Steelhead Fishing

Steelhead Fishing in Pennsylvania
By David Alan

With the colder nights and that first frost brings forth the beginning of steelhead season in Pennsylvania. For many anglers the arrival of the steelhead in creeks like Walnut, Elk, and 20 Mile brings a sense of excitement that is unmatched by other forms of fishing in the state. Steelhead Salmon are an extremely powerful fish that can make the drag on a reel scream and push your rod to it's limits.

Now how do you go about fishing for these silver bullets? There are several techniques but the most common forms in Pennsylvania are fly fishing and drift fishing. In this article we'll go into detail on how to fish for steelhead in the Pennsylvania streams and what streams to fish in Pennsylvania.

Fly Fishing

First, lets talk about fly fishing and what type of gear you will need to have to tackle these fish. The following is a list of commonly used fly fishing equipment for fishing for steelhead in the PA streams.

Gear
Fly Rod = 7 to 8 weight rod from 9 to 10 foot
Fly Reel = Any fly reel with a good drag. Large arbor fly reels are preferred, they pick up the fly line a lot faster and tend to have a better drag system.
Fly Line = 7 to 9 weight forward floating fly line
Leader = Taper leader from 20 to 15 to 10 pound test leader material then connect 8 to 6 pound fluorocarbon as a tippet. If water is clear use 6 then 4 pound fluorocarbon as tippet.

Flies
Egg Patterns = Sucker Spawn, Blood Dots, Crystal Meth Flies, Estez Eggs

Sizes - 12, 14, 16 size nymph hooks 2X strong or 8 or 10 live bait (egg hook)
Streamers = Egg Sucking Leech, Wooly Buggers, Crystal Buggers

Sizes - 2, 4, 8, 10 salmon hooks or streamer hooks
Nymphs = Stone Flies, Prince Nymphs, Hairs Ears Nymphs