The flip of the calendar to August is a reminder that fall is not far away, and with it the start of another steelhead season.

Over the years, Ed Novak of Akron, Ohio, has developed into a skilled steelhead angler, one who regularly plies several Lake Erie and Lake Ontario tributaries each steelhead season, adventures he chronicled in the book “Meet Me at the Net.”

Elk, Walnut and Oak Orchard creeks are part of his fall-through-early spring steelhead beat.

Though Novak uses both fly and spin gear, when the bite is tough he leans toward spinning, adhering to the adage that ‘it’s easier to feed them than to fool them.’ Real food products such as egg sacks, which provide added scent, become the primary bait of choice. Novak said he obtains his salmon eggs from Erie Outfitters, and feels confident other bait shops located along Pennsylvania’s section of Lake Erie would have them available.

Using nylon netting to fashion egg sacks, Novak said he forms bags in small, medium and large sizes. The clearer the water, the smaller the egg sack he presents.

Tackle-wise, Novak and his partners have developed a pretty specific method of presenting egg sacks. He said one of the most important components is the line. He uses a Sunline product, more specifically Siglon F, which is a floating line, in eight or 10-pound test.

“The floating line allows for drag free drift,” he explained. “Using the floating line has really changed our fishing. You can mend it similar to a fly line.”

Novak’s egg sack rig includes a Drennan float, a float that can easily be slid up and down the line as depths change. Below the float he pinches on a split shot or two, and a couple more about 18 inches down the line. The main line is finished off with a barrel swivel. Then 18 inches of eight or six- pound tippet material is added to the swivel.

Line length from the float varies, depending on depth of the run or pool being fished. The idea, said Novak, is to keep things perpendicular from the float to the egg sack, with just enough line to get the bait very near the bottom. He fishes the rig on a 10-foot, six-inch steelhead spin rod.

“You kind of get a feel for it,” Novak said. “If the float is straight up and down, you know your egg sack is dragging on the bottom.”

A final rigging nuance is that Novak recommends round split shot, rather than removable ones with ears. He feels the ears catch the current and spin the egg sack, making it look less natural.

“It’s harder to get off, but I believe it makes enough of a difference that it’s worth the trouble,” he noted.

Presentation-wise, Novak generally makes casts that quarter upstream, following the drift back down, specifically targeting current seams out in front of him, even if they are close. One of the biggest mistakes he sees anglers make is fishing too far away, when the best holding seams are closer.

Armed with the advice on how to take fall steelhead on these smaller to medium-sized waters, let’s take a quick look at each.

Walnut Creek

Walnut Creek is located west of Erie. Along with Elk, it’s one of the larger steelhead streams in Pennsylvania. One of its primary attributes is that it provides areas of easy access, which in the minds of some anglers can also be viewed as a negative.

“Because of the easy access, it is often crowded,” Novak said. “And after periods of rain, it’s usually the first one to clear off.”

Novak said anglers can expect to find a series of pools and runs with drop-offs, adding that due to its moderate size and unchallenging wading conditions, most anyone can fish it.

“You can take an 8-year old, or an 88-year old, and can get them on fish,” he explained.

The lower end of Walnut Creek features a Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission parking lot and a section of PFBC-owned water. The upper stretch of Walnut also has two PFBC areas, Asbury Woods and Buttermilk Falls. There are other privately-owned sections open to fishing thanks to the graciousness of the landowners. Be sure to heed any posted areas.

Elk Creek

Elk Creek is noticeably bigger than Walnut. Both Elk and Walnut are shale-bottom streams, which mean they drain off rather quickly. They also share the characteristic of having drop-offs carved in the bottom, depressions that can hold fish, ones that are visible during clear water conditions.

Novak said Elk provides many miles of fishable water, enough to better absorb the angling pressure it often receives. He often targets areas in the upper section, 13 miles above the lake.

“The nice thing about Elk, once you learn to identify those cuts in the bottom, the places likely to hold fish, odds are there will be fish in nearly all of them on a good day,” he said.

Oak Orchard Creek

New York’s Oak Orchard Creek enters Lake Ontario between Niagara Falls and Rochester. Unlike the Pennsylvania streams, where it’s all steelhead, Oak Orchard also sees runs of salmon earlier in the fall, something that’s winding down through November.

“In addition to the salmon, it’s a great place for huge brown trout, which means that in the fall it can get crowded,” he stressed. “But the good thing is that by late November, and on through the winter, is when the steelhead move, and there’s less fishing pressure.”

According to Novak, Oak Orchard has about three miles of fishable water. The lower couple of miles is slack water that doesn’t hold fish. Then a dam blocks the upper end. Within that stretch, anglers will find a nice mix of pools, riffles and runs with a bit of pocket water. He said anglers can access the creek near the dam and at an area known locally as the Archery Hole.

“Oak Orchard is a larger stream than Elk and because of the dam, it’s rarely blown out,” Novak mentioned.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle