Pennsylvania Fishing Report – March 26, 2020

Northwest Region

Get your fishing license ONLINE!
2020 Fishing Licenses are now available for purchase – Click here to purchase

REMINDER:
Mandatory Cold Weather Life Jacket Wear began on November 1, 2019 and runs through April 30, 2020 for anyone on boats less than 16 feet and in all canoes and kayaks. Learn more here

NOTE ON EFFECTS OF COVID-19 ON 2020 TROUT STOCKING AND MORE Trout stocking will be conducted on an accelerated schedule. To ensure public safety, volunteers will NOT be permitted to assist with stocking activities.

To complete trout stocking operations without the assistance of the public, the PFBC will modify stocking methods for this year. For further information on this and other effects on PFBC activities and operations please click here.

Crawford County

CANCELED: Linesville State Fish Hatchery’s Open House

Due to COVID-19, the PFBC has canceled programs and attendance at large events until at least April 4, 2020 so the Linesville State Fish Hatchery’s Open House on Saturday April 4th is CANCELED for this year.

Mercer County

Shenango Reservoir

A reminder that Shenango Reservoir is designated as a Panfish Enhancement Lake. Crappie must be 9 inches to harvest and the creel limit is 20.

Shenango River

The Shenango River fish consumption advisory is still in effect until further notice. The upper reaches from New Hamburg Bridge to the gas pipeline is now designated as Trout Stocked Waters Open to year-round fishing. This means you can fish year-round in this section of water; however, you must have a trout stamp and you cannot harvest trout from March 1st until the opening day of trout.

Northcentral Region

REMINDER:
Mandatory Cold Weather Life Jacket wear began on November 1, 2019 and ends on April 30, 2020 for all canoes, kayaks and boats under 16 feet in length. Learn more here

Pennsylvania has plenty of year-round angling opportunities that can be found throughout the state. Many anglers are exploring some of the Class A Wild Trout Streams and other special regulation waterways that are open to year-round fishing right now.

Clinton County

Foster Joseph Sayers Lake

Anglers are catching Yellow Perch and other panfish using a variety of techniques. Most anglers are fishing from shore. As the water temperatures warm throughout the coming weeks fishing will only improve. It is a great time to explore new areas.

Spring Creek

Levels are currently up but that has not put a damper on fishing. Anglers continue report hatches of blue-winged olives as well as, tan caddis. The fish are feeding on the surface, especially on cloudy days. Nymphing is producing fish as well. Hot patterns include sucker spawn as well as hot spot sow bugs.

Southeastern Region

Amid concerns regarding the spread of COVID-19, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) announced several changes to the 2020 trout season intended to protect the safety of the public and staff, while preserving the opportunity to enjoy the fun and recreational health benefits of fishing.
These changes, effective immediately, include consolidating the 2020 trout season schedule into a single, statewide schedule for all Pennsylvania counties; accelerating trout stocking operations and limiting volunteer participation; and adding more convenient ways to purchase fishing licenses online and display proof of a fishing license and boating documents on a digital device.

Statewide Mentored Youth Program and Opening Day
The PFBC will operate under a consolidated statewide schedule for all counties during the 2020 trout season. Under this revised plan, a single Mentored Youth Trout Day will occur on Saturday, April 11, and a Statewide Opening Day of trout season will take place on Saturday, April 18.

As a result of these changes, separate, earlier regional mentored youth and opening days will no longer occur in the 18 southeastern counties, including: Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Dauphin, Delaware, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Perry, Philadelphia, Schuylkill and York. Anglers in these areas should revise their plans as necessary to adjust to the statewide schedule. These changes, made by the PFBC under direction provided by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, are intended to reduce large gatherings of people and the number of anglers traveling into the regional area (18 southeastern counties), which is already heavily affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Accelerated Trout Stocking Operations and Volunteer Participation 2020 trout stocking will be conducted on an accelerated schedule, and volunteers will not be permitted to assist with stocking activities. To complete trout stocking operations without the assistance of the public, the PFBC will modify stocking methods for this year. Many PFBC staff are being reassigned from their normal work duties to assist with stocking fish into lakes and streams. In some cases, pre-season and in-season allocations of trout will be combined into single stocking events to increase the efficiency of stocking trips. Initially, stockings will be prioritized to deliver trout to regions of the Commonwealth that are predicted to be affected most severely by COVID-19 that could result in restrictions on travel.

Moving forward this season, trout stockings will be announced upon their completion, rather than in advance on the FishBoatPA mobile app and PFBC website. The change in stocking procedures will not result in any reduction in the approximately 3.2 million trout scheduled to be stocked statewide in 2020, and stocking will occur seven days a week until further notice.

