northwest pennsylvania fishing report

NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA FISHING REPORT
Published by Blackwolfe Communications LLC
Issue: April 20, 2015
Danny Jones on PIB
The NW PA Fishing Report provides timely angling information for Crawford, Erie, Mercer
and Venango Counties – covering all species and all waters open to the public. The fishing
comments and photos are offered by regional tackle shops and area anglers, compiled
and published twice a month. The NW PA Fishing Report is based on experiences, observations and opinions of individual contributors; information sources are considered reliable but comments are not independently verified. In providing information or pictures,
you are agreeing to your comments being edited, and posted to websites and distributed
electronically.
The NW PA Fishing Report is brought to you by:
Pennsylvania’ Great Lakes Region (www.PaGreatLakes.com)
Black Knight Industries, Oil City (www.GammaFishing.com)
Wiegel Brothers Marine, Franklin (www.wiegelbrothersmarine.com)
The Landing Net
by Darl Black
This was a long winter with complications piling on in March and early April which prevented me from getting out fishing. Those who were entered in “Darl’s First Smallmouth
and First Crappie Contest” were probably wondering if I was ever going to wet a line. But it
all came together this past weekend. On the opening day of trout, I
went crappie fishing at Pymatuning – and the first crappie I caught was
12-1/2 inches. Ron Burger came closest on the guess and won the Crappie Lure Pack. On Sunday, I jumped into Dale Black’s boat for a quick
spin up the river. My first cast into the Allegheny River for 2015 resulted
in a 17-1/2 inch smallmouth! Gail Petersen came closest on the smallmouth guess and won the bass lure packet. Gee, things are looking up!
NW PA FISHING REPORT FOR APRIL 20, 2015
This Report is brought to you by PA Great Lakes Region tourism with additional sponsorship from Wiegel Brothers Marine and Gamma Fishing.
We answer the question “What’s biting in the lakes streams and rivers of Crawford, Erie,
Mercer and Venango counties?”
FRENCH CREEK – flowing through all four counties
Bill @ Bill’s Bait and Tackle; filed 4/20: “French Creek has been experiencing high water
most of the spring due to an abundance of rain. There has only been an occasional report
from anglers having success in French Creek. Currently French Creek is bank full and muddy. However, everyone is looking forward to the opening of walleye season on French
Creek in a couple weeks.”
CRAWFORD COUNTY
Pymatuning Lake
Darl’s first two crappies 2015
Jim McClave with Pymi crappie
Dave @ Richter’s Bait & Tackle; filed 4/20: “Given the nice weather over the weekend, not
many anglers out on the lake. They must have gone trout fishing. The crappie bite in the
northern mud bays is tapering off, and the bite will now spread southward. They are
catching a lot of perch and bluegills right now. Waders are out every evening for walleyes
and doing fairly well with either a jig & tail, or Rapala Minnow.”
Norm @ Jamestown Boat Livery; filed 4/20: “Not a lot happening yet on South End. Anglers are catching walleye during the day on VIB-E blades from boats and in the evening
wading near shore on Rapala Minnows.”
Hooker @ Hill’s Country Store; filed 4/20: “The walleye bite is hot and heavy near the
creek mouths in the evenings with either a jig-n-minnow or Rapala Minnow. I had a report of two young brothers catching a 24 inch and 26 inch walleye at dusk. Crappies are
moving up from deeper water on the section of the lake south of the Andover Causeway.
Hooker’s Fishing Taxi is rigged and ready to fish.”
Laurie @ Duck-N-Drake; filed 4/20: “It has been quiet the last few days. Perch are hitting
all over the lake, and the crappie bite is picking up in the Stumps as well as bays in the mid
-section of the lake. And there a lot of anglers wading in the evening on the shallow points
throwing long minnow plugs or a jig-n-minnow.”
Cathy @ Poff’s Bait & Tackle; filed 4/20: “I’m hearing reports of a few walleyes taken by
customers. But most talk is about big crappies and big perch.”
