While Capt. DiPaola has been hitting the Bay, Capt. Felker has been spending time up in NC Pa exploring some of the 800 miles of trout streams that Potter County has to offer.
The lack of rain and summer heat has taken its toll on most of the streams in the area. But recent lower nightine temps in the 40s, with shortening days, have cooled the water down nicely.
Most of the week was spent on his home waters of the West Branch of Fishing Creek, which is holding a surprising number of trout, including a 18-plus inch Palomino that has frustrated more than one follower of this blog. I did make it up to the DHALO section of the upper Allegheny earlier in the week, which is also low but loaded with trout, with one that I spotted (but could not entice to take a fly) easily going 20 inches.
Last night I had the opportunity to explore one of the county's Class A Wild Trout Streams with local fly fisherman Bob Volkmar. Bob, who taught engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, retired to Potter County several years ago. Very active in TU initiatives in the area, Bob has an extensive knowledge of the county's strout waters. The fact that he lives up the road from the cabin is an additional bonus.
So last evening we lit out and drove about 6-7 miles to hit one of these special streams. The state designates a stream Class A Wild Trout water if it demonstrates a self sustainable population of trout. As a consequence, these streams do not get stocked. Needless to say, while the streams are identified in the fish and game regs manual, and can easily be found on a topo map, most anglers if asked are reticent to point out exactly where to go to get to the streams. My sense is that the intent is not to keep the stream to themselves, but rather to protect the resource.
The other item that bears noting is that, since the state does not stock Class A waters, they may not have easy public access. We were lucky that, as we were gearing up, a Wildlife Conservation Officer on his way home stopped to chat. While Bob has fished this stream before, the WCO informed us that the land ownership had recently changed, and that it would probably be best if we stopped by the landwoners house first. While the property wasn't posted, we figured it prudent to ask, and the landowner was happy to let us trapse across his field to the stream.
We hiked a couple of hundred yards to the stream, to find it low, but fishable. Didn't have a thermometer, but the water temps felt reasonably cold. And while low, there were enough deep (2-3 feet) holes, runs, and undercut banks to hold fish. The stream was your typical Pennsylvania small stream; freestone for the most part, although the presence of underwater plants suggested sections were also spring fed. Stream gradient was shallow, a streambed of gravel and small rocks, with occasional soft mud.
As we only had an hour and a half or so before dark, we coupld only explore a small part of the stream. And with the sun shining on the stream the trout were probably in hiding. I did manage a 3 inch Brownie on a 16 Adams Parachute; enough evidence to convince me that this strem was a gem and worth revisiting. At any rate, the idea was to do some exploring, so the trip, which ended at Mosch's Tavern for a beer and wings, was a triumph.
Next week highs up here will be in the high 60s, with lows in the 40s. It might be hard to see from the photo, but the leaves are already starting to turn:
Within a week or so they'll be at peak, which actually has an effect on the trout streams. The WCO that we spoke with mentioned that the water levels should come up once the leaves turned. I hadn't thought about it, but the amount of ground water that the trees suck up from April through October has to be considerable, and contribute to the low stream levels. We'll see in a couple of weeks, but hopefully the leaves turning and some much needed rain will kick in some decent fall fishing in God's Country.
Tight Lines,
Mikey D Fishing
