# Headed to PA.....then found out.......



## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

I went up to PA and stayed the night hoping to find some steel. Well we found some steel but the numbers were down. The fish we caught have been in the river since september and we didn't see any fresh ones at all. 

I talked to a lot of the guys on the river that were actually heading back to ohio for steel now. They said the run was not what they expected this year. 

This was my third time up and it wasn't bad by my standards, but down for sure compared to the last two years. 

We were on the elk by the way and walked a total of about 6 miles in 12 total hours of fishing.


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## Steelhead Fever (Dec 31, 2009)

the run has really slowed over there, its about petered out, time to chase ohio manistees


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

I agree, Christmas afternoon I went and fished a spot on Elk, nothing, then fished Walnut and caught 2, both were in the creek a while. Saw very very few fish except for the Manchester hole, which I had all to my self Did hook one really nice fresh fish though, but most weren't.


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## ngski (Aug 16, 2005)

Yes numbers are down from past years, but you still get into steelhead when other tribs are blown out.


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

If it weren't for PA I would have gone crazy! with the way our rivers are blown out constantly you have to find another way.......I have yet to go there when it was crowded : ) . .great fishery but the run is definitely coming to an end. I caught a couple zombies last time....gross

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## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

yea, the fish I caught were beat to crap. Have you noticed the open sores right under the jaw.....caught three fish like that. All had sores in the same spot. Ohio fish def don't have that.


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

You mean this? Sick!

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## CARL510ISLE (Jan 8, 2010)

Fished Elk on Christmas Eve Day till about 2PM. Had some premium community holes and pretty much the whole stream to myself, on a stream that just dropped into shape, caught a couple dozen fish of which only a couple were tight, one was dropping eggs, and pretty much most of the others were dropbacks and spent males. Did catch a small bonus brown. I was in the lower third of the creek and would have never expected that many dropbacks that low. PA fish have really gone to town and spawned in all this warm weather we've had the past couple months and I'd have to say the bulk are definitely done. This is the first year I can remember that these fall run fish actually had great spawning conditions (warmer water) and is undoubtedly why so many are completely spent.

C510I


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

I was there til 2 also on christmas eve.....was up pretty far and found a nice concentration of dropbacks

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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

FISHIN216 said:


> You mean this? Sick!
> 
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I saw a fish just like that swim close to me on Walnut on xmas, I don't know why the fish was like that. Sick.


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## FISHIN216 (Mar 18, 2009)

This was a PA spawned out female that ended up in an unmentionable....made me queezy

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## Lundfish (Apr 7, 2010)

That is a NASTY fish Justin. What in the H do you think caused that? Was it from someone throwing a crank and snagged it? That is a shame whatever caused it.


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## Chef T (Feb 28, 2011)

That looks like a fresh lamprey wound. They've been tearing up the steel the past 4 years.


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## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

Almost every fish that I caught up there had that wound.....all in the same spot too.


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## kingnuke32 (Jan 14, 2009)

Chef T said:


> That looks like a fresh lamprey wound. They've been tearing up the steel the past 4 years.


Ya there have been a few wounds like that near the mouths this year usually see them further back but they will latch on any way they can.


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## allegheny river kid (Apr 9, 2010)

A fair amount of the PA fish i caught this fall had some sort of a lamprey sore on them. Most on there stomachs or under the chin.


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## Carpman (May 18, 2005)

Looks like all the lampreys are headed for clean water just like our steelhead.......running from the algae.


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## ShutUpNFish (Apr 17, 2007)

Correct...the last silver fish I caught in PA was a couple of weeks ago. Fished it 6 days since then, and have not caught anything but colored up fish. The returns of fresh fish on Elk has slowed considerably. I got one last weekend that had at least 6 lamprey scars on it! Shows how resilliant these fish really are. 

My buddy even caught a bunch with lapreys that looked like this







hangin' off their chins!


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