acristickid wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions.
However; I eluded to a bad knee in my post and well I shredded my quadriceps tendon Sunday. Surgery today and no fishing for a while. Now I’ll really be looking forward to fishing again.
Many years of slip sliding on rocks certainly contributed to my knees demise. The silver lining is - Dr said there was degeneration in the knee and based on my profile it was only a matter of time- so glad this did not happen out in the woods in a stream a mile from the car.
BTW-
gutcutter’s relative was my Anesthesiologist
Sorry to hear that, and sorry I took so long to read this thread.
But all is not lost. You could still rent a boat on a lake, possibly even a pontoon boat.
Erie might be a little rough doe someone with a bad leg.
Since you specified SMB, I'm going to throw you a curve. Consider Chautauqua in NY state. Long narrow lake that us USUALLY calm. But if wind is out of NW, all bets are off. I used to keep a boat up there and it produced some very large smallmouth, not to mention largemouth, crappie, walleye, and is probably best known for it's Muskie fishing.
Chautauqua is the first place I ever saw a smallmouth over 5 pounds. It was weighed in front of me (at a tournament), but I can't remember the weight. May have been 6 pounds. Disclaimer, I wasn't in the tournament. I just volunteered at the weigh-in, and released a lot of bass near my boat.;-)
Although Chautauqua does have some deep potholes to 60 feet or so in the upper basin, Much of the lake is fairly shallow, especially the lower basin.
I kept a boat up there for a couple years back in the late 80s. First year I kept it at Long Point State Park marina. It fished well for smallmouth between there and the bridge. I'd imagine you could even fly fish for them in that lake. Second year I kept the boat where the lake narrows to an outlet, and caught mostly LMB.
There are some lakes in NWPA that are probably also decent for SMB.
Tionesta Resevoir is a good smallmouth fishery, but I haven't fished it since the 80s or early 90s, either. It might be difficult to fly fish, and I don't know about boat rentals.
Pymatuning is close to where I live now and is a great warm water fishing lake. It also has several boat rentals including pontoon rentals. It does have some SMB, but I usually catch LMB and Crappie. But then, I was targeting crappie and LMB. It's on the state line, and if fishing from a boat, you only need a license from one state.
Wilhelm is a great warm water fishery. It apparently has SMB, but like others, I targeted LMB and crappie. I haven't fished that since the 80s, either. I need to get out more.
Possibly Woodcock lake north of Meadville? I never fished it, but I believe it has SMB, and LMB, and crappie, and muskie ... I think it is also stocked with trout. I don't know if they have boat rentals, but it does have a boat ramp. It's not a big lake, so I wouldn't assume that there are rentals
One more. There is a small lake in Venango county called Justus lake. It's a county park. It has a wide variety of fish and is even stocked with trout. At one time there was a small boat rental. No idea if it still does, and I am pretty sure it is a no gas motors lake. Would be great for kayaks. It's a pretty little lake that I used to frequent back in the day.
Maybe RLP can add others.
As far as streams go, one that was missed in this discussion is French Creek (flows into Allegheny at Franklin).
