Pine/Kettle creek magic?

S

Squaretail

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I just never caught the love for the fishing up there like so many other posters.
The surroundings are indeed beautiful, the hatches were prolific. But the fish left alot to be desired. Every one was a stockie and half with missing mandables and poachers leaving with 20 inch fish out of the regs area in broad daylight.
What is the magic besides the beauty? Is there any or does what I seek rely solely in Slate and Cedar runs?

Pine and Kettle boosters please unite and reply. :)
 
Honestly dude, a huge part of it for me is nostalgia. I cut my teeth fly fishing up there. I've been going up to Potter as long as I can remember. That area has been a part of my life as long as I've been alive. I consider it to be my home away from home in many ways, and not to sound hoaky, but the spirit of my grandparents is alive there like no where else. I can't be in my cabin for more than 15 minutes w/out being flooded with memories of my grandfather (my grandparents lived with when I was growing up, we were very close. My grandfather built our cabin w/ my great uncles, and a lot of their belongings were moved up to the cabin after they died). The streams are just as much a part of my memory of them as the relics in my camp. I fished Pine and Lyman Run and Lyman lake with my grandpa as a kid. When I learned to fly fish, it was on Kettle with my dad and brother. Some of my best memories, my most favorite times with my dad and brother were on Pine and Kettle. I don't know man, the whole area is just one big part of my childhood.
 
Look at the state forest maps. Notice all the small unstocked streams in those watersheds. Pick one and fish. Repeat as necessary.
 
I learned to fly fish on kettle/pine creeks, and have some fondness for the area. And I really doubt that there is a more scenic place in the state to fish.
But yeah, I agree about the fish. The limestone streams and delaware river have a lot more to offer in the way of large wild trout.

I rarely get up that way anymore, but it still is a nice place to get away from things and relax. Guess it all depends on what a person's priorities are.
 
I make one trip up there every year. I camp right along Pine Creek and I bet you I fished it less than 5 times. I have been going for about 10 years. The magic for me is the scenery and the tribs. You get a chance to be out in the wilderness pursuing wild trout. It doesn't get any better than that for me. I agree with the statement about Pine Creek, but that area has a lot more to offer.
 
Yeah, I largely agree with the above too. The hatches in the evenings on Pine are pretty cool, but as stated it’s mostly a stocker deal…although there do seem to be a good number of stockers…for what that’s worth. The Canyon section on Pine is cool from a scenery perspective…fun drive in down to Tiadaghton…I caught mostly Smallmouth in that section though.

The main stem of Kettle (down to Cross Fork or so) is a better wild fishery than the main stem of Pine IMO…probably because Kettle isn’t impounded like Pine is in Galeton. I’ve caught wild Browns below the regs section on Kettle, in early September even, so I think they may be year round residents and not just seasonal transplants from the tribs. That said, Kettle is mostly a stocker stream too.

Bottom line, the tribs are way better for wild fish. The draw for Kettle and Pine is you can catch trout in relatively big water streams, with beautiful mountain scenery, often on dry flies. It’s not easy to find places in PA where you can accomplish all three of those things at the same time. The ideal day for me up there is to spend the morning and afternoon on the tribs, fish a hatch on THE Pine (as Squatch would say) in the evening, then food/beer/fire afterwards.
 
I frind nice size browns 14-25" in pine all summer. got to know where to go for the good fish. (some places I keep to myself) there's lots of holdoveres and some wild fish if you know where. then there's the brookies, I find wild ones in pine along with 5 streams all within 5 miles of home...hard to beat that..
 
Like Squaretail, I'm a southcentral guy who associates trout fishing with the Cumberland Valley..... which is mainly a slow stream, wild trout experience where, to be consistently successful, one needs to fish with nymphs and streamers. I often make multiple trout trips in the CV and never see a rising fish or tie on a dry fly.

I do enjoy the Pine/Kettle experience and would fish up there a lot more if it were closer. Those waters provide a big freestone, big forest experience that is greatly appealing. The fish may not be of the quality that we have in the limestoners down here.....but the hatches are far better (not even comparable) and you can fish big water with wet flies or use dry flies that are size #12. Long casts to rising fish are often the norm, much like the western US.

