If you could live anywhere in PA?

I would have to be the oddball out here and say Erie. I think if you're a local you would be able to take full advantage of the tribs and it'd probably put it in a whole different perspective for you. Then you could figure out the shore and the bay. Get a half decent boat and get into that kind of fishing during the summer. You're also reasonably close to the ANF, the Niagra, and whatever else New York holds along the Great Lakes. My second choice would be Bellefonte. Third would be Confluence.

 
Wow, Confluence!! I like that area as well and broached the subject with my wife of retiring there. No dice.
 
Yeah Erie would have to be way up there on my list as well...definitely top notch smallie fishing along with the steelhead and some good musky and walleye too! I would think not a great location for wild browns and brookies though.
 
Confluence? Really?

Have you fished Central PA? I mean yea, it's stuffed full of retired PA Flyfisher's, but I dunno about Confluence. LOL!

I'd love to have a small spread anywhere Williamsport to say Lewistown.
 
Bozeman. Oh wait, that's not PA. dammit! PA? I'd have to say my favorite town is millheim. A nice community, great fishing, and a brewery, done.
 
Shane, consider a location with the stream on your property. Walk down through the yard to great fishing.








 
DaveS wrote:
Confluence? Really?

Have you fished Central PA? I mean yea, it's stuffed full of retired PA Flyfisher's, but I dunno about Confluence. LOL!

I'd love to have a small spread anywhere Williamsport to say Lewistown.
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One decent thing about Confluence is it would grant you easy access to the Laurel Highlands and quite a few really good fisheries in Maryland and West Virginia.
 
DaveS wrote:
Confluence? Really?

Have you fished Central PA? I mean yea, it's stuffed full of retired PA Flyfisher's, but I dunno about Confluence. LOL!

I'd love to have a small spread anywhere Williamsport to say Lewistown.
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A lot of good fishing down there with the Maryland and West Virginia tail races, upper Yough, and of course what's in town there. Add in good warm water fishing and recreation in those deep lakes. Miles of good gemmie streams in the area. It's definitely on my list of places I'm going to look to eventually/hopefully buy a cabin sometime, but to live full time I'd still take Erie or Central PA over it.
 
I live in southern bedford county and in under a 2 hour drive i can be at a lot of really really good fishing in Pa, MD and WVa. Also in under a hour there is some really good water also.
 
I'll stay right where I am in Carlisle. CV limestoners and the entire Breeches watershed from brookies up in the hidden headwater feeders to smallies way down in the lower stretches. Michaux & Tuscarora State Forests are a stone's throw away, also some local gamelands if you're looking for other hunting options. Warmwater opportunities are just as good, Susky, Juniata, Sherman's, Conodoguinet plus a few decent lakes within a short drive. It's also a quick and easy trip up to State College for a change of scenery on Penn's, Spring, LJ, etc...and the 81/76 corridor makes hitting the road for longer trips awfully convenient. Beyond fishing, I've got incredible bicycling right out the doorstep, good hiking opportunities in the surrounding state forests and a vibrant enough downtown with too many good restaurants to list along with a few local brewers for local flavor, great small town vibe.
 
I'll stay right where I am in Carlisle. CV limestoners and the entire Breeches watershed from brookies up in the hidden headwater feeders to smallies way down in the lower stretches. Michaux & Tuscarora State Forests are a stone's throw away, also some local gamelands if you're looking for other hunting options. Warmwater opportunities are just as good, Susky, Juniata, Sherman's, Conodoguinet plus a few decent lakes within a short drive. It's also a quick and easy trip up to State College for a change of scenery on Penn's, Spring, LJ, etc...and the 81/76 corridor makes hitting the road for longer trips awfully convenient. Beyond fishing, I've got incredible bicycling right out the doorstep, good hiking opportunities in the surrounding state forests and a vibrant enough downtown with too many good restaurants to list along with a few local brewers for local flavor, great small town vibe.
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Shhhhhh
 
chubmaster wrote:
Wow, Confluence!! I like that area as well and broached the subject with my wife of retiring there. No dice.
Click to expand...

Confluence is an interesting choice for sure.
Not much in the way of hatches and large wild trout.
But during a long hot summer like this, it's definitely one of the best places in the state to be. Lots of cold water coming out of the bottom of the dam - while even the fabled central PA limestoners were too warm to fish for trout
 
I'm from Erie and didn't take full advantage of the fishing while I lived there. Huge regret on my part.

When I go back to visit I always feel that I could live a lifetime fishing Presque Isle for warm water fish. There is so much water, so much to learn and a variety of species to target.

Of course, you also have the tribs for steelhead and smallie opportunities. That area is lacking for trout, though.

Now I live in Lancaster County and have only been fishing the Susquehanna, but it's another body of water I feel like I could devote my life to fishing...and I just might. I'm planning on buying a house in a year or so and will likely move even closer to the Susquehanna than I am now (only 20 mins away from Marietta now). That would also put me a bit closer to some of the trout fishing I'm looking forward to exploring in this area. The western side of the Susky might be the better place to be located for overall fishing opportunities, but I really like being near that river.
 
"Confluence is an interesting choice for sure.
Not much in the way of hatches and large wild trout."

False. Here are my two big wild trout from streams near confluence caught this summer...





 
Fayettenamese:

I didn't say that the tough doesn't have large trout.
I don't think that it has large WILD trout. And neither of those fish - impressive as they are - look wild to me.
I'd also bet that you didn't catch them on a dry fly either
 
They are wild trout. Without a doubt. If you knew where they were caught, there would be no question. They are not from the "tough". They were both caught in smaller wild trout streams in fayette county. I'm sure most people don't know the streams exist. Or if people know they exist, they most likely don't know that they hold large wild trout. Living in the laurel highlands and fishing there over 100 days a year gives me the advantage of finding wild trout streams and stream sections that rarely, if ever get fished. I can understand why people living in pittsburgh and driving out here to the mountains aren't able to find productive wild trout fishing. It has taken years of boots on the ground for me to locate them, and they are in my back yard.

To your point of how I caught those two large fish... One was caught on a streamer, the other with spinning tackle. It didn't matter to me what I caught them on, but apparently it does matter to you, which is funny, because I was the one that caught them. So why on earth would it matter to you what I caught them on???
 
His name is dry fly guy. He fishes with dries. And he was stating his opinion on where he'd like to live, not trying to deny you props for those beautiful fish.
 
Great catch!!!!



No way to know if they are wild.

Many hatchery fingerlings there. Not an overwhelming amount of wilds in yough.
 
Dryflyguy said that the confluence area didn't have large wild trout. Since I knew this to be false, I added a comment so that the OP wouldn't rule out that area because of that reason.

It just irks me when dry fly snobs demean other anglers' catches by making a comment like "I'd also bet that you didn't catch them on a dry fly either".




And again, those big wild browns were not from the Yough. They came from two different small wild trout streams where I have never caught a stocked fish of any species.
 
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