Fly Fishing for Smallies in the Slippery Rock PA. Area

[schwatk]

I am a fly fisherman from San Diego, CA.. My wife (who also fly fishes) and I will be out in the Slippery Rock area late July and early August for a Medieval War at Coppers Lake Campground. We hope to get out a couple of days for some smallmouth bass fly fishing. We don't have smallies in Southern California. We are both strict C&R fisherman. We were hoping some of you would be willing to share your knowledge regarding places to try, what color and type flies to use. Or anything else you think might be helpful. I wouldn't expect anyone to give up their honey holes of course. Can anyone suggest a good or any fly shop in the general area too. Thank you for any and all help!

Take care!

Joe

 

[Acristickid]

I am not much of a warmwater fisherman- or any other type for that matter.

Here are some local fly shops that might be able to help with your trip. ncflyshop.com and internationalangler.com

I hear there is trophy musky fishing in nearby Lake Arthur if your so inclined. How about that US OPen huh? Good luck.

 

[Fishidiot]

Joe,
I am not familiar with the northwestern part of PA but my understanding is that Slippery Rock Creek does have decent smallmouth fishing. Trout tackle should do fine, have some poppers and streamers and you're in for a treat - smallies are a blast although they sure don't run as large as the largemouths in your neck of the woods. Good luck.

 

[ronP]

.

Hi. I wrote and photographed a short artcile about Slippery Rock Creek that appeared in a 2007 issue of Eastern Fly Fishing. That creek -- and nearby Lake Arthur (which I also wrote up last year for EFF) -- are two adjacent fly fishing spots.

Slippery Rock Creek offers decent holdover trout and good smallmouth bass. Lake Arthur offers great panfishing as well as smallmouth and largemouth bass and "hammer handle" northern pike.


During late summer, I would use Muddle Minnow, Dave's Hopper, Black Ant, and Woolly Worm in sizes 6 through 12. Classic terrestrials and big, generic streamers will be the best searching patterns. If you are a dry fly purist, try an Adams or Tan Elk Hair Caddis in sizes 12 and 14.


http://www.globalflyfisher.com/writings/small-fry/intro.php

.

 

[Maurice]

Its been years but we used to have a blast with hardware on Slippery Rock and Neshannock Creek in the afternoons after the Trout bite was over.

We'd fish the Neshannock DHALO til the water approached 70 and then move to open water for smallies. Access was pretty good then. Look for deeper, slower water with structure or faster pocket water. For flies, Id throw larger crayfish patterns and #4-6 buggers in Yellow, brown, black. And clouser floating minnows or sliders and gurglers for the surface. Our best lure was a buzzbait early in the year, later we had to go underneath.

that was alot of fun, nothing very big, 12"-16" bass were plentyful. throw in a few pike up to 30" that must come up from the beaver river to to eat the trout and it can get interesting.

Good luck and have fun.

 

[ryguyfi]

I fish the Slippery Rock creek many times a year. My wife's family actually runs the Heinz camp there so I go there with all my worm dunking family members right up to the damn and fish maybe 8 to 10 times a year. If you get in during the white fly hatch, which I believe is around August, it is like a snowstorm. I have had much success fishing right below the dam stripping a white streamer of either marabou or deer hair. Be careful wading though, it is very "slippery" and you can go from 6 inches of water to 4 feet very quickly. There are many parts of the stream that are stocked with trout, but the best places for smallies are some of the deeper sections of the stream. It can get really low in the summer and you have to know where to locate fish. It is a very nice stream and I've pulled out some 3 plus pound smallies out of there, very fun on the fly.

I also suggest the Neshannock creek. Very beautiful stream with great conservation on the part of the fly shop and local anglers. Not too far up the road from Slippery Rock. They have a fall stocking there too. Check the stocking list on fish.state.pa.us

And lastly the Shenango River. If you search for a restaurant called Danny's in Sharon, Pa and take directions right there, it is a pretty good spot right above the bridge by a small island which is just below the release from the Shenango Dam. You can catch walleye and other warm water fish in the summer time, and can get some pretty decent holdover trout in there too. This is just a little bit farther north than the Neshannock.

You should come back in late October/early November for some Steelhead. Now that's a treat.

Good luck and tight lines!!

 

[boyirish6]

It has been many years since I have fished up there and lived up there. So bear with me. Was it Lake aruthor or morane state park that they flooded to make the lake??? I just remember being able to walk out on the flooded road and drop a fly toward the banks and have a field day. PAN FISH OUT THE KIESTER. Being able to wade a lake and have stable ground under you. It was a ton of fun and I really miss living up that way!!! Can someone else chime in and pin point this area for this guy!!

 

[rpdelaney]

Does anyone know when the White Fly hatch usually hits Slippery Rock?

 

[PennKev]

Whiteflies should start in 1 1/2 to 2 weeks and will be really strong for about 2 weeks. It works best if you pick your spots by moving upstream as the hatch progresses so as to follow the heaviest concentration of hatching bugs. That said, when they are at their peak, they will be found over a large stretch of the creek. Many miles actually.
Also, you will often not see any flies until it is nearly dark, like 8:30 PM or later. It is easy to say "This ain't happening tonight" and 20 minutes later you are choking on the feaking bugs. And frankly, arriving on the stream early is almost a waste of time. There's lots of access and few anglers so you can fish almost anywhere, and not much happens until the flies start. You can dredge a few dinks up on small tan buggers or hex style nymphs stripped through the deeper holes and lies.

Kev

 

[rpdelaney]

Kev:
Thanks for the reply. I'll be heading up in 2 weeks-
Ryan

 

[tbrom]

The white flies are already comming off but only very randomly. I posted a response to your thread in the streams forum. Lake Arthur is good for largemouth and panfish. You can get stripers earlier in the spring. Smallmouth, musky and pike are pretty tough to come by. Smallmouth are very specific to one area and are avalible if you hit that area. The small poppers work great for the smallmoth on the slippery rock along with sculpin and crayfish patterns.