Northampton County

Thank you to all our volunteers who have come out to help stock in the first half of March. For those who have not heard, we are no longer utilizing volunteers for stockings to help do our part to keep everyone safe and healthy. Thank all of you who have kept your distance and allowed us to stock the streams safely and without traffic issues. Please keep watching our website, press releases, and the Fish & Boat app for any changes. This is a unique situation for everyone, including us, so if you are a new angler or seasoned angler, thank you for your involvement, and we’re looking forward to getting back to “normal” whenever that may be.

Chester County

All the Stocked Trout Waters in Southern Chester County, that is all the County South of Route 322, have been stocked with trout except for the East Branch Octoraro Creek Section 2. Since the opening day is now April 18, it is highly possible that I will be able to stock it before the opening of trout season, again, that is 8 AM, April 18^th, but it is also possible that I will not be able to stock it. Watch future web reports as I will post a report when and if I am able to get it stocked. The closest stream for those of you who like to fish that area is the Buck Run, the Elk Creeks, & West Branch Brandywine Creek all of which have been heavily stocked, and all of those streams have received large broodstock.

So, with the rescheduling of the Opening Day of Trout here in Southeastern Pennsylvania, specifically Southern Chester County to 8 AM on April 18^th, where can I fish till then? If you live in Chester County you are fortunate to be within easy driving distance of one the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission’s Keystone Select Stocked Trout Waters The Middle Branch White Clay Creek which is managed as a Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only is one of those Keystone Select Stocked Trout waters. This means that the state has stocked the 1.7 mile stretch with 2 to 3-year-old fish, 14 to 20 inches in size at a rate of around 250 per mile. Have you ever seen a blue trout? One of these was stocked in this section on a recent stocking. The White Clay Fly Fishers also stocked hundreds of nice sized brown trout into that section of creek. Delayed H will be strictly enforced in this waterway to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to catch these trophy-class trout. For those of you plan to go to the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only regulations taking scented baits/paste baits, and other baits out of the Power Bait marked bags they come in and putting them into unmarked plastic sandwich bags, you can save yourself a lot of money by not bothering as that will not prevent you from getting a very expensive ticket.  You can get more information on the web about both the Keystone Select Stocked Trout Waters and the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only regulations at http://www.fishandboat.com/fishpub/summary/delayedartificial.html

Remember that the idea behind DHALO, Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only Area is that lures and flies usually result in lip hooking a fish so that it can be caught many times. With bait, there is a tendency to gut hook a fish which leads to its death and it is then no longer available to be caught. We just cited several anglers this past weekend for using and possessing bait paste in the DHALO.

Two maps of the DCNR White Clay Creek Preserve are available, regular and large print at http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/cs/groups/public/documents/document/dcnr_002972.pdf

To get to the Middle Branch White Clay Creek, Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only section, take Route 41 to just south of Avondale and turn south on Penn Green Road. Follow Penn Green Road to Good Hope Road and turn right on Good Hope. Go past Bank Road and Crestwood Road and you will come to the top of the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only section of the Middle Branch White Clay. Limited Parking is available on either side of the bridge. More parking is available in the lot near the Iron Bridge at London Tract in the center of the section. For more information on The White Clay Creek Preserve, you can call the park office at 610-274-2900. The park office is located at 39 44′ 48.1″ North, 75 46′ 27.2″ West. The nature center is located at39 44′ 46.4″ North and 75 46′ 29.6″ West. Both the nature center and Park Office are closed for the time being.

Be mindful of the Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only regulations if you decide to go fishing there. Open to year-round fishing, no closed season. A current fishing license with a trout stamp is always required when fishing in a Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only area.

If you wish to see the complete DCNR 17 PA Code, Subpart B, State parks, you can find it at http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/ucmprd1/groups/public/documents/document/d_001192.pdf

The Regional Opening Day which was scheduled for the first Saturday in April has been canceled and the opening day here in Southeastern Pennsylvania has been rescheduled to Saturday, April 18^th at 8 AM. Please be aware of this change and let’s get the word out to your fellow fishermen. The stockings have not only continued but have been accelerated to get the fish in the water to give our anglers an early Christmas gift. You have an opportunity to catch exceptionally sized trophy trout and some of them are once in a lifetime fish. One monster was a Golden Rainbow Trout that was over 30 inches long and that was not the only exceptional fish as quite a few of these large fish were recently stocked here in Chester County. The monster Golden Rainbow Trout was stocked in the White Clay Creek Section 3. The West Branch of the Brandywine Creek within Hibernia County park received several Golden Rainbows, which were 25 to 29 inches long. All the Chester County streams received very large trophy-sized brood trout during recent stockings.