Week of November 10th 2025: Erie Steelhead
Week of November 10th: Erie Steelhead
Abraham here, bringing you a steelhead report this week!
Conor, myself, and our mutual mentor and friend, Keith, ventured out to our Lake House Lodge in the quiet town of North East, PA (outskirts of Erie) this past weekend. The local rivers had recently seen several inches of rain but like us, it was a brutal summer with low waters. The locals were still saying that the creeks were too low-- but from our perspective, they were better than 2 years ago when Conor & Keith last were out, and they were much better off than our local streams in NJ (unfortunately).
We fished 20 Mile Creek on Thursday and Saturday and had a banner day on Elk Creek on Friday. 20 Mile proved challenging both days but we managed to find fish regardless. The mystery about the Lake Erie tribs and steelhead in general, is that they can "turn it on" and "turn it off" at a moments notice. They'll be slamming anything and everything and then just stop! The other mystery is that a creek 4 miles away can have the fish jumping into the nets but the creek you are at is stone cold action.
Conor and Keith were fishing 10'6" Douglas DXF 5 & 6wts and I was using an 11" 7wt Guideline ULS 2.0 rod. We spent the majority of the 3 days fishing under an indicator, drifting small egg patterns. On Elk Creek, the steelhead were slamming anything Oregon Cheese colored (sucker spawn, globug, crystal meth eggs, etc). In classic Keith fashion, he had the majority of the local anglers in awe of his action he was getting. For myself, I had one take me quite literally for a run up and around the river bend. Keith recounted the story later that he looked up stream and said to Conor, "Abe's hooked up!" Then a few minutes later looked back and was confused because I was gone. Unfortunately, the midday jog didn't yield a picture - but the aerobatic dismount the silver bullet provided was enough for me!
20 Mile Creek proved much more challenging. While we found pods of fish, we threw just about everything at them and couldn't convince them to eat. The few hookups we managed, the fish shook out quickly. Finally, the most subtle of takes, yielded a hook up for myself - in a small hole that didn't allow the fish to run very far. After what was a relatively quick fight, the fish relented and found itself in a net.
The creeks of Erie really are quite special. I grew up going for creek walks with Aunts and Grandparents in the summertime, hunting for crawfish with my father and sliding down the natural bedrock "waterfalls" with my older brother. To get to go back and enjoy day long fly fishing adventures there now is really something else. And to share it with friends is what makes it a great fishing trip!
Want to join us next time? Let us know you're interested! We're working on hosted trips, and we'll send you info.
Or, grab some buddies and build your own fishing weekend. Our lodge is within walking distance of 16 Mile and a two minute drive from 20 Mile.