Northwestern Pennsylvania weekend fishing report, Dec. 4-6

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Darl and Marilyn Black, For the Times-News
 |  Erie Times-News

According to multiple reports, steelhead streams are presently in good shape in terms of flow, color and numbers of fish.

By Thursday morning, tributaries had recovered from the blow out earlier in the week, says Jeff at Poor Richard’s. “Several of our customers were doing well on the upper reaches of Elk. Looking at the forecast, streams should maintain both good flow and a little color with the slow snow melt through the weekend. Bright fly patterns, including chartreuse Wooly Buggers, should do the trick.” Jake, at FishUSA, concurs with a recommendation of “big presentations like a quarter-size smelly egg sacks and big egg presentations for the fly guys.” 

At Elk Creek Sports, Dan reminds everyone that snow melt will be cooling the water. “It’s time to switch over to winter rules – forget early sunrise starting time because the water will be too chilly. Let the sun get higher in the sky; consider a 9 or 10 a.m. start. Steelhead should be even more active in the afternoon. This is one of the best runs we have had in years – there are lots of fish moving through the tributaries, with fresh chromers still showing up. However, given the forecast of strong NW winds, this is not a weekend for fishing the lakeshore.”

Kirk at East End Angler believes Twenty Mile Creek will maintain good flow for four or five days. “Anglers have been catching good numbers of steelhead, with about 80% of the fish I’m cleaning being fresh chrome,” states Kirk. “One tip that several customers have mentioned, with the intense angling pressure on the fish, if you catch one steelhead from a hole on a particular bait, you should switch up to another bait – the fish are that skittish.”

In the Bay, walleyes are being caught on the South Pier in the evening and perch have spread into Donjon and the Head-of-the-Bay off the 3rd parking lot. Tim Tomlin of the Presque Isle Angler Group has reports of additional burbot coming from the east ends of both the North and South Pier.

Anglers have been few in number at Pymatuning the last several days, says Dave at Richter’s Bait & Tackle. “The Jamestown Marina Dock bite has fallen off, with only a few small bluegills being caught. However, last weekend before the big snow storm, one of my customers – a diehard musky angler – caught and release 11 muskies while trolling big plugs. He says if the weather warms back up, he will back after them.”

Contributors:

East End Angler, 4702 East Lake Road; 814-898-3474

FishUSA Pro Shop, 6960 W. Ridge Rd., Fairview; 800-922-1219

Poor Richard’s Bait & Tackle, 6821 West Lake Road, Lake City; 814-474-5623

Elk Creek Sports, 10543 Old Lake Road, Lake City; 814-774-8755

Tudor Hook-N-Nook, 10079 Cross Station Ext., Girard; 814-323-5886

Richter’s Bait & Tackle, 2936 Williamsfield Road, Jamestown, PA; 724-932-5372

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