Lakes that offer trout fishing

[paflyfisherman]

After fly fishing for 50+ years in streams, I would like to try stillwater fishing. Any advise as to which lakes in eastern Pa would be a good starting point. I will probably purchase an inflatable raft.

 

[Mike]

I don’t have any knowledge of rafts and their legality, so my comments refer to float tube fishing.

Based on your Nazareth location, seasonal trout fisheries in PFBC and DCNR lakes exist in Minsi Lake, Northampton Co, Leaser Lake, Lehigh Co, Kaercher Ck Dm, N Berks Co, and Locust/Tuscarora Lks, Schuylkill Co. Of these, Locust holds trout for the longest period into the summer. Tuscarora is only stocked in fall, but a good number of trout hold over into the spring plus you may fish it during the closed season (but all trout caught during the closed season have to be released).

Leaser is poor in that catches are pitiful based on WCO observations and an opening day angler survey, yet it continues to be stocked for opening day. That said, a WCO once saw a kayaker do well at one and only one particular spot, so you might have some luck from a tube.
The telling question from a WCO who covered the lake for a year was; “does anyone ever catch any trout there?” I would add that a tube angler does well on Tiger Muskellunge and sometimes bass there, but he does not fly fish.

Going farther north to Pike Co, Little Mud Pond provides excellent spring dry fly fishing in the evening, but streamers work well in the late afternoon and based on my limited observations and its limited access, it is way underfished. That’s great for the individual angler, but not good programatically.

 

[tomgamber]

I highly suggest a float tube for flyfishing lakes. You'll learn to keep your backcast nice and high. And backcast room is literally infinite.. You can lazily troll or kick on over to a spot and actually stay there. You don't need your arms to paddle so you can fish from the time your butt hits the seat until you stand back up getting out. A second spool with an intermediate or sinking line is nice but I usually just weighted my flies if I wanted to fish them deeper.
You can pick up a tube and fins for less than half of any kayak cat or kickboat. A 20 inch trout might drag you 50 yards across a lake though.

 

[paflyfisherman]

Thanks for the excellent responses!

 

[Baron]

Hey Neighbor. I'm over here in Easton. I've been taking my drift boat to Upper Woods Pond above Hawley. I highly recommend it. One of the few lakes in PA that are truly glacial it turns every fall. Large trout are stocked twice a year and its there's no closed season. In summer I go there to remember how small the panfish are.
There are numerous underwater ridges and holes that you'll see those with sounding gear frequent but I have no such gear and still have done okay.

I built the boat out of 4 sheets of 3/8 ply.

 

[Dave_W]

Baron wrote:
I built the boat out of 4 sheets of 3/8 ply.

That's a neat boat. Did you tell us about how you built it?

If not, and you have pics of the process, it would make a neat thread in Gear Talk if you want to tell us about the process.

 

[Millsertime]

Baron wrote:

I built the boat out of 4 sheets of 3/8 ply.

Ok, if you are interested please start a new thread and and explain how you did that. That boat is gorgeous and the process interests me as I love to work with wood.

 

[Dave_W]

We have quite a few stocked lakes in my neck of the woods.

Most State Park and PFBC lakes are stocked here in SCPA. However, I've always regarded these as warm water fisheries and usually visit them to target those species. From time to time I'll get a trout when I'm targeting something else, usually when I'm fishing streamers (got a beautiful big stocked brookie from a patch of lily pads once).
I rarely see these stockies feeding on the surface either, although this does sometimes happen.

 

[albud1962]

I always liked Whipple dam for gear fishing. Its a small lake but gets stocked with some nice fish. Possibility for fishing from a tube. It was closed the last couple years but scheduled to be stocked in 2021.

 

[paflyfisherman]

Baron, thanks for the info and that's a real nice boat. Would love to know how you built it. Do you float the Lehigh and / or the Salmon River?

 

[marcq]

I love fishing Stillwater for trout. It’s a totally different. Lakes/ponds where fish can hold over can grow large and they are willing to take a tiny fly.

I would look into people like Phil Rowley and Brian Chan. They are big time Stillwater guys on the west coast. They have a lot of really good video on YouTube on how fish Stillwater’s and different setups.

Based on my fishing which is limited to one body of water. I switch between three different lines a standard floating for fishing balanced leaches under a indicator, a scientific anglers parabolic sinking line for using the washing line method, and a full sink t6 for dangling.

I rarely use the floating line. The more I use the scientific angler parabolic line it’s becoming my main choice during the year except fall. It’s good for fishing 10 to 20 foot depth. Which is right around the thermocline is. Long cast and slow hand twist retrieve in. Flies are simple. Midges in still waters they are called chironomids. Size 18,16 and 14 seem to be the best for where I fish. I do best on red and black. A size 16 zebra midge in red or black would be fine. Scuds are important too. Size 16 and 14. Leaches are last thing I use. A black wooly bugger would probably be fine but it’s hard to beat a black balanced leach with a orange bead. Under a indicator.

I fish in a old limestone quarry in flowertown it’s called sandy run park. There’s a small floating dock which people fish off. I would stay it’s a go to spot but it hold trout all year and has cool deep water. I’ve been meaning to hit other lakes in pa but was side tracked by other fishing adventures. From what I’ve read and the research I’ve done. Upper pond of the woods seem to be a really good spot. Harvey’s lake and Lake Winola were on my radar too.

 

[Bamboozle]

Mike wrote:
I don’t have any knowledge of rafts and their legality, so my comments refer to float tube fishing...

It might be smart to double the check the regulations as alluded to by Mike before buying anything or choosing a location:

From the PFBC:

Inflatable boats less than 7 feet in length or which are not constructed of durable fabric and do not have at least two separate buoyancy chambers are prohibited.

From the DCNR:

On Pennsylvania state park lakes, inflatable boats must be at least seven feet in length and made of high-quality, durable material.

All non-powered boats launched in state parks or forests must display one of the following:

Boat registration
Launching permit from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission
Launching permit or mooring permit from Pennsylvania State Parks -- available at most state park offices

FWIW - A float tube with two air chambers is NOT considered a boat in PA and is legal on State Park/Forest property & PFBC lakes and is NOT required to be registered and NO launch permit is required.