Steelhead fishing on 5wt last weekend

[doublelung2009]

Hey all, thought I'd share some pics with you since you've been giving me your expertise over the past few weeks. Went to Erie PA over the weekend with my bro and a couple friends. Did pretty well. Was my third time fly fishing, and first time for steelhead. This is the first year FF for both my brother and I. We were using 5/6 wt's. Fish averaged around 6.5 - 9 LBS. Mostly caught on egg patterns and wooly buggers. Enjoy


First fish ever on a fly rod - with egg pattern I tied

Another on egg pattern....getting bigger

Last day - Yesterday. Fishing dropped off, then I tied on a light yellow egg pattern. Tore them up on it!!! Guess you just have to pick the right color sometimes when fishing with eggs.

My brother and some of his. Quite honestly, he schooled me all weekend

 

[FrankB2]

That must have been a heck of a fight on a 5wt !!! Sounds like a great
weekend. Congrats!

 

[doublelung2009]

haha. Yeah, it was a good fight. My brother just sent this one to me and said I needed to put it on here. I forgot. This was the monster - 5 wt also

 

[Joni]

Looks like Steelhead for dinner.....mmmmmmm
Nice catches.

 

[mcnerney]

Nice work, way to go and thanks for sharing! The photos are great.

Larry

 

[Ard]

Nice fish,

A 5wt will handle most fish. I've used one for everything but Kings. I must add that my 7wt makes it easier to drag one in without worrying about snapping a shaft.

 

[Jimmie]

Nice fish.
Also, nice to know that a 5 wt and some talent can land those monsters.

 

[GeorgeMcFly]

my buddy has caught some on a 6wt. i use a 7 or 8wt. that must of been a fun fight! lol.

 

[Tracker12]

Thought I saw you there last weekend. Were you guys fishing near Follys?

 

[peregrines]

WOW!!!

Great going. That's a heck of a first fish on a fly- congratulations. It looks like you were having a ball.

Excellent job!

mark

 

[Frank Whiton]

Hi doublelung2009,

Nice fish. I hope you are fishing catch and release. If you are, you should be using a heavier rod. Unless you are fishing a very stiff 5wt fly rod you may be fighting your fish to exhaustion. Their chance for survival goes down with that added stress.

Frank

 

[HuronRiverDan]

Nice Job! Great Pics....I'm hoping to get bacck a few more times myself...

Dan

 

[doublelung2009]

Thought I saw you there last weekend. Were you guys fishing near Follys?

Yeah, we were near Follys I think it was on Saturday. How did you do up there?

 

[doublelung2009]

Hi doublelung2009,

Nice fish. I hope you are fishing catch and release. If you are, you should be using a heavier rod. Unless you are fishing a very stiff 5wt fly rod you may be fighting your fish to exhaustion. Their chance for survival goes down with that added stress.

Frank

Frank

Thanks. We kept some and released some. Quite honestly, and no disrespect, but I wouldnt have driven 5.5hrs to not bring home some fillets for the grill. We really didnt have to fight them a lot. Most gave a couple good runs and then we brought them in. Nothing more than anything else I saw while I was there. But regardless, thanks for the advice, I'll keep that in mind next time.

 

[mtflyfishguide]

38 inch, 17 lb fish, 7 weight bIIx 9ft, clearwater ID

 

[Tracker12]

I did very well. I fished the upper end most of the morning and most people walked right by me. I did not go down to where you all were fishing until later in the day. I caught few nice smaller 20" ones that made some nice runs. I came form the DC area a 6 1/2 hour drive.

 

[HuronRiverDan]

Frank, Many people practice C&R on the PA tribs, myself included; but keeping fish there is not an issue. PA stocks over a million steelies in their tribs per year. Most of the streams I believe are spate type streams, which are not real great in terms of fry and fingerling survival. It is a tremendous fishery, as the crowds on the weekends will attest to.

Dan