Locust Lake State Park Area

[Luke]

I was looking at maps today and "discovered" Locust Lake State Park. I am wondering why I never really heard anything about this place as I have camped at a lot of the different state parks in PA. Is there any decent trout fishing around there?

It seems to be in the middle of a region where coal mining took its toll on the environment, so I am wondering if AMD is just a disaster around there.

Also, every blue line in the State Forest seems to be dammed to make a reservoir around that park; this seems strange.

I appreciate any experiences or information that you can share. I am always interested to explore new camping places.

 

[Mike]

Locust Ck exits the lake and between Locust Lake and Tuscarora Lake the stream supports a Class B brown trout population with a few brookies thrown in. It probably gets a little warm directly below Locust Lake so I recommend heading downstream foe about a mile to start looking for fishing holes. Or, hike the roadside access trail down to where the creek enters Tuscarora Lake.

 

[Chaz]

Surprisingly Schuylkill County has a lot of streams with wild trout in spite of the mining. Even the Little Schuylkill and the Schuylkill have wild trout. Many of the tribs do too.

 

[phiendWMD]

Shhhsshhh Chaz. There are no fish in Schuylkill County.
I caught more wild trout in the Little Schuylkill this spring than I have before (which is only the last 2 seasons). I'm not sure if I'm getting better or there are just more there this year. They are there though.

 

[Chaz]

It fluctuates wildly.

 

[charliepff]

I agree with Chaz.

Also, Locust creek is small and tight with lots of obstacles.

 

[jkilroy]

I have camped and fished there for 15 plus years. Fly fishing the lake is tough. Locust creek has some stocked and small wild Brookies too.

 

[pcray1231]

I have camped there once. It was a family trip but I did a little bit of fishing in the stream ABOVE the lake. It was a labor day weekend.

The lake is stocked. By Labor Day a good number of stockies had ascended the feeder stream, presumably to escape summer water temps in the lake, and were quite visible in the low water. There were a fair number of less visible native brookies up there as well.

I didn't do real well but I caught a few fish. Whether not doing real well means it isn't a real good stream, or just that it was Labor Day and the water was low, I don't know.

It was a pretty area, and we saw a rattler and a bear among other wildlife.