Nominations for the Best Fly Fishing Town in Pennsylvania 2024

A recently resurrected topic has inspired me to explore the idea of the "Best Fly Fishing Town in Pennsylvania." This question was asked and a poll taken back in 2009, but it is time to see if it's time to crown a new town for the illustrious title.

I'm asking for nominations before I set up a poll to vote on the "Best Fly Fishing Town in Pennsylvania." Please feel free to post your favorite town and what makes it a special fly fishing town. Yes, it should be a town in Pennsylvania.

Some criteria for the best town could be:
Fly fishing streams
Nearby fly shops
Food options including restaurants, taverns, and bars
Overnight options for campgrounds, Airbnbs, or hotels
Travel distances to the town
or whatever inspires you for your favorite town

We will leave nominations open for a couple of weeks. Afterward, I will close the thread and tally up the top nominees. I will take the top five nominees and create a new thread with a poll to determine our winner.

Instructions: Post a reply to only this thread about the topic, include the Pennsylvania town at the top of your reply and reasons you might like to add for your reasoning. A reminder you must put a name in for nomination to count and only one nomination per person. Any towns nominated that are not in Pennsylvania will be deleted.

 

I think I vaguely remember seeing that place. Isn't it just outside of Duncannon?

Dear wildtrout2,

If you cross the bridge on Rte 322 over the Susquehanna heading west towards State College it's smack dab in the mddle between Sheetz on the westbound lanes and Rutters on the eastbound lanes. A 1/4 mile past the Pilot heading west.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

New Buffalo has Millies Pizza......that started becoming my favorite part about a Susky trip. Haven't gone in 5 years, this discussion makes me want to go back.

 

I think I vaguely remember seeing that place. Isn't it just outside of Duncannon?

If you go I’d recommend 2 items. The Bunny Burger and the chili dog. They are my go to’s. However keep in mind that they are only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

 

Bellefonte won this poll the last time, if my memory serves me right, and word got out locally.

I voted then, and will again, for Boiling Springs - it's a bit light on eateries but there are lots of limestone and freestone streams, many legendary, and it's an easier drive from metros like Harrisburg or Baltimore/DC; good fly shops, Appalachain Trail, state forests lots of B&Bs, etc.

 

Bellefonte won this poll the last time, if my memory serves me right, and word got out locally.

I voted then, and will again, for Boiling Springs - it's a bit light on eateries but there are lots of limestone and freestone streams, many legendary, and it's an easier drive from metros like Harrisburg or Baltimore/DC; good fly shops, Appalachain Trail, state forests lots of B&Bs, etc.

I consider Boiling Springs the Carlisle area which means it ISN'T so light on eateries and I'm having dinner at one of them (Cafe Bruges) twice in a couple of weeks.

 

Dear wildtrout,


It must have been much nicer way back in the day. I stopped in there one time about 10 years ago to buy some crappie minnows to take my wife to Little Buffalo Lake to fish.

The minnows literally thanked me for rescuing them! I never bothered to go back it was that scuzzy. And anyone who knows me I can be pretty scuzzy myself, so for it to be bad enough for me to take note says something.

Thankfully, for the last 5 years or so there has been a really nice bait, tackle and hunting store just outside the town of Newport on the way to Little Buffalo called Base Camp Outfitters. We stop there now when we head to Little Buffalo.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

Tim et al:

I haven't ate there in awhile and I know it's under new ownership since I was there last, but the County Seat down the road in New Bloomfield used to be worth a drive for breakfast in you are going to Little Buffalo SP.

 

Carlisle, Boiling Springs and Mt. Holly…..it’s all Carlisle
Steve

 

By connecting Carlisle to Mt Holly Springs and Boiling Springs you are taking any small town vibe away and instead inserting a warehouse dominated industrial park. I get the history of the area, but I get depressed by the magnitude of warehouse development and urban sprawl. I generally trout fish to get away from people, not go to an urban center... especially if hours of travel are involved to get to the destination.

 

By connecting Carlisle to Mt Holly Springs and Boiling Springs you are taking any small town vibe away and instead inserting a warehouse dominated industrial park. I get the history of the area, but I get depressed by the magnitude of warehouse development and urban sprawl. I generally trout fish to get away from people, not go to an urban center... especially if hours of travel are involved to get to the destination.

Unfortunately, that urban sprawl is what connects them. When we moved here, there was a farm behind us and one turning back the road to our house. Use to drive to Mechanicsburg without hitting a traffic light. Traveling the same route has 10 traffic lights now, and the farms are a golf course and warehouses.
Steve

 

By connecting Carlisle to Mt Holly Springs and Boiling Springs you are taking any small town vibe away and instead inserting a warehouse dominated industrial park. I get the history of the area, but I get depressed by the magnitude of warehouse development and urban sprawl. I generally trout fish to get away from people, not go to an urban center... especially if hours of travel are involved to get to the destination.

Cumberland County is currently the fastest growing and most quickly developed county in the state. Sad, isn't it, but lots of people view that as "progress."

 

Ambiance. It makes the experience. Wellsboro is my pick. Great little town with enough amenities to satisfy a large spectrum. Local fly shops available and well supplied. The gas streetlights lined down Main Street just adds to the ambiance and takes you back in time. It’s a Norman Rockwell experience with an abundance of fly fishing opportunities in the nearby Pine Creek and it’s tributaries. The Gorge is like none other in my opinion. Great fishing, unmatched views and most importantly, big woods with little development compared to the rest of the state. I don’t want to fish around busy roads and development. And I don’t want to stay, eat, or shop in a town that has more than about 5,000 residence. Fly fishing is relaxing for me. I don’t have a need to catch the most fish, the biggest fish or rub elbows with icons of the sport. I just want peace and tranquillity and an occasional tight line. I find that in the streams around Wellsboro, I get all three.

