Best Fly Fishing Town in Pennsylvania

[DaveKile]

A recent post has inspired me to ask for nominations as to set up a poll to vote on the "Best Fly Fishing Town in Pennsylvania." Please free to post you favorite town and what makes it a special fly fishing town. Yes it should be a town in Pennsylvania.

Some obvious reasons for the the best town could be number of close streams, fly shops, restaurants, taverns, travels distance, campgrounds, shops or whatever inspires you. Let me hear from you.

 

[Bruno]

Pittsburgh - why would there even need to be a discussion. We are the best at everything ( except baseball ).

 

[JackM]

I gotta say, I have had some good times in Erie, it deserves a nomination from me, therefore. The trout stream towns will get plenty of support from others.

 

[Fishidiot]

I think I'll put in a vote for a favorite of mine:
Boiling Springs (Cumberland County)

I think BS has a lot to recommend it:

-Scenic, easy going, small town lacking a lot of the heavy traffic, college noise, and rampant development that is drawback to places like State College.

-Easier drive for a lot of visitors in the population areas of Harrisburg, Baltimore/Wash DC.

-Close to world famous limestoners with many special reg sections provides year round trout fishing.

-Some pretty good (although not great) brookie fishing in nearby mountains.

-Good fly shop

-Lots of lesser known local trout fishing opportunities within a few minutes drive.

- Good warm water destinations are nearby within about a 30 minute drive.

-Eating/lodging is decent (Boiling Springs Tavern and some nice B&Bs)

-Appalachian Trail

 

[troutbert]

Bellefonte

 

[jayL]

I honestly can't argue against Millheim. It has a brewery, an OIP sandwich shop, access to multiple amazing streams, a fly shop nearby, a grocery store, a CG nearby, and some available lodging.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Hard for me to pick between these 2:

Bellefonte - Spring Creek what else is there to say.

Carlise - think about all this town has done to help the Letort.

 

[DaveKile]

A brewery is bonus that I had not thought about.

 

[dasofas]

Not as good as some of the others already mentioned, but I'll throw in Ohiopyle, you have the Yough, Meadow, Dunbar, and Laurel all within striking distance, got a good tavern now with a nice selection of micros and tasty wings (usually a couple hippy kayak gals fresh off the river to boot). Not much in lodging, but lots of campgrounds.

 

[OVERMAN4]

Cross Fork
Numerous steams within 30 mins.
Scenery.
Multiple hatches at once.
Native, Wild, and Stocked trout to suit anyone.
Any size stream you like - small to large.
I can think of 3 tackle shops within 30 mins.
Peaceful.
No CELL SERVICE!!!
A couple of taverns.
Fair amount and varies types of lodging.

Down fall - can be crowded at times on the Special Regs. - but plenty of other water to get away.

 

[CPR]

Harrisburg!
Within a 20 min drive you can fish

Susquehanna
Juniata
Swatara
Yellow Breeches
Upper Breeches
Clarks
Stoney
Quittie
Armstrong
Powells
Conodiguinet
Shermans

And several other smaller streams
and not to mention some fine lakes.

 

[salvelinus]

Another vote for Cross Fork

 

[Padraic]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
Carlise - think about all this town has done to help the Letort.

Yeah, it approved the zoning for the Home Depot.
:evil:

 

[Padraic]

CPR wrote:
Harrisburg!
Within a 20 min drive you can fish

Susquehanna
Juniata
Swatara
Yellow Breeches
Upper Breeches
Clarks
Stoney
Quittie
Armstrong
Powells
Conodiguinet
Shermans

And several other smaller streams
and not to mention some fine lakes.

I'll add a vote to that, and Big Spring and Falling Spring to the list. They aren't all that far.

Hbg may not have the "best" fishing in the state, but it has really good fishing and all the things that a state capital offers.

 

[Padraic]

dkile wrote:
A brewery is bonus that I had not thought about.

Hbg has ABC! Good beer and good food in a cool setting!

 

[TimMurphy]

CPR wrote:
Harrisburg!
Within a 20 min drive you can fish

Susquehanna
Juniata
Swatara
Yellow Breeches
Upper Breeches
Clarks
Stoney
Quittie
Armstrong
Powells
Conodiguinet
Shermans

And several other smaller streams
and not to mention some fine lakes.

Dear CPR,

Is that you I see whizzing by in that black Maybach, thought it was Kobe? You must drive awfully fast to be on any of those streams you mentioned in 20 minutes from Harrisburg ;-)

Twenty years ago my vote would have been for White Haven, PA. On the western edge of the Pocono's you had the Lehigh River and Mud Run within minutes and many other smaller but no less productive streams to fish. It was a lot less crowded then, and I even befriended a number of locals who took me to "their" spots. I doubt I could do that today eventhough I'm a better BS'er than I was back then.

I always loved State College but like some of the others have mentioned it's kind of built up for my tastes. Two weeks ago I was talking to a guy from Pittsburgh in the parking lot of Fisherman's Paradise and I told him about riding the "fishing bus" from campus with my waders and gear on and remarked that when I was walking back to State College at the end of an evening all I had to do was stick out my thumb and I'd get a ride back to town from some sympathetic older fart who admired my youthful energy and pursuits.

Nowadays your more likely to get run over by a speeding car but I still love going there. Now that I have a camp close I'll go there a lot trying to recapture the days when you could just pull over and pee by the side of the road.

If I had to pick a place today I would vote for Williamsport, or some small town in southern Lycoming County. The way the highways have grown you cannot possibly fish every stream that is within a 2 hour drive in two lifetimes. Add 1/2 hour to your drive and you can fish the trout and salmon runs on Cayuga Lake from there. If you remember to use the Shamokin Dam bypass you can make the Letort or Boiling Springs from Billtown in less than 2 hours.

Put Williamsport on the list and I'll vote for it!

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[Hook_Jaw]

i like cross forks also but I gotta go with Jay on this also I live 3 minutes from Penns so Im blessed to be able to bike to Penns and go from Coburn to Ingleby to Poe Paddy to C@R in 15 minutes

 

[Squaretail]

The folks in Erie have been as nice a bunch of locals as I've met so far, and Poor Richards has been very good to me. The Freeport Inn on 16 mile has second to none breakfasts.
But its not what I would call a "Flyfishing town".
My vote just gets pulled to Bellefonte.

 

[flybop]

Since I am very partial to Penns I'll go with Jay and Milheim. Having said that I lean very far towards Slate Run. If the old Slate Run Inn (or was it tavern?) was still there it would be a tie.

 

[CPR]

Dear CPR,

Is that you I see whizzing by in that black Maybach, thought it was Kobe? You must drive awfully fast to be on any of those streams you mentioned in 20 minutes from Harrisburg


Tim

5am, no traffic, you can leave the capitals steps and be on any of those waters within 20 minutes.

15 if I'm driving.

:-D

Oh, yeah, harrisburg has ABC and Troegs Brewery. And in the summer you can catch a Senators ball game, and in the winter a Bears (the soon to be 2009 Calder Cup Champions) hockey game.


Can't beat that.


matt