That thing is a beast.

Are they good to eat when they get that big? I imagine they would basically taste like salmon?

We did a Salmon charter out of Olcott in 2015, ended up with one legal King Salmon, but boy did we ever get into the Steelhead. The Ontario steelies dwarf the ones in Erie. 

Porktown

psu_fish
The Ontario steelies dwarf the ones in Erie. 

I think the same in Michigan and imagine Superior and Huron.  I am guessing since all are deeper and salmon programs have worked well (at least in Michigan, not sure of others?).  My company HQ is in Green Bay.  They think of steelhead as a nuisance.  They are worshipped here (with a stringer)...  That said, I don't think any of the others have the walleye that Erie has.  

Porktown

psu_fish
The Ontario steelies dwarf the ones in Erie. 

I think the same in Michigan and imagine Superior and Huron.  I am guessing since all are deeper and salmon programs have worked well (at least in Michigan, not sure of others?).  My company HQ is in Green Bay.  They think of steelhead as a nuisance.  They are worshipped here (with a stringer)...  That said, I don't think any of the others have the walleye that Erie has.  

Superior is lacking it seems:
 
Minnesota: King Salmon 33 lbs 4 oz is out of Superior. Coho 10 lb 6 oz 
 
New York: King Salmon 47 lb 13 oz caught in the Salmon River, major trib of Lake Onatrio. Coho record is 33 lb 7 oz. 
 
Wisconsin: King Salmon Record is 44 lb 15 oz from Lake Michigan, Coho 26 lb 2 oz from Lake Michigan 
 
Michigan: King 46.06 lbs from Grand River via snagging in 1978!!. Coho 30.56 lbs Platte River 
 

Porktown

psu_fish
The Ontario steelies dwarf the ones in Erie. 

I think the same in Michigan and imagine Superior and Huron.  I am guessing since all are deeper and salmon programs have worked well (at least in Michigan, not sure of others?).  My company HQ is in Green Bay.  They think of steelhead as a nuisance.  They are worshipped here (with a stringer)...  That said, I don't think any of the others have the walleye that Erie has.  

Erie steelhead aren’t native, are they? Do any of them actually spawn in those tribs?

I thought true steelhead lived their adult life in salt water? The Great Lakes steelhead are stocked rainbows that get out into open water, correct?

All Great Lake Salmonoids are stocked fish. A true Steelhead is hatched from an egg in some trib of the Pacific Ocean. Then they make their way to the salt. They traverse a life in the ocean. Dodging whales, sharks, sea lions and anything else big enough to eat them. They return as 3 to 5 year olds ( I think) to the same stream to spawn.

NY takes their trout program alittle more serious. A creel limit of 1 Steelhead trout 22". Not 3 15" that we have here in Pa. Another thing is, any fishing of "ditch water tribs" in NY is mostly frowned upon. If you want a chance at bigger fish, NY or Michigan is the place to go. If you have the means NW Pacific or Alaska. IMO

Fished pool 3 this morning, caught 8 walleye in front of the dam.

New King Salmon record in Michigan
 
Ortonville teen catches Great Lakes record Chinook salmon | News | shorelinemedia.net

This caught my eye......I'm thinking PFBC just copy/paste prior year reports...as there is no way Woodcock Creek Lake is flush with fish after the whole draindown accident 
 

August 4, 2021

Crawford County
Woodcock Creek Lake
Anglers are catching Smallmouth Bass, panfish, Walleye. Reminder all people on a boat less than 16 feet and all canoes and kayaks must always wear a wearable personal floatation device.

"The Great Kinzua Reservoir"...  
 
 
 

hahah...oldie but a goodie....
But, I can personally attest to the awesome ice fishing and fall walleye fishing on Kinzua.
Biggest pike I ever laid eyes on came through the ice there.....and some dandy walleye...
Biggest walleye I ever saw though, was through the ice, on the Allegheny river.

Did you ice fish the river or the reservoir?

I was at the river below the dam a few weeks back, but completely blown out. I was bummed. Couldn’t do our float trip or fish. Tried the fishing part, but no go. My buddy had me all psyched up for the smallmouth bite.

No fish is worth ice fishing on a river for me!  I know people do, but no way I am even going out on ice with moving water under.  I could definitely get into fishing the reservoir, probably more into other local smaller lakes on the ice.  The reservoir would be kind of scary.  Anything controlled by the USACE, I am not sure if I want to be on.  That is prior to the Woodcock incident too.  I have heard guys drill through ice, look down and it is 5' or more air between them and the water.  No thanks.
 
I am definitely going to hit that area again.  I had work in Warren years ago and didn't think too much of it.  Rarely do I when I am there for a work day trip.  This past trip, my GPS had me taking 62 from Tionesta up.  What a nice stretch of road with the cabins on the river.  Looked great, even with high water.  Can only imagine how nice the wading/floating are when the water is lower.
 
We also stopped at the Bent Run Brewing Co. in Warren.  Beer was pretty good.  Only got some appetizers since we had dinner planned at camp.  Apps were pretty good.  The other food looked good too.  The blonde bar tender, wowzers!!!  

Just spent a week on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and for the most part fishing sucked. First two days were OK with a couple keeper speckled trout and some smaller ones with high tide in the morning. Then it was nothing but hardhead cats and 12” ladyfish as high tide was after noon each day (only one tide cycle a day there). Saw pics of great catches on a couple Facebook groups I follow of flounder, specks and reds for a couple weeks leading up and then all of a sudden everyone said the same thing: dead.

The owner of the AirBnB we rented stopped by to cut the grass Wednesday and we got to talking. He offered to take us out in his boat on Friday morning. Said we could do MS or the marsh in Louisiana. I didn’t have to think twice and my boys didn’t either, and we launched out of Delacroix, LA Friday morning at 6:30.

Tag teamed with my youngest on this 29” not quite a bull red not too long after we started fishing. Got another 20” ish slot red and those were the best fish of the day. Lost and missed a couple more good ones and we got a lot of fish in the boat but not many in the cooler. Oldest son threw flies the whole time and didn’t stick a fish but got to fish in a place he’s wanted to for a long time.

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Anytime out with the kids is a great time. 👍

FL2, how's the leg healing? I have a few questions about East PA Erie. Any chance I could pick you're brain about a few things? Unlock your PMs and send me a response, if you would?

OK, another pic from a New York outdoor site.  Is this believable?  It almost looks like a time-lapse image to me.