 

Centre County is an excellent place, but, in my opinion, many towns in Centre County would rival and top State College for the best fly fishing town. I would consider Bellefonte, Spring Mills, Millheim, Coburn, and/or Pleasant Gap all better than State College. They are all still near the same waters and feel more "fly fishy." State College is just turning into too much of an urban atmosphere to be considered a fly fishing town.

That is obviously just my opinion, but I don't see how anyone can just assign State College the supreme ruler of fly fishing towns.

I was in State College on Saturday, March 30th to meet up with a buddy and fish Spring Creek. I couldn't wait to get the heck outta there. I used to be in State College a fair amount, now, thank goodness, it seems to be about once or twice a year tops for me and that is more than enough.

I've had a good dose of the steelhead thing, living in NW PA and have to say that Spring often gives the same human density vibe. Heck, 30 years ago, I fished right in Bellefonte and below to try to avoid human traffic. I think the accumulated hooking mortality (5% & 5% & 5% etc... becomes 100% soon) has resulted in the drop in fish size in that 30 year span overwhich I familarized myself with that stream. But that's the cost of being the feature stream in a Trout Town.
The traffic naturally running to the best streams degrades the experience. It's a different paradigm than a keg party. The corallary to this is that, like a reflected wave, foot traffic and fishing pressure moves back the other way when it runs into a barrier, like a too-full parking lot. I tend to stay on my good hatch and open casting marginal water, fishing to stockies on Oil Creek. When it gets warm, I just say "Fk-it" and bass fish. (Literally, I look at the stream, assess the situation and utter those words.) Bass wild, native, eat on top, and pull harder anyway.
Syl

 

Cumberland County is currently the fastest growing and most quickly developed county in the state. Sad, isn't it, but lots of people view that as "progress."

I remember having conversations with Charlie Fox back in the 1980's about the "truck terminals" that were popping up at that time.

In 2024 the invasion is still ongoing and I still shake my head when headed to Boiling Springs from Carlisle via Route 174 or Forge Road with all of the houses the weren't there way back when...

During a somewhat recent conversation at the bar in Allenberry, a guy who owns property along the Yellow Breeches opposite the Allenberry told me a LOT of new residents are retired military personnel that moved north from the DC area.

I can't verify that but back in the late 1990's early 2000's I used fishing the Letort the the day prior as an excuse to drive from Carlisle to Silver Springs, MD once a month for a regular business meeting. Even then, it was shocking to me how many folks commuted daily from SCPA to Baltimore & beyond.

Regardless of all this, IMHO there is still plenty of solitude to be found just a few minutes off the beaten path...

 

Wellsboro, for every reason 2bemeuc mentioned above and many more!

 

I remember having conversations with Charlie Fox back in the 1980's about the "truck terminals" that were popping up at that time.

In 2024 the invasion is still ongoing and I still shake my head when headed to Boiling Springs from Carlisle via Route 174 or Forge Road with all of the houses the weren't there way back when...

During a somewhat recent conversation at the bar in Allenberry, a guy who owns property along the Yellow Breeches opposite the Allenberry told me a LOT of new residents are retired military personnel that moved north from the DC area.

I can't verify that but back in the late 1990's early 2000's I used fishing the Letort the the day prior as an excuse to drive from Carlisle to Silver Springs, MD once a month for a regular business meeting. Even then, it was shocking to me how many folks commuted daily from SCPA to Baltimore & beyond.

Regardless of all this, IMHO there is still plenty of solitude to be found just a few minutes off the beaten path...

Dear Bamboozle,

It's still a nice area and there are still places a little more off the beaten path from Carlisle proper to be found.

But I have to admit as someone who has commuted for 17 years from north of Harrisburg to Exit 52 on I-81 the traffic is becoming unbearable. Pre-Covid my drive was 35 minutes tops. I spent 2 years straight working from home and then had to return to the office several days a week. The same exact drive, with the same 6:35 AM departure time from home now takes 40 to 45 minutes, sometimes even longer.

I'm getting another respite from driving to work again now and I'm loving it. Don't get me started on what happens if something happens on I-81 to snarl the traffic. I literally knew every single short cut or back road from A to B in Cumberland County. Unfortunately, nowadays so does everyone else!

Despite the additional entries in the trout town contest I'd still take Lock Haven hands down.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

Dear Bamboozle,

It's still a nice area and there are still places a little more off the beaten path from Carlisle proper to be found.

But I have to admit as someone who has commuted for 17 years from north of Harrisburg to Exit 52 on I-81 the traffic is becoming unbearable. Pre-Covid my drive was 35 minutes tops. I spent 2 years straight working from home and then had to return to the office several days a week. The same exact drive, with the same 6:35 AM departure time from home now takes 40 to 45 minutes, sometimes even longer.

I'm getting another respite from driving to work again now and I'm loving it. Don't get me started on what happens if something happens on I-81 to snarl the traffic. I literally knew every single short cut or back road from A to B in Cumberland County. Unfortunately, nowadays so does everyone else!

Despite the additional entries in the trout town contest I'd still take Lock Haven hands down.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

I don't disagree...

A LONG time ago after decades of angst, I abandoned I-81/I-78 for points west like Clark's Creek & Carlisle in general. I can't believe it took me SO long to discover there ARE other ways to get there, especially from where I live.

FWIW - I'm headed to Carlisle in a few weeks and I actually don't dread the drive...

Under threats from my wife to stay home I also stopped using I-78/I-81 to get to Virginia. It adds maybe 30 minutes to my drive time but it's well worth the added time.

 

Gonna lock this thread and tally up the nominations. Afte that I will post a new post with a poll.