Bald Eagle Creek

[kobalt335]

I was looking at streams on the Fish and Boat Commissions site and they have the Bald Eagle listed as a wild trout stream all the way to lock Haven. Am I misreading something?I have floated this stretch in my kayak and fishsd many sections, and have never seen a trout below Foster Sayers. Has anyone heard of or caught trout below the dam? I would assume it'd get way to warm, and the water quality below Beech Creeck is probably suspect.

 

[Mike]

The list says that it is wild trout from the headwaters to Harvey's Run.

 

[sarce]

Last time I checked, the section below the lake is proposed to be added to Class A list, which is interesting to say the least as that's quite a large stream by that point.

 

[jifigz]

sarce wrote:
Last time I checked, the section below the lake is proposed to be added to Class A list, which is interesting to say the least as that's quite a large stream by that point.

It is not on the most recent proposed Class A list at all.

 

[kobalt335]

Mike wrote:
The list says that it is wild trout from the headwaters to Harvey's Run.

That is the information I found but it is really surprising. I've never heard of trout being caught below the lake, and the water is not very "trout friendly". It gets really warm, and is mostly mud bottom.

 

[bigjohn58]

Bald Eagle Creek is an interesting stream. I grew up fishing it. Somehow there is always a population of browns at the spillway. I really do not know how they survive during the summer unless the spillway creates enough oxygen that trout can survive in 80 degree water. Either way though there are always a few large browns caught there every year. On down towards Beech Creek there is supposedly a influx of cold water that holds a population of wild browns. I do not quite know where this is and I can't see it being worth labeling "class A" water. Then you obviously have the influx of Fishing Creek when it dumps in. You have a 50 yard stretch of Bald Eagle there that will hold trout year round. When the water temps are cold you know though the trout can be anywhere but once summer hits the Fishing Creek portion is the only portion that you will be able to catch trout out of during the summer. I don't have enough information on the small cold water influence at Beech Creek. The spillway only produces trout during the cooler/colder months. Like I said I really do not know how they survive year round there. Lower Bald Eagle gets extremely warm. Its really a carp fishery with a few smallies.

 

[sarce]

jifigz I had time to check just now and you are correct. [d]It was definitely there recently though.[/d] We had a thread about it on here.

EDIT: Think I'm going crazy. I found the thread - it's for the section above the lake.

Previous bald eagle thread

Sorry peeps!

 

[bigjohn58]

sarce wrote:
jifigz I had time to check just now and you are correct. [d]It was definitely there recently though.[/d] We had a thread about it on here.

EDIT: Think I'm going crazy. I found the thread - it's for the section above the lake.

Previous bald eagle thread

Sorry peeps!

Yup above the dam from where Spring Creek dumps in down to the beginning of the dam is all class A and has some really nice trout. This is one of the class A sections that gets stocked over. However I do not have much of an issue with stocking larger bodies of water that also hold wild trout in some cases. This is one of the streams that I feel it work well.

 

[sarce]

It's unfortunate that Beech Creek hasn't been cleaned up, it really flows through some beautiful country. Usually fished a little closer to state college when I was up there but saw much of the area through a bridge inspection internship I had one summer. Feel like it's a stream that would be worth spending many millions to clean up the AMD. Imagine the benefit not just on Beech itself but also to Bald Eagle and the W Br Susky

 

[Hook_Jaw]

Definitely bass, carp, sucker, fall fish water.

 

[kobalt335]

Hook_Jaw wrote:

Definitely bass, carp, sucker, fall fish water.

That's what I have always viewed it as.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Being skeptical of the wild trout listing/ Class A proposal I floated bald eagle from the bridge in Mill Hall near tractor supply down to the w. branch susky. This was in late July and the highest water temp I observed was 72 very close to the mouth. Where I put in the temp was 67, I realize this is closer to Fishing Creek. Another thing to consider is that there are quite a few coldwater seeps coming off of bald eagle mountain. Much of this section is near impossible to wade fish with a fly rod and would be best covered with a drift boat. I have heard reports of many large wild browns caught in this section, but did not catch any on my one trip in a kayak. It would be interesting to see the PFBC survey data on this section.

 

[bigjohn58]

lycoflyfisher wrote:
Being skeptical of the wild trout listing/ Class A proposal I floated bald eagle from the bridge in Mill Hall near tractor supply down to the w. branch susky. This was in late July and the highest water temp I observed was 72 very close to the mouth. Where I put in the temp was 67, I realize this is closer to Fishing Creek. Another thing to consider is that there are quite a few coldwater seeps coming off of bald eagle mountain. Much of this section is near impossible to wade fish with a fly rod and would be best covered with a drift boat. I have heard reports of many large wild browns caught in this section, but did not catch any on my one trip in a kayak. It would be interesting to see the PFBC survey data on this section.

