Closest forested freestone stream to Philadelphia?

J

JasonC

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What is the closest, distance wise of course, true forested freestone stream to Philadelphia? Curious to hear the variations everyone has about what direction from the city they would go, if they would choose a mountainous region over just a simple wooded region, and what everyone defines as a true freestone stream. There are so many to choose from so tell me your reasons for choosing what you did, and most importantly, let’s take it light and have some fun with this! No right or wrong answer here. Except if you say the Pennypack, that’s definitely the wrong answer.
 
How 'bout the Wissahickon? It's a forested freestoner and very close.

If it were me and I was in the city and itching to do some mountain trout fishing... I'd start my search by heading to points northwest - think Blue Mountain, Berks, Skuke, Lebanon and Dauphin Counties.
 
Surprised more people haven’t chimed in on this yet. Also wondering if anyone thinks to go west into NJ. I know nothing about trout fishing in NJ but I do know there are some really good lakes for bass fishing in the Garden State.
 
DW - “Close, but definitely, wrong.”...Think the opening scene of Ghostbusters.

Closest, distance wise...Cobbs Creek essentially forms Philadelphia’s western border. From sat maps, it looks like it’s mostly in a tree-lined, forested corridor through a series of parks. It’s not in a limestone belt, so it must be a freestoner. There is your answer Jason. No need for anyone else to reply. Let us know how it fishes.

While you can get to NJ by going west, I’d suggest going east. No need however, since Cobbs is in PA.

Edit: Fact verification. Cobbs is 0.8 of a mile close to Center City than the Wiss is. No rebuttal.
 
I was going to say the Wissahickon as well. It's forested and it's a freestone. If you're looking for mountainous, then I think you need to go north and/or west to the Lehigh Valley or Berks county. As for NJ, if you're looking for trout, I think you need to head to the northwestern part of the state, I believe there are some nice streams in and around Morris, Warren and Sussex counties.
 
I will say the Wissahickon too. Also check out The East and West Branches of Brandywine Creek, as they are fishing well for smallmouth this time of year.
 
Any stream that is not a limestone stream is by default a freestone stream (with a few exceptions). The type of stream also does not necessarily relate to the quality of fishing so there's not really any specific reason to search out a "freestone stream". It just refers to the geology of the area being something other than limestone. With that said, if you want trout close to Philly, the limestone streams are best. The freestone streams are mostly stocked with trout in the spring and some might hold a few over through the summer. A decent number of freestone streams within an hour of Philly hold wild trout but they tend to be 1) tiny 2) on private land or 3) have a very small trout population, sometimes literally less than a dozen fish.

As for "forested freestone stream", well, just look at google earth...pretty easy to tell if something is forested or not.
 
I guess it depends on where you live in Philly. The Wissahickon is closer to me than Cobbs Creek. There are still trout in it, I saw a couple walking along Forbidden Drive with my church group this morning.
 
When the trout start to run are they harder to catch?
 
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