Help me plan a mini-PA fly fishing trip

[wgmiller]

If you don't mind torturing yourself, you could take 76 west out of Philly to Carlisle and fish some of the storied creeks from Limestone Legends:

• LeTort from first light until the sun hits the water. fish with terrestrials and streamers
• Yellow Breeches at the Allenberry (just to say you did it) plus the nearby outflow from Children's Lake (the open water in the upper reaches at Huntsdale has some leftover stockers and a healthy wild brown population)
• Big Spring at Newville: fly section and open water are both productive and it's one of the few places where you have a shot at wild brook, brown and rainbows
• Falling Springs at Chambersburg (also wild brown and rainbow, plus a shot at a wild brook trout)

That's the route I'd recommend. The White Haven area has the Lehigh and other decent water, but it's not enough to make it a "destination" IMO. The Lehigh is a bear to wade and is unwadeable during a whitewater release weekend. The feeder creeks can be difficult to access due to topography and the ones you can access are just ok (Black/Hayes, Hickory Run, etc.).

Heading west on 76 from Philly back toward Pittsburgh does offer the option to fish a lot of the above streams without going too far out of the way. Several additional options not too far north or south of the PA Turnpike in the Cumberland/Franklin/Adams County area are the upper Yellow Breeches (above Mt. Holly Springs) along with Mountain Creek in Caledonia SP. Within Caledonia are a number of other streams that also are fun to fish (Tom's Run, Conococheague, etc.). Best of all, most of this water is within the park and publicly accessible.

Lastly, one could always get off the PA Turnpike at 99 and head north to the Altoona area for the LJ, Frankstown Branch of the Juniata, etc.

 

[Nocktavius]

Blow off work entirely and hit the upper Delaware for a few days. Very helpful I know!

 

[jifigz]

Blow off work entirely and hit the upper Delaware for a few days. Very helpful I know!

I second this recommendation.

 

[tomgamber]

Get in car. Drive in general direction of your destination. Fish every piece of water you cross or see in the periphery of your gps. Make notes of the good ones. Fish them longer on the way home.

 

[klingy]

If you have three days, you might want to pick one area to focus on. To go from the Poconos to State College to North Bend is a lot of stream time spent in the car. I was just in NC PA for a week and the streams are already getting to low and clear summer flows. I’d vote for either the State College or Carlisle areas. Both have plenty of cold water options with Smallmouth nearby as well.

 

[sam]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'll hold off on booking anything until I see what the stream gauges say next week, as that will be the biggest deciding factor.

I like the idea of checking out the Carlisle area, as I've only fished Yellow Breeches once, and it was only for 1-2 hours so not enough time. I actually did look into staying at Allenberry, but it looks like the hotel was sold out for this weekend. I'm guessing there is a wedding there or something of the sort.

Cheers

 

[blitzinstripes]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'll hold off on booking anything until I see what the stream gauges say next week, as that will be the biggest deciding factor.

I like the idea of checking out the Carlisle area, as I've only fished Yellow Breeches once, and it was only for 1-2 hours so not enough time. I actually did look into staying at Allenberry, but it looks like the hotel was sold out for this weekend. I'm guessing there is a wedding there or something of the sort.

Cheers

Excellent choice. Carlisle will put you smack dab in the middle of some great spring creeks. Big Spring, Falling Springs, Letort, Yellow Breeches. Should be plenty of chain hotels to choose from in Carlisle.

 

[4WT]

Jim, thank you for the detailed response. I found some of this information on the stream report section of TCO. I did not do the Valley Creek trip because of the heat. The temperature had risen 10 degrees in one week. So I wasn’t going to stress them. I decided to wait it out for a bit and head up to Big Fishing Creek and Spring Creek in September and hire a guide to get me on the water in the right places. I do like the idea of the Letort and Breeches, I was not aware of them until recently and discovered the are five minutes away from my in-laws house. Their son has never been a fisherman until he recently started saltwater fishing. So he never thought to mention it to me. So I will have to try them as well and follow your lead on the timing.

In the meantime I have tuned up my 14’ Jon boat, got out the 7wt and will be on a few lakes for Bass fishing and playing with bluegills.

Thank you and stay cool!

Walt

 

[afishinado]

Jim, thank you for the detailed response. I found some of this information on the stream report section of TCO. I did not do the Valley Creek trip because of the heat. The temperature had risen 10 degrees in one week. So I wasn’t going to stress them. I decided to wait it out for a bit and head up to Big Fishing Creek and Spring Creek in September and hire a guide to get me on the water in the right places. I do like the idea of the Letort and Breeches, I was not aware of them until recently and discovered the are five minutes away from my in-laws house. Their son has never been a fisherman until he recently started saltwater fishing. So he never thought to mention it to me. So I will have to try them as well and follow your lead on the timing.

In the meantime I have tuned up my 14’ Jon boat, got out the 7wt and will be on a few lakes for Bass fishing and playing with bluegills.

Thank you and stay cool!

Walt

^Good man, giving the trout a break!!

You probably don't need to hire a guide to fish Spring or BFC in the fall. Just ask around in here and you will get plenty of good advice about where, when and how.

Good luck fishin' for bass and all those hard-fighting bluegills.

 

[sam]

Thanks for the tips, everyone.

I ended up fishing the Leigh below the dam on Wednesday (I drove up early). What a great spot! I had a blast and caught several rising browns. It was a good way to enjoy myself for a few hours before heading into work meetings the next day.

Given the high temps in the region, I decided to drive down to the Savage River (below the dam) on Friday and fish it in the evening and then again on Saturday morning. What a great stream. Friday was loaded with action. I hooked into several large browns that were bright yellow. Super pretty fish.

Not much happened on Saturday morning. I fished for a good two hours and only had two takes, but wasn't able to bring them to net. After exploring the stream a bit more, I decided to call it and head home.

I appreciate the feedback and help here. I'll be sure to visit these streams again.