\u201cIf the rain continues, and particularly if we get some colder weather, we should get a nice run,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
When the water temperatures get in the low 60s or 50s, the fish move more often into the creeks. In early September, the water is still hovering in the low 70s.<\/p>\n
Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n “That\u2019s still a little bit warm,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n More places to fish for steelhead: Pennsylvania anglers to see new minimum trout size limit<\/a> But fish are starting to move with the higher water levels.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been told there\u2019s fish being caught down at Avonia, at the mouth of Elk Creek, and down towards the marina at Walnut Creek,” he said. “But I don\u2019t believe there are in many huge numbers. A lot of these fish will wander into the mouths of these streams overnight or early in the morning and then a lot of times will go back out into the lake,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Even though the water levels are high enough, the area will be dealing with fewer overall numbers of fish. \u201cThe other thing that\u2019s going to have an impact on all of this is that fewer fish were stocked two years ago. I think we\u2019ll definitely have fish returning but maybe not in the numbers that we had before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Raising steelhead in Pennsylvania<\/p>\n The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) decided to stop raising steelhead in 2023 at the Tionesta State Fish Hatchery along the Allegheny River out of concerns for introducing diseases to the fish in a different watershed. The steelhead are all being raised at the Fairview State Fish Hatchery in Erie, which is undergoing improvements to handle more fish.<\/p>\n The work includes efforts to find more water, a new filtration system, new UV system, new temperature controls and more fish raceways. The efforts are aimed at producing 1 million fish a year at Fairview, the same total that Fairview and Tionesta raised combined a few years ago.<\/p>\n In 2024, the agency stocked about 800,000 yearling steelhead and close to 500,000 this past year.<\/p>\n After spending two summers in the lake, the fish which can grow to be more than two-feet long return to the creeks in the fall.<\/p>\n Sometimes, younger steelhead called jacks and older fish return as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe certainly get 4-year-old fish returning, but I believe the peak number is when they\u2019re at the 3-year range, maybe a little bit younger than 3 and up to a little bit over 3,\u201d Larson said. \u201cThe other thing people don\u2019t realize is that Year 5 fish can return, Year 6 fish can return.\u201d<\/p>\n If the area continues to have periodic rains and lower temperatures, the fish will be moving inland.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fish will be returning, but maybe not in the numbers that we had before. People will still be catching fish. And I like to think with the amount of rain we\u2019ve had over the last five, six weeks, if this continues, we\u2019ll see a nice early run, which we really didn\u2019t see the last two years,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n The Fish and Boat Commission in July approved three new easements for anglers this year, including the following:<\/p>\n Asbury Woods Partnership, Inc., has sold a 730-foot easement on both sides of Walnut Creek in Fairview Township for $14,000. The easement is for public access and aquatic resource management.<\/p>\n Judith M. Schroeck sold a 312-foot easement along Walnut Creek in Fairview Township for $5,750. This easement would provide public access and aquatic resource management to a section of the creek anglers refer to as the \u201ctubes\u201d area of Dutch Road. The agency reports acquisition of this easement is part of a strategic plan to allow for future movement upstream.<\/p>\n The board approved a 3,600-foot easement along Walnut Creek in Millcreek Township offered by that municipality. The township has also agreed to grant the commission easements for parking and a footpath to the waterway.<\/p>\n The cost for the easement was included in a May 2013 Erie Access Improvement Program grant the PFBC provided the township. That $97,000 grant was made to assist in the development of public fishing access on the township\u2019s Bridger Park property along Walnut Creek.<\/p>\n \u201cIt keeps access there for basically in perpetuity,\u201d Larson said about the fishing easements.<\/p>\n Having access to the creeks is an ongoing challenge. As in many places, the land is owned by private individuals who allow public access.<\/p>\n \u201cRespect each other, respect landowners and if you get a chance when you\u2019re on the landowner\u2019s property, thank them,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n More: Erie’s creeks have lost deeper pockets of water but projects will help<\/a> Kirk Rudzinski, and his wife, Lynne, have owned and operated East End Angler<\/a> tackle shop in Erie for the past 19 years. On Sept. 8, he said he was unable to predict what will be popular with the trout anglers this fall, but there are many tried and true baits and lures.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of early yet. It\u2019s still pretty warm,\u201d he said. There are a few fish in the creeks because of the high water, but there are some creeks without any yet.<\/p>\n \u201cSome guys are casting spoons in the lake. That would be at the crack of dawn until the sun hits the horizon, that\u2019s the best time to get them,\u201d Kirk said about early season. \u201cI think they are coming in and feeding on the minnows that are in close.”<\/p>\n He said spoons, such as a K.O. Wobbler or Little Cleo, that are blue and chrome have proven themselves over the years as effective lures for steelhead.<\/p>\n \u201cThe K.O. Wobbler gives you more of a jigging action, but you can also cast and reel it,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re jigging it up and down in the water column, it gives a little bit of a flash like a dying minnow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Other anglers are using live minnows and nightcrawlers below bobbers to get fish strikes. People will soon start using eggs and egg sacks, too. \u00a0<\/p>\n More: Catching steelhead in Erie doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Guide explains how<\/a><\/p>\n Rudzinski also has ugbugs made locally by Joseph Griesbaum. They are jigheads with long dubbing material that works well as a streamer floating below a bobber.