I know for a fact the water temps were NOT 67 degrees in July if you put in at the bridge there near Tractor Supply. 76 maybe but definitely not 67. Unless some miracle happened in the last 10-15 years. When I was a teenager my brother and I practically lived in Bald Eagle. We rode our bikes down to either Hammer Mill dam or below the green bridge almost every day to go fishing. We'd fish for smallies, carp, catfish, rockbass, crappie, and bluegills. We'd also sneek up Fishing Creek and fish the private waters of the golf course. They used to put some big fish in there. We would stand with one foot in Bald Eagle and one in Fishing Creek and it was probably like a 15-20 degree difference on each foot. You get down though to the bottom of the long hole and you can no longer really feel the effects of Fishing Creek all that much. Fishing Creek in July runs roughly 65 degrees down through town Mill Hall. I'm sure Bald Eagle is always in the upper 70s if not 80 by end of July.

 

[RLeep2]

This past June, my Bro-in-law and I came down out of the NW to bounce around a bunch of smallmouth float locations for a week. It barely stopped raining the entire week and pretty much everything was blown out, high and dirty. So, we were hunting around for pieces of water that were dam controlled where at least you could see a fly/lure in 18 inches of water. So, we ended up one day on lower BEC below Sayre Dam from the first bridge above the Beech Creek confluence down to the Route 150 bridge at the head of the dammed section above Flemington, I guess it would be.

We caught quite few decent bass, a scattering of small tiger musky (all

 

[lycoflyfisher]

bigjohn58 wrote:


I know for a fact the water temps were NOT 67 degrees in July if you put in at the bridge there near Tractor Supply. 76 maybe but definitely not 67. Unless some miracle happened in the last 10-15 years. When I was a teenager my brother and I practically lived in Bald Eagle. We rode our bikes down to either Hammer Mill dam or below the green bridge almost every day to go fishing. We'd fish for smallies, carp, catfish, rockbass, crappie, and bluegills. We'd also sneek up Fishing Creek and fish the private waters of the golf course. They used to put some big fish in there. We would stand with one foot in Bald Eagle and one in Fishing Creek and it was probably like a 15-20 degree difference on each foot. You get down though to the bottom of the long hole and you can no longer really feel the effects of Fishing Creek all that much. Fishing Creek in July runs roughly 65 degrees down through town Mill Hall. I'm sure Bald Eagle is always in the upper 70s if not 80 by end of July.

Like I said I was skeptical myself until I saw the temps myself. I did not take temp readings all over the section, but unless my thermometer is broke I don't know what to tell you. I have nothing to gain by lying about a water temperature on a stream that I rarely fish. Like RLeep2 said I too have observed individuals flyfishing throughout different parts of lower Bald Eagle Creek so Im guessing there is something that those guys know that most don't.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

Rleep Your not catching many trout in june in lower bald eagle I'll tell you that a couple stock trout from marsh creek. Up close to the spillway is where they get them.

 

[bigjohn58]

lycoflyfisher I'm telling you personally your thermometer was broken that day. I'm not trying to be mean either but like I said I practically grew up down there. Spent half my summers as a teen on Bald Eagle from where the canal begins for Hammer Mill (First Quality now) down to the railroad bridge that goes over to Croda/Avery.

 

[Mike]

July, 2017 in some parts of Pa produced record rainfall or near record rainfall for the month since the recording of such data started. Given that, it is possible that someone who has lived in an area for years would not have ever experienced cool water temps in previous Julys that July, 2017 may have produced. Context matters.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

We for sure had good rain fall and I am not a expert on water temps but I have fished bald eagle very familiar with it and it for sure gets to extreme temps in july and august.

I don't care what anyone says I have fished this water my entire life from spring, summer, fall, winter and it's no where in the category close to class a trout water.

 

[bigjohn58]

Mike wrote:
July, 2017 in some parts of Pa produced record rainfall or near record rainfall for the month since the recording of such data started. Given that, it is possible that someone who has lived in an area for years would not have ever experienced cool water temps in previous Julys that July, 2017 may have produced. Context matters.

Not even close. Like Hook_Jaw said...I don't care what section of Bald Eagle you pick below the dam there is NO CLASS A WATER! You may find a trout here and there but its not class A by any means no matter what someone's studies are telling ya. Those studies are a complete lie in my book! Honestly it makes me wonder what else they are lying about...