Neshannock Creek access

[GonnaFlyNow]

Has anyone been up there since they stocked it or have plans to do so? Sunday is looking like a nice day outside.

Cheers,

 

[joebamboo]

It has been way too cold to fish since they stocked on the 3rd. Stocking again tomorrow. Stream is in good shape flow and depth wise. Occasional slush due to the cold temps. May give it a shot later today!

 

[PennKev]

GonnaFlyNow wrote:
Has anyone been up there since they stocked it or have plans to do so? Sunday is looking like a nice day outside.

Cheers,

It should be pretty good. There were good numbers of holdovers this year prior to stocking.

 

[PSUhorty]

Friend of mine helped float stock it last saturday. Said in his boat alone, they stocked 16 trout that were 24" or longer (in addition to the usual stockies of course).

 

[GonnaFlyNow]

I got out today with my son. I fished from shore today. We took our bikes and I found enough spots to fish from so it worked out. I asked around to see how the bite was and most said it was slow. I worked a squirmy wormy and caught one and lost another so it was a good day.

I liked the using the bikes. I had a lot of fun and rode by all of the water from the fly shop to the covered bridge picking a few spots in between. I will look for more places to bike and fish soon. Let me know if anyone knows a good place.

Cheers,

 

[PennKev]

Check out East Sandy Creek in Venango Co.

A very nice, well maintained trail with some pretty views and the trail can get you pretty far from the regular road access areas.

 

[mayfly418]

We went to Neshannock Creek on Monday. Though it dropped, it appeared difficult to wade. Also, for my preference, it was still too muddy. We decided to take a trip down 956 to see what the waters looked like at a few different locations.
We found the access area you mentioned. The water was still a bit high and too muddy to see more than a few inches below the surface.
How difficult is the wading in this area? Are there any easy access areas up or downstream? TIA

 

[PennKev]

mayfly418 wrote:
We went to Neshannock Creek on Monday. Though it dropped, it appeared difficult to wade. Also, for my preference, it was still too muddy. We decided to take a trip down 956 to see what the waters looked like at a few different locations. We found the access area you mentioned. The water was still a bit high and too muddy to see more than a few inches below the surface.

Tuesday was much better. There was around 2ft of visibility in stained water. Definitely more water than normal in the creek and the color made it look like even more. Once in the water I found I could wade and fish the usual spots with some caution. Decent number of caddis. Fishing was pretty easy with nymphs. I was well below the stretch along 956.

How difficult is the wading in this area? Are there any easy access areas up or downstream? TIA

The 956 area is not too bad but I know the area well at this point and would probably be more comfortable getting around in higher and dirtier water than someone who doesn't. Still it's pretty tame as far as wading goes. With that said, there are some fairly heavy rapids about 500yds downstream of the bridge on 956 that you cross just before arriving at the intersection with Covered bridge road. There's also some nice fishable water there too although I believe one of the most convenient pull-offs is now blocked off by the landowner so it would be a decent distance to wade/walk-in from the bridge I just mentioned, and even longer from downstream. There might be complete posting in that spot I mentioned. I only noticed the parking spot appeared blocked during hunting season and haven't been back that way to investigate for a few months. There is still access farther downstream on 956 at the bridges and of course the PAFBC lot.

There's also a PAFBC lot near the bridge on Maitland Lane on the west side of the creek. It is immediately after the bridge on the left hand side when traveling west and is easy to miss if you aren't looking out for it. That lot will provide access up and down stream from that spot. Plenty of water to fish there too. From here you can wade up through the area around Hottenbaugh run that previously discussed in this thread. To to do so you will need to cross back and forth a few times to effectively fish it all so it's not something that will work in higher flows. You maybe could pull it off now, by the weekend it should be an easy thing to do for sure. (As long as we get no rain)

Farther downstream there is another PAFBC lot at the end of McKee Crossing Road. The water downstream from this lot is significantly better than upstream. There's a social club's camp there and they are generally pretty friendly to fisherman.

The wading is not too challenging in any of these spots under normal condition. Any broad riffle can be crossed in normal conditions and there are some flat water areas that can also be crossed easily in lower flows.