salvelinusfontinalis
Active member
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2006
- Messages
- 7,284
Living in Pennsylvania, and being fisherman, we all know about posted land all too well. It can make exploring difficult and even disappointing. after driving all the distance, we sometimes do, to find the creek we had in mind is posted. But dont fret and always have a back up plan. i often try to think of 3 and sometimes even 4 streams close to one another just in case i run into posted land and cant access the stream i intended to fish. Also never, ever rule out simply knocking on a door and asking permission. u may find more often than not.....they will let you fish. i find in most cases they just want to know who is on there land or the signs are mainly for restricting hunting, but they bought the "generic" posted to everything sign.
The past week i have encountered multiple situations of posted and private water. sometimes gaining access and sometimes not. here are some pics and stories of my recent trips out fishing limestone spring creeks.
Stream1:
this stream (upstream of the golf course) was on private land. I had a nice conversation with the farmer who was reluctant at first to let me on his property. i assured him i am a catch and release fisherman and iam very respectful landowners rights and wouldnot "trash" his land. he told me that it isnt that its just that he is in the business of farming and not fishing. i told him i understand and i thanked him for his time and appreciated his candor. shook his hand and started to walk away. (sometimes pressing the issue will only set u back) suddenly he said hold up.....told me if i walked through the brush and not his corn fields he would let me on his property. he just didnt want any of his crop damaged. I thanked him up and down.
this stream flowed through farmland and fortunatly it was farmland void of cattle. just grassy areas and all his crops around. it kept this classic limestone spring creek void of silt. I havent seen a limestoner in such pristine condition in a long time. The streambed was actually clean gravel (where you could see it). The water was ice cold and i mean freezing. This stream and open up to be quiet large and it was just a stunning classic limestone spring creek. And yes! it did have trout :-D there wasent much holding water though....i know water levels are down but i think this stream needs to be narrowed and it would make it a bit deeper. i came across one hole that held alot of little wild rainbows...im sure some where deep down in the weeds was a large trout. but i couldnt turn him up.
the fish:
bow1
bow2
bow3
bow4
bow5
bow6
bow7
the stream in the headwaters
out of the pvt area)
headwaters
headwaters2
headwaters3
look how weed choked the headwaters can be but its beautiful!
The pvt area (just so beautiful!)
pvt area1
pvt area2
shallow but look at all them aquatic weeds
pvt area4
pvt area5
Stream2:
This is where i said in my big spring post i did some walking around a stream and found a bunch of trout and a few bruisers. appearently they are left over from this years fishing derby. the brookies look awesome and there are a few huge browns with hook jaws. and one pally (good i hate those things. my access was denied. the stream is closed to fishing from the cold spring source downstream to the road all year except for the derby. but iam welcome to walk it anytime. by next years derby those kids are gonna be lucky to hook into a few of these fish. they are getting old and beautiful looking! look around in the water on these pics youll see the fish
nice brookie
pally
nice brookie and a REALLY nice brown hangin out
Stream3:
This stream was almost entirely on pvt land. after talking with the landowner to the upper water for awhile i was granted access. (remember when talking to landowners a :-D goes a long way) there are wild browns in this stream and some refugee trout....at least from the rumors i hear. i saw a trout, (a brown) i know cause i got a really good look at him, that was the size of a carp! unfortunatly he saw me also. dang! he ran under a undercut bank and was gone. there wasent much holding water in the upper section of this stream. i did find a hole that went halfway to nowhere and in it was about 15 wild browns. i had 1 that was about 15 inches take a bugger. he fought so hard he spoked every trout in that hole and then came off my hook :-D little bugger! but to my amazement is what the downstream section was like. It was heavily posted but someone did MASSIVE restoration work. i had to go ask. the guy was just coming home as i was walking up his lane. he was a very polite landowner and a very nice guy. apperently he runs a fishing club down there. i asked if i could try his water and he said im sorry no......only because this year he lost alot of wild trout and trout he stocked in his section of the creek. i told him i totally understood and that i was really impressed by his massive stream restoration efforts. he smiled and said ty becuase he did it all himself. then he invited me to comeback in the spring and try his water. i got a big smile on my face and said absolutly! im gonna hold him to that. as i was walking back down his lane i was taking pics of the massive stream restoration the best i could from a distance. LOL! as i was trout were rising everywhere. god i cant wait till april to try this stream! it looks like a pleasure to fish that area and it looked like (from all the rising) Great top water action!
stream restoration trib coming in
stream restoration2
stream restoration3
stream restoration4
stream restoration5
stream restoration6
Stream 4 (OMG! I LOVE THIS STREAM!)
when i arrived at this stream i instanly fell in love! it is a classic limestone spring creek in every since of the word.except it gets stocked and has no wild trout. but it does have a few problems, a bunch of things going for it and a few personalities.
