Carbon Co. Wilderness Stream

[wildtrout2]

Wasn't it Little Bear Creek that got stocked? Either way, I don't get why Little Bear is on the Class A list and Bear isn't? The access issues are the same for both streams.

 

[Smike]

The best, would be to bike up from Glen Onoko and cross the Lehigh by raft, or if the levels are really low (200 or less from the dam) you can wade easy enough but about 1/4 mile up the Lehigh from where Bear enters . At the mouth is a long deep pool with slow current (although read the prevous posters notes about this). If you cross the Lehigh downstream from Bear, you will encounter steep cliffs on the other side getting upstream to the mouth. Keep in mind, when the Lehigh flows are 200CFS or less, Bear creek will be very low itself.

There will be restriced flows on dates throughout the next two months :

http://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Media/NewsReleases/tabid/4659/Article/610180/army-corps-updates-water-release-schedule-at-francis-e-walter-dam.aspx

BUT make sure you check antipcated level changes BEFORE you go in (The Francis E. Walter Dam Facebook page is extremly helpful in giving advanced warning when they are going to change the flow.

Don't get caught with rising levels on the wrong side.

With that said there is other wilderness streams such as Stony Creek. Access is a bit better, but commitment is just as high

 

[Swattie87]

Smike wrote:
Keep in mind, when the Lehigh flows are 200CFS or less, Bear creek will be very low itself.

^ This in my mind is the biggest challenge with the crossing the Lehigh route to access it. There's usually (this year's a bit of an exception so far) decent opportunities in the Summer or early Fall to cross the Lehigh safely on foot, but as you mention when flows on the Lehigh will allow this, generally speaking flows will be fairly low on Bear as well. I suspect the public land stretch of Bear is likely mostly Browns, with some Brookies mixed in. In my experience, little freestoners with mostly Browns tend to fish pretty poorly in low water conditions…the Browns are ghosts tucked under their rocks – you don’t even know they’re there, and although the Brookies will show themselves they become ultra spooky. After putting in the effort to get to it, you’d like it to fish halfway decent in my mind to justify that effort. Otherwise, there’s plenty of easier streams to get to that will likely fish just as well in the given conditions.

I think the best recipe is to try to time it (by raft or foot) when the Lehigh is fairly low, and the morning after a round of thunderstorms goes through. Hopefully localized enough that Bear gets hit pretty good, but the whole upper Lehigh watershed doesn’t necessarily get hit. A normal round of T-storms shouldn’t budge the Lehigh a ton, but should make Bear come up and get a little dirty for 12-24 hours. Just gotta time it right. Admittedly there’s probably only a handful of times each year where this set of stars aligns.

 

[Smike]

Thats a tall order 🙂

Flow changes from the Dam take about 5 hours (conservatively) to reach Bear Creek. To get really technical:

Here is the link to inflow and outflow at the dam. http://www.nap-wc.usace.army.mil/nap_plots/WALTR.jpg When the lake water is at 1370 in elevation, they can’t hold back anything of significance (they are at the operational limit), when it’s below this from about May 1st to Aug, they will hold back water to bring it back up to 1370 to maintain the storage to support white water releases.

Here is the link to a ‘mathematical’ estimate of flow by Rock Port (a few miles up the Lehigh from Bear) http://www.nap-wc.usace.army.mil/nap/ROCKP.html

In the end you sound like me, the number of fish for this type of adventure don't matter as much as the objective of getting into a place like that.


good luck

 

[Swattie87]

Smike wrote:
Thats a tall order 🙂

In the end you sound like me, the number of fish for this type of adventure don't matter as much as the objective of getting into a place like that.

^Both very much the truth. It’s likely a stream I’ll only fish once given the quality of fishing in much easier and safer places to get to in Carbon/Monroe...But I want to fish it once.

Good insight, and info in those links...thank you much.

 

[Chaz]

There is access through an SGL, but that access is pretty tough to find. You might want to call PGC and ask where the access is. But when looking at he maps it's a long hike in.
It looks like the Natural Lands Trust owns creekside property you may want to call them.

 

[k-bob]

chaz: the natural lands trust's "bear creek preserve" is above 80. it is between a different bear creek and 115, and the biggest stream through it is shades creek, I think.

 

[vealboy]

Bear Creek was stocked years ago,in-season only.I got to fish it a few times.The reason for the posting was bad angler usage,people camping and building fires,and littering.And there were signs everywhere saying no camping or fires.It's a really nice stream,wild and remote,I had a hard time casting with a 5 1/2 ft spinning rod.If you can get across the river,this is punishing terrain and if you get in trouble in there getting help could be an issue.Don't go alone.There are two private developments,Bear View Landowners,I couldn't find anything out about this group.I asked the PFBC for a contact number since it was stocked before,I was told for legal reasons they could give me no info.The other, Marty Axeman in the Poconos borders Bear Cr and surrounds Ltl Bear,I spoke to the landowners rep and was told no access to either stream.Also be aware the Nat Land Trust does not allow fishing on their preserves.

 

[Swattie87]

Veal - Yeah...when I was up there scouting one time I knocked on a few doors. Talked to one guy who didn't have a problem with me accessing the stream from his land, but he didn't want to speak for his neighbors and he said the community at large has a strict no trespassing policy. This was the development on the Little Bear side. There's an obvious old road grade from a lot in that development that has to lead down to Little Bear...with several even more obvious don't even think about it type No Trespassing signs across it. I also heard the landowner of that lot is a retired judge...FWIW.

Gotta love the Poconos.

 

[wildtrout2]

I have fished Bear Creek 6 times since 2009, and I have NEVER seen another fisherman actually on the stream. I once saw folks at the campsite at the mouth though. I guess that speaks for it's accessibility.

