Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2012 - 30

by Mike Bleech

photos by the author
If noodles and eggs do not sound like your idea of a good meal, it probably isn’t. But, it is a perfect combination for steelhead fishing. Noodles—noodle rods, of course, and eggs, including egg sacks, egg skein or single eggs, drifted with the current on any of several Lake Erie tributaries in Pennsylvania is considered by many worldly steelhead anglers to be the best steelhead fishery in the world. That claim is not something worth arguing. The fishing is great, so we will leave it at that and get rigged for steelhead. As steelhead themselves, designs for steelhead tackle, including rods, were brought to the Great Lakes from the Pacific Northwest. Standard steelhead rods were and still are about 9 feet long with fast action and relatively long handles and available in various power ratings. Rods rated for line testing, 8 pounds to 12 pounds, became popular along the Great Lakes. These Eggs can be preserved to use at a later rods are a great design date. Most commercial preservatives for steelhead rods. add some sort of odor to the eggs.

Equipped with a noodle rod, a steelhead angler is ready for just about any situation encountered on a Lake Erie tributary.

Although the design has many excellent qualities, it falls short due to the need of a crystal clear Great Lakes tributary. Obviously, not all tributaries fall into this category, but all Great Lakes tributaries in Pennsylvania do at some point in time, from Elk Creek to Crooked Creek. Noodle rods were developed to satisfy that need, specifically the need for a rod that allows anglers to catch big, hard-fighting steelhead on light line. Light line in our terms means 2-pound-test line or 4-pound-test line. Serious steelhead anglers, if they use just a noodle rod, should have spinning reels with two spools, one with light line and the other with heavier line, about 10-pound-test line. Heavier line suffices when water has some color but not for finicky steelhead in low, clear flows. Noodle rods were originally spinning rods build on fly rod blanks. The reasoning behind that design was a long, limber rod that absorbs the shock of big, hard fighting steelhead on light line, just as a fly angler lands big fish on light tippets. Like so many things, folks who do not understand the principle have often distorted the original concept. However, the original concept, which originated along the south side of Lake Michigan, works out to be the ideal rod for steelhead fishing in Pennsylvania tributaries. These creeks tend to be extremely clear, especially during winter. Eggs, the second part of our subject, are the universal steelhead bait. Though not always the best bait, no other bait is as effective. If a steelhead angler had to stick with just one type of bait, eggs would be a good choice.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater • November/December 2012

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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - November/December 2012

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