I typically make a couple of trips to northwestern Pennsylvania each year to fly fish for steelhead in the tributaries of Lake Erie. Coming off of a very active 2017 fall run, I was expecting the spring fishing to be good. There are two types of steelhead you can catch in Erie from March through May. First is the “drop back” steelhead, a fish that ran upstream in the autumn to spawn and is now working its way back to the lake. Second is the “fresh” steelhead, a bright chrome fish that decided to make its trek up a tributary in the spring instead of the fall. A healthy fall run typically means good springtime steelhead fishing because there are drop back and fresh steelhead in the streams at the same time.

Early Friday morning I drove to Erie, Pennsylvania to kick-off my 2016 steelhead season. I met my buddy Jon at the Green Roof Inn in Girard and we decided to start our weekend of fishing on lower Elk Creek below Uncle John’s Campground. I had been watching the fishing reports out of Erie for a few weeks and the reoccurring theme was few fish and low and clear water. After fishing the Salmon River for a month, I was familiar with drought conditions and low water, but Erie has not been experiencing drought conditions, simply low water. I wasn’t sure what the Erie tributaries would look like but I was expecting conditions similar to the 2015 season. When Jon and I arrived at the state lot below the campground, we got geared up and headed down to the creek. When we got to the water, my jaw hit the ground. I couldn’t believe how low the water was. Our favorite riffle water was down to a few inches at best and there was little to no water movement in areas where it traditionally flows strong.