Broad and Reel

The final fish picture in my header was taken in Erie, PA.

Living in Pittsburgh, PA, I was about two hours from Lake Erie and its famous tributaries. It was perfect. We could drive up in the morning, fish until dark and then drive home.

The fish in the picture are Steelhead. Steelhead look like rainbow trout but are much bigger. The fish live in both the tributaries (we usually fished Walnut Creek and Elk Creek) and the lake depending on the time of year. When the fish come in, there are tons of them. They just sit in the riffles or in big holes.

The tough thing about steelhead is that they are overfished i.e. used to leaders, flies, etc… and even though they are usually 5lbs or so, the fish are caught on 2 or 4lb test … there’s also tons of competition. On a November weekend you could be elbow to elbow with people trying to catch the fish.

The picture was taken after my first day of landing fish. The limit was three but I had two. I’m big on catch and release but I wanted to take my first “chromers” to get smoked.

If you ever get the chance to go Steelhead fishing, jump on it because Steelhead are amazing. You have to fight them so delicately because of line. Hooking a steelhead always gets my heart pounding. A full day of cold and wet fishing is worth landing only one steelhead.