I can certainly see the appeal of Pine/Kettle for the more traditional minded FFer.
 
I fish the wild trout sections of Kettle, I fish the gorge and a couple of other less used areas of Pine, but those areas are stocked. For the most part the fish look decent in the sections of Pine I fish, but they are stocked fish. Not what I'd call pretty, they are mosly browns a bows. Most of the bows are nice the browns not so much.
When fishing Kettle there are many miles of wild trout water on the main sections of the creek down to about Carter Camp. Most of the water above that isn't stocked.
 
Pine/Kettle - while they have good wild trout fishing in their upper sections - are probably better known (and more heavily fished) in their stocked sections. Having given it some thought, I think much of the appeal of these streams is comparable to the Catskills. Sure, they're stockies but the rivers and landscape are gorgeous and the dry fly fishing is the main draw.
 
It's all relative... If I just wanted the bigger fish, I'd move to New Zealand. Yes, the limestones have bigger fish. The challenge is still to find the biggest fish in the area. Or the prettiest, or the smartest, or the most difficult cast... The challenge of the fish is up to you!
The scenery, the hatches, the diversity of water (BIG to small), the diversity of fish (wild brookies to stocked pigs and everything inbetween), the bald eagles. My wife once sat down on a rock at Pine and got jabbed in the rear... she pulled out a rattlesnake tooth (luckily, the rattlesnake wasn't attached!)...ie the wildlife.
It's getting away from the city to a place you can get lost if you want.
 
Thank you all. I just wanted to see if there was something I was missing. I have my own version of what you all described in Sullivan county. I certainly appreciated Pine and Kettle and the tribs when I was there. Its just too far for what I recieved from it.
But then again, Im kinda spoiled in the area I live and the region I pass to get to the Pine/Kettle area.
 
Interesting comments. My friend Jim and I have been talking about fishing that area after the Jam. We may need to rethink that. GG
 
Squaretail wrote:
Thank you all. I just wanted to see if there was something I was missing. I have my own version of what you all described in Sullivan county. I certainly appreciated Pine and Kettle and the tribs when I was there. Its just too far for what I recieved from it.
But then again, Im kinda spoiled in the area I live and the region I pass to get to the Pine/Kettle area.
Click to expand...

Valid comments ST. It is relative to distance travelled / time spent. Living in western pa, the majority of my trips are to closer locales that offer top notch fishing. The trips to Pine / Kettle are reserved for those trips that I know I can spend a couple days there and will coincide with the hatches.
 
GG come on up, green drakes will still be on here along with brown drakes..
 
GG that's still early in the season, as Bob says come on up.
 
I think the fishing in the Pine & Kettle drainages, and NC freestoners generally, is terrific.

Not just for the scenery. But for the hatches and fishing catching too. There are endless stream miles with native brookies and wild browns.
 
The upper areas of Kettle and little Kettle provided me with some great brook trout fishing a couple years ago. Usually I don't bother with the fly stretch there as there are so many nice pieces of water with nobody on them if you walk a bit. Also, I caught the GD hatch there once on my birthday (Kettle, June 4) and despite fishing over stocked trout it remains one of my highlights. Bugs and fish rising everywhere, nice rainbows in the 13-18'' class, and no one else in sight. BTW, every fish I took was on a caddis and I don't feel guilty about it. I'm hoping to fish Upper Kettle again this season if possible; since I'm turning sixty my wife may not be able to say no.
 
The biggest problem with fishing & living here in NC PA is that there might be TOO many streams to pick from! I remember several times getting in my car & trying to decide do I go north, south, east, or west to fish! Now I try to make up my mind the night before so I can get on the road.
 
Brad, I have the same problem. We've had the cabin five years, and
I am still exploring. Sometimes I find myself over-thinking where I want to go. Do I want to go back to a stream that was good a previous year, or check out a new one? Some streams end up better than others, but it's all fun, and half the fun is finding out that your research has paid off.
 
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