for the most part it's so hard for him to wade. He was in a really bad motorcycle accident,  16yr old girl hit him  and drug  him almost 60 yards underneath the car before she realized she hit something. But thanks to god he made it but he can't hunt or fish like he  used to. It's ashame to see dad like he is brings tears to my eyes. But the bright side of it is we still get together and fish as much as we can. He just had a b-day he turned 60 he's excited about taking my little boy who is 4 / and the little girl who is 3 can't wait. I spend alot of time on the water with my little ones. What better place is their ,**** on that xbox and play station crap. If more dad's took their kids out in the great outdoors things would be totally different. Thats the reason why kids get older they loose interest because dad didn't take them enough when they was little. I thank my father every time we are fishing for making me what i am to day. I am blessed to have a great father like i do. Hats off to all that take their little ones fishing....................
 
                                                     Centerpin_drift!~

The main reason I love to fish is the fact my father took the time to take me fishing when I was a kid.  I agree that taking your children hunting and fishing is a wonderful way to not only spend time with them, but also to give them a lifetime of memories.  May all who will be spending the first day of trout season with their children have a great time on the stream.
 

Doc,
 
Perhaps we are both right to some degree and when people read these boards they can see at a more realistic picture of the what is going.  The bottoml line is folks have to make up their own minds about the fishery and the only way they will do that is come and see.

For those that are misinformed about the fishery what ashame. But i also have told friends of mine plus others i know they need to go fish Erie for steelhead at least one time they would love it, now these are friends of mine that fish just about as much as i do. Do you think i can get their arses of the couch to come, or even drive 2 hours to fish, NO! So you know what i say that's fine with me their lose my gain and more fish for everyone else who does fish the Tribs. Can't explore what's out their sitting on your couch.
 
                                               Centerpin_drift!~

I use flyrods and spinning.
 
Favorite baits: minnows, Butterworms, waxies, mealies & spikes.
Flyrod in early spring I'll use jig/bait/float  combo or egg patterns.
Later I'll switch to terrestials and also try to match the hatch.

We will be sitting at the same spot at 10 pm the night before holding our spot, burgers cooking on the grill, cracking open a few brewskis, talking about the years gone by,more of a tradition then anything, I'll have my spinning tackle by my side but after that, my centerpin comes out to play

Deadbolt, it is about 20 min north of there.....

me and my father fish opening day with spinning gear in elk county. we have a good spot and always do well.we dont take it too seriously just sit compfortable on the bank and reel those babies in and laugh more than anything else.the action usually slows down around 11 then we walk a stream thats wide enough to jump over in most spots and find a pack of stockies.we usually get a few small natives the colors on those are what its all about.last year we combined for 49 before we quit and watched the pens win the playoff game.
i monkey around w/ the fly rod some after opening day mostly on the delayed harvest area

a center pin is a reel, not a rod.  the rods you use with the pin reels are basically long noodle rods, called float rods.  i personally like centerpinning more than fly fishing