 

[blueheron]

I never see another fly fisherman anywhere in the gorge, much less on a trib.I have seen some bait guys but even they are rare.

 

[salmonoid]

wildtrout2 wrote:
I have fished Bear Creek 6 times since 2009, and I have NEVER seen another fisherman actually on the stream. I once saw folks at the campsite at the mouth though. I guess that speaks for it's accessibility.

Not really - just speaks to the thousands of miles of streams available. I've fished many streams across the state since 2009 and have never seen a fisherperson on many of them; even on a popular ATW Memorial Day weekend this year, with a road right alongside it, I had multiple days to myself (save two kayaking teens).

 

[k-bob]

for many small PA streams, the base rate of seeing other fishermen isn't high, and on the small, remote ones it should be even lower.

have never seen this study, but the state even put some trail cams out there on wbtep streams...

"Kristine, D. 2012. Use of trail cameras to assess angler use on limited access streams managed under wild Brook Trout enhancement regulations in north central Pennsylvania during 2012. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission."

 

[k-bob]

the wbtep study describes the trail-cam data: "Similarly,
an angler-use evaluation during 2012 on three CR regulation
streams and one control stream estimated angler use at 64 anglerh/
ha (Kristine 2012)." this is described as a low rate.

I can't think through "anglerh/ha." is that annual angling hours per hectre of surface water? how many hectres of surface water are there in half a mile of 10' wide brookie stream, about .25? if it takes an hour to fish half a mile of stream, that might be 16 fishermen/stream/year? (and 3/4 were wbtep streams that may have seen more fishermen given streams appearance online as spcl-reg). ??

quote in context: "..angler pressure on small wild trout streams is generally low. Greene et al. (2005) reported angler use ranged from 45 to 123 angler-h/ha on small (

 

[PAeuronymph74]

Veal - Yeah...when I was up there scouting one time I knocked on a few doors. Talked to one guy who didn't have a problem with me accessing the stream from his land, but he didn't want to speak for his neighbors and he said the community at large has a strict no trespassing policy. This was the development on the Little Bear side. There's an obvious old road grade from a lot in that development that has to lead down to Little Bear...with several even more obvious don't even think about it type No Trespassing signs across it. I also heard the landowner of that lot is a retired judge...FWIW.

Gotta love the Pocono

I grew up on little bear side. Still have a few of friends back there. Big Bear is way better. There is a parking lot on bear view road off beherens road. You can fish for miles down to the Lehigh River. Nobody will ever bother you. Just don't trash it up.

 

[PAeuronymph74]

Hello everybody, I am new to the forum and I am enjoying my last summer in Pennsylvania. Since I will be moving out of state at the end of the year I have been enjoying as many different bodies of water I can this summer. I have been wanting to try a few wilderness streams in the Jim Thorpe area; I was wondering if anyone would be interested in joining me. The stream is bear creek inside the gorge, if that stream is not worth fishing you can PM and I would be more than happy to fish somewhere else. Thank you.

I live on western part of PA now. I visit once or twice a month to carbon co. I know big bear like back palm of my hand

 

[Rainier42]

I grew up on little bear side. Still have a few of friends back there. Big Bear is way better. There is a parking lot on bear view road off beherens road. You can fish for miles down to the Lehigh River. Nobody will ever bother you. Just don't trash it up.

Am looking at a map and see a Bear Creek Dr off of Behrens Rd but not a Bear View Rd ... same road? Is there a trail system down to the Bear Creek or is it a bushwhack?

 

[KeviR]

I fish around there a lot and have not yet figured a way to get to Bear creek other than to cross the Lehigh. Blueheron's advice about Lehigh flows are correct in my experience, less than 300cfs and you can wade across. There is a nice long broad pool right above the mouth of the creek, so a raft or kayak crossing would be easy. If you wade across, either right in the middle of that pool or the riffle/rapid above. I have slogged through rhodo enough in the Poconos to avoid it at all costs. I also dispute that there is legal access from Mt View Dr. There is a gate on the road long before you get close to public land.
I have fished the river at the mouth of Bear Cr when the Lehigh was low enough to cross. At that flow level, the creek didn't look too enticing.
There are other tribs very close to this that are accessible in the SGL. (wink-wink). You can bushwhack all you want without risking an unfortunate encounter with an angry landowner. Park in the SGL lot off Behren's Rd and walk due north for about a mile. It's all wild fish but very few brookies. In fact, my profile pic is from that stream.

 

[PAeuronymph74]

Am looking at a map and see a Bear Creek Dr off of Behrens Rd but not a Bear View Rd ... same road? Is there a trail system down to the Bear Creek or is it a bushwhack?

They may have changed the name of road. If you come up Rt 903 from Jim Thorpe make left on Beherens road go a few miles till you get to little bridge that's Big bear creek. Make left park along that road. If you follow creek back few miles you will come to huge waterfall. It's. Untouched there are some giant trout hidden back there. It's a haul but worth it

 

[phiendWMD]

If you try to cross the Lehigh with a raft, I believe the only legal launch points are White Haven, Rockport, and Glen Onoko. If the rangers see you launch anyway else, you may have to explain yourself. If the dam is higher than 300cfs, you'll need a raft designed for whitewater use or the rangers will definitely be interested. In my experience, the rangers seem to prioritize people who seem like they might drown (non whitewater boat and >300cfs) first.

If I were trying to get to the left bank near the mouth of Bear Creek, I'd try to go down from Tank Hollow. I've never done it. I'd imagine it's steep, remote, and full of the usual dangers in this area. It should be very possible though.