2005 Spring Steelhead Report

As everyone knows this past winter/spring had some unusual weather (to say the least!) which certainly had an impact on the spring steelhead run on many of the Lake Erie tributaries.

The late winter kept much of Lake Erie frozen well into late March with lake shore temperatures averaging around 33 degrees farenheight as well. The New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio tributary water conditions varied between complete ice over, ice and slush flows or high, cold stained water from snow and ice melt. Major ice jams were also common down near the tributary mouths. A major thaw did not really occur till the first week of April. The run after this thaw could best be described as "just starting" based on the mostly wintered over/darker fish that were being caught. This was even true on the Ohio steelhead tributaries which typically get a good run of "chromer" Little Manistee strain steelhead by the end of March during an average climatic year. 

By mid April a settled weather pattern kicked in with 2 weeks of sunny days and moderate to warm temperatures. This encouraged pre-spawn steelhead to go on the gravel and spawn very quickly. Abruptly this weather pattern ended at the end of April with daily rain (and even snow!), cooler temperatures and high tributary flows. The hope is that more fresh steelies will come in, especially on some of the larger tributaries like the Grand River in Ohio and the Cattaraugus Creek in New York, extending the spring steelhead season into the month of May.