It does have a small posted section that leads down to the mouth. it has less aquatic veg in this area....but the holes are deeper. i got permission to fish this area and didnt have to work to hard to get it. even got a parking space on there land. and parking at this stream is at a premium.
here is pics of that section:
lower section
lower section2
lower section3
lower section4
lower section5
a healthy brown i got in this section
as you can see from the pics the water isnt clear i wonder why
dang these things!
from what i hear the stream doesnt have a sponser and im thinking of trying to arrange a group to help save this stream. i really believe it could be famous if it was properly cared for. a local boy scout group has help with some access and grazing issues. there are sections that have cattle fencing but a large middle section that has none. the stream is badly silted but has tons of aquatic veg. it also seems some stream restoration was done but it needs more. here are pics of the middle section:
middle section
middle section2
middle section3
middle section4
middle section5
middle section6
middle section7
middle section8
middle section9
middle section10
middle section11
middle section12
middle section13
middle section14
amazing looking! but it gets even better. i didnt catch a trout though. the stream gets stocked and i think it was simpily fished out. i did catch a bunch of shiners and sunfish (all very fat from the obvious food source, scuds cause thats what i caught them on !) i started at this stream and left it to go fish another stream. i had to comeback close to it on my way home and i got to thinking wonder what the headwaters is like. well im glad i did. up farther i saw one spring was cloudy water and the other was clear and the two were mixing together. and trut me this entire stream is just freezing! but THE BEST part. the upper water is alot deeper in better shape and has alot of cattle fencing to keep them out of the amazing looking upper stretch. the weeds come right up to the bank and help narrow the stream. i got there just in the evening and the didnt have much sunlight. but the fish were there! thats where i found alot of trout . most of them running a huge wake away from me :-D i only landed 3 fish all browns and all good holdover trout from the spring stocking. im heading back there in the morning to test it again since i didnt have much time left. IM really impressed with this stocked limestoner and really want to help fix it. it also from what i hear has some great hatches! i did see two other flyfisherman fishing it up ahead of me in the middle section. maybe they were catching fish and putting them down as i came through...but the upper water had fish.i will give out its location to ppl i trust if you pm me and maybe you will fall in love with this stream like i have and lend a hand! :-D here are some pics of the upper water:
upper water1
upper water2
upper water3
upper water4
upper water5
look how the weeds help narrow the stream (god i love limestone spring creeks)
evening on this beautiful limestoner (god i love this stream)
not sure if this is actually a spring souce or if the stream goes up more....have to explore it towmorrow
cloudy spring source1
clear spring souce the 2 meet right at this bridge
The past week i have encountered multiple situations of posted and private water. sometimes gaining access and sometimes not. here are some pics and stories of my recent trips out fishing limestone spring creeks.
Stream1:
this stream (upstream of the golf course) was on private land. I had a nice conversation with the farmer who was reluctant at first to let me on his property. i assured him i am a catch and release fisherman and iam very respectful landowners rights and wouldnot "trash" his land. he told me that it isnt that its just that he is in the business of farming and not fishing. i told him i understand and i thanked him for his time and appreciated his candor. shook his hand and started to walk away. (sometimes pressing the issue will only set u back) suddenly he said hold up.....told me if i walked through the brush and not his corn fields he would let me on his property. he just didnt want any of his crop damaged. I thanked him up and down.
this stream flowed through farmland and fortunatly it was farmland void of cattle. just grassy areas and all his crops around. it kept this classic limestone spring creek void of silt. I havent seen a limestoner in such pristine condition in a long time. The streambed was actually clean gravel (where you could see it). The water was ice cold and i mean freezing. This stream and open up to be quiet large and it was just a stunning classic limestone spring creek. And yes! it did have trout :-D there wasent much holding water though....i know water levels are down but i think this stream needs to be narrowed and it would make it a bit deeper. i came across one hole that held alot of little wild rainbows...im sure some where deep down in the weeds was a large trout. but i couldnt turn him up.
the fish:
bow1
bow2
bow3
bow4
bow5
bow6
bow7
the stream in the headwaters
out of the pvt area)headwaters
headwaters2
headwaters3
look how weed choked the headwaters can be
but its beautiful!The pvt area (just so beautiful!)
