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3. Erie Creeks

Very good first steelhead trip of the year. Had very good success on chartreuse Estaz #10 with red hot spot tag. Also action on #10 DeFrank's emerald shiner swung with no weight on a tight line, also good single bead bite. (10 mm tangerine and 10 mm brown trout) Probably hooked thirty fish and landed 20 - 22. Who really cares when you are hooking up and having fun. Stayed in Green Roof Inn. Great clean motel with frig, microwave, two doubles, clean, and very spacious for $66 including tax. Crowley's restaurant right next door.

Good for you. Sure looks like you had a great time.

Nice Fall pics Matt!

Spence

Nice pictures and nice fish, too!

is there any chance of posting a picture of the Chartreuse Estaz # 10, I'm not familiar with this pattern (then again, I'm just beginning to tie Steelhead flies- starting out with the standard yarn eggs).

I've got an 18-yr old daughter who's determined to go for Steelhead this fall...I just need to find the time.

Again, great pictures!

Roguerat

Great fish, Matt! I'm glad to see you're having a productive fall.

I've got two days of musky and a day of salmon/steelhead/lake run browns this weekend. If I could have a quarter of your success on the anadromous fish, I would be ecstatic.

Roguerat - Do you know what Estax is? Or cactus chenille? The fly in question looks just like a yarn egg, except is it Estaz or cactus chenille wrapped around a hook.



This pic is from a google search. Matt's may look different, but this gives you an idea.

Mine is pretty much the same except I tie in four short, 1" long strands, of pearl Krystal Flash then build up a hot red thread butt about 3/16" long then apply the Estaz. It is very buggy material and reflects the light well. I can tie a dozen in under an hour.

Matt- are the Krystal Flash strands a 'tail' of sorts?

This is similar to the yarn egg-flies I'm starting to tie; I'm using pearlescent Flashabou for a tail.

I'm going to whip up some Estaz eggs, then- although I don't think I'll 'make rate' at a fly every 5 minutes!

Thanks,

Mark, aka Roguerat

Yes, a "tail", that adds even more flash than just the Estaz. When I tie yarn "sucker spawn" flies I often add 2-3 Krystal Flash fibers to the yarn loops. I add flash to pretty much every steelhead fly that I tie. I use a pearl Mylar braid for the wing case on most of my steelhead nymphs and add a drop of Liquid Fusion to the Mylar braid to accentuate the wing case. The Erie creeks I fish are pure shale bottoms and you can get hung up very frequently if you don't use an indicator. Sometimes though I don't want to use and indicator and want to dead drift the dead and then maybe twitch retrieve it back to me. After a few years of losing flies I've developed just a few very simple nymph patterns so I don't spend very much time tying them.

How do I move my images from Photobucket to here without making them so damn small?

I tie mostly black or brown stonefly nymphs in #10 - #16. I use either black or brown calf tail fibers for the tail, fine black or brown Larvae Lace hollow rib for the abdomens, a piece of Mylar braid for the wing case and black or brown Haretron thorax on a dubbing loop for the thorax and legs. I apply lengths of Haretron about 3/8" - 1/2" long perpendicular to the dubbing loop so when I wind the loop the hair makes a great looking robust thorax with built-in legs.

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Well done, Matt.

Hi Louis,

I tried sending you an email to your college email but it came back as undeliverable. Do you have a new college email address or are you no longer affiliated with that college.

I'm headed back up to Elk, Twenty Mile, and the Conneaut in NE Ohio on Sunday. The forecast is for rain tonight, tomorrow, and tomorrow night. Sunday and Monday should be excellent with falling high water on Sunday and good green tinted water on Monday. Showers Tuesday through Wednesday should keep the water good color and keep bring fresh fish into all the creeks.

Want to land a couple of those 28" - 30" fresh fish I broke off on my last trip. Just have to be more patient and willing to chase them back into the Lake if necessary. Going to stay all week if the water conditions, and my stamina, hold out.

Hi Matt,

No same old email, same old college. I'll send you an email so you have it again. I'd love to join you, but school's keeping me too busy right now. Just hope I have a chance to chase some chrome when I can manage to retire. Till then, I'll have to live vicariously through your posts and photos. Tight lines.

Love 20 mile creek, thats where I managed my largest steelhead to date as well. Steelhead

Corey, have you really the Erie creeks or are you just providing links to your web site to sell flies?

Ditto

Haha no i really love steelhead fishing in Erie, even more specifically the bend on 20 mile creek that leads back out to lake. It helps that I also sell flies and lures :)

****Just so you know i also really fish not trying to steal your thread***
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Corey, Just so you know...
Nice,nice,nice... Now that I bet give you a run???
Boy, that is sure some nice fish, thanks for showing it....
Milt...

Yes, I know that run very well! the last pool before the lake. One day in mid December three years ago I arrived around 9:00 a.m. It was very windy and the air temperature hovering between 30 - 32 all day. Surprisingly, actually amazingly, there was no one in the parking lot. I made a beeline down to that pool and in about four hours hooked over twenty fresh steelhead and everyone turned around and headed straight out for the lake.

These are typical of that day;

Wow, what a day! To hook 20 "landlocks" (He He) of that size in a day is incredible! I've done that with "Half Pounders" (Western nomenclature - means up to 3 or so pounds), but not the size you're talking about.. In spite of all the years we've fished, Matt - that's a pretty high bar!*

*For those readers who may doubt, you don't know Matt. :)

* For those readers who may doubt, you don't know Matt:)
This I know his photo's since I have been on this site, speak a 1,000 words, and more. And he'll clue ya in on the good times,& share the bad times to. No doubt Matt's gone done the extra mile many times. True sportsman, by any standard...
I look forward to his photo's he digs up, ta show how it is, or how it was. Keep them coming.... Matt.
Oh!!!, that last one, a beauty...
M.R.P.

I saw this fish in a tail-out in about 2' of very clear water. I knelt down and took off my indicator, BB's, and put on a #16 stonefly and cast to the side of the fish and let the current swing it right in front of him. I saw his mouth open, then close, and tug, then I set the hook. It was a great fight running out of the pool and down stream about 75 yards.