North East, Pa. – Steve Young loves all things fish, but he loves steelhead in particular.
So much so that he quit his job as a motorcycle salesman several years ago to guide anglers visiting Lake Erie’s tributary waters during the fall and winter steelhead runs.
Consider him just one part of the $9.5 million-a- year steelhead industry in Erie County, as documented recently by a Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission study. The financial impact has quadrupled in 20 years.
That’s a stunning number, considering Pennsylvania only has about 60 miles of coastline on Lake Erie and about a dozen fishable tributaries. Alaskan and Pacific Northwestern rivers have long enjoyed reputations as steelhead destinations, but in the past decade, the Great Lakes’ steelhead fishery has become better known.
“I think it ranks with any fishing place in the world,” said Young, 55, of Wexford. “The advantage of the Pennsylvania streams that attract all the fishermen is that it’s sight-fishing. The clarity, that’s what really thrills people.” Even on a recent rainy day when the water in one tributary was up, many of the behemoths could be seen holding in pools.
Steelhead are actually rainbow trout that spend much of their adult lives in the ocean or large lakes. They swim into freshwater to spawn but, unlike salmon, can spawn more than once before they die. Anglers pursue what many consider to be freshwater’s most prized game fish with flies, bait and lures. Steelhead here average about 24 inches and typically weigh 3 to 8 pounds.
They make spawning runs from fall to spring. “I think people think of Thanksgiving as opening day,” Young said. But there are so many people on the streams, he won’t take anyone out that entire week.
But Young and others lament the fishery may be getting too popular. He’s strictly catch-and-release, believing the fish are resources best left for another day. Nearly 80 percent of anglers release their catch, the study found.
With the increasing number of anglers seeking steelhead come problems of access. Some landowners have posted their land against trespassing, reducing access to the waters.
Once you do find a place to put your line in, there’s no guarantee of catching a steelhead. On a recent outing, Cooper failed to land one in several hours, though he did catch a large brown trout. But the catch rate on Erie tributaries is still high. The study found the average angler catches a steelhead about every 90 minutes.
“Out West, the fish are bigger, but out there, you catch two, three fish a day and that’s a good day,” Heubel said. “But for sheer numbers, Pennsylvania steelhead is the best place in the world. Around here, guys that fish all the time, they’ll catch, 20, 30, a day.”
The details
Pennsylvania Steelhead Association, or Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, or 717-705-7800.
