CAPTAIN HOOK
Anybody remember the old buzzard that use to charge us to park at Elk Creek on the East side ?
Yea he had a little wooden booth and charged everybody 2-3 dollars to park in the field there. He had a little shady thing going for awhile till they shut him down....lol

My buddy and I paid the fee there one year.  But that was the year we found out they put in the parking lot at Elk mouth and we starting parking there.  Kind of put the old guy out of business.

CAPTAIN HOOK
Thanks John,  I'm enjoying the read........
I used minnows one time up NY on the tribs....did nail a few . Most bait shops don't carry live bait like around here. In Lewiston the only two bait shops closed or were closed when I was up a few years ago. Olcott has one, Oak has ......? Maybe one....two closed there also. Can't bring  them in from out of state....VHS virus protection. Good bait shops are becoming a rarity ....tough seasonal business, long hours.  Gulp minnows should work well.

I was about to say that in good Steelie conditions, Gulp Alive may have rendered the Emerald Shiner obsolete for we minnow chuckers.
 
I use a hybrid 'stinger' set up with 12 lb clear or lo vis green mono. Minnow rigs don't let it work naturally . . . pre-tied stinger rigs for Eye's will work in high/stained water, but not low n slow.
 
 

Those fire tiger gulps are good stuff.  Wish they made them in the 1" version.  For some reason they don't seem to work for me in the fall, like they do in the spring and early summer.  Stupid fish that I am chasing want the live minnows when it is 40 degrees or less.  Would be much nicer on the hands if they would just take the gulps!
 
I had some fun at the Pig Pen as a kid in the mid to late 80s with my dad.  Not a ton of catching by either of us the first few trips, but good memories.  We landed enough to get hooked.  That and just seeing how many fish were crowded into those ditches.  My dad still reminds me of the day he was on fire at the Wall o' Nuts.  Limited out in maybe 5 minutes and no one else was catching anything.  Yes, we kept all the mushballs (stell and samons) we caught back then.  After he limited out, I got my hands on the hot spoon of the day.  Either first or second cast, I caught the other side of the Wall o' Nuts channel rocks, and that was the end of it...  He was about to throw me in, he was so jacked.  In return, I remind him of our POS station wagon we'd make trips in, that the hood flew open on Rt. 5.  Or him half asleep at 6AM pulling through the ditch when he saw a sign for coffee, completely missing the entrance to the parking lot.  Good times!  I think he stopped taking me when I started figuring things out, and would limit out in an hour, while he wasn't catching a thing.  Me complaining that I wanted to walk up stream away from the crowds.  "There ain't no fish up there"...  Dad, I can see those guys catching fish after fish, and no one even close to them.  But since there wasn't a place for a lawn chair, it wasn't a fishing spot!

Good story Pork....I'm still laughing ....how true too I bet.
 
That's an oldie Moses......I started going up around 71 same spot in photo...the wall...lol
 
I remember when the Fish Commish  would put some netted fish in the Gravel Pits years ago for people to catch.

Great story...I personally never caught a Lake Erie King, but I've landed many Ontario ones. Don't know your exact physical capabilities, but the Walnut wall could get you close to Steelhead fishing again with a friend's help. Last year there were lots of Steelhead staging there and I'm sure others would be more than happy to make room....just a thought.
 
This year is not taking off very well by my reports.  

Oh are we all finally agreeing the runs are a joke anymore?
 
This year is looking better than the last 6 or 7 so far. The only issue is every single fish being caught in all of the creeks are tiny. PFBC refuses to put a size limit on the steelhead due to inbred anglers. Lets rope up the 16 inchers boys.
 
Accurate post. Well done.

mike55
Oh are we all finally agreeing the runs are a joke anymore?
 
This year is looking better than the last 6 or 7 so far. The only issue is every single fish being caught in all of the creeks are tiny. PFBC refuses to put a size limit on the steelhead due to inbred anglers. Lets rope up the 16 inchers boys.
 
Accurate post. Well done.

Never understood the "I gotta get a limit or bust" crowd. To me, fishing is not about how fast I can rope 3 steelheads. Even with other game fish, I'm out fishing for fun and relaxation and enjoyment.
 
And this is not just a PA issue.

The smiles people have, roping them sub-legal fish is hilarious. Its like they have accomplished the impossible lol.
 
I would love to see a new limit be set. But I'm actually more impressed on the presence of the fish comish checking people this year. I've been checked more this year that past 4-5 years combined. 

 PFBC says "Let Them Grow - Unlike Pacific Salmon, Rainbow trout (steelhead), brown trout and Atlantic salmon are repeat spawners. Releasing these fish will provide them the opportunity to grow larger, improving future fishing opportunities for you and other anglers."
 
Then they give a 12 inch steelhead limit. I don't get it.
 
 

The steelhead size limit is 15" from the first weekend in September to the regular trout opener in April, when it's dropped to 9" like all other trout, and the limit goes up to 5.  
 
You'd think they could keep the size limit the same year round for steelhead (regardless of what size they settle on) but I guess there are enough anglers that can't tell the difference between a stocked brown trout and a steelhead smolt to know any better.  I would imagine in April there are quite a few smolts that make it into freezers as well.  
 
In the past couple years since I got a smoker, I keep 1 or 2 steelhead per trip usually.  Not always.  But they've got to be at least in the 22-24" range and pretty fresh looking.  I don't see any reason why the PFBC can't raise the size limit to upwards of 20" and lower it to 2 fish per day.  I'm a roper and smoker and I'd be just fine with that.  
 
I would imagine the rise in popularity of the bait shops in Erie offering smoked fish for trade ins has quite a bit to do with the frenzy to rope and smoke 3 fish as quickly as possible.  Did you ever go into Poor Richards close to closing time?  That place is a nut house with guys lined up to trade fish in.  No thanks, I'd rather know where my fish has been and how it's been handled.  
 
In regards to littering, I'm with ya mike55.  I just don't see it except for those days when I lose my senses and fish on Walnut.  
 
8-10 years ago on a local trout ditch near where I live, a landowner posted a small but nice stretch of water that got stocked pretty well, so of course the PFBC stopped stocking it.  I asked a WCO about it one day when I was near there, and he said the land owner was mad that the PFBC wouldn't help him pick up all the trash that got tossed by passing motorists and people dumping junk in the small parking areas, so he posted it.  Had nothing, or very little, to do with fishermen.  
 
 

And while I'm at it...Jeenee where yinz at???  
Member when you said "bet me" that the run was gonna be less this year?  And others were sayin it hadn't even really started yet because of warm temps?  Well, if you got back in the game you'd see that the run is not less this year....it's lookin very promising, just a little late (maabee epik).  Start a new page in yer notebook.  Nanny nanny boo boo!
 

I was up to RT 5 today, and didn't see no stupid fish.  Solid rain and windy as heck in Erie today.

fisherofmen376
BTDT were you fishing?  Walking the creeks or driving by?  Are you trying to say there are no fish and the run is bad?  Not still defending Jeenees prognostikayshuns are ya?  Cause i would beg to differ...and I ain't no trahht gawd neither! 

OH gosh no, I was on the East Bay Front Connector and seen a sign fir rt 5. Heard bout 5 so many times I thought I was crossin over a historical rt like 6 or is that 66, or sunset strip, or sumthin like that. What's a trout anyways? They good eaten?