Now's the time!

[wildtrout2]

It's perfect conditions on many/most mountain freestone streams in NC and NE. Great weather with good water levels with near perfect temps should make for some great fishing. That's where I'll be tomorrow and Saturday. :-D

 

[ryansheehan]

I prefer to wait for the heat wave, that way the fish "school up" in the mouths of tribs and springs. It's a lot easier to see the take that way too. Quick tip from the trout pro, make sure you "let em run" until they're good and tired. It's a lot easier to take the hook out when they're too worn out to squirm.

 

[Dave_W]

wildtrout2 wrote:
It's perfect conditions on many/most mountain freestone streams in NC and NE. Great weather with good water levels with near perfect temps should make for some great fishing. That's where I'll be tomorrow and Saturday. :-D

I agree.

Conditions on many mountain trout streams here in SCPA are ideal - good flows and temps in the 60s. If you enjoy summer trout fishing things are pretty good right now.
Get out if you can.

 

[Brown71]

Agreed. I’m a little more south but fishing has been absolutely great around my parts lately.

A friend of mine that is really getting into fishing more this year, has been having some great days when timed right with the water.

I’ve been spending a lot of my time teaching my 4 year old son as much as he’s up for at this point lol.

We fished spring creek a day each the last two weeks and caught many, many fish both days. Nothing to big size wise though 14 in about the biggest. And yea we caught em all on night crawlers halfs lol. This is a great summer for those that fish them.

 

[dryflyguy]

Yeah - this is certainly one of the nicest stretches of weather we've had all year.
And no rain in the forecast until tuesday. Which would make 7 days in a row without precip for the first time all year

 

[Wild_Trouter]

If only those Susky river levels would come down. Last week it was at 17700 cfs, now it is 4.57 ft at the gauge in Harrisburg to go with 26400 cfs. I've been patiently waiting for levels to reach 3.3ft, but I don't know if it is going to happen this year. Like you guys, I will be mountain trouting this weekend.

 

[jifigz]

I haven't done this style of fishing in a LONG TIME. I think that I need to hit some mountain freestoners for some trout. While I am blessed with lots of limestone influenced brown trout streams I feel that my mountain freestoners often warm too much..I'll have to take their temps and check them out. Or, I should just go catch some smallmouths..

 

[afishinado]

Wild_Trouter wrote:
If only those Susky river levels would come down. Last week it was at 17700 cfs, now it is 4.57 ft at the gauge in Harrisburg to go with 26400 cfs. I've been patiently waiting for levels to reach 3.3ft, but I don't know if it is going to happen this year. Like you guys, I will be mountain trouting this weekend.

3.3 ft is ideal for wading but I'd be happy if the levels just break 4 ft at H-burg.

As K-fish mentioned, it's been two years since the River has been in ideal shape for good smallie fishing.

At this point at 4ft I'll take a chance and be extra careful. But, the other problem is the visibility is less than a foot which also makes for more dangerous wading.

Hopefully this dry spell will be the beginning to finally reaching normal flow levels and clear water on the River.

 

[Mike]

Cooler surrounding water temps break up the trout concentrations around main stream thermal refugia and the fish disperse into the near-by habitats.

As for the Susquehanna, if there is one foot of visibility, that's not too bad. I once was involved in a project assessing shad fingerling relative abundance for extended periods periods in Aug-Oct. Secchi disc readings were typically only .75 meter in drought conditions at Columbia, Lanc Co. I was surprised by that poor standard visibility, with little or no rain events, but it was highly educational. Phytoplankton and detritis take over in the water column when the silt settles out, so you may as well fish because the bass are used to it. They are also more likely to venture into near-shore areas with turbidity for cover.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

ryansheehan wrote:
I prefer to wait for the heat wave, that way the fish "school up" in the mouths of tribs and springs. It's a lot easier to see the take that way too. Quick tip from the trout pro, make sure you "let em run" until they're good and tired. It's a lot easier to take the hook out when they're too worn out to squirm.

Brah- #keepemwarm

 

[Swattie87]

ryansheehan wrote:
I prefer to wait for the heat wave, that way the fish "school up" in the mouths of tribs and springs. It's a lot easier to see the take that way too. Quick tip from the trout pro, make sure you "let em run" until they're good and tired. It's a lot easier to take the hook out when they're too worn out to squirm.

You should consider wet wading. The cooling tribs are obvious, but it's much easier to find the spring seeps thisaway. Hard to feel anything through bootfoot neoprenes.

 

[k-bob]

nice conditions now...but for very small poconos ravines, the saturday rains over last month or two made for great sunday early-am brown trout dry-fly fishing... the water temps were 62ish in the small rhodo'ed ones w/o impoundements. ... ps swattie check pm

also finding this infrared helps w choosing where to fish when water could be warm... snap small-stream temps from a bridge before commiting to hike in around all those yellow Pocono-PostedNo signs to the sgl stretch.

yeah, $85 is a lot for thermometer, but saves time. when it's fast and easy you take more temps, get more info about where to fish and not...

https://www.amazon.com/Fluke-59-Max-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B00UKXOW60

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcSOShYmlEo

 

[ryansheehan]

Swattie87 wrote:

ryansheehan wrote:
I prefer to wait for the heat wave, that way the fish "school up" in the mouths of tribs and springs. It's a lot easier to see the take that way too. Quick tip from the trout pro, make sure you "let em run" until they're good and tired. It's a lot easier to take the hook out when they're too worn out to squirm.

You should consider wet wading. The cooling tribs are obvious, but it's much easier to find the spring seeps thisaway. Hard to feel anything through bootfoot neoprenes.

Thanks for the pro tips!!!

 

[wildtrout2]

Fished a Carbon county freestone yesterday with literally perfect conditions. Good summer flow with clear water @ 61F. The wild browns were going nuts on top. I love the surface action! Numbers in the mid 20's were easily achieved.
I'm burnt out from the 4 miles I put on these 62 year old legs, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to do a repeat, only with some natives. Seize the moment folks! You too Ryan. :-D

 

[k-bob]

Thanks for the report wt2, sounds nice. Heading to luzerne brookies in the am, has been good in the ravines this year.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

I took vacation yesterday and hit the grand slam. Stopped counting after three dozen. Caught wild brooks, wild browns and a few rainbows that must've swam up from somewhere because the stream is not on any of the PFBC's lists. Did a ton of walking just to get to the stream (no direct road access), and from there it's as far up as your body can handle. WT was never over 60 degrees, to go with lots of shade. Yellow Stimmies #14 and Black Para Ant's #14 were the ticket. Worst part was the swarming black flies. Kept applying Deep Woods Off to face and just couldn't keep them at bay. Woke up today feeling like I'm 75 with compression socks on to go with Aleve but was totally worth it.