Jonathon Freeman, of Buffalo, N.Y., caught a 24-inch hen steelhead at Walnut Creek Access Area using sucker spawn. He caught another on skein, and both were landed on an ultralight rig spooled with 4-pound test.

His fishing partner, Edward Lawrence, of Corry, caught three steelhead including a 25 1/2-inch, 6 1/2-pound buck upstream of the mouth of Twenty Mile Creek in late October. All hit on skein. Lawrence is a NWPA Outdoors contributing writer.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will perform geotechnical drilling operations in the Walnut Creek channel area starting July 9-10.

The marina and boat ramp will be open during drilling, but the commission cautions boaters to proceed with caution when transiting the channel.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is encouraging those who own stream frontage on Four Mile, Conneaut, Crooked, Elk, Walnut and Twenty Mile creeks to attend a public meeting about public fishing access and conservation easement programs Nov. 1.

The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. in the Big Green Screen Theater at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, 301 Peninsula Drive. It is being hosted by the Fish and Boat Commission and Pennsylvania Sea Grant.

Landowners interested in attending should RSVP by Oct. 28 to Dave Skellie at PA Sea Grant at (814) 490-3248 or dus18@psu.edu.

“Acquiring public access easements is part of the agency’s strategy to improve public fishing areas and ensure that the public has access to these opportunities,” said Jackie Kramer, the statewide fishing and boating access coordinator for the PFBC Bureau of Boating and Access. “Private landowners interested in providing public access for anglers and learning how this easement purchase program operates are encouraged to attend.”

A public fishing easement is a voluntary and permanent legal contract between the landowner and the Fish and Boat Commission. The easement typically provides a 35-foot corridor along a stream bank that allows the public to wade in or walk along the stream bank for the purpose of fishing. The landowner continues to own and control the land.

Nick Haas, a 20-year-old Erie resident, caught his biggest steelhead yet Oct. 8 at Walnut Creek Access:

Haas, a fly fisherman, caught 28 1/2-inch, 11-pound steelhead using a black wooly bugger. It was his fourth steelhead caught during this, his fifth year of fishing for steelies.

Have a trophy to show off? Upload it to www.GoErie.com/yourphotos or e-mail it to sports@timesnews.com.