Fresh Steel

Early fall steelheading means fresh, shiny as a dime, fish. The early fall rains bring up the most eager and freshest steelhead. Today we hooked into a few on Elk Creek. The water level was a little lower than expected, and the crowds were about what one would expect on a cool fall Sunday. Juris landed the first fish of the fall, a 7 pounder that came to the shore about 7:30 a.m. after inhaling a psycho nymph.

My first steelhead of the fall came a few hours later (after losing a handful) south of the Conrail tubes. The large male was hanging out in a deep chute. I had fished the chute earlier in the day and foul hooked a fish. On the way back upstream I decided to try it again and hooked the male on an egg fly. Juris hooked one about 50 yards upstream at about the same time – a long-distance double header.

A nice start to the fall season. More fishing ahead.