CAPTAIN HOOK
This just my opinion have no facts but I think there is some truth here, then again maybe I'm way off base, maybe all this downturn is just Mother Nature's doing................
 
Let's face some serious facts on Erie Steelhead fishing. Between 2000 - 2008 Erie Steelhead numbers were off the charts. Fantastic numbers of fish were being caught at all creeks feeding Lake Erie. Along with these fantastic amounts of fish came unreal numbers of fishermen especially from 2005 on up. The internet was lit up with reports of huge numbers of fish being caught on" Steelhead Alley." Guides were popping up everywhere, local businesses were advertising heavy , bait shops were booming. It was as we all witnessed, OUT OF CONTROL ! Litter everywhere, parking anywhere, trespassing , you name it and it was going on 24/7 . No fish cleaning stations , no restrooms , limited parking areas, this was disaster waiting to happen....and it did happen! Land owners finally getting tired of all the abuse , local residents sick and tired of trespassing , noise , lights , cars parked blocking areas, people using yards for restrooms, coffee cups everywhere the list is endless. So here comes the posted signs along with more warnings to the Fish Commission...."Fix this soon or else it's done" ! What can the Fish Commission do to stop this Tsunami of fishermen and preserve some fishing along these tributaries? Buy leases ? That would help but money is tight. Put in some restrooms and parking lots ? Would help but something else has to happen soon. Only one thing would help slow the flood of fishermen and these mounting problems..........stock less fish !                Less fish will = less fishermen in time.      Welcome to 2016

 
 
That, sir, was a great post

Lower the limits and the crowds will drop. 1 fish is all you need.

The issue will always be people dont want to admit there is an issue. And the people that say its good have no idea what good steelhead fishing is. I have been fishing erie every weekend for years and years.. This year is absolutely scary. Just go look at trout run nursery. Nothing but old dark fish and no chromers showing up for the last 4 months. Fish size is lacking. I almost forgot what it was like to catch an adult sized steelhead until i hit the ohio tribs this year. On average each fish must have weighed 3 to 4lbs more than all the fish i caught in erie.

Thedrift

johnthefisherman
I used to think the "not as many fish as there used to be" theory was just a cop out for those who couldn't catch them.

Most of the people who complain are the guys that know how to catch them the best. Wiping out holes in 15 minutes is common anymore. Each hole that used to hold 25 to 50 fish seems to hold 5 or 6 fish at best. Regardless of fishing skill polarized glasses and a few miles of walking reveal the truth. You can see the bottom pretty well throughout the tribs. Fish are not there. Havnt been all year. Walnut in late sept after blowouts and no one catching anything? Something is wrong. You should be seeing fish pushing up. You dont see that anymore.

Everything pfbc says is b.s.. They barely put any smolt in elk last year. Bunch of uneducated fisherman invloved with pfbc that have college educations. There is no passion for fishing involved in pfbc. Pfbc wants to dig out more holding areas for the fish. Whats the point if theres no fish? Stock more.

Walnut use to have pods of fishing going up and down the mouth to the stop sign hole. They would just all get confused on what way to go. Didn't see anywhere near the amount that previous years had during the early runs.
 
Its obvious something is going on. Sure fishing may have been great at the mouths. But the numbers in the streams are way off.
 
What is the issue however, we may not find out till its too late when the PFBC speaks up.
 
Hopefully this mild winter will tell us if the past couple harsh winters were the issue.
 
I'll still fish for them, but what use to be a 6 month season is becoming a 2-3 month season with less and less trips.

Give this a read there is 3 parts. Part 3 is very interesting. We were catching 36-38" walleye on the troll in 2015.
 
http://www.jsonline.com/n...97807z1-284550491.html

Yesterday I was on elk above foleys for 3 hours. Smolts everywhere, not many bigguns. We started by the field. My buddy got 2 in a nice run nearby. I got the skunk. I'm sure there were a few mixed in there, but I kept moving after hooking smolts. I walked all the way up to the pine tree hole at the flats, not really fishing but just checking. The water was fairly low and clear and when in doubt I walked directly into the hole to chase fish out. I chased out 1 fish in over at least a mile, maybe two miles. And not all the water was flat-some nice runs. I was amazed.
Good news-the downed tree at that hole near the flats has been moved to the bank instead of stuck midstream.

It was a beautiful day and my first time ahht in 3 months so I enjoyed it regardless of catching. But what the heck??!!! It was dead water.

H3Fisher

Thedrift

johnthefisherman
I used to think the "not as many fish as there used to be" theory was just a cop out for those who couldn't catch them.

Most of the people who complain are the guys that know how to catch them the best. Wiping out holes in 15 minutes is common anymore. Each hole that used to hold 25 to 50 fish seems to hold 5 or 6 fish at best. Regardless of fishing skill polarized glasses and a few miles of walking reveal the truth. You can see the bottom pretty well throughout the tribs. Fish are not there. Havnt been all year. Walnut in late sept after blowouts and no one catching anything? Something is wrong. You should be seeing fish pushing up. You dont see that anymore.

Everything pfbc says is b.s.. They barely put any smolt in elk last year. Bunch of uneducated fisherman invloved with pfbc that have college educations. There is no passion for fishing involved in pfbc. Pfbc wants to dig out more holding areas for the fish. Whats the point if theres no fish? Stock more.

Walnut use to have pods of fishing going up and down the mouth to the stop sign hole. They would just all get confused on what way to go. Didn't see anywhere near the amount that previous years had during the early runs.
 
