Trout in Hayes creek?

J

JLB

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Apr 8, 2023
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Location
Poconos
Exploring some smaller, colder streams recently and hit up Hayes maybe 2-3 weeks ago. Skunked. Water was higher than expected and was fishing dries so chalked it up to that. Round 2 today, water was lower but still no action. Frustrated, drove down the road to Hickory run (?) and it was night and day with 1-2 fish (small averaging 3-4 inches with few 5-6 inches sprinkled in) almost every run. Does Hayes support trout? If not anyone know why?
 
My experience has been similar to yours. I fished it a few yrs. ago under perfect conditions, during a rainstorm with the water starting to cloud up. Caught one wild brown about 9 or 10 inches. Somewhat perplexed I drove to another small unstocked stream and had a blast, catching quite a few browns.

I've heard that the lower end has some water quality issues and fishes better upstream from one of the tribs, (Fourth Run maybe) never been back to try upstrem of there.
 
Hayes. Holds the title of the nicest looking stream I never caught a fish from.

I've fished it three times since 2020, both the bottom section as well as the top by accessing it from an SGL parking lot off of 534. Never moved a fish neither with hook nor foot any of those times.

I can't help but keep trying, especially at the end of a day if I'm fishing a nearby stream. It just looks too perfect to not hold fish, right?
 
Some info:


www.paflyfish.com

Black/Hayes Creek

Well, after 5 years of wondering if the "storied" (2013 Survey) upper secton of Black/Hayes Creek is worth the hike, I found out today. It isn't! I hiked up past Fourth Run from Rt 534 before even wetting a line. I started fishing when I was able to hear traffic on Rt 80. I managed two small 8"...
www.paflyfish.com www.paflyfish.com

Pretty water, pretty mediocre fishing the times I've been there...
 
jeffroey said:
Hayes. Holds the title of the nicest looking stream I never caught a fish from.

I've fished it three times since 2020, both the bottom section as well as the top by accessing it from an SGL parking lot off of 534. Never moved a fish neither with hook nor foot any of those times.

I can't help but keep trying, especially at the end of a day if I'm fishing a nearby stream. It just looks too perfect to not hold fish, right?
Click to expand...
I've had the same exact experience. Just looks too good to not keep trying.
 
Dear JLB,

It's been 30 years since I fished it, but back then it was fantastic. It took a few trips to realize that you couldn't scout for fish or wait and watch for fish to do something. You just had to fish slow and patiently and cast to likely looking lies. A good cast almost always brought a fish up. We caught probably 85 or 90% brown trout but brook trout were common enough that in a good trip you would catch 8 or 10 of them.

I've fished it from Rte 534 all the way up above the NE Extension and there used to be fish everywhere on the stream. There were times when 3 of us fished it together and we spent 8 hours fishing from the lower Game lands parking lot up almost to Rte 940. One guy would be fishing, one guy would be trailing to pick errant casts out of trees and the next up stood on the bank. It was one fish whether caught or missed and then the next guy was up. We fished the I-80 outlet tube hole for almost an hour itself. Casting a Sulphur or Stimulator into the tube brought a riser up as soon as the fly dropped into the hole. Drag made no difference, those fish were eager to eat.

The lower end served as spawning water for fish from the Lehigh River. In the Fall if you stayed still and scouted the holes with a good pair of polarized sunglasses you could see fish well over 20 inches long staging to spawn.

I couldn't fish like that now to save my life, but back then it was a great place to spend a whole weekend.

Edited to add: I wonder if all the development in the upper reaches of the drainage off Rte 940 has changed the stream? Back then there wasn't anything from Orloski's at the Turnpike to Rte 534 except for a couple of cabins, a nursery, and Ritchie's bar and hotel. Now it's really built up although you can't see much of it from Rte 940.

Regards,

Tim Murphy :)
 
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Hayes has been fishing poorly by all accounts on here for more than a decade >

www.paflyfish.com

Black/Hayes Creek

Well, after 5 years of wondering if the "storied" (2013 Survey) upper secton of Black/Hayes Creek is worth the hike, I found out today. It isn't! I hiked up past Fourth Run from Rt 534 before even wetting a line. I started fishing when I was able to hear traffic on Rt 80. I managed two small 8"...
www.paflyfish.com www.paflyfish.com

I agree with what Tim posted above, it was a great wild trout fishery in the 90's.

Now......not so much, and there's no good explanation for that fact.
 
I last fished it back in 2010 and remember struggling to find fish, but did find a nice brookie. This was above a little above 534. I didn't venture too far north from 534 as it seemed like I was getting into "bear country" :)

Black Creek brookie 1


Black Creek fishing
 
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Anglers report poor catch rate-PFBC reports a great population- anglers still report a poor catch rate.

🤔
 
Based on this thread I read the report. Since anglers requested the survey because of what they felt was a declining fishery and then accompanied the survey crew I would bet that they were quite surprised by the results. This is not unusual. I have a couple of thoughts that might explain a decline, if it has actually occurred, but given the tendency for threads go off the rails at even the slightest opportunity in recent months, I’m going to refrain.
 
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Is it possible that PFBC surveys are skewed by doing the surveys at times when a lot of trout run up from the river to escape warm temperatures? If so, they may be getting an inaccurate view of the stream's year around population.

A skilled, experienced fisherman who has fished it for many decades told me that the population is much lower than in the past. He said he suspected there is some water quality issue coming from somewhere up around the highway interchange.
 
I'm trying to figure, if trout run up the creek to escape rising temperatures and anglers are fishing it in the summer, then their catch rates should reflect that.
 
Tom1980 said:
I'm trying to figure, if trout run up the creek to escape rising temperatures and anglers are fishing it in the summer, then their catch rates should reflect that.
Click to expand...
Yes, they should. Has anyone gone up through there this time of year with a Green Weenie? Or Mepps spinner?
 
I fished it once this year and once last year. I caught a few YOY both times, which supports the general consensus that river fish use it to spawn. If it was healthy, why would they leave, however? Why wouldn't there be more than one year class present? is another way to phrase my question, I guess. It seems something is amiss with this crick, as noted.
 
My nephew caught one of similar size in the same area and I came to the same conclusion about his fish.
 
Bamboozle said:
Some info:


www.paflyfish.com

Black/Hayes Creek

Well, after 5 years of wondering if the "storied" (2013 Survey) upper secton of Black/Hayes Creek is worth the hike, I found out today. It isn't! I hiked up past Fourth Run from Rt 534 before even wetting a line. I started fishing when I was able to hear traffic on Rt 80. I managed two small 8"...
www.paflyfish.com www.paflyfish.com

Pretty water, pretty mediocre fishing the times I've been there..
Click to expand...
I actually hiked up to and past where the RM 1.0 photo in that report was taken today. About a 60 min hike from the pull off next to the bridge. 1 fish on the way up, closer to where I parked. Think I’m done with Hayes for now.
 
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