Pictured above: A beautiful, Fishing Creek, Clinton County Brown Trout, caught during high flows on a black streamer pattern.
Northwest Region
Crawford County
Woodcock Creek Lake
Anglers are catching several Walleyes throughout the lake.
Woodcock Creek (dam outflow)
Anglers are catching a few Walleyes, several stocked trout, and smaller Muskellunge in the area below the dam.
Stocked Trout Waters
Oil Creek, Little Sugar Creek, and Conneaut Creek are on the schedule to be stocked in the next week within Crawford County.
Eastern Erie County
Lake Erie
Anglers are catching Lake Trout out of Northeast Marina in 45-55 feet of water on spoons. Anglers are catching Smallmouth Bass in 35 feet of water 2 miles east and west of the marina. If you go too far east, you will be in New York State. They are also catching Yellow Perch in the marina.
Lake Erie
Lake Pleasant is abundant with trout and other species such as: Bluegill, Northern Pike, and Largemouth Bass are becoming more active. Dough type baits are the best bait for trout fishing as they will start to move deeper as the water warms so a canoe or boat may be your best bet. No motors are allowed on Lake Pleasant.
Lake Erie
Anglers are catching Carp, Bluegill and Bullhead Catfish in the spillway at Union City Dam. Bread and worms seem to be working well.
Western Erie County
Stocked Trout Waters
Fishing has been steady in Western Erie County. Anglers are catching trout on Elk Creek and Crooked Creek. Anglers are catching trout and crappie at the Fairview Gravel Pits. The bait of choice seems to be minnows and grubs. Crappie are hitting in the early morning and evening. Steelhead are still being caught near the mouth of Elk Creek and Walnut Creek.
Northeasatern Region
The area trout seems are seeing great flows for this time of the year. These flows along with the great weather have kept the water temperatures at the right level for the trout to be very active. Fly anglers are seeing Sulphurs, March Browns, Craneflies, a variety of Caddis, Hendricksons and many other flies on the water with the trout looking up. With the current excellent water clarity this is a great time to sneak up and sight fish for the larger trout in the stream. When dry fly fishing this is an easy task to know when the fish has taken your presentation but when nymphing it can be more difficult. Sight fishing with nymphs requires a good pair of polarized sun glasses and the ability to find the trout on the river bottoms. You won’t feel the take but you will see the fish open its mouth or move to hit the nymph as the current carries it by. This is a great time of year to be an angler, make sure to get out and enjoy it!
Western Bradford & Sullivan County
Schrader Creek
Schrader Creek is running slightly high but waters are crystal clear. Recent stocking activity has planted fish in the lower section, between Laquin & Minersville Road and anglers are working to learn the creek following last fall’s flooding event. Live bait was producing slowly. Spinners of various colors did not seem productive.
Northcentral Region
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Tioga County
Crappie fishing is picking up on lakes across the County. Late afternoons/evenings seem to be the best times to be on the water. Live minnows are working best on most lakes.
Hills Creek Lake
Anglers are catching Yellow Perch and Bluegills using night crawlers and redworms.
Hamilton Lake
Anglers are still catching trout using paste baits, redworms and night crawlers.
Pine Creek
The stream was recently re-stocked. Water flows are good and anglers are catching trout using caddis and March Brown patterns.
Potter County
Anglers are catching trout using a variety of techniques (e.g. worms, paste baits, nymphs and dry flies).
src=”https://onthewater.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/5_17_17RyleighTindallPotter.jpg” alt=”Ryleigh Tindall” width=”400″ height=”711″ class=”size-full wp-image-64130″ /> On a recent fishing trip to a stream in Potter County, 6 year old, Ryleigh Tindall caught a surprise! Congratulations Ryleigh on your catch! (photo provided by angler)[/caption]
Union County
Halfway Dam & Zerbe Run Pond
Anglers are catching trout using wax worms.
Spruce Run
Allenwood Prison recently stocked the stream with beautiful Brook Trout. If you enjoy catching large fish in a small stream, this is the stream for you!
Clinton County
Fishing Creek
The water temperature is in the high low 50s. The water level and color is perfect. There are lots of insects (e.g. March Browns, caddis, sulphers, Blue Wing Olives, midges and craneflies) and trout activity with the return of warm air temperatures!
Anglers are catching trout using mayfly, stonefly and caddis nymphs(e.g. Frenchie #14-16; gold bead pheasant tail #12-18; Prince #12-16; dark stonefly nymphs #6-10). Most trout are eating just below the water surface.
Make sure you stash a few dry flies in your box (e.g. sulpher #14-16; March Brown #12; midges #22-26, Bluewing Olives size #18-22, Tan Caddis #12-14).
Streamers are moving a few trout. Target the “soft water”, near the banks and structure (e.g. logs, large stones etc). Anglers are catching a few trout using olive/black streamers size 6-10.
Centre County
Spring Creek
Water temperature is in the low 50s. The water level and color is just right. Sulphers are hatching and trout are rising!
Trout are rising to suplhers sporadically throughout the day, but make sure you stay until dark, that is when things really heat up!
Anglers are catching most of their trout subsurface, using nymphs (e.g. sulphur nymphs, hot spot sow bug, walt’s worm, black zebra midge, deep sparkle pupa and a variety of other caddis larvae patterns).
Anglers are also catching trout using dry flies (e.g. sulphur#14-16; blue wing olives sizes #18-22; tan caddis #14-16;midges sizes 22-26).
Anglers are catching trout on lower Spring Creek, using spinners and live bait.
