Slippery Rock SMB

[beadhead]

Had my best day top water fishing for smallies. Fished just off rte 19 near Harlansburg. Had 10 takers with the largest being roughly 2lbs. White popper dead drifted seemed to be the best approach. White flies were coming off nice after dark. Never had much luck with them though.

 

[bikerfish]

good to hear you did well, I'll have to check out the white flies tonite, although we just got about 2 inches of rain in the last hour, might be muddy.

 

[ryguyfi]

I don't trust the Slippery Rock when it's running high. I value my life. I haven't done any bass fishing there in about 3 years. I need to get out there sometime. I do pretty well with an all white streamer. I too have never done well during the white fly hatch. It's a tough hatch to fish with all those naturals.

 

[cricketontherun]

The water level is low right now; it's no big deal to wade at all. My girl friend and I have been fishing down stream from Breakneck Bridge and have been doing real well dead drifting small white deer hair poppers. Actually It's the only thing we have been catching them on. Anyone ever float Slippery Rock?

 

[greenghost]

Got to love the names: Slippery Rock Creek, Breakneck Bridge, "The Gorge."

During higher water there always seems to be a drowning. Or someone slipping and falling in The Gorge. It can be a very dangerous stream and area. Right now flows are OK.

But I rarely fish it anymore. imo, Slippery Rock Creek is just too inconsistent and, generally, the fish are too small. Rare exceptions are maybe during the white fly hatch, but that's a big maybe.

Last year, I fished below the Special Regs area during a blizzard and I mean blizzard of bugs. I saw one fish rise all evening. Got one dink.

I'd rather fish Neshanock or, even better, the lower Yough for a chance at some real brute bass.

 

[PennKev]

Slippery Rock is fickle for smallmouth. However, I think the top end bass in SRC are larger and more numerous than in Neshannock. Neshannock might have more mid-range bass in the 10-12" class though.

I've gotten good fish out of both streams, but I've gotten some absolute pigs on SRC.

If you want a real eye opener, catch some live crayfish, break out the spinning gear, and fish the best looking spots on SRC.

Oh by the way, on the PAFBC home page there is a picture of a kid with a SMB. That fish was caught right in New Castle on Neshannock. A pretty good fish!

Kev