How far is your closest wild brook stream?

This is what I don’t get. Yes I spin fish, never tried to hide it nor deny it. I have just recently picked up a fly rod and come to this forum, specifically, for the vast amounts of knowledge the members here hold. As a newbie to fly fishing, I would bet my life’s savings there are numerous members here that know more about fly fishing and trout biology than almost any other forum nationwide. Not only have I learned everything I know now about fly fishing just from reading all the info on this site, but I’ve come to respect each member here and feel privileged to learn from the best in the field. I’ve treated everyone on here with respect as well and would never question their background, the only thing that matters to me is that they are teaching me the most sound advice, tips and tricks found anywhere on the internet. I’m willing to bet as well that not every single member here picked up a fly rod and ran with it without ever trying spinning gear once in their lives. Does that make them any less of a fly fishermen?

This post was also only about how far you have to travel to reach your closest wild brook inhabited stream. It has nothing to do with what gear you use, have used, want to use, or prefer to use.

That being said, the more members that state they live within minutes of these beautiful waters only makes my jealousy raise higher. I really need to move!
 
So if he said he fished bait for trout with worms it would be OK to pass on information on a fly fishing forum? Or if it was found out that he kills native brook trout it would be OK to pass on information?
 
Outsider, I think it would be best if you let other members decide what info they want to pass along rather than you trying to control things according to your own feelings by bullying and criticism.
 
Not many of us jumped out of our bassinet and began fly-fishing.

The vast majority started to spin fish and thought FFing looked like fun and gave it a try.

We are all at different stages of fly-fishing.

Why can't we accept that some guys on here are just just discovering FFing and are at the beginning stages just trying it out.

Gotta start somewhere.

 
Head west my friend, I have a couple within 20 minutes of my house but only fish them once a year if I’m lucky. I’ve even taken my dad spin fishing there and the streams still fish as well as they ever have imagine that. :) seriously come to Lancaster I’ll show you how to pull brookies out of the bushes.
 
Hop is correct. Those are a good part of the few other moderately good to good wild Brook Trout streams that I referred to in the SE.

If you make a second trip you may want to begin exploring Southern Lancaster Co's and Southeastern York County's wild Brown Trout streams. Anglers don't know what they are missing when they limit themselves to Lancaster's and York's special reg areas.
 
outsider wrote:
So if he said he fished bait for trout with worms it would be OK to pass on information on a fly fishing forum? Or if it was found out that he kills native brook trout it would be OK to pass on information?
Click to expand...

Actually, it is ok if he kills a few.
 
1 minute walk for me
 
I'd say about an hour and a half/two hours for me. Just moved into Northern Liberties so I'm even farther from some of my favorite water. Wish I lived in the Poconos!

I started out spin fishing as well Jason, no worries, and most of the grumps giving you a hard time probably did too. I still enjoy spin fishing for bass as well, just don't do it as much as I used to. I only started fly fishing for trout about 6 years ago and have learned a ton since then, and mostly from friends or on my own from the internet or books. If I had known about this forum back then, I'd probably be on here asking the same exact questions as you. And when I moved to eastern PA I had to start from scratch as I knew nothing about the area 3 years ago and now I can finally say I've comfortably gotten a good grasp on it. Lots of exploring, lots of learning, lots of reading, lots of skunking. I don't necessarily post on here a lot, but I do read quite a bit of what is said on here - particularly useful old posts about streams.
 
For a reliable Brookie stream on public land...Generally 30-40 minutes north or west from me (SE Berks Co.) will get you into some good fishing. That gets you to Blue Mountain or the Furnace Hills.

There's certainly some closer, but they're typically marginal populations on private (and usually posted) land.
 
Brook trout- 4-5 miles. Wild rainbows about a par 4 away.
 
45 minutes for me, and that is for a handful of fish in a brush choked stream that don't get bigger than 5-6". But another 15 minutes and I am at Catoctin Mountain which has several pretty awesome streams.

Likewise for wild browns. within 45 minutes I have a few spots that are very marginal but do hold a few browns. But within an hour, there are a couple better options.

Stormwater runoff has wiped out just about all trout within 45 minutes of DC.

Growing up in PA, there was a great brook trout stream within 5 minutes of my house. Sadly, it also fell victim to the development/stormwater grim reaper.
 
3 miles for the closest of which there are several. For real quality, I'm about 13 miles out and have a ton of options. The cool thing is this year's rain forced me to play the small stream game, and I uncovered new streams that I would not have ordinarily fished in any other year. It can't be stressed enough to get out and explore as you will eventually be pleasantly surprised.
 
I can get up on South Mountain in 20-30 minutes for fishable populations of ST on land accessible to the public. There are many options there but, overall, not close to the experience one might expect further up into the center state Appalachian region. For that level of experience, I'm more than an hour out.
 
5 min drive..PA Wilds Rocks....funny thing is, there are more brookie streams within 10 -30 min drive than stocked steeams.
 
I have one about 10 minutes away by car that I could fish with a machete, a cane pole with a crawler and a grappling hook to pull myself along through the muck.

Otherwise, it's about 40 minutes to the nearest fishable pop on non-posted property.

That's OK, I'm only 3 minutes away from slab crappie!
 
You guys have no idea how lucky you are to live so close to one of your favorite things to do. With the limited time I have, my only free time is spent fishing for trout and I’m jealous the majority of you can literally drive down the street to wild brook waters. My closest is Pennypack and if any of you are familiar, that is nothing to be envious of. It’s a stocked freestone that gets too warm when the temps rise to allow for the survival of holdovers. The fall/winter/spring fish decent as the water stays cold but unfortunately, that’s when school is in session. I have to admit that I’ve been slowly unlocking the secrets of Valley Creek since that is only about a 35 min drive for me and is an excellent summer fishery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Montana Angler Fly Fishing
Harman's North Fork Cottages


Real Time Data From
the USGS Site

Share this page

Back
Top