Schuylkill River, Schuylkill County

[Berks]

I made it out yesterday and waded a new section (for me) of the Schuylkill River in Schuylkill County from 7:30-12pm. Water temp was a nice 66 with about 4 ft visibility. Didn’t see any other fishermen until about 10:30am when a couple of canoes drifted by with some gents fishing.

I picked up several SMB in the 12-14” range all on poppers. Best day I’ve had in this part of the state.

The morning started with poppers with no luck. Switched to crawfish patterns and various buggers and picked up some panfish and a few smaller SMB. After noticing some surface activity I decided to switch back to poppers. No luck at first until I made an errant cast after having the line slip from my hand and landed the popper only about 15 ft from where I was standing with about 30 ft of line in a jumbled mess. After a few cusses, I stripped in the line quick to try it again, but this time the popper skidded across the top. That’s all it took for the biggest fish of the day to hammer it. I learned quick I needed to increase the commotion the popper caused on the surface while stripping it in. It was a lot of fun to see the SMB launching at the popper from the depths and going airborne.

The bite slowed down around 11:30 but not before several nice fish were landed.

 

[Mike]

The Schuylkill in Schuylkill Co is worthwhile fishing for smallmouths from below the town of Auburn in the approximate area of Bear Ck's mouth downstream to the county line. In survey work we have occasionally seen SMB up to 15" long in that stretch.

If you tire of trying for SMB, then on the same trip you can go upstream to the Schuylkill Haven/Cressona area to fish for fingerling stocked browns up to 20 inches long, fingerling stocked rainbows up to 15 inches long, and occasional wild brooks up to 11 inches.

 

[afishinado]

Mike wrote:
The Schuylkill in Schuylkill Co is worthwhile fishing for smallmouths from below the town of Auburn in the approximate area of Bear Ck's mouth downstream to the county line. In survey work we have occasionally seen SMB up to 15" long in that stretch.

If you tire of trying for SMB, then on the same trip you can go upstream to the Schuylkill Haven/Cressona area to fish for fingerling stocked browns up to 20 inches long, fingerling stocked rainbows up to 15 inches long, and occasional wild brooks up to 11 inches.

Warms my heart to see this written. I still picture the Upper Schuylkill with it's orange rocks and water to match. The stream was a poster child for a stream ravaged by the coal mining industry and suffering from AMD.

If a stream in that condition can be reclaimed as a coldwater stream for trout, there still is hope for many other abused streams in PA and beyond. Thanks for the info, Mike.

 

[Mike]

Afish,

Those data were fresh when I wrote that yesterday; I had just returned from surveying the Schuylkill in Schuylkill Haven and above Cressona. What the trout population lacks in numbers in that stretch, it makes up for with quality fish.

Based on 2013 survey work, you will be even more pleased, as were we, that a very minor to non-existant wild brook trout population from the late 1990's and early 2000's documented by us is now a fishable population for about 7 miles from just above New Philadelphia upstream to the headwaters in the Tuscarora area. There is no doubt that if we went back in time just a little farther, we would be saying that the fish had been extirpated in that area since the late 1800's. Yes, it is a major comeback that I expect will gradually progress, but intermittantly so. Water quality fluctuates in the region.

If this progress in water qualilty enhancement interests you in that region, you would do well to check out the work done by the Schuylkill River Headwaters Association and the Schuylkill County Conservation District. I am sure that you can find a pictorial display on a web site of their many reclamation projects designed to remove heavy metals and boost pH.

 

[polky]

Berks-that may have been me that floated by you. I floated from rt. 895 down to Port Clinton. My buddy and I were in an aluminum canoe with a red bandana hanging off the back and we were both spin-fishing. I lost count on the numbers of 8"-10" smallies we caught. The biggest fish brought in was a 15" fallfish. I saw several of the 15" smallmouth that Mike noted plus several larger ones. Also a good number of carp scattered throughout, some pushing the 20 lb range. Good float overall but the water got skinny the closer we got to Port Clinton.

 

[billfrech]

I have never fished the Schuylkil, is there any place to wade fish near Valley Forge for either bass or trout?

 

[polky]

Bill- Good access can be found at nearly any of the bridges that cross the river. The furthest south I've gone is Paulings Rd above Valley Forge. RT 29 bridge between Phoenixville and Montclare has been good to me in the past, I even caught 2 walleye there but that was a while back. There is also good access at Black Rock. There is also easy access at the many parks and boat launches on the river, Towpath park near Parkersford on rt. 724 and Riverfront park in Pottstown are two examples.

 

[afishinado]

Past thread on the Skuke with info

 

[billfrech]

Thank you. I will give those spots a try

 

[Berks]

polky,
Yeah, i remember you guys in the alum. canoe. Sounds like you had a good day out too. Funny you mentioned the fallfish as I also caught one in the 15" range. Probably the biggest I've ever landed.

polky wrote:
Berks-that may have been me that floated by you.

 

[Mike]

As a point of interest and trivia, the Upper main Schuylkill may now be one of the longest stretches of stream in Pa in which only brook trout are reproducing and are abundant enough to provide a fishery throughout the stretch. They occupy some pretty ugly water at places (historical coal mining related sedimentation)but they are there and reproducing well.

 

[afishinado]

Mike wrote:
As a point of interest and trivia, the Upper main Schuylkill may now be one of the longest stretches of stream in Pa in which only brook trout are reproducing and are abundant enough to provide a fishery throughout the stretch. They occupy some pretty ugly water at places (historical coal mining related sedimentation)but they are there and reproducing well.

Never thought of it. Name another wild brook trout stream with both stripers and flatheads in it!

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Mike ain't kidding about the size of those brookies...

 

[Berks]

Seems like the Warm Water forum may be the wrong place for this thread after Mike’s comments and Sasquatch’s photo… Great info and photo.

After doing some research over the past week I wanted to try the stretch just below Schuylkill Haven. The maps indicate a SGL road running in that general area. My plan was to park there and hike in. Unfortunately, there’s no parking or easy access to the SGL road that I saw. Tried getting access in a couple of other places near there but no luck. I ended up fishing the same area as last week, but this time the larger fish were not cooperating. Water conditions were about the same, even after the rains the day before, but the air temps today were cooler with a blue sky.

I’ll definitely be trying my luck further upstream for some of those other native species if the smallmouth aren't biting.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Yeah sorry didn't mean to derail it!