An honest report?

Who's being dishonest?
 
Lake temp is in the 60's, creek temps are in the 50's, we've had plenty of rain, and it's almost October.  Just go!

TheSlamminSalmon

Most locals. I see if someone does report, it gets bashed.

You're right...might as well stay home.  All those reports from the weekend are obviously bogus....
 
 
 

I wouldn't say most locals. Since we are here--and some of us on the creek almost daily--we can usually tell if someone has posted a bogus report. How? because most likely one of us was standing in the same hole watching something or nothing happen.  We all get along pretty well on this board--local or not. And we locals do not want to see our fellow board members waste gas or vacation time because of a false report.
 
As fishrmn said, the lake temp is in the 60's, the creek temps are in the 50's, we have had some rain-but check the gauge. It is late September. There are steelhead in the creeks. In great numbers? No not yet. Enough to be caught? yes, probably. Would I drive from Harrisburg? Not yet. I would wait until October if I had to travel more than an hour or so.

You must be NEW to fishing, I have never met a fisherman that was not HONEST, and thats the TRUTH

O!  My wife reports the same from my backyard.

Pretty good report by CBeagler.  If its the right time of year, temps are ok and rain has come it's worth a trip to give it a try if you are not coming so far.  Now that i live in the Wasd DC area I try ti get a little more info that I can at least have some fish numbers to work with.  I need to find dumb ones so I wait till the numbers are more in my favor.

Quit bashing the locals. Some of them are friends of mine. Why? I made the descision to actually MEET them instead of basing their character on what I read on the interweb.ALL the reports are a LIE......Let me repeat this....LIE. Wanna know why? Here's an inside secret.....they MOVE! I base my descision on whether to go on weather and water level. I have pulled into Walnut and Elk at times when a lot of people were leaving.I suit up. I pays my monies and takes my chances...and a fresh run comes in while I'm there. I am rewarded with good feeshin.So in a nutshell...they move. If JoeyBluePowerbait writes a report on Monday about hookin up 34 times in a certain spot I am NOT going to decide to come 'mup on that.

I'm going to sit in front of my computer screen and wait for an HONEST report.Then I'll decide if it's worth the trip.

There are feesh to be had...in some areas of the creeks..not all. Fish close to the mouths and you should catch steel. Dawn by 79....i doubt it though. Just mup and have fun...even if no feesh, drinkin is always an option...lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ca0Oq3IMQ&feature=youtu.be 
I think the big guy is a local. 

flat lander

I can understand where the guy is coming from. I have been coming up to Erie once in March and once in October every year for about 5 years now. Its a 8 hour drive for me so sometimes I wish a had a magic ball to tell me the exact day to make the trip. Realistically no one can tell you if tomorrow will be good fishing or not. I try to watch the flow and weather the best I can, but the weather changes so fast even that isn't enough sometimes.

.

 
If I lived that far out, I'd specifically plan 3-4 days trips with a front blowing through some time around it (using advance forecasts, planning maybe 1-2 weeks out).  You pretty much can be guaranteed conditions affected by the front, whether it blows through 2 days before you get there (meaning lower Elk should be perfect as soon as you get there), or it holds out till your last day (fish an east side creek as it blows through).  Granted, you're still far more statistically likely to have low & clear conditions, but planning a few consecutive days surrounding a significant front will give you a variety of conditions.
 
Ultimately, the tribs are low & clear in their normal state, so learning tactics for L&C will do you better than trying to time it and count on ideal conditions on your trip.  

Another thing that seems to affect a report is simply a person's perception. An angler who fishes it almost daily, and sees a pool that once had 20 fish, but now only has 5 or 10, may write that off as "no fish (or not that many)", whereas a person who only makes a handful a trips each season (a good majority of anglers) and sees those 5 or 10 fish may call it "a lot of fish." And, I believe there are a dispicable few who post bad reports just to disuade others from coming (ie the golfing weathermen from Curb Your Enthusiasm).
 
Case in point, last year in November, I made a similar post, asking for a report, and I got a response from a local saying "there are absolutely no fish, don't waste your time or money." Well, I already took the days off, and booked the hotel room (and plus, coming 4 hours from northcentral PA, it's a gorgeous drive this time of year), I decided to make the trip anyway. I usually stick to the mile streams, and Elk, trying to avoid the circus at Walnut if possible, and sure enough, had one of my best weekends of steelhead fishing all time. Caught and released several fish from all three streams, had countless hookups, caught a citation brown trout, and at one point found a pod of about 15 fish on 16 mile, all to myself.
 
I'm planning my first trip of the season next weekend (Oct 6-8, usually make about 7 trips up between early October and late March). I will be making this trip regardless of what anyone tells me, they could say there are millions of fish, or they could tell me every Erie trib is extinct of any sign of life, I'm still going to go up and try for myself. The first trip of the year is never the best fishing, that's okay, I still catch fish, have a great time, scratch my itch for the first time, and get to try different flies out/ different spots to see what works so I can sit down and do some tying for the next trip up, which is likely a few weeks later.
 
On the other hand, I know some people post reports about doing great, when it is obviously BS, for whatever reason. Yet, knocking someone elses report, or saying their pics are from another year, or accusing them of snagging everything because they're the only one catching fish is not the way to go. Maybe they were just a better fisherman than you, maybe they just happened to find the particular bait/ lure/ fly that the steelhead were looking for on that particular day, and they presented it the proper way.
 

In a perfect world that is what I would do. But unfortunately trying to pick a weekend that makes everyone I come up there with happy is next to impossible. This year we are coming up October 26th. I will watch the weather closely the week before but regardless of what the forecast is, I'll be in the water on the 26th.

TheSlamminSalmon

Is it possible to get an honest report anymore? I'm thinking about coming up later this week and just want to know how it has been on Walnut and Elk lately.

 
I'd give you my cell number, but then It would make things way too easy for ya.

KJH807

flat lander 

.. This year we are coming up October 26th. ...

DUDE?
why did you pick that day?
its been well published that the 26, 27, and 28th are not going to be EPIC

 
I'm predicting 10 released fish by 1 PM on the 26th... we shall see