Steelhead Season is Upon us here in the Great Lakes.  Fish have been coming into the lower sections of the larger streams and although not in great numbers, there’s enough to keep us busy.  Anglers often run into a hard time fishing the low and gin clear structure less shale bottom, but this is a time to do some serious damage once you understand how to get it done.  Here at Laurel Ridge Rods we like to employ a variety of methods in order to better make use of our time and gas money.

With the abundance of other anglers it makes Fly Fishing tough, although not impossible.  The shadow, brightness and weight of a fly line slapping over grouped up stressed out fish is a sure way to guarantee your flies will be nothing but thoroughly washed.  I also see about 93% of fish accidentally foul hooked by fly fishing in PA, it is simply unfeasible in the majority of cases in the clear water.  That’s not to say some don’t do well, but further less don’t.

Various baits and jigs on spinning rods are what we have found to produce the best results for consistently catching fish in the unique PA waters.  Some of the techniques we use range from single cured egg fishing with a size 16-22 hook and often times 0 split shot.  Also, do not look over some popular lure and jig selections.  We use everything from lures designed from Panfish and Bass.  We will be writing future articles explaining these techniques further.  For now enjoy some of the pictures of some Early Season Steelhead from Pennsylvania, all taken on rods built by Laurel Ridge Rods