If you could live anywhere in PA?

[steveo27]

Awesome fish.

Looks like I need to put some more miles on some more streams in the Laurel Highlands!

 

[dryflyguy]

Fayettenamese:

I drive 3 hours to fish central PA mainly because of the prolific hatches that bring up lots of wild trout.
To me, that's what fly fishing is all about. I realize it's a personal preference - although I have lots of buddies who like to fish the same way also. I didn't demean other forms of fishing - to each his own as they say.

FWIW - I've been fishing the yough river - (I remembered to hit the autocorrect x this time, to keep it from changing to tough) - for 25 years.
And have never caught a wild trout in it.
Guess it's my dry fly snobbery. Anyway, I'm fishing the way I enjoy the most. And that's my experience there.
I have also caught many wild trout - mostly brookies - in the smaller streams throughout the laurel highlands. But have never caught anything over about 12 " there.

When I saw the nice size fish in your pictures, I did assume they were probably from the yough. (Since you're not willing to state where you caught them, that's a pretty good assumption IMO)
Very nice to hear that you caught them elsewhere - and you are to be commended for digging then up in other area streams. (I'm assuming they're NOT from the keystone select section of laurel hill creek, or the beaver creek private club water)
Anyway maybe I also need to quit paying so much attention to the yough, and start exploring other streams in that area.

 

[walt61]

Just move to the Poconos you will never get bord some of the best trout fishing the Delaware is hear you are 3hours from Pulaski for salmon and steelhead 2 hours from salt water what more could you ask for

 

[fayettenamese]

I will tell you that they came from wild trout streams on public land not listed as Class A or as class B and less than 15ft in width.

 

[Char_Master]

If I had to chose one place to live in PA, it'd probably be eastern Potter county. Every blueline there is full of native Brookies and lots of creeks have Browns and Rainbows too, though I fish primarily for the natives up there. Plus, you're only 2-3.5 hours from anywhere on the south shore of Lake Ontario in New York with Steelhead, Browns, Lakers, and Pacific Salmon) as well as the Finger Lakes which hold Lakers, Rainbows, Browns, and LL Salmon. Honestly, I'll probably wind up moving to Potter county for the same reasons above within the next decade or so.

Erie is also a great place to live, I'm up there fishing pretty much every weekend from April through November both on the shore and on my boat fishing for Lake Trout, Steelhead, Browns, Pike, Drum, White Bass, Gar, and more. Not many inland trout streams though, just migratory Steelhead waters.

I'll end off with, do NOT move to Pittsburgh. This is where I live now and it, in my experience, is some of the worst fishing in the state. Have to drive at minimum 60-90 minutes to find a wild trout stream and many of the local waters are so polluted and urban that they're borderline not fun to fish. I still make the most of it and fish for stocked trout when they're present, as well as little Smallmouth Bass, Sunfish, and LMBs in my local creeks and lakes, but it comes no where close to comparing with the fishing in Erie, NCPA, or most of SCPA. At least, not for the species I like to target.

My two cents.

 

[PocketWater]

fayettenamese wrote:
I will tell you that they came from wild trout streams on public land not listed as Class A or as class B and less than 15ft in width.

Those are some beauties. Like Steveo said, I'm going to have to get out investigating more in the Laurel Highlands.

 

[Bruno]

I day dream about living closer to excellent trout fishing. I also have discussed this with my wife and i think she has it right. "You would last three weeks before you got pissed off bc you could not find good cheese."

She is right, it sounds great but then the reality of living in a rural place sinks in. I'll take the 2 hr drive over not having access to a city and the things it has to offer. I'd be driving 2hrs for good food and entertainment the other way around.


It is a wash either way.

Seriously have you ever tried to buy feta in Forest County PA ?

 

[klingy]

Bruno wrote:

Seriously have you ever tried to buy feta in Forest County PA ?

My vote would be State College, Renovo, or Carlisle. 2 out of 3 have feta.

 

[Bruno]

What brand?

 

[mattwolf]

My family and I just moved back to Centre County. I grew up here and my family and I moved away for about 15 years. All I can say is thank God for helping me get back to the best area in the Country to live in and the fishing just happens to be pretty darn good too????

 

[BradFromPotter]

Bruno wrote:
I day dream about living closer to excellent trout fishing. I also have discussed this with my wife and i think she has it right. "You would last three weeks before you got pissed off bc you could not find good cheese."

She is right, it sounds great but then the reality of living in a rural place sinks in. I'll take the 2 hr drive over not having access to a city and the things it has to offer. I'd be driving 2hrs for good food and entertainment the other way around.


It is a wash either way.

Seriously have you ever tried to buy feta in Forest County PA ?

Potter County has cheese!
http://www.godscountrycreamery.com/

 

[bikerfish]

Renovo???? yikes! The one place in NC pa that I would not want to live, it reminds me of a rural version of Youngstown OH, Just too many junkies around.
AND, it's been that way for decades! must be the water.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Shane,

I'm going to be the other guy and join the man a couple of pages back who said NE PA.

Susquehanna County while not blessed with many trout streams, is a central location that lets you be on either branch or the main stem of the Delaware in less than an hour and you have the Susquehanna River running right there. The Lackawanna and many of the Pocono streams are no more than an hour or two away.

I like to fish for trout, but I love to fish period and I won't fish for trout in the summer. That's not a problem in NE PA. There are dozens of lakes and ponds within an hour's drive where you can fish for bass and panfish.

You can be in State College within 2 1/2 hours and you are about the same time away from the North Jersey shore. Buy a NY license and you can hit Pulaski and Finger Lakes in the same amount of time or less.

The fishing pressure with the exception of the Delaware and the more famous Catskill streams is also virtually non-existent. That's a huge plus to me.

Work is another story, but you asked about fishing.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Chaz]

The Camp I belong to would be good. Except I'd want electric water and heat so I could make it through the winter.

 

[mav1958]

When we moved to the State College area over twenty years ago and people would ask my wife what brought us here, she would say "the fishing". That wasn't the real reason, but the trout fishing can be pretty nice.

The OP didn't mention if he had ever been to PA. Coming from AZ the summers might be a bit of a shock.

 

[salvelinus]

Hot and dry to hot and humid?