Sydney @ Robinson’s Bait; filed 4/20: “The word from the North End of Pymatuning is fantastic! Walleye and perch are being caught at Red Cross and Harris Island Stumps on fatheads and some on crawlers. The word is crappies are hitting in about 6 feet of water on
minnows. Bluegills are also starting to be caught in numbers around Red Cross area. Joseph Boyle caught a 4.5 pound catfish on Saturday (picture in Livewell) – his first of the
year. No word on bass yet. We had many stories of trout being taken Saturday at Conneaut
Creek. We have done some major remodeling hits winter and now have a tank on the wall
filled with Pymatuning Native fish residing it – stop by and see it!”
Brian @ Espyville Marina; filed 4/17: “We are open and renting pontoons! The tackle store
here has been selling out on ¼-ounce VIB-E for jigging. Hot-N-Tots are selling well, too.
The crappie bite in the shallow water up North has been good. Angie Fitzpatrick caught a
15-1/4 inch Black Crappie on minnow from the fishing dock at Linesville Marina on Thursday.” (See Livewell)
Dean (Pittsburgh); filed 4/15: “I stayed at the cabins and fished Pymatuning from April 10
to the 14. One thing for sure – next year couple years will be great for crappie and bluegill.
We caught a ton of little guys. Strange spring for big crappies…by the 14th the surface temp
was 60 degrees in the shallow bays but no concentration of keep crappies (over 10 inches)
for us. However, a handful of keepers went around 2 pounds. (See photo in Livewell)
Woodcock Creek
Jeff Reichel (Meadville); filed 4/11: “Jacob and I took advantage of the Mentored Youth
Trout Day and fished Woodcock Creek near Saegertown. Jacob caught his first ever trout –
a rainbow. We caught and released 4 trout in total and long line released several others.
Most fish hit Rooster Tail spinners. The brown trout in the photo was the only one taken
on a woolybugger with the fly rod. All in all, a good day on the creek.” (See Livewell)
ERIE COUNTY
Presque Isle Bay
Jim @ Lake Erie Bait & Tackle (Formerly B.A.C.); filed 4/20: “Fishing has been really good
this past Friday and Saturday in the Bay. Water temp is 42 degrees in the main part of the
Bay. Anglers are caching big crappies in the Lagoon plus nice perch off the north Pier and
at the Waterworks. There have been reports a few smallmouth caught as well. There is
still some ice on the main lake.”
Rich @ Erie Sports Store; filed 4/20: “Most fishing reports up here involved the Bay and
pier fishing right now. Very little fishing activity in the Big Lake due to late ice. Perch fishing for many has been spotty, but for others there have been limits of nice perch. Depending on the day, the wind and the time, good perch fishing can be had at the Liberty
Park/Perry Landing Pier and Border Patrol Dock at foot of Holland Street. There have also
been good repots of perch coming off the North Pier when wind is favorable. Those in
boats, canoes and kayaks have reported very nice catches of perch at mouth of Liberty
Pier and deeper areas off Stink Hole. Several pier fishermen have caught nice steelhead
and brown trout. Several brown trout have been caught off the Marina Pier and Waterworks Dock. Crappie fishing has been good at Presque Isle Marina, but spotty at the Stink
hole – that could change any day. Also, crappies, bluegill and perch have been caught in
the Lagoons. OUR FISHING TACKLE SPECIALS include: buy 3 lures, get one free; buy 2 jars
of salmon eggs/Power Bait, get one free. Full-size Emsco Tiger Shark Kayak…just $149.98.
Top line hip boots…$39.98.”
Danny Jones (Erie); filed 4/20: “I was out on the Bay yesterday for a couple hours and
caught 24 largemouth bass. It was pretty windy. With the north wind, it was really cold –
about 25 degrees colder than at my house which is only 15 minutes away. Water temp
was anywhere from 49 to 54 degrees. I caught every fish on a Bay Rat Battle 1.5; that is a
square bill crankbait that runs about 4 feet deep on 10 lb. GAMMA Edge. The best two
colors were Chrome Feisty Shad and Bluegill. Visit bayratlures.com to check them out.