pvt area1
pvt area2
shallow but look at all them aquatic weeds
pvt area4
pvt area5
Stream2:
This is where i said in my big spring post i did some walking around a stream and found a bunch of trout and a few bruisers. appearently they are left over from this years fishing derby. the brookies look awesome and there are a few huge browns with hook jaws. and one pally (good i hate those things. my access was denied. the stream is closed to fishing from the cold spring source downstream to the road all year except for the derby. but iam welcome to walk it anytime. by next years derby those kids are gonna be lucky to hook into a few of these fish. they are getting old and beautiful looking! look around in the water on these pics youll see the fish
nice brookie
pally
nice brookie and a REALLY nice brown hangin out
Stream3:
This stream was almost entirely on pvt land. after talking with the landowner to the upper water for awhile i was granted access. (remember when talking to landowners a :-D goes a long way) there are wild browns in this stream and some refugee trout....at least from the rumors i hear. i saw a trout, (a brown) i know cause i got a really good look at him, that was the size of a carp! unfortunatly he saw me also. dang! he ran under a undercut bank and was gone. there wasent much holding water in the upper section of this stream. i did find a hole that went halfway to nowhere and in it was about 15 wild browns. i had 1 that was about 15 inches take a bugger. he fought so hard he spoked every trout in that hole and then came off my hook :-D little bugger! but to my amazement is what the downstream section was like. It was heavily posted but someone did MASSIVE restoration work. i had to go ask. the guy was just coming home as i was walking up his lane. he was a very polite landowner and a very nice guy. apperently he runs a fishing club down there. i asked if i could try his water and he said im sorry no......only because this year he lost alot of wild trout and trout he stocked in his section of the creek. i told him i totally understood and that i was really impressed by his massive stream restoration efforts. he smiled and said ty becuase he did it all himself. then he invited me to comeback in the spring and try his water. i got a big smile on my face and said absolutly! im gonna hold him to that. as i was walking back down his lane i was taking pics of the massive stream restoration the best i could from a distance. LOL! as i was trout were rising everywhere. god i cant wait till april to try this stream! it looks like a pleasure to fish that area and it looked like (from all the rising) Great top water action!
stream restoration trib coming in
stream restoration2
stream restoration3
stream restoration4
stream restoration5
stream restoration6
Stream 4 (OMG! I LOVE THIS STREAM!)
when i arrived at this stream i instanly fell in love! it is a classic limestone spring creek in every since of the word.except it gets stocked and has no wild trout. but it does have a few problems, a bunch of things going for it and a few personalities.
It does have a small posted section that leads down to the mouth. it has less aquatic veg in this area....but the holes are deeper. i got permission to fish this area and didnt have to work to hard to get it. even got a parking space on there land. and parking at this stream is at a premium.
here is pics of that section:
lower section
lower section2
lower section3
lower section4
lower section5
a healthy brown i got in this section
as you can see from the pics the water isnt clear i wonder why
dang these things!
from what i hear the stream doesnt have a sponser and im thinking of trying to arrange a group to help save this stream. i really believe it could be famous if it was properly cared for. a local boy scout group has help with some access and grazing issues. there are sections that have cattle fencing but a large middle section that has none. the stream is badly silted but has tons of aquatic veg. it also seems some stream restoration was done but it needs more. here are pics of the middle section:
middle section
middle section2
middle section3
middle section4
middle section5
middle section6
middle section7
middle section8
middle section9
middle section10
middle section11
middle section12
middle section13
middle section14
amazing looking! but it gets even better. i didnt catch a trout though. the stream gets stocked and i think it was simpily fished out. i did catch a bunch of shiners and sunfish (all very fat from the obvious food source, scuds cause thats what i caught them on !) i started at this stream and left it to go fish another stream. i had to comeback close to it on my way home and i got to thinking wonder what the headwaters is like. well im glad i did. up farther i saw one spring was cloudy water and the other was clear and the two were mixing together. and trut me this entire stream is just freezing! but THE BEST part. the upper water is alot deeper in better shape and has alot of cattle fencing to keep them out of the amazing looking upper stretch. the weeds come right up to the bank and help narrow the stream. i got there just in the evening and the didnt have much sunlight. but the fish were there! thats where i found alot of trout . most of them running a huge wake away from me :-D i only landed 3 fish all browns and all good holdover trout from the spring stocking. im heading back there in the morning to test it again since i didnt have much time left. IM really impressed with this stocked limestoner and really want to help fix it. it also from what i hear has some great hatches! i did see two other flyfisherman fishing it up ahead of me in the middle section. maybe they were catching fish and putting them down as i came through...but the upper water had fish.i will give out its location to ppl i trust if you pm me and maybe you will fall in love with this stream like i have and lend a hand! :-D here are some pics of the upper water:
upper water1
upper water2
upper water3
upper water4
upper water5
look how the weeds help narrow the stream (god i love limestone spring creeks)
evening on this beautiful limestoner (god i love this stream)
not sure if this is actually a spring souce or if the stream goes up more....have to explore it towmorrow
cloudy spring source1
clear spring souce the 2 meet right at this bridge
