Smallies near Philly

[goblue20]

Just got into fly fishing seriously last year when I moved to Philly for school. Most of my time has been spent on trout, but I'd like to get into some more warm water fishing as well.

I've used the search function on here but I haven't came up with much. Looking for wadeable water within an hour of the city where I could make a couple trips for Smallies. Not looking for anyone's spots, but just some bodies of water to start at would be greatly appreciated.

As far as wadeable spots for smallies within an hour of Philly, where are some good spots to start?

 

[poopdeck]

The philly area is all warm water fishing. Pretty much every creek contains smallies. Best spot would be the Delaware river yardley and north.

 

[Fredrick]

The farther up the Delaware you go the better . The Washington Crossing area is a good wadable area you can start . Don't overlook access areas from the NJ side also .

 

[JerryC]

You really don't have to leave Philly to catch smallies. Just had down to the Wissahickon. I fish the stretch from Northwestern Ave down to about a mile below Valley Green. You're not going to catch monsters. The biggest one I've caught out of there was a shade under 17 inches. There are some big ones in there but they're few and far between. The average size is between 8 and 12 inches. Plenty of wadeable water in that stretch. Just move away from the parking areas and after the trout frenzy has faded, not many folks fishing. You also have a shot at some largemouth, hand size sunfish and rock bass. Some other creeks would be the Brandywine and the Perkiomen. This what you'll catch most of the time.

 

[goblue20]

Thanks for the tips. I have fished the Wissahickon for smallies and had some success. Just looking for some other options too.

As far as the Delaware, I have heard about smallies there but I've never really fished or waded bigger bodies of water like that so I wasn't really sure where to start. Most of my trout fishing has been done on the smaller streams.

 

[Teh_Fly]

You could try the Brandywine Creek in Chester County between Hibernia State Park and Chadds Ford.

Teh_Fly

 

[phiendWMD]

I've caught some in the lock 60 recreation area. Nothing big, they mostly looked like the pics JerryC posted. I like to spend half the day there and the other half at that wild brown trout stream a few minutes South of there.

 

[schiff]

When I lived in NE Philly, I used to fish the Delaware and wade around the Yardley access off of Rt 95 and up towards New Hope. Good wading and SM. Good Luck.