Smallies should be coming into the Bay in force within the next week or two. (See
attached photos of largemouth bass)
Danny Jones on PIB
RJ Graham on PIB
Ric@ Trout Run Bait; filed 4/19: “The Bay is fishing well. Crappie bite has been good in
Stink Hole and the Lagoons. Perch have been biting but you need to be on the right spot
to grab decent numbers of keepers. Browns and steelies have been hitting in the Bay;
boat trollers picking them up as well as dock fishermen. Smallmouth should show up
soon.”
Thomas Watral (Eire); filed 4/16: “Very large perch are hitting everywhere in the Bay. Hot
spots are South Pier and Borders Dock. Most perch are 12 to 14 inches, hitting Subiki
Rigs tipped with minnows. Pike and crappies are on fire in the Lagoons; best baits are
large spinners for pike and Mini Foo tipped with wax worm for crappies.”
Paul Stewart (Butler); filed 4/13: “Went shore fishing perch this past
Saturday at PIB. I was surprised the bay was ice free. But it was very
windy in the AM, settling down after lunch. We caught more small
perch than we could count, but about every 15th perch was a keeper. Ended up with 40 in the bucket between the two of us.” (See
photo)
RJ Graham (Tidioute); filed 4/12: “I fished PIB today instead of Shenango Lake. I caught 24 largemouth bass on crankbaits. (See photo)
Paul Stewart on PIB
Tributary Streams
Jeff @ Poor Richards; file 4/20: “The trib steelhead bite is slowing down. Anglers are still
getting a few steelheads on Elk Creek – mainly in the middle section. A few steelheads
are running into the mouth of Walnut in the early morning, but going back out. Some action on steelheads at the mouth of Trout Run along the shoreline.”
Becky @ Elk Creek Sports; filed 4/20: “Everyone is catching stocked trout on Elk Creek.
There is only an occasional steelhead being caught. I had a report of big brown. That’s
about it from this weekend.”
Ric Gauriloff @ Trout Run Bait; filed 4/19: “Beautiful weather around these parts for the
weekend. Many stocked trout are being caught in Elk Creek and Gravel Pits. Steelheads
continue to be caught in the feeders. Elk and Crooked Creek are still giving up steelies.
Steelies have been on beds the past week, so shallow runs with gravel bottoms are producing nice fish. Smallmouth bass are moving into Elk; anglers caught bass behind Uncle
Johns yesterday. In a week or so great smallmouth fishing should be on. Emerald shiners
were the number one bait this past week. Those using flashy jigs and streamers also did
well. Fly fishermen using bugger and flashy streams getting fish, too. Small nymphs will
work but you will also be catching sucker on nymphs.
Tim @ North East Marina; filed 4/17: “Right now the fishing from boats on the lake is
non-existence due to ice cover. The marina is ice free with anglers catching some steelhead and brown trout. Both 20 Mile and 16 Mile Creeks are producing nice catches –
seems to vary day to day. We are expecting a fantastic lake trout fishing once the ice
clears and lake temp reaches 42 degrees. We should start to see the brown trout program on Lake Erie take off this year. We will talk to you later on some brown trout spring
tactics.”
Lake LeBoeuf
Jim Simonelli (Erie); filed 4/17: “I caught a northern pike on a
fly rod with a red/white pike fly in LeBoeuf about noon on the
17th of April.” (See photo)
MERCER COUNTY
Lake Wilhelm
Vicki @ Fergie’s Bait; filed 4/19: “Fishing has been off to slow start at Wilhelm and there
are a lot of dead gizzard shad along the shore causing a bad smell. But as the lake
warms up, the bite has improved. Anglers are catching crappies and bluegills from shore
using a small jig tipped with a maggot or minnow below a float. This approach works
whether fishing down lake near the dam or on the upper causeway in the stumps. No
word on any bass being caught and released. When walleye season opens the first week
of May, we will see many more anglers on the lake.”
