# NW PA trip



## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

Made probably my last wild trout trip of the year this past weekend, and boy was it a great one. A few surprises and firsts. 

The first stream, is one of our favorites, it's the stream I caught my first ever wild trout in. It has a good population of wild bows and my brother and I both caught a few. They're such beautiful fish.









Most of them were tiny, but we did catch and lose a couple a little bigger than the one in the pic. There's some pretty big browns in this stream also, and in one of the bigger pools I cast my fly next to a rock ledge, and as my fly sinks down I see a decent 12-13in brown swim out from under the rock, check out my fly, then go back into hiding! That was quite a surprise. 









The next place we fished is a warmwater stream nearby. We both got a few tiny smallmouths, rock bass, and bluegills. I even saw a bald eagle fly by which was pretty cool.

















After lunch we hit one of many of our favorite little brookie streams in the area. On my brothers first cast he catches a rainbow! Chances are pretty good though that it's a steelhead since there's a hatchery on the stream that raises them. 









The very next hole upstream we get a wild brown! We have only caught wild and stocked brookies and one stocked brown here before, so this wild brown was a first for the stream. 









Overall the fishing was very slow, I think the warm and dry summer really had an effect on the stream. We did get into a few brookies, but not as many as we usually catch and spook. There were a few decent sized fish in some of the bigger holes that looked pretty colored up and ready to spawn. We didn't bother them, but sneaking up to them and snapping a few pics was fun. 

























The brown and steelie were unexpected, but what really was unexpected was my brother outfished me with the fly rod for the first time! I wasn't mad one bit, he had a blast. If this keeps up though it might get ugly haha.


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## icingdeath (Jun 2, 2010)

those are awesome pics nick!got a general idea where your at.my cottage isnt far.still got plenty season left!


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## ARReflections (Jan 7, 2011)

Nice pics! Beautiful fish. What kind and weight rod were you using? Is that a Hardy featherweight reel? Kind of a gear junkie


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## flytyer (Jan 3, 2005)

Nice fish, Nick! Looks like an awesome area to fish.


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

The rod is an old Orvis fiberglass 3wt, and yep the reel is a Hardy featherweight or lightweight, I always forget which one I have lol.


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## ARReflections (Jan 7, 2011)

fishinnick said:


> The rod is an old Orvis fiberglass 3wt, and yep the reel is a Hardy featherweight or lightweight, I always forget which one I have lol.


Nice setup. Heard the orvis fiberglass to be a fun rod with good bend. Again, beautiful trip.


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

I love that rod, it's blast to fish. It's 6'6" long, and I have it rigged up with 5wt line on it actually and it casts beautifully. The fights the bigger fish give on it are amazing. 

Here's a better pic of the rod..


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## Bucho (Jun 28, 2007)

Looks like an awesome trip man, and great pictures too! What flies did you have success with? I'm actually headed over to ANF area for a long weekend next week.


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

Great pics. Looks like a nice relaxing time. The picture of your rod looks like it would make nice wall hanger.


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## ARReflections (Jan 7, 2011)

ejsell said:


> The picture of your rod looks like it would make nice wall hanger.


The picture of the rod looks like it makes a nice fishing rod. Not a wall dust collector...


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## brodg (Sep 6, 2010)

Fishinnick,
Great trip, and a great write up of the trip. Almost makes me feel like I was there. Looks like I may need a PA license next year.

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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

ARReflections said:


> The picture of the rod looks like it makes a nice fishing rod. Not a wall dust collector...


I meant the picture, not the rod itself.


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## ski (May 13, 2004)

We're you up near warren or tionesta? 
I have a cabin up in that area. We mostly fish the spring and early summer. I might have to give fall a shot.
Nice pics.
Ski


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## jbmynes (Aug 6, 2012)

That would be a cool picture for the wall. 

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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

I was up in the Tionesta area, not exactly in the ANF, but right on the edge. Usually I like to fish all the little tribs to Tionesta Creek in the ANF in between Tionesta and Warren, but we didn't get to those streams actually at all this year. Last year we made like 4 trips up that way, all in the ANF incuding the streams we fished last weekend. If you need any suggestions pm me, but some of the streams could have taken a hit this summer..

The top flies were green weenies and EHC, but the fish(brookies, browns, and bows) in those tiny, infertile, mountain freestone streams aren't picky. Just don't spook them.

Ski, definitely try it out in the fall. The scenery is awesome up there now with the leaves changing. Just keep an eye out for spawning fish.


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## ski (May 13, 2004)

That's awesome. We have a cabin in tidioute. I've been trout fishing the area for about 25 years now. I grew up fishing the tionesta at mayburg and kelletville,salmon creek, east hickory, etc. also have fished broke straw. 
It was great looking at the pics. Every picture I was wondering if I have been there. O yea, also queen creek.
I d love to see some more pics. I have never fly fished there, but prob will in the future.

Ski


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## ski (May 13, 2004)

The pics in the woods look like east hickory creek near rt 119, by the wilderness area. The big river pic look a lot like the tionesta creek downstream from the kelletville campground. A massively deep hole.


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

I have yet to fish Queen Creek, or the upper sections ofE. Hickory. They're on the list. The bigger stream in the pic is Tionesta Creek, but in between the lake and the river. The pic in the woods....I shall send you a pm.


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