Kettle and pine creek access.

[Bobbop89]

Looking for some access locations. Me and a few friends, most of them spin fisherman, are going on our first trip to fish kettle and possibly pine. We're not looking for anyones honey holes just looking for the best access areas. We'll be staying at the black forest inn as a point of reference as to where we will be traveling from. I did check the commission website and they give upper and lower limits but I'm having trouble locating the access points. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Swattie87]

Both have excellent access with very little posting in their stocked stretches.

In addition to the state parks along it, Kettle has many small pull offs, and a couple larger lots, along the road from Oleona down to the lake. Park at one of those and don’t use private driveways or walk through folks yards to access it and you’ll be fine.

Pine has many large water trail access lots from Darling Run on down. In the Blackwell/Cedar/Slate/Cammal area, there’s literally like one large access lot per mile. Check the state forest maps for the area, they show the access lots for Pine.

 

[Prospector]

On Kettle it is not uncommon for every pull-off to have a vehicle in it. It is also not uncommon to have 3-5 vehicles per pull off. Last year one day in mid May I counted 47 vehicles from Cross Fork to the top end of the FFO stretch. That’s a 5 mile stretch of road, about 10 vehicles per mile.

 

[troutbert]

Get DCNR's free paper state forest maps that cover those watersheds.

That way you can see what is public land, and what is not.

 

[Bobbop89]

Thanks I'll have to look into that. We're going for combat fishing on the 18th haha

 

[CRB]

I have a feeling mid May will be the date they postpone the opening to.

 

[tomgamber]

why do you think they will postpone it?

 

[Bobbop89]

CRB wrote:
I have a feeling mid May will be the date they postpone the opening to.

I sure hope not we already have our rooms booked and vacations from work.

 

[Bamboozle]

Bobbop89 wrote:

CRB wrote:
I have a feeling mid May will be the date they postpone the opening to.

I sure hope not we already have our rooms booked and vacations from work.

The PFBC has already confirmed a STATEWIDE Opener on April 18th:

https://www.fishandboat.com/Pages/covid-19.aspx

In the meantime, I'd worry more about the Black Forest Inn staying open and what their cancellation policy is. Places are closing by the minute and to be honest, a lot of bars & restaurants in counties with low numbers of confirmed cases are delusional if they think they will be open much longer.

They really aren't doing anyone a favor by remaining open and having events as if nothing was going on, just because no one is forcing them to close.

 

[sandfly]

you can check my facebook page, i have placed a map for the delayed harvest there on upper pine.

https://www.facebook.com/BigMeadowsFlyShop/

 

[birdog]

I ran into a DCNR ranger while fishing the Pine this past Wednesday. She stated all State Parks and the State forest are closed to camping until further notice. Day use only. No new permits will be issued for the state forest and already issued permits are revoked. No overnighting unless you are a backpacker (which they would have a difficult time enforcing). I often sleep in the back of my truck on the state forest, so I asked her about that. She immediately said,"No".

 

[dryflyguy]

I also sleep in my truck on state forest land a lot too.
Wonder what their beef with that is? You can't get much more isolated when doing that

 

[sandfly]

they don't have the personnel to patrol right now. they have let people go home also

 

[dryflyguy]

Patrol for what? People camping and enjoying public land? Isn't that a great way to practice social distancing now?

But I have never understood the whole permit system for camping there regularly anyway.

I overnight a lot in the Allegheny National Forest. No permits needed. You just find a site that's open, and do you thing.
Seems to work OK there

 

[larkmark]

A lot of these so called rangers don't have a clue. Same with some of the waterway patrolmen. Their standard answer is NO.

 

[reds]

Actually, they are still patrolling. I work tomorrow. It is a limited number of people, essentially making sure roads are clear and people are still obeying the rules. Most of the closures are for group use areas.

The reason we have you register camping spots is so we know where to find people when their loved ones call in a panic because they haven’t called or there is an emergency. It happens all of the time. Also, some people like to reserve the limited camping spots there are. I utilize National forest spots a lot and many of the free for all spots are being closed throughout the country due to misuse, so this may be a way to head that off.

I’m not going to comment on the rangers or WCO’s.

 

[dryflyguy]

Reds - I take it you work for the DCNR?
Glad to see you're still working some anyway.

As for the camping permits: last I knew, you didn't need a permit to go hike in camping.
So, you just can backpack in to, who knows where, without any concerns of loved ones getting hold of someone in an emergency.
But need one to camp along side a road?

 

[reds]

That is correct, you are only required for roadside camping. They do however recommend to back packers that they get a permit as well for the same reasons. Problem is a backpacker may end up quitting early or go longer on a day so reserving a spot is difficult. We end up having to find them sometimes too for the same reasons.

The whole permit thing shouldn’t really be a big deal. I use it in the rothrock all the time. You make a call and they email you the permit, it takes about five minutes top. It also stops people from camping wherever they want which avoids issues.

 

[dryflyguy]

Yeah - I had a permit to camp in Rothrock last week.
But due to the circumstances, never used it

 

[Prospector]

dryflyguy wrote:
Patrol for what? People camping and enjoying public land? Isn't that a great way to practice social distancing now?

But I have never understood the whole permit system for camping there regularly anyway.

I overnight a lot in the Allegheny National Forest. No permits needed. You just find a site that's open, and do you thing.
Seems to work OK there

My camp is bordered by Allegheny National Forest and is about equal distance between the Allegheny River and Tionesta creek. I see a lot of tent campers on the ANF land. It appears the most popular locations are along East Hickory Creek and Salmon Creek. Others choose Tionesta creek, Bobb’s Creek or The Branch.

When I see the campers it looks like a neat experience to be right there along the creek but I never do it since my camp is so convenient. Have you found any particular location more appealing than others? If so, what makes it special?