As has much of the country, Erie has enjoyed an unusually mild winter so far. Temps over the few weeks had been cold enough at times to cover Presque Isle Bay and most of the tribs with a thin layer of ice giving some encouragement to eagerly waiting hard water anglers. With temps hitting the 50 degree mark this week, the ice and snow disappeared quickly bringing any immediate hopes of ice fishing to a close for now.

The good news is that steelhead season has been dramatically extended with very little angling pressure. Although many fish have been in the tribs for a while, there have been many reports of fresh steelhead being caught. The key is finding them. With the mild winter, the steelhead have really spread out. Live shiners and the micro jigs are good winter choices when the waters have some stain and flow.

Enjoy the weather and the extended season. In Erie, it could all change in a day or two. The weather is also allowing for good perch and burbot fishing along the Bayfront and along the north and south piers entering Lake Erie.

Support Your Local Sportsmen's Clubs

The Elk Valley Sportsmen's club will host it's highly popular annual reverse raffle on February 18, 2012 at the St. Johns Social Hall in Girard, PA. Tickets are $50 per couple if paid for by December 31st and $60 per couple after the 1st of the year. This exciting annual event offers a great dinner, most all legal beverages, great music and dancing, and a variety of games of chance and raffles, all for one inclusive price. Tickets for this event are available now by calling Bruce at 814-572-2780.

Anglers Advised to Follow 2011 Walleye and Perch Creel Limits

HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is reminding anglers targeting walleye and yellow perch in Lake Erie that 2011 creel limits remain in effect until approximately mid-April, when the agency is expected to implement a new adaptive management plan and set the 2012 limits.

Under current daily creel limits, anglers can harvest six walleye and 30 yellow perch. The 2012 daily creel limits will be set by April 15. Size limits are unchanged from 2011 and as listed in the 2012 Summary Book.

Last summer, the board of commissioners approved a proposal to allow for adaptive creel limits for walleye and yellow perch based on annual quotas established each spring by the Lake Erie Committee, which consists of fisheries managers from Pa., Ohio, N.Y., Michigan and Ontario, Canada.

Each year the committee recommends a total allowable catch for walleye and yellow perch. Total allowable catch represents the number or weight of fish that can be caught by sport and commercial fishers without putting the stocks at risk. The panel typically releases its official recommendation near the end of March or early April.

“In the past, we would evaluate the data each spring, but due to the standard PFBC regulatory process, the new limits wouldn’t go into effect until the following year,” said PFBC Lake Erie Biologist Chuck Murray. “Under the new rules, we will set daily limits by April 15 of each year and those limits will go into effect immediately, right at the onset of the fishing season.”

Murray says the change will allow the PFBC to apply regulations in a timely manner, synchronized with the current condition of fish stocks.

Boating Accidents Drop in 2011

The number of registered boats in which Pennsylvanians plied the waterways continued to decrease in 2011. This decline was primarily in one class of boats, motorboats less than 16 feet in length, and has declined steadily since 2000. Of the 86 reported accidents in 2011, the most common type was collisions (including striking a submerged object). Thirteen of the collisions occurred between vessels. (View the full 2011 boating accident report)

Local Forecast

Wednesday
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. West wind between 6 and 10 mph.
Wednesday Night
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29. Southwest wind between 3 and 6 mph.
Thursday
A chance of rain after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42. South wind between 7 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Thursday Night
A chance of rain before midnight, then rain and snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 32. South wind 5 to 14 mph becoming west. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
Friday
A chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy and breezy, with a high near 36. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Friday Night
Mostly cloudy, with a low around 29.
Saturday
A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 39. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
Saturday Night
A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy and breezy, with a low around 27. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Sunday
A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy and breezy, with a high near 31. Chance of precipitation is 50%.
Sunday Night
A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy and breezy, with a low around 22. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Monday
Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33.