Deer Creek
Boy Scout Troop 254 (Saegertown) held their annual First Weekend of Trout Season Campout along the banks of Deer Creek in northern Mercer County. Their base of operation is
the special Youth Fishing Area, part of the Trout Unlimited Deer Creek Project. Boy Scouts
fish the stream and assist younger kids fishing the Project area. Scoutmaster Merle Knickerbocker said everyone was enjoying the nice weather on Saturday, given that past years
the weather had been inhospitable or the stream was running high & muddy.
Kids area on Deer Creek
TU Committee Members
Sponsors for Kids Event
Shenango River Lake
Ramps are open and docks are in at Shenango Lake. While the number of boats on the
lake was somewhat limited during the opening day of trout season, there were plenty of
shoreline anglers. Anglers were spread out from the Shenango River Arm up the Pymatuning Creek Arm to Orangeville. A number of anglers were fishing the backwaters of Shenango Lake below the dam at Orangeville in hopes of catching a striper or some white
bass. The Shenango River below the Shenango Dam was filled with anglers fishing for
trout.
Shore fishing at Shenango
Boat launching at Clark
Lake Julia (Buhl Park Lake)
The rehabilitated Buhl Park Lake was once again stocked
with trout for opening day. Many adults and children lined
the shores, and most were catching trout.
Trout fishing below the Dam
VENANGO COUNTY
Bill @ Griffins Bait & Tackle; filed 4-19: “Here at Griffins Bait and Tackle, we have a mix of
lake and stream fishermen come by. On the Mentor Fishing Day for youth, Logan Haylett
caught a 20 inch 3-pound 4-ounce golden trout on Woodcock Creek. Logan was using a
black Panther Martin Spinner with red hook. Chad Feltenberger landed a 7 pound walleye
at Pymatuning Lake using a Sonar blade bait. We have been selling a lot of butter worms,
maggots, wax worms, meal worms, fathead minnows and crawler harnesses.
Trout Streams
Jody @ Maurer’s Trading Post; filed 4/19: “Just got back from fishing the opening day of
trout. We had a ball. Five of us fished Upper Two Mile Creek and caught 17 nice trout. Wax
worms and butter worms were the best baits, along with Trout Magnets and C.P. Swings
as the productive lures. The weather was absolutely beautiful and everyone we talked to
in the store and on the streams caught fish. By the way, we are now stocking GAMMA
Fishing Line and had rave reviews from our customers about it already!”
John Hummel (Kennedale); filed 4/19: “Perfect weather brought lots of fishermen, including female anglers, to East Sandy Creek for opening day of trout. Everyone seemed to be
having at least moderate success. First picture is Raymie Mazanke (Kittanning) landing a
trout in the evening. Second picture is Josh Varhola (Vandergrit) with his morning
catch.” (See Livewell)
Chuck Sari (Franklin); filed 4/19: “I spent the first day of trout season with Reece and Kelan
Sari. Reece is holding an 18 inch rainbow that he caught on a wax worm; Kelan is hold four
trout he caught using minnows. All fish from Little Sugar Creek.” (See Livewell)
Dennis Beggs (Franklin); filed 4/19: “We fished Oil Creek today. Caught and released about
25 trout among the three of us. No large ones; mostly rainbows taken on eggs, salted minnows and spinners. Here is a picture of Kory Slye with a trout and his dad, Kim Slye in
background. Great day to be outdoors!” (See Livewell)
Angler Al (Franklin); filed 4/18: “The weather was pleasant for this year’s opening of trout
season. I ventured over the hill to Wyattville section of Sugar Creek. When I arrived the
banks were lined with anglers. However by 10 am most of the fishermen decided to leave
as the bite was a bit sluggish. However it picked up thereafter and I captured a few pictures of those who were successful. John Neely (Cochranton) landed an 18 inch Palomino
on a wax worm. Quinn Ritchey (young lad from Cooperstown) landed a 21 inch Palomino.
His fish hit a mealworm. It was great to see the heritage of fishing flowing. I witnessed fathers with their sons, uncles with their nephews and even a few grandparents invested
time to mentor our sport. Hats off to all who were able to do the same. (See photos in
Livewell)
Allegheny River
Gene Winger (Oil City); filed 4/20: “I fished the river on Friday, April 17th and got skunked!
