conneaut creek

Conneaut Creek in PA is really not that conducive to your typical steelhead streams,  Near the PA border it becomes a long, slow creek with steep muddy banks.  Don't really hear too much going on there, but whose to say.

Are there any fish on the PA stretch yet? If so anyone do any good there lately?

steelhead travel fast, I am sure you can find some up in the upper stretches.  I visited the uppermost sections of some more popular streams this weekend and saw some steelhead, no great numbers though.  Best thing to do is check the maps on the Fisherie homepage and take a look around.  

Good question...


I look at our streams as guantlets for the little guys...but this is also dependent on the stream length.  A fish that runs Elk sees a lot more bait, flies, and decorations before it makes it to McKean, as opposed to a fish that enters 12 mile during high water and gets stopped at the falls.  You will see more freshmen mixed in with darker ones. 

When they are in the upper reaches of the tributaries, they are in most cases, darker fish and looking to spawn.  While fishing upper Elk on Sunday, I noticed a number of fish on the gravel and kicking redds out.  These fish are now geared more towards spawning, and thus become a little less active to holding in faster runs and taking flies like a stripped or swung bunny streamer or intruder.  Look to take fish in these upper reaches with dead drifted eggs and nymphs, but do not rule the streamers out entirely.  Steelhead become very territorial when they are at this stage, and using something like an egg stealing sculpin or leech with some red in there to imitate the cheeks of a colored male can get them to turn on, depending on the water temperature.  Look for more reaction strikes rather than wreckless abandon hits like they do when they are in the lower reaches....but you need precision drifts, usually bumping the nose. 

It also depends on the amount of pressure these fish see.  Running up the stream they see alot, but can be left un-molested for awhile if people do not walk to find these fish.  You might find yourself a gold mine if you are willing to look. 

I caught a big, dime bright steelie on Elk last Tuesday, way upstream. I had landed quite a few deeply colored fish. A lot of the fish in the area were already paired up and starting to spawn. I generally respect thier privacy, knowing tht maybe I'll have a shot at them much later in the season. I was surprised by the fresh one as far up as it was. She couldn't have been in the trib very long. So much energy! I was lucky to land her, she took a black wooly bugger, hooked in the roof of her mouth. She was a ways above Sterratania.