Tiny Trout, Thrilling Catch

On Saturday evening I caught the smallest steelhead of my life and was thrilled to do so. This tiny smolt was my first-ever river-born steelhead that I've caught in the Lake Erie watershed.

From Chautaqua Creek 2010

There is little reproduction of steelhead in the Lake Erie streams because they get too warm in the summer for the smolts to survive. But Chautaqua's water quality and temperatures do support steelhead until they head downstream to the lake to grow up.

Unlike hatchery fish, this steelhead has an upright dorsal fin. Would love to meet up with this fish again in a few years.