Rattling Run Access

[salmo]

Is there access to Rattling Run In Berks County from Rt. 61 in Port Clinton or do i have to drive into the State Forrest and hike down.

 

[steveo]

Last time I fished it (a while back) the lower end was posted and I had to hike down from the State Forest road. The hike down wasn't bad. The hike back up to the road was not fun.

 

[Swattie87]

It’s still the same. Bottom end is posted along 61.

 

[CLSports]

From what I understand there is some sort of private club at the Rte. 61 property and I seem to remember a while ago my buddy asking for access and they said if you join the club you can have access. I think it was a very nominal fee.

I have hiked down the mountain from the upper road. It is not a bad hike down, but yes it is a steep hill back up. There is no trail, so you can get a little disoriented.

 

[salmo]

Is it worth the hike?

 

[HopBack]

There is a small amount of water you can fish moving upstream from the posted property. It quickly gets choked out with laurels and you need a machete to fish it so in my experience, ot it’s not worth it.

 

[steveo]

salmo wrote:
Is it worth the hike?

Depends on what you consider worth it. The fish are small but beautiful. The stream in choked with brush and hard to fish. I think it is worth while but I would guess most others would say not.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I hiked down there once.
Beautiful woods, the creek was meh on fishing, i likely won't go back.

Anyone see the dam in the middle of the woods on the small spring that makes a pond?

I always wondered why it's there.

 

[steveo]

Sal,
I noticed that dam too. As I recall it was a substantial concrete dam and really seemed out of place on the hill side.

 

[Mike]

I never saw a dam on a hillside, but the dam in the creek a few hundred yards or so upstream from the last home was used for water supply for Port Clinton. The pipes used to go directly down the stream channel surface from the dam.

There is a well-used trail that leads from the creek up to a forest road that is gated. The gated road is at a fork in the road that you folks are describing. My recollection is that the trail-head is only a few hundred yards at the most (could be a few hundred feet) from the gate as you walk in on the gated road. The climb up the trail from Rattling Run is a heart-thumper. I have done it many times on a clockwise circuit hike that I do starting at the access road to Hamburg Reservoir.

As for the ST population, it is Class A, but the closer you get to Rt 61 when considering the full length of the stream, the larger are the fish (based on electrofishing sites close to town and well upstream in the rhododendron prior to the need for club membership). This counters the argument that you necessarily need to walk away from the access points to find more and larger fish.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Steveo
That's the one. It looks very out of place indeed.

 

[troutbert]

If you are willing to fish in people's backyards you can often find stream stretches that aren't fished very much.

Many (most?) people aren't comfortable doing that, even if the land is unposted, because of respect for the home owners' privacy.

 

[Mike]

I would note that camping along this stream was once a big problem for the local town people. A lot of litter was unfortunately left behind in well-worn campsites. I still see this farther upstream at times in the state forest land, which is a shame.

As for the historical sampling site that I mentioned that was close to town, it began at the end of a residential street and continued for a few hundred yards into a hemlock/rhododendron forest. It was not in back yards. It is now part of the restricted area mentioned by others above.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Had to really dig to find them but I have pics of my one lone trip here, hiking up and down the hill discussed, the unusual dam, a few fish and some wildlife.

I likely wont go back, but I do recommend giving it a go. A highly beautiful area and fairly remote given the location. You will likely be alone with a few beautiful trout in a neat area.

Coming down the big hillside. the small spring forming the weird dam pond.

The pond. It was crystal clear and deep. I hoped a remnant population of brookies had found it and was living in it for years undisturbed, growing a big one but alas, nothing in it.

Further down the hillside following the spring. Not far from the creek.

My only pic of the creek that day

A brookie with a Fenwick Custom

Back up the hill following the same spring

Do ya see him? We both startled each other and we both were clumsy trying to navigate the rocky hillside.

It should be noted I was hugging the SF boarder and posted land. I stayed just to the left of the private property on my way down.
Go there for the beauty but don't expect much other than that. Although I'm sure in certain years, its better than it showed me.

 

[troutbert]

Nice photos.

The little pond was probably used for water supply for a few houses. I've seen a few similar ones in other places.

They typically just ran a pipe down the mountain and had a gravity-fed water supply to their houses. No pumps, no filters, no chlorine.

In Clearfield County I came across one that looked very similar to the one in the photo, and it did have brook trout in it.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

You are probably right. That thought crossed my mind but I didn't even see old foundations that are usually left over but that means nothing.

Anything of size in the pond you found?

 

[troutbert]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
You are probably right. That thought crossed my mind but I didn't even see old foundations that are usually left over but that means nothing.

Anything of size in the pond you found?

It was a long time ago, but as I recall I only saw a few brookies and the largest was maybe 8 inches or so. It was quite a small impoundment, similar in size to the one in your photo.

 

[JasonC]

Those brookies are beautiful in your pics!

 

[Chaz]

It's not easy to fish, you mostly have to dap the fly on the water from overhead. Last time I fished it, I hiked in from the road through the posted section to the State Forest. The fish make it worth it.

 

[steveo]

Chaz wrote:
...through the posted section to the State Forest. The fish make it worth it.

Really? The fish made it worth trespassing on posted land?