Pulling off the Pen Turnpike to fish

W

Wmass

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I will be driving to Ohio this weekend and am coming back on Monday during the day. I know a stream that runs along a section of the PA Turnpike just west of Pittsburgh and I was thinking of pulling off to the shoulder for an hour and giving it a try. Has anyone done this? Is it legal or would the cops give me a hassle for pulling off the side of the road?
 
It is probably illegal, but if your car is well off the road and you are not required to walk along a narrow shoulder to get to the creek or worse yet, try to cross the highway, I don't think you are likely to get in trouble. However, be aware that the turnpike is usually fenced along the extent of the right of way. This means that even though you can see the creek from the road, you may be required to get through or over a fence to reach it. This may put you into the trouble zone. If it would be less than 15-20 minutes to exit the turnpike and use the other roads to reach the stream, I would opt for that. Incidentally, if you are thinking of Turtle Creek between Irwin and Monroeville, I would be surprised if the fish are healthy enough to fish over at this point in the season. It truly is on the margin of marginal waters.

How far East are you heading? If you will be passing Donegal and/or Somerset on your way back home, there are a few creeks I can recommend that would be much nicer and you could exit and re-enter without losing a whole lot of time and milage.
 
JACKM I will be heading back to Philly from Ohio. The stream I was thinking about is just past Donegal on the turnpike. Do you have any places you could recommend that would be a quick drive off the turnpike?
 
Yes, if you exit at Donegal and take Rte 31 East about 3-4 miles, then left onto Rte 381 North, you will cross Indian Creek DHALO in a few hundred yards. It is less than 10 minutes from Donegal. Also, in that same area is Camp Run, Class A BTEP. Another 15 minutes beyond the junction of Rte 31 and 381, continuing on Rte 31, you can turn off Rte 31 and within another several miles be at the DHALO on Laurel Hill Creek and then when you come out, continue eastward on Rte 31 and re-enter at Somerset.

Bedford would be another possibility, I know there are approved trout stream close to the turnpike exit, but I'm not familiar with them specifically. You might check the PFBC County Maps for help.

Maybe someone who knows can tell you whether the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River would still be fishing OK. It would be within a few short minutes of the exit at Bedford.
 
WMass,

I assume you were either thinking of Jacobs Creek (between Donegal and New Stanton) or the upper (unstocked) reaches of Indian Creek (between Donegal and Somerset). Both of these streams parallel the trunpike for some distance.

Jack's suggestions are all good. The Brookie fishing on Camp tends to get better the further upstream you go from Rt. 381.
 
In a very old issue of one of the fly fishing magazines (I'm sure I no longer have it) there was an article called "Turnpike Trout" It would have been perfect for you as a reference. I read it many years ago and thats about all I remember. Don''t forget to stop in Carlisle.
 
Ok, so I googled it...here's what I found:

Pa Boater and Angler
Turnpike Trout. Charles R. Meck. May/Jun 98, page 2

So all you have to do is find someone with that issue :-D :-D
 
My parents and I would go to western PA alot back when I was a teenager. We would stop just to the east of Willow Hill exit on the PA Turnpike and fish a stream that parallels the turnpike, we never had a problem. Great fishing, to this day I am not sure what the name of the stream is.
 
Man I'm confused, first you said the stream is west of the Burgh then you say its a little near of Donegal, it can't be both. Get off at Donegal there are streams nearby.
 
I've always been curious about doing this too. I see lots of streams along the pike that look fishable. One that I see that Ryan H might know more about runs across the pike westbound just past the Rt28 Oakmont exit. Theres even a big turn that takes you far off the pike for safe parking. There are also lots of little windy meadow streams in somerset county as you drive east. The Juniata near Bedford comes to mind as does the Letort in Carlisle. I'm less familiar with the eastern part as I get off and on that road as quickly as possible, usually. This would be a great trip to log. Might even make driving the pike worth the cost and danger.
 
Chaz wrote:
Man I'm confused, first you said the stream is west of the Burgh then you say its a little near of Donegal, it can't be both. Get off at Donegal there are streams nearby.

Well, at least it is west of Philly. :-D

Common mistake. I sometimes make the same mistake in reverse because i have to drive east to get back home to western PA.
 
tomgamber wrote:
Ok, so I googled it...here's what I found:

Pa Boater and Angler
Turnpike Trout. Charles R. Meck. May/Jun 98, page 2

So all you have to do is find someone with that issue :-D :-D

Im willing to bet I have that issue somewhere at home. Or if you contacted someone involved with the magazine I'm sure you could get a PDF copy or something.

Here is some contact info for the magazine:

717-705-7833
ra-pfbcmagazine@state.pa.us
 
If you find it thats great...I seem to remember one from longer ago than that also...perhaps one is just a longer or shorter version of the same article. Because now that I look at the year, I remember it being longer ago than that.
 
Also forgot to mention we have also stopped at the Breeches on the turnpike.
 
FarmerDave wrote:
Chaz wrote:
Man I'm confused, first you said the stream is west of the Burgh then you say its a little near of Donegal, it can't be both. Get off at Donegal there are streams nearby.

Well, at least it is west of Philly. :-D

Common mistake. I sometimes make the same mistake in reverse because i have to drive east to get back home to western PA.

Yes it is a common mistake. There's often a lot of confusion when giving directions. Many times I've had people say something like "It's on the left side of the road." Well, whether it's on the left or right side of the road depends on which direction you're headed.

But on the other hand, here's a story my brother told me. He was asking for directions to some place in rural Vermont and he asked whether the spot he was looking for was on the east or west side of the road. The local guys said, "well it depends on which way you're travelling. " Actually whether something is on the east or west side of the road DOESN'T depend on which way you're travelling.

I also had someone tell me to turn left where the old schoolhouse used to be. It turned out the schoolhouse had burned to the ground decades ago and there was nothing there but brush.

Or people will tell you to turn right at the "old Jones place." They moved out of there 30 years ago and the Smiths live there now and they don't even have their name out front.

Yah can't get there from here.....

That's why it's good to use maps. :-D
 
troutbert wrote:
FarmerDave wrote:
Chaz wrote:
Man I'm confused, first you said the stream is west of the Burgh then you say its a little near of Donegal, it can't be both. Get off at Donegal there are streams nearby.

Well, at least it is west of Philly. :-D

Common mistake. I sometimes make the same mistake in reverse because i have to drive east to get back home to western PA.

Yes it is a common mistake. There's often a lot of confusion when giving directions. Many times I've had people say something like "It's on the left side of the road." Well, whether it's on the left or right side of the road depends on which direction you're headed.

But on the other hand, here's a story my brother told me. He was asking for directions to some place in rural Vermont and he asked whether the spot he was looking for was on the east or west side of the road. The local guys said, "well it depends on which way you're travelling. " Actually whether something is on the east or west side of the road DOESN'T depend on which way you're travelling.

I also had someone tell me to turn left where the old schoolhouse used to be. It turned out the schoolhouse had burned to the ground decades ago and there was nothing there but brush.

Or people will tell you to turn right at the "old Jones place." They moved out of there 30 years ago and the Smiths live there now and they don't even have their name out front.

Yah can't get there from here.....

That's why it's good to use maps. :-D

It's even worse in the mountains. The sign could say you are heading East when at any given time you could be heading North, South, or even West. Flatlanders should just stay home. ;-)

And then there is central PA. You may be 2 or 3 miles from where you need to be (other side of the ridge), but it takes 20 miles of driving to get there.
 
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