Southeastern Region
Berks County
Antietam Creek (Exeter Park –to- Antietam Reservoir) received its final in-season stocking of Trout on May 5th. This section receives fish twice in-season. Antietam Reservoir was also stocked from the same truck. Berks County Parks & Recreation has done a wonderful job with the renovations at the lake. Come out and see the new walking bridges along with the changes made around the Mother Tree. There is ample parking and plenty of room for families to experience a wonderful Trout fishing opportunity.
Chester County
Aquatic Invasive Species! Unfortunately they are here and spreading. Rusty Crayfish have identified in French Creek. The Park, in an effort to slow down the advancement of this very destructive invasive species, is setting up a plan to eradicate as many of them as possible. On Sunday, June 11 from 4 PM – 5 PM, meet with the Rangers and others to catch and identify the Rusty Crayfish while preserving the native crayfish in the stream. They will meet at the Warwick County Park Office at 3:45 PM. This should help at least slow down the spread of this very destructive species. Remember that if you want to catch these crayfish to eat, feel free to do so. You must once you catch them, immediately remove the head behind the eyes, as this will kill the crayfish.
Chester County Parks & Recreation will offer a program that is important to all outdoors persons. Ticks are a real problem in Pennsylvania, found in every county in the Commonwealth, and a tick bite can have a devastating effect on your health. Park staff will teach you how to prevent tick bites, what to do if you are bitten by a tick, signs and symptoms of Lyme disease, how to identify ticks, how to use a tick lifter and includes a tick identification card. The program will be held at Springton Manor Farm Carriage House on Thursday, June 1 from 6 to 7 PM. You can get more information and register for the class at http://www.chesco.org/390/Programs-Events
Stroud Water Research will host a three-day Watershed 101 workshop for individuals who work within the Delaware River Basin. Join the research team to learn about everything relating to watershed management, control and assessment. Register for May 18, 19 and 31 workshop at East Stroudsburg University. If you have any questions, Contact David Bressler, dbressler@stroudcenter.org; 610-268-2153, ext. 312 or go to the web http://www.stroudcenter.org/events/#w101 .
Anglers are catching many crappies at Struble Reservoir. Boat anglers are having better luck than shore anglers. Best bet is crappie rigs fished both under a bobber and without a bobber and my personal favorite, fathead shiners fished the same way. Good luck.
Soon the kids will be out of school and you will be looking for something fun to do with them. Why not take them fishing at Hibernia County Park? If you do not have any fishing equipment, you can borrow everything that you need from the park. In conjunction with the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission and the park, the park has been selected as a designated fishing equipment loaner site. The park has a number of Pennsylvania Fish & Boat trained Fishing Skills Instructors as well to help you decide where to go and what to use to help you. The Park has two bodies of water, one is the West Branch Brandywine Creek, a Stocked Trout Waters, a heavily stocked metro designation waters, which winds its way through rapids and boulders in the upper part of the park into wider, deeper and slower pools in the center of the park. The second is Chambers Lake, a roughly 90 acre warm water impoundment that holds catfish, sunfish, crappie, Musky, pickerel, and bass (both Largemouth and Smallmouth). You can call 610-383-3812 for more information on the fishing equipment loaner program.
The Next meeting of the White Clay Fly-Tying Club will be at 6PM on Thursday, May 18 at the London Tract Meeting House in the White Clay Creek Preserve, located at the intersection of Sharpless & London Tract roads, Landenberg PA 19350 next to White Clay State Park Office. Several flies are usually demonstrated and club members, Tom P., Joe A. & Barbara are always happy to show you how it’s done, as well as spin a few tales about the one that got away. Club mailing address is P.O. Box 762, Landenberg, PA 19350 for more information. Parking for club is behind the White Clay State Park Office.
The Orvis Store in Downingtown at 70 Quarry Rd, Downingtown Pa. 19335 will offer a free Fly-Fishing 101 course on Saturday May 20th from 09:00AM to 11:45AM. The course will cover everything that the beginning fly anglers will need to know including rigging and casting and would be a great way to get started in the sport. For more information you can call the store at 610-873-8400 or visit the website at www.orvis.com/downingtown
The L.L. Bean Store in King of Prussia at 160 North Gulph Road, King of Prussia, PA. 19406 will offer a free class, Tying the Wooly Bugger on Tuesday, May 23, from 7 to 8 PM. The stores fly-tying experts will walk you through the making of the legendary Wooly Bugger. Everything that you need including tools, vise and fly-tying materials will be provided for you. For more information you can call the store at 888-473-1828 or sign up or get more information on the website at
Lancaster County
Lake Aldred Advisory: Boaters and shoreline anglers are made aware that Brookfield Renewable is planning a Lake Aldred draw down to facilitate the replacement of flashboards that have been recently affected by high river flows. The work will take place May 22-24 between the hours of 7 AM and 5 PM. The water level will come down to approximately 163.5, which is four feet lower than our minimum recreation season lake level of 167.5. Fish passage and minimum stream flows will continue to be met during this time.
As an ongoing admonition boaters are further advised to consult the lower Susquehanna River hotline for daily updates prior to trailering to the launch.
Attention Students: take the opportunity for an experiential outdoor education undertaking this summer; the Lancaster County Conservation District will be conducting their 39th Youth Conservation School from July 23-29, 2017 at the Northern Lancaster County Game and Fish Protective Association located in West Cocalico Township. The camp is for students ages 14-16 and will include a boating safety program conducted by District Officer Schmidt as well as canoeing instruction conducted by PFBC Educator Andrew Desko. Refer to the link for additional information and an application; applications accepted through June 15.
Philadelphia County
Recent reports from our fisheries biologist have confirmed that the striped bass in the Delaware River have begun to spawn. The water temp is hovering around 63 degrees and the fishing over the next two weeks should be good. If fishing from a boat, please remember all safety equipment, including a sound-producing device.