Potter County

[Steelhead_JESUS]

i know there’s tons of threads for potter but i am in Port Allegany for a wresting camp looking for some trout streams service is iffy i’m checking out the pa doc for class a’s but is the allegheny river worth fishing right now? i am trying to avoid driving more than 20 minutes because of service and being by myself but any info is appreciated

 

[GANGGREEN]

Probably some small mouth and maybe some pipe or musky fishing in the lower allegheny, but the trout water upstream is getting pretty warm and I wouldn't do it at this point. Too warm and too low.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Enjoy Bruno's camp by the way.

 

[Steelhead_JESUS]

Enjoy Bruno's camp by the way.

thank you i appreciate it.. I went up to bradford and tried one of the rivers up there and hit the allegheny in the AM while temps were reasonable.. I had a fun time at Bruno and learned a lot.. I have to say being where I am from and being home now is depressing after seeing how beautiful some of those creeks are up that way you have.

 

[GANGGREEN]

thank you i appreciate it.. I went up to bradford and tried one of the rivers up there and hit the allegheny in the AM while temps were reasonable.. I had a fun time at Bruno and learned a lot.. I have to say being where I am from and being home now is depressing after seeing how beautiful some of those creeks are up that way you have.

Well, rest assured that our streams are low, warm and not in ideal condition presently. I have a friend from upstate South Carolina who was up a couple of weeks ago to fly fish. He's not too far from the mountains in South Carolina where they have some put and take trout fishing or from parts of North Carolina that also have some pretty good wild trout waters. He also said that he was surprised at how many nice-looking streams we have up this way and I took it as a sincere compliment because I know he's done some fly fishing in Colorado as well.

 

[wildtrout2]

Well, rest assured that our streams are low, warm and not in ideal condition presently.

The whole NC region needs rain desperately.

 

[Steelhead_JESUS]

Well, rest assured that our streams are low, warm and not in ideal condition presently. I have a friend from upstate South Carolina who was up a couple of weeks ago to fly fish. He's not too far from the mountains in South Carolina where they have some put and take trout fishing or from parts of North Carolina that also have some pretty good wild trout waters. He also said that he was surprised at how many nice-looking streams we have up this way and I took it as a sincere compliment because I know he's done some fly fishing in Colorado as well.

I have never been to Colorado yet but I can only imagine lol

 

[Swattie87]

Streams are definitely low from a fun to fish them perspective in NCPA, but things are far from desperate in terms of Trout survival. Kettle is at 36 cfs for example, or the 25th percentile for this date in its gauge’s history (80 years). This means 25% of the time on June 28th (20 times in 80 years) the flow has been lower. Temp is currently about 73 degrees at Cross Fork. Not terribly alarming. This gauge will show 80 numerous times each Summer, unless it’s extraordinarily wet and cool (2018 and 2019 for example). The wild Trout figure it out and know where to go. In 2015 and 2020 the flow was single digits CFS on Kettle for extended periods of time, and both years in the Fall I found plenty of fish alive.

Rain certainly wouldn’t hurt, and I’d welcome it as as I’ll be up that way this coming weekend, but things are fine, from the Trout’s perspective.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Yes, I wasn't suggesting that the trout are in dire straits at this point, just that the catch and release fishing is probably done for now in most of these streams.

 

[wildtrout2]

Yep, the trout won't disappear from the streams up there, but the fishing will be tough with stream levels so low. It's the type of fishing where you often need to cover a hundred yards of stream to find something that's fishable. They do need rain up there.

I'll probably fish the Poconos this week/weekend, where there are a few streams with decent flows, although cooler temps.

 

[Swattie87]

Quick report, from neighboring Tioga County, but close enough. Fished a trib of Pine today that got about 3/4” of rain from the storms last night. It did nothing to increase flows, low/clear were the conditions we found after a mile and a half hike in.

It predictably fished slow, but we managed a couple Brookies, and spooked some Browns in the bigger habitat. Water temp was 61, and though low from a fishing standpoint, the streams are far from dry.

Came across a Yogi on the hike out. Good day overall.

 

[Mike]

Kettle had been warm during the some days this past week but at night temps dropped to 66-68 deg by 10:30 PM. Night fishing was quite good in terms of numbers and fish size. Some RT were just starting to become a little thinner due to temp stress. BT were in good shape and eating gypsy moth caterpillars.

 

[Swattie87]

Fished Cross Fork today. Similar to the Pine trib yesterday. Low, clear, and slow fishing but we managed a few with long casts of dries into the heaviest flowing water we could find. Water temp was 65 at mid afternoon, in the middle part of the watershed, near Yochum Run confluence. Yochum was one degree colder at 64.

Short Run was notably dry, or at least underground at its mouth. All of the other named tributaries were flowing.

Also of note, there were five vehicles parked along the FFO stretch of Kettle, and three more in the general reg water between the FFO and Cross Fork. Kettle’s gauge (in Cross Fork) peaked at almost 78 today.

Cross Fork below Yochum.

Yochum

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I can generally manage on low and clear streams up there. But Cross Fork sucks butt when its low and clear.

 

[Swattie87]

I can generally manage on low and clear streams up there. But Cross Fork sucks butt when its low and clear.

Yeah. It fished about the same as the Pine trib. I think most of the larger Kettle/First Fork/Pine tribs are all similarly pretty tough in low/clear water. Toss YWC, and its branches and their larger tribs into that bucket too. Lots of walking between spots with enough broken water to not spook fish, and then the only fish you have a shot at catching are the ones holding right in the heaviest stuff. 90% of the time you spook a fish, sometimes unknowingly, from the tail into the faster water at the head and spook everything.

When it’s low and clear it pays to go for the super steep streams that make more plunges and broken water. In hindsight, that’s probably what we should have done from a fish catching perspective but we had a good hike on the Pine trib and a nice easy day on CF.

Let me know next time you’re back in PA Andy. I’ll make it a point to get a day off to fish with you. Hope all is well.

 

[wildtrout2]

The situation in NC Pa is now dire. No candy coating it at this point, it's gotten bad. Bring on the rain already!

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah. NC needs rain. Flows and temps (Kettle at Cross Fork at 16 CFS with nighttime temps dipping to 64F) are still plenty survivable - Kettle bottomed out at roughly 4 CFS in 2015 and 2020, but that was later in August/September. IF we don’t get rain, this year will be worse come August, but a lot can change between now and then. A week of Tstorms rolling over northern PA instead of the Mason Dixon line, as the pattern has been for the last few weeks, will have the streams full of water.

Still ok, for now IMO, but yeah, things are worse, not better, than a couple weeks ago unfortunately.

 

[Fish Sticks]

If the temps allow size 6 wets 20” apart at night makes those conditions heaven. Thats what Jim Bashline and his mentor In coudersport figured out in what some say is the birthplace of Pa style night fly fishing.

 

[Swattie87]

FWIW, the National Drought Mitigation Center just on Tuesday updated most of the northern tier of PA, except the NE corner, from normal to “abnormally dry.” In terms of the NC “PA Wilds”, all of Elk/Cameron/Potter/Tioga/Lycoming/Sullivan Co’s are included, and the northern and eastern portions of Clinton County are included.

This is essentially an intermediary level before things begin to be called a drought. There are then four different levels of drought. IIRC in the recent low flow years we reached stage 1 drought in a fairly broad area, and stage 2 in more localized pockets.

 

[wildtrout2]

No surprise there. Kind of saw it coming.