Its obvious something is going on. Sure fishing may have been great at the mouths. But the numbers in the streams are way off.
 
What is the issue however, we may not find out till its too late when the PFBC speaks up.
 
Hopefully this mild winter will tell us if the past couple harsh winters were the issue.
 
I'll still fish for them, but what use to be a 6 month season is becoming a 2-3 month season with less and less trips.

Been coming up to Erie to fish for steelhead since 1995, when I was 6 and my father took me for the first time. Ive experienced everything from near triple digit days where I thought catching fish was too easy, to skunkings, as well as days where I got up there, found everything dangerously blown out, so I turned around and went home the same day. While I'm certainly not at the top of the pack in the steelhead fishing game, I do feel I'm knowledgeable and experienced enough to find and catch some fish on any given day, and I'm generally content with that, plus the fish are just added excitement to my trips to Erie. Do I enjoy observing the fall foliage along I 80 and 79/ my scenic route (80 to 36 north)? Absolutely. Do I enjoy food from some great places after a long day of fishing? You better believe it. Do I enjoy staying in a hotel for a few days, and getting away from it all at home and work? Definitely. Actually headed up this weekend, expectations are very low, really going just to get away, and this is one of the few weekends I have open for a spring trip.

Now, back in the days that my "cop out" quote referred to, I never really took much heed in the people complaining about fish numbers, since I've had great days when the reports said "no fish, dont even bother comin mup," and I've struggled on days where reports said it would be a great. Not to mention I've actually overheard physical conversations on the tribs in which people admit to posting reports understating the numbers of fish in the creeks, in order to discourage out of towners from going up. 

However, over the past few seasons, the decreased numbers are much more noticeable. Strangely, my best trips of the past two seasons, were the very first ones (usually last weekend of September), whereas, in the past, the best trips seemed to be sometime in the last weeks of October- Early November. Seems the season has shortened, we get the initial run or two early on with the meat of the numbers, then its a trickle. In 2014 and 2015, I can recall several times where I've timed it perfectly to get up a couple days after heavy rain, right when things were clearing up, only to say something like "thats all the fish all that rain brought in?" in areas that would previously have "clouds" of fish stacked up, along with a few fish spread out in other small runs and riffles. 

http://fbweb.pa.gov/stocking/WWCWStockingDetailsHistorical_RFP.aspx

These are the historical stocking records provided by the PFBC, and according to this, stocking numbers are down in certain areas from where they were in the early-mid 2000s. This is in addition to the factors that I'm sure make a difference (ie Lamprey, pollution, walleye, brutal winters, fish kept, etc.). We really need to get someone in charge of something to study this here and figure out what's going on.

johnthefisherman
http://fbweb.pa.gov/stocking/WWCWStockingDetailsHistorical_RFP.aspx

These are the historical stocking records provided by the PFBC, and according to this, stocking numbers are down in certain areas from where they were in the early-mid 2000s. 

 
Wow!
 
Elk from 244,000 last year to 105,000 in 2016
20 Mile from 110,00 to 26,000
Walnut from 185,000 to 83,000
 
No increase anywhere else?  
 

Great news for the land owners 
 
opps spoke to soon

That's an old article and back in the day it was good, just like the creeks.
 
Like I said in my previous posts, less fished stocked = less people fishing (in time). The Fish Commission is in control of this numbers game. They are trying to regulate the number of fishermen to keep this fishery open without more future problems. They are slowly succeeding in that direction with cutbacks of stocking numbers the past 5 years. They will never admit that's why but, I'd say they had no choice. It's good but yet it's bad. The good is, it still keeps most public Steelhead fishing open on most creeks, and hopefully no more land posted. Less people make for less litter and trespassing problems too. The bad is, there are less fish to be caught overall, and less revenue for local businesses . I personally don't see much changing on into the future here, so it is what it is.
 

This was taken by me years ago.....this is open to public fishing ....who want's it this easy?    LOL..

CKM
2016 stockings are still occurring.  Elk, Twentymile, Walnut AND Twelvemile Creeks have not received their full 2016 allotment of yearling steelhead yet.  2016 numbers will be very similar to 2015 numbers.
 

Thanks for clearing that up.  I see there's a bump in the numbers today.  

Fished the Erie tributaries 3/18 and 3/19 and not in PA, was able to catch plenty of quality fish the point is after my great fishing trip I went to Trout run and counted 20 fish at dam and 30 or so in lower area.  Thousands in one state and a handful in another.  There has been no spring take and milking of steelhead for 10 years and today the hatcheries are empty and dry, with no spring take and a constant supply the spring runs will not change and will only continue to get worse. My money is going to other states that do a good service to there fisherman.  Erie stamp is a joke, in the surrounding states it is one fee between 40 and 50 dollars for the license period.
 
FISH ON,
Brian

I use to fish Elk in 2007...Gave up when I discovered Pulaski, NY.  I don't miss Erie at all.

"I don't miss Erie at all."
But you still care enough to tell us about it...every year!

I'm taking my 6 year old son to a cavaliers game Monday. Got the day off Tuesday so if the weather cooperates this will be his first time steelheading. And after my 2 plus mile walk on elk last week and what I saw (or DIDNT see), sadly it won't be in pa for his first trip. I'll get him there eventually, but I feel we've got a better chance in Ohio on Tuesday.

bassackwards
 
 It is honestly a little sad when I think about them trying to run the streams and have 100 people throwing jewelry at them.
 
Why are we seeing such great steelhead fishing in open water, but not in the streams ??

I think you answered your own question.