One of the largest steelhead to come out of an Erie County stream this fall is the 14-pound, 30-inch fresh-run male Chuck Hergenroeder landed recently on Elk Creek near Sterratania.

"My buddy and I were fishing some skinny water. I was fishing in a riffle, using a single egg pattern I tied," said Hergenroeder, of the Sheraden section of Pittsburgh. His big fear was that he'd break his tippet on the stream's shale ledges as he tried to bring the fish to shore.

"He had me up and down the stream, up on top of stones and boulders in some pretty shallow water. He gave me a real tussle," Hergenroeder said.

He added if he'd been closer to Poor Richard's Bait Shop, he would have entered the fish in the steelhead contest, which is being led by a 13-pound, 7-ouncer.

Hergenroeder took the fish home and smoked it. It is only the second steelhead he has kept in seven years of steelhead fishing, the first being an 8-pound, 25-incher.

"This one was the fish of a lifetime," he said.

Nine Mile Run grant

A $100,000 Growing Greener grant has been awarded to the Nine Mile Run restoration project in Frick Park. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection made the announcement.

The money will be used to replant the slag pile below the Summerset development and stabilize a trail. The grant was part of $5.5 million in awards DEP made to various projects statewide. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is managing the Nine Mile Run project, which includes rechanneling of the run and development of adjacent wetlands.

Happy campers

Teens who want to learn about cold water conservation and improve their fly-fishing skills can apply to an elite summer camp sponsored by the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited at the famed Allenberry Resort on the Yellow Breeches in Boiling Springs, Pa..

The 10th annual Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp, June 19-24, is limited to 32 boys and girls, ages 14 to 17. Students will learn all aspects of stream conservation as they work on their fly casting and fly tying. They also will participate in a watershed project to repair stream habitat.

Besides top instructors, trout biologist Robert Behnke of Colorado State University will be one of the teachers. Applicants will be asked to submit essays on what they hope to gain from the camp experience.

For more, visit www.riverscamp.com or contact Mike Klimkos at 717-243-3056 or email klimkos@epix.net.

Plum meeting

Bank erosion and other flood related damage to Plum Creek will be addressed at a Plum Creek Watershed Association meeting 7 p.m. Thursday at the Plum Borough building on New Texas Road.

Those concerned about the creek, which runs through Plum, Penn Hills, Verona and Oakmont, are welcome to attend. Parts of cars from a nearby junk yard were washed into the main channel this fall and the mouth of the creek is littered with debris, including an old railroad trestle abutment, which has caused a damming effect, said watershed association president Chuck McMeekin of Plum.

The association received a $35,000 Growing Greener grant in the latest round of funding, which will be used to assess the watershed. The organization's goal is to clean up mine drainage, manage storm water and restore habitat. Now three years old, the association has received additional funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Dominion Gas, Coal Valley Sales and others.

Poachers in hot water

Three men from Parma, Ohio, were cited last weekend and fined $1,000 for poaching steelhead from Trout Run nursery waters, according to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Stepped up patrols of plainclothes and uniformed officers have recently issued more than 40 citations exceeding $4,000 in fines for foul-hooking, snagging, littering, fishing without a license and illegal parking on popular steelhead streams.

Free course

A free course in tying steelhead flies is being offered at the Lake Erie Ultimate Angler, from 1-3:30 p.m. Dec. 5. Bring vice, tools and thread. Materials are provided. The store is on West Eighth Street in Erie. For details, call 1-888-456-3035.

Fly tying get-together

Several Pennsylvania fly tiers, including Dave Schmezer of Latrobe, will join tiers and fly fishing experts from across the country and abroad at the International Fly Tying Symposium at the Doubletree Hotel in Somerset, New Jersey, next weekend. For details visit www.flyfishingshow.com.