Erie, Pennsylvania's weather in September and October was so warm and seasonable that you almost feel you might risk the fury of Old Man Winter, still napping at the moment, by complaining. Yet hundreds of steelhead fishermen who regularly visit this region at this time of year wish we'd had more rain and colder temperatures.

Not that they don't enjoy fishing in such balmy conditions, but because heavy rains swell local creeks, enabling the fish to head upstream. For weeks now, steelhead have been trapped in shallow pools in the creeks, which are much lower than usual at this time of year. It's because this region has had so little rainfall.

As Erie Times-News sportswriter Bob Jarzomski describes in his page 1 story in today's editions, dry weather is keeping fish downstream and anglers away. Steelhead fishing is a multi-million dollar business in these parts, so low water is serious.

Normally, all of the little Mom & Pop motels along Route 5 are filled with out-of-state fishermen on weekends, but that hasn't been the case thus far. Business is down at the diners -- or dinors, as we Pennsylvanians call them, and at the bait shops. It could all turn around in a hurry, of course, should the kind of heavy fall rainstorms we're used to move into the region and fill up the creeks.

My guess is it will eventually happen, but perhaps the temperatures might dip low, as well, making it uncomfortable for anglers. The tough ones won't care, but you never know how some out of staters will react.

Meanwhile, the sight of the long, sleek steelhead trapped in the shallow pools is an interesting sight. You can actually see some of the fish skitter across the rocks, halfway out of the water, if they feel threatened by an angler or bystander who wanders too close to the pools. The fish, many of which weigh more than 10 pounds, are powerful swimmers, capable of leaping up waterfalls or across debris.

Those who live in Erie enjoy visiting Trout Run at the foot of Avonia Road in the western part of Erie County. As hundreds of trout depart Lake Erie to begin their annual trek upstream, they leap up the man-made levels at the Pennsylvania Fish Commission station there. To prevent too many fish from heading into dangerously shallow waters, barriers were set up to discourage the fish. But some especially athletic steelhead leaped right over the barriers. You can stand there and watch them.

I live about five miles upstream -- south of Lake Erie -- on one of the small tributaries to Mill Creek, and we always see a dozen or so steelhead in our tiny creek in late November and early December. These are tough fish who've already scaled waterfalls and piles of debris. They've skittered across rocks and look a little beat up by the time they make it to our house. But you still can't catch 'em. Oh, I suppose you could if you're really skilled at this sport of thing, but my sons and I have never had any luck.

"A fish doesn't get to be this big and this smart by biting on any old rigged up cane pole," my late neighbor Joe Skrzypczak used to say. As usual, he was right. But it was still fun to watch the big fish as they headed on to spawn.

Jarzomski's story in today's paper rekindled all those good memories.

-- Kevin Cuneo