Steelhead Fishing has become one of the fastest growing sports in the North East due to the massive stocking programs by the states of Pennsylvania, New York, and Ohio. With this fast growing sport is a large fly fishing community looking to master the waters of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. And everybody is looking for the magic fly that will catch more steelhead than any other fly. Guess What? There's no magic fly out there!
In the not so distant future fishermen across the Great Lakes will begin to prepare for the spring run of steelhead that will occur in a large majority of the tributaries of the Great Lakes. Often the steelhead that run in the spring are larger and more mature than the steelhead that run in the fall in the tributaries. Fishing for steelhead in the spring will begin as soon as the ice clears from the streams and often will steelhead will continue to run until May.
One of the most useful fishing tools I have found that allows me to discover when to go fishing and when to stay home is the USGS Real-time water data website. You can discover the real time flows of streams and rivers across the US via any Internet connection. This information is especially handy when fishing for trout or steelhead and deciding if a stream is to high or to low to fish and will give you an advantage on knowing what flies or types of lures you should have with you.
Cattaraugus Steelhead run from Silver Creek NY at the mouth of the creek feeding into Lake Erie to Springville NY and is one of the most beautiful Steelhead Streams on the east coast, but also one of the least understood. The Catt runs the State of New York and also through the Seneca Nation of Indians land which runs from the town of Gowanda NY to the I-90 bridge towards the mouth of the river. These two locations require two different fishing licenses to fish in either NY State or the Seneca Nation of Indians.
Oak Orchard in New York is a fisherman's heaven when it comes to big steelhead, brown trout, and salmon. From the early months of fall to the late months of spring trout call Oak Orchard in New York home. Brown trout in The Oak can range anywhere from a few pounds to 20 pounds and the Chinook Salmon run way over 20 lbs, but the fastest fish in water is the steelhead which takes off like a rocket when hooked.