Powdermill Run (Westmoreland County)

[sch5571]

Hey Everyone;

Wasn’t exactly sure where to put this, I wanted to keep the discussion in the members only area, so I figured stream reports was best.

My brother and I have been trying to find a good class A rainbow stream in Southwest PA. I saw that Powdermill is supposed to be about 35% public land, so I really wanted to check it out. We decided to brave the weather this morning and make the trip. I started noticing posted signs a good 3 miles before we actually got to the stream. Got up to the nature reserve and made the turn onto Powdermill Run road, unfortunately, didn’t run into and non posted area. We back tracked a bit and tried to circle around to the other side without much luck. Lots of private roads.

So my question for anyone who might be willing to answer. Is there any good access to the public area of this stream? Has anyone actually fished it before? Looks like a really pretty stream from what I saw of it.

Really appreciate any advice that anyone could shed on this stream!

Thanks
Josh

 

[HopBack]

Definitely not the right place for this question but I looked up powder run on On X hunting app and it looks like the entirety of the stream is on private land. Best bet is to knock on doors and ask.

 

[Dave_W]

sch5571 wrote:
Hey Everyone;

Wasn’t exactly sure where to put this, I wanted to keep the discussion in the members only area, so I figured stream reports was best.
Thanks
Josh

Josh,
This forum - Stream Reports - is for past tense reports of specific fishing trips rather than inquiries about where to fish. A post such as this should be in Locations.

However, since Locations is not member only and you're sensitive about this, you might find it best not to bring up the stream at all. I'd recommend sending a courteous PM to some of our regular folks who live or fish in the area of streams you're interested in. This will often produce better results, especially when the topic is a small, wild trout stream.
DW

 

[Acristickid]

You might try and access it from coming in from the top.

You can take a pretty good access (gated) road but it’s miles and severe down grade which means a severe slope back up. That stream and several others nearby were devasted with flood this past spring-summer.

Forbes State forest map- mountain biking and or snowmobile maps will give you the roads you need.

 

[greenghost]

In my experience, it's pretty much inaccessible.

 

[DaveKile]

Good dialog, but just a heads up I'm move this to the Fly Fishing Locations later today. I think it is abetter fit in that forum.

Keep it going, good stuff.

 

[chubmaster]

Powdermill Nature Reserve owns most of the fishable property outside of a few small/private hunting camps, who also post their property. The Nature Reserve also owns a good bit of White Oak Run (Powdermill is the main trib), along with private land owners. I grew up in this area and it's basically a fishing "siren song". There are really nice stretches of stream, but it's almost entirely unfishable due to access. Some of the fishable areas are open to hiking and you are welcome to torture yourself on a nice day staring at this ideal brookie water. There is a small section of stream accessible on Forbes State Forest close to the headwaters, but I don't know if it's worth the trip. The accessible section is very small and the hike in and out is precariously steep. If this section was larger I would have no problem making that hike, but having made that hike (I used to work for DCNR) and painting the boundary, it's not worth it. There are other brookie streams in this area that have better access that I suggest exploring elsewhere.

 

[curtrein]

My suggestion would be to go to the Forestry Office in Laughlintown and chat with the staff there. They are extremely helpful and knowledgeable and could point you in the right direction.

 

[dryflyguy]

I fished it once a fews year ago,
Drove up the road along the lower section - and posted signs - until I came to a gate across the road.
There was a small parking spot there right along the creek. So I pulled in to turn around. And got out of the car just to take a look at it anyway
As I was getting ready to leave, this guy comes out of one of the houses there. And we struck up a conversation.
He told me that the fishing wasn't very good. But if I wanted to try it, I was welcome to park at his place and have at it.
So I did.

The water was a little high yet from rain the previous day, and not really good for fishing dry flies. And caught only a handful of fish on terrestrials
Nothing sizable, but I do remember catching at least 1 brown, brook, and rainbow.

Only fished about and hour or so - maybe a quarter mile up stream - as I came across more posted signs then. And turned around

Wasn't very impressed by that limited exploration of it
I did consider hiking in to the upper section.
But - as someone else already mentioned - there are many better options in the area.
And I moved on

 

[paulbrown145]

The property I grew up on borders this stream on just a small corner. I fished it a lot back in the late 70s early 80s and caught native brook trout with an occasional stocked trout that came upstream most likely from loyalhanna. I used to be a great stream till storms wasted it out many times. I wish they allowed access for fishing.