Late-fall fishing can be hit-or-miss

Seems like only a few weeks ago that I was getting the boat out of storage and double checking all the rigging to make sure it was ready for a chilly April morning on Mosquito Creek Reservoir.

But that was then and this is the weekend after Thanksgiving. The Ranger is in the barn for the winter, and now I’ve got to find other ways to entertain myself on Saturdays instead of pitching lures to the shallow cover from the front deck of the boat.

I don’t hunt, so climbing tree stands isn’t a big deal. I do play golf, but not when there’s snow on the course. And don’t tell my wife, but a day prowling the stores isn’t exactly my cup of tea.

Thank goodness we don’t live in the totally frozen north. I can still get out for some late season crappie fishing. And on those days when I can invest most of the daylight on the water, I can zip up to Lake Erie for spectacular steelhead action.

Crappies can be caught as long as the skim ice hasn’t taken over the marinas at our local reservoirs. I like to visit Mosquito State Park marina at the south end of the reservoir, with a pair of spinning outfits rigged with slip bobbers and tiny jigs.

Late-fall crappie fishing is a hit-or-miss proposition. The fish often are in the marinas, holding around any vertical cover or suspended around brush or other underwater junk.

Using a hunt-and-peck approach, I sometimes find a big school this time of year.

I’ll usually start with the float set at 5 feet, and tip one jig with a lively minnow and the other with a pair of maggots. I pick a spot with a little bit of a breeze blowing a ripple over the surface.

If I don’t get a bite in 10 minutes, I cast to a spot 15 feet from the first one. If that isn’t productive, I’ll move the float up or down a foot, depending on the conditions of the day.

And if none of that produces, it really doesn’t matter much, as it’s usually time to go home anyway. A bad day of crappie fishing is better than a long day cooped up in the house.

A great day of steelhead fishing, on the other hand, can be one of an angler’s most memorable moments.

We are blessed to have world-class steelhead fishing just 90 minutes from Youngstown. From the Grand River at Painesville to Elk and Walnut creeks near Erie, Pa., our area’s winter fishing prospects have dramatically improved as Ohio and Pennsylvania fisheries brass invest in stocking and managing steelhead.

The lake-run rainbow trout come back in the fall with muscle built on the protein steelies gain from Lake Erie’s abundant smelt, alewife and shad populations. They hit the streams ready to bust tackle on blistering runs that often end in the tangles of trees that break the current in the tributaries.

Best times are right after the water settles after a significant rain or snow melt. When the water rises, new fish cruise in from the lake, fortifying the numbers of trout that had held over from previous runs. The new fish often are ready to attack any manner of flies, spinners and jigs worked by anglers.

Steelhead are among the most able fish when it comes to determine whether something is off with an angler’s offering. A little jig drifted too fast or two slow compared with the natural current will go ignored, while a lure working at the proper speed is sure to attract interest.

All of the extra effort of getting to the best streams and learning to make the correct presentation pays off big time when a steelie bites. The fight is the best you’ll experience in fresh water.

And a whole lot better than sitting on the couch until the daffodils sprout.