Not gonna lie, my feet were sore. I walked from Versaille road all the way upstream to near where the south branch hits the main branch. I didn’t go quite all the way to the fork, but I was maybe 1/8th mile away. It’s about 2.5 miles each way. Not too difficult of a walk, but it’s getting old having to hike that much to find fish. I must have hit 15-20 good looking spots along the way and got nothing. All spots that have produced fish in the past. They just aren’t in there in the numbers like they used to be. Today I went out for some browns just to mix it up, and I got skunked at Oatka. Oh well. I stopped by the hatchery in Caledonia and talked to a guy working there. He assured me that they stocked Oatka with about 4000 fish so far, but I only saw 1, lol. I checked out the breeder fish they have while I was there. You have got to stop by to see some of the browns they have at the end of the one tank. Just GINORMOUS lunkers lol. Not real long, some of them were about 26" but super wide and fat. Just pigs! He told me some of them are 12 years old. He said they are more like pets now, they are so used to people. If it wasn’t so overcast I would have tried to snap a few pics.
I plan on hitting the lower for one last steelhead trip before i start focusing on other species. Anyone have any updates on the fishing there?
There’s a guy on my fb page that ALWAYS gets steelhead when he fishes it. I’m sure there are still fish in there. If you see charter boats, then there are fish. I got out today and landed 1 steelhead with a mangled nose and 1 sucker.
I went 2 for 2 today. The first one I landed was a bull. As soon as he hit I knew it wasn’t a bass or sucker. No pics of that one, my line and jig were all tangled and I had to get him back in. I did get a picture of the second one. After suckers, carp, and 20+ bass, it was nice to get some steelies back on.
It was pretty good on the lower, I ended up going 3 for 3 today after about 4 hours effort. They were all hens and none were spawned out yet, so I would guess there is still a few week worth of good action.
One of my fb friends, from Sunday. That fish is still fresh. It will probably hang out in the lower for another month. The guy he was with got a chromer too.
Hey i am in that pic
That’s crazy lol! You are standing in “Z PHAT Z”'s spot!
Not him! Your FB friend stand at my spot! LOL
X2 the guy with the fish is on " the rock" I was on the other rock at the base of the stairs.
I seen him land that fish but I thought it was a laker from where I was standing
His friend landed a laker that day, his first ever. Those 2 guys do very well at Burt Dam. I’m always seeing their pictures.
Today I ventured out to Keg Creek. I figured every Erie trib would be destroyed from all of the rain we had. I went 1 for 2 and landed a gorgeous chromer. This fish must have just came in.
Then I stopped at ASB tackle and bought up all of their hand tied pink jigs.
Got out today for a bit. I hit an Erie trib. Most of them looked great except for the Catt which looked high and muddy. I went 3 for 4 and of course the one I lost was easily the biggest lol. The first was a drop-back fish with 2 red stripes, one on the side and one near the belly, second was a fresh little guy, and the third was a beat-to-hell hen with lamprey marks on both sides. I’m glad she made it. I ran into another fisherman named Anthony. He was super cool. He told me a different place to park to bypass some posted land. I told him about the “Fishing Nerds” fb page.
Ok so today I headed out to Canadaway. I parked at a sweet hole and went down. the water had that grayish tint to it, with about a foot of visibility. I got nothing so I drove down to a different section and saw the same guy I saw yesterday, Anthony. He said he had already landed 2 but there were a few guys at the area I wanted to fish, so I told him I was going to hit the area he had told me about yesterday. All I can say when I got there, was that the hike up and down the cliff was a BITCH lol. I hit a few holes and lost a small steelhead. So I said screw it, and keep walking WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY upstream. I’m glad I did! I turned a corner and came across an EPIC pool. Just unbelievably good. About 100 feet long, 75 feet wide and 10 feet deep. I guarantee it is full of fish in the fall. I tossed a kwikfish in and got 1 follow, no hits. So I put a jig on and landed 1 right away. Fished it for 1/2 hour and didn’t get another bite. Then I left and went to Buffalo Creek and landed a small one at the Dam. I will definitely hit this epic spot in the fall!
Well the picture came out like crap. But I was fishing for bass and this steelhead hit. Was beat up but man did she fight. Made the trip all worth it. I’m pretty certain this will be the last one I’ll get until Fall.
Went 6 for 10 today on steelhead and 3 for 4 on smallmouth. The smallie I lost was a tank. Easy 21", jumped 3 times and spit the hook. Here’s a few pics:
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Went 10 for 11 today. Was a real good day, but my legs are sore. Been walking 5 miles every day.
Super fresh guy, about 22-23"
This guy was good sized about 25-26"
This guy was the biggest. Real fat and about 26-27"
Went out to a small cottage this weekend and fished a tiny little stocked pond. I landed my 2 biggest ever largemouth bass. I landed both on a 5’ Lehigh Ultralight rod with 6lb line. The bass were 22" and 21". watch the bigger bass spin the boat around lol.
I landed a few big carp on it as well. They don’t fight anywhere near as good as a bass.
That is a huge smallmouth!
The carp was much bigger than it looks. That was more fun to catch, lol. Great fight. Now your bass was HUGE!