The river as over eight feet and sill somewhat muddy, but it was nice to be out! However,
Saturday was a different story. My fist smallie was 19.5 inches – what a way to start the
2015 season! Over the next four hours, I landed 8 smallies, all in shallow water close to
shore using a Winco Solid Body River Darter.”
Chris Wolfgong (Oil City); filed 4/19: “Dale Black and I fished the river today from 9 am to
1 pm. We caught at least 10 nice smallmouth in the 17 inch to 19 inch range, and one nice
walleye. A majority of fish were caught in fast water or in the adjacent eddy. We tried a
couple different baits but the best bite was on tubes.”
Pete Cartwright (Pittsburgh); filed 4/19: “Great fishing on the Allegheny River on April
17th, 18th and 19th. It was my first trip out for my annual opening day of trout Smallmouth
Bass Outing. The smallmouth fishing was great. We landed nice fish from 19 to 21 inches,
plus a huge 23 inch smallie with a 15 inch girth. All fish came on 412 Tubes from 412 Bait
Company. Most of the fish came from faster current.” (See photos in Livewell)
The Livewell
Brought to you by:
Wiegel Brothers Marine
704 ½ Elk Street
Franklin, PA 16323
814-437-2077
www.wiegelbrothersmarine.com
[email protected]
Opening of trout season:
Boat of the Month: This lightly used V200
Pro is fully rigged and ready to fish Lake Erie,
Raystown, 3 River Pools or other big water.
Raymie Mazanke
Josh Varhola
Kory Slye
John Neely
Quinn Ritchey
More views of the V200 Pro
Logan Haylett
Jacob Reichel
Reece & Kelan Sari
Livewell Overflow brought to you by Wiegel
Brothers Marine of Franklin
Pete Cartwright with 23” Smallmouth
Kingfisher Extreme Shallow
Cartwright photos
Dale with Allegheny double
PK Outlander 156T
Joseph Boyle
Used PK 15’ perfect for small lakes
Angie Fitzpatrick’s 15-1/4 “ crappie
Chad Feltenberger
Black Knight Industries
Oil City, PA 16301
www.gammafishing.com
www.froghairfishing.com
Gamma Fishing Tip
You can find GAMMA line locally at the following tackle shops:
Consumer Direct Sports – Grove City, PA
Griffins Bait & Tackle – Cooperstown, PA
Hill’s County Store – Williamsfield, OH
Maurer’s Trading Post—Franklin, PA
Jeff Reichel is the winner of the trout lure packet this week.
Please email your shipping address to Darl Black to claim your prize.
This week’s GAMMA Tip is from bass pro James Niggemeyer:
As I travel around the country and fish waters I have little or no experience with its important to have ”go-to” techniques to get bit quick, cover water and establish fish holding
areas and patterns. For me that is a Strike King KVD 1.5 or 2.5 Square Bill Crankbait. This
lure presentation enables me to move through varying cover and water types making
quick machine gun short casts and checking them for potential. I can present it to targets
I can see as well as get a reading on what is below the water just out of sight. It is important to use the proper gear whether our are fishing a tournament or just out for a few
hours of fun fishing.
For a square bill crankbait the proper rod, reel and line are very important. I utilize the
following tools to maximize my catch and experience on the water. I like a fiberglass rod
for cranking so I don’t feel too much and pull the bait away before the fish has a chance
to get a good hold of it. The St. Croix Mojo Bass Target Cranker is a 6’10 rod that is perfect
tool for precision casting. Paired with an Ardent Apex 6:3.1 gear ratio reel I can cast it
effortlessly. When it comes to line for close quarters cranking I prefer another approach
which I think makes a big difference. I like a co-polymer line that has a bit more stretch
than fluorocarbon, plus is highly abrasion resistant and is more buoyant. GAMMA’s
Polyflex is perfect for short casting so you do not put too much pressure on the fish that
is sometimes barely hooked. The line’s buoyancy allows the crankbait to rid up and over
obstructions. Lastly, the abrasion resistance allows you to grind around the bottom rocks,
debris and other cover without breaking off a fish.”