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the water is clear, the one he calls cotton candy would be good,\u201d Rudzinksi said. \u201cThat seems to be a really good early-season color.”<\/p>\n Right now, he\u2019s waiting for cooler water temperatures to see how many fish make it off the lake and into the creeks.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard to tell this early on what we\u2019re going to end up with,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve only seen maybe a dozen guys that have actually tried to steelhead fish and you know in a couple of weeks there will be a couple thousand.\u201d<\/p>\n Report your success\/lack of success<\/p>\n The steelhead association has an online survey it wants all anglers to use after their fishing trips. It\u2019s available on the association\u2019s website, pasteelhead.wildapricot.org<\/a>, and there are signs with QR codes posted along popular fishing areas.<\/p>\n Anglers can mark how many hours they fished and what they caught, including if they didn\u2019t have any luck that day. The survey includes steelhead, brown trout and pink salmon.<\/p>\n Larson said the pink salmon haven\u2019t been stocked in the Great Lakes since the mid 1950s, but there\u2019s a natural reproducing population that continues to provide some fish each year.<\/p>\n The survey has been streamlined to basic information needed for research purposes.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, more people will respond because it\u2019s easier and quicker to fill out now,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n \u201cEven if you didn\u2019t catch a fish, it\u2019s just as important for you fill that survey out.”<\/p>\n The association shares the results of the data, but not the anglers\u2019 personal email, with the PFBC to help them manage the fishery.<\/p>\n The email address anglers provide are converted to a number to allow the researchers to see how many times that anonymous person filled out a survey.<\/p>\n Catch or release your steelhead?<\/p>\n With fewer numbers of fish temporarily being stocked, Larson said he would like to see more anglers think about catch and release fishing.<\/p>\n Anglers are permitted to keep three steelhead a day in the fall and winter months,<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not going to tell people that they have to do catch and release, but I like it personally. I like to see other people do it. What I would like to see is a reduction in the daily creel limit for steelhead,\u201d he said. They sent a request to the PFBC to temporarily lower the creel limit while the hatchery improvements are underway, but the change has not been approved.<\/p>\n \u201cI still think we all feel the same way that it would help out in keeping numbers of fish in the streams that could be caught,\u201d Larson said about the association\u2019s request.<\/p>\n But he understands that some anglers like to keep some fish.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of people who enjoy taking a steelhead or two home and smoking them and eating them and whatever. I don\u2019t have a problem with that, but I wouldn\u2019t mind having a reduced creel limit,\u201d he said. \u201cEven if we went from three to two, it would be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n What doesn\u2019t get fully understood is actually how many fish leave the creeks with anglers, including those involved in poaching and snagging.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there are more fish being taken off the stream than people realize,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n With the agency now stocking half of the number of fish it did in past years, Larson said keeping the same creel limit will have a bigger impact now on the number of fish staying available to other anglers. \u201cYou have half the number of fish in there, but you\u2019re allowing people to keep the same of amount of fish daily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n If someone wants to catch and release steelhead, Larson said water temperature plays an important role in a fish\u2019s ability to survive.<\/p>\n \u201cI would avoid particularly fishing the streams now because it\u2019s so warm. If you catch a fish and play it for a while, you\u2019re going to most likely kill it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Those who like to release their fish this time of year use heavier tippet (line weight) to get their fish to the net faster.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can get the fish in without a lot of delay and then handle it as little as you can outside of the water,” Larson said. “If you\u2019re going to take a picture, wet your hands and don\u2019t have that fish pose for a long period of time and then get it back in the water.<\/p>\n As the temperatures cool down, he said it\u2019s OK to use lighter line that\u2019s not detected by the fish as easily.<\/p>\n \u201cI realize that when you use heavier tippets, you\u2019re going to probably not have as many hookups, but I would bet that you\u2019ll land a higher percentage of your fish that way,\u201d Larson said.<\/p>\n Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@usatodayco.com<\/a> and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors\u00a0PA newsletter email on this website’s homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sept. 9, 2026, 5:07 a.m. ET There may not be as many steelhead as a few years ago…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[596,136,138,137,539,82371,1624,1625,1143,22050,4536,651,1629,952,949,18931,22052,4537,2551,535],"class_list":["post-285615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-accessmetered","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-pa","tag-sourceerie-times-news","tag-sstssportsoutdoors","tag-sstsnoutdoors","tag-tagerie","tag-tagfishing","tag-taglake-erie","tag-taglocal-news","tag-tagoutdoor-sports","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagpa-content-sharing","tag-tagpennsylvania-fish-and-boat-commission","tag-tagsteelhead-fish","tag-tagtourist-destinations","tag-tagweather","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Anglers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/91663798007-avonia-beach-sept-20-2024.jpg\")
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