Spring Steelies Found!! Fresh Chrome Adventure!

Now, I know most of you have given up on steelies for the season... and I completely understand. But, I am leaving the Erie area soon and have been trying to get out as much as possible.

I have been doing very well on various streams over the past few weeks. There are definitely still steelies in the streams as well as a few fresh ones coming in. But don't get me wrong, in areas that have held 1000's of fish in the past there may only be between 5-15 fish. So the average fisherman would only luck into one. The seasoned vet however can consistently catch them still. Plus at the moment there are a variety of species in the creeks, lots of suckers, some weird carp looking fish, and I have seen two small mouth bass caught already.

A little story, I was fighting a fish on a west side stream, at first thought it was a HUGE sucker because this thing wasn't fighting at all like a steely... but after about 15 minutes of the fish basically sitting in one spot I got it close to the net... saw it was a BIG steely... who apparently doesn't like nets as he woke up and took me into my backing (11lb test line, 8wt rod) almost instantly, managed to get him to the net 2 more times before the fish decided to unhook itself *tear... This fish was a BIG fresh steely, but alas it wasn't his day. Went back to this stream a few days later, was landing another fish as 3 people walked down from upstream... saw this HUGE fresh steely this guy had landed and knew instantly that was the same fish, hooked in the same location I hooked it... I wish I wld have taken a picture of it, it was the largest fish I had seen caught all season, by estimation as I had caught a 35in 15lb fish earlier this season... this fish was around 37-38in and about 17-18lbs... this thing looked like fish on steroids... a big, brawny steely! I was bummed that I hadn't landed this big guy a few days earlier, but was happy someone caught him... (although I wld have snapped a few pics and put him back in the water)

Karma... so I got out yesterday and the water was a little high from all this rain we have been getting, apparently its monsoon season in Erie... but I ended up almost limiting out with 4 steelies, the last of which was another big fresh fish... measured at 31.5in and approximately 12lbs!!



I got very lucky that some curious youngsters (high school kids) came back to investigate my catch, which helped me so I could get a picture snapped with this beautiful thing! I thanked these kids, and I thank you guys again if you read this, gave them some flies and advice to have a better chance to catch something, showed them how to set it up and gave them my spot! Hopefully they got something as at that point it had been raining all day and I was soaked so I didn't stay!

I may try and get out a few more times, but steely season is coming to an end and my year and a half off between college and work is also coming to an end. It has been a great time, met a lot of great fisherman, had a blast catching fish, as there is no other feeling like it, you could be having the worst day of your life, hook a steely and instantly forget about all your worries. Thank you guys and thank you Erie... I hope to come back to visit for future fishing adventures!

30lber ? really ! thats way over the record, bet it was closer to 20, more likley a 15lber. If it really was over 20 thats very rare for LE.  

That 30# probably had 12 points also. Many that I have lost at the bank were at least that big; at least how I remember them...WF

ORIGINAL: paul2ski


..... this thing wasn't fighting at all like a steely...

... saw it was a BIG steely...

 ...This fish was a BIG fresh steely...

... saw this HUGE fresh steely

... a big, brawny steely! ...

...steely season is coming to an end ...

This gave me a complex.......  I'm not gonna sleep tonight now .....Think I'll change my screen name.

yes yes... good call... but it was suppose to be a joke... guess you didn't get it, fish humor

Now lets not turn this into a debate about racists or the word black.


Anyone else catch any big fish this season?

Hate to see you leaving Erie Paul. Hope you are able to get back to fish some. It's been a pleasure fishing with you. You're a class act on the stream!