New to PA! Question about SMB streams

D

Dobeitz

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Aug 5, 2013
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Hello all! Just moved to the levittown/yardley area north of Philly -- Coming from western NC fly fishing country and Boulder, CO before that. Naturally, I've spent a ridiculous amount of hours reading online, books ive bought, etc.. on catching some of your wonderful Pennsylvania trout. However, seeing as how it's so hot right now I thought I might try my hand at some SMB fishing for a few weeks b/c i'm paranoid about killing fish in this heat. I feel like I'm not finding much other than possibly some few parts of the Schuylkill. I have no boat so I need to wade and I dont want to use my spin cast. I am determined to keep the fly rod out.

Would anyone be able to give me a few GENERAL areas of some streams to go for SMB? Naturally, the closer the better but of course I'll travel. Please note I would not dare ask for specific locations.
 
French creek, middle to upper Alleghany as well. Both places also hold trout, I believe the Alleghany has more. And both have toothy critters. Have you thought about fishing any tail waters for trout?
 
Pick a stream or river near you and you will find smb. tohickon, neshamminy, delaware, etc.
 
Plenty of nice Smallmouth right in your back yard in the Delaware River. You can fish Yardley, Washington's Crossing, New Hope and above. Sandy mentioned some of the smaller streams above.

Good fishing.
 
So one can actually fish the Delaware effectively without a boat???

Thanks a lot guys. Lots of great info on this site for sure. I will be sure to report and contribute as I fish in my new state.
 
StarvinMarvin wrote:
French creek, middle to upper Alleghany as well. Both places also hold trout, I believe the Alleghany has more. And both have toothy critters. Have you thought about fishing any tail waters for trout?
Click to expand...

Uh, he lives just outside Philly. I kind of think he had in mind streams that were closer than 5 hours away from him!

Dobeitz, yes you can fish the Delaware without a boat, however I think it can be slightly more difficult to find places to wade right near you but there are definitely places to wade there and the places increase as you follow the river upstream. Yardley is a good place to try, Scudders Falls area has all kinds of fish from Stripers to Smallies. Head upriver to Lumberville, PA (across the river from Stockton, NJ) and you have the Bulls Island area to fish as well. You might enjoy exploring the shoreline around Lake Nockamixon and Tohickon Creek which flows into and out of the lake. I know the spillway area can be quite popular.

The Schuylkill River can be tricky down near Philly as far as finding areas with decent fish numbers (sediment & pollution issues) but from Reading, PA north the river is known as a good smallmouth stream. From what I've read here I think Perkiomen Creek is another good place for you to try.
 
There is also Neshiminy creek in Bucks county. PennyPack Park here in Philadelphia has some however the big SMbass are few and very far inbetween.
 
RyanR got all the spots I fish. Try any of those and you'll hook-up.
Coughlin
 
Welcome to PA. Dobeitz!

Sandfly and RyanR covered it pretty well but I've also caught smallmouth in Skippack creek and in French creek (Chester County). In the pools on the Perkiomen I've caught some nice L.M. bass and Musky.

It's been mentioned in another thread but you might find http://fishandboat.com/pabestfishing.htm a useful resource.

Good luck.
 
So I hit the Neshaminy today in and around Tyler state park. Got lots of sunfish and only 1 SMB that was about 9 inches. I tried quite a few tactics that I read about. The only thing that worked was sitting at the top of this one riffle and retrieving a brown wolly bugger through the fast water.

Any other methods I should try?
 
Just for info - you can fish either side of the Delaware with your PA license. Some spots are easier from PA, others from NJ.

One tactic that has been working well during the day is a double bugger rig drifted or swung in faster water. When the shadlings start heading downstream a white streamer or pencil popper can do the trick. Find a school of baby shad and fish around it. Haven't seen any yet. Don't know if the high water of early summer will affect them.
 
I've had some outstanding days on the Delaware drifting Clouser crayfish along the bottom like a large nymph. I don't know if you tie but the Delaware is very rocky and tears up the furry foam carapace of the Clouser crayfish. I've started substituting chamois (from auto stores) and the flys hold up much better. I've heard some people use indicators with the crayfish flys. I've never tried it but imagine it would work just fine.
 
Dobeitz, if you're fishing the Delaware for smallies I always say add some weight if you're not catching too many or are only getting average (10") river bass. My two favorite colors for the Delaware are black and white, with brown coming in right behind that. I've caught several 18+" smallies on the D and every one of them came from streamers on or near the bottom. JeffK mentioned tandem rigs with two woolly buggers. Well my biggest Delaware smallie (an honest 20 incher) came on a tandem rig of 1 black and 1 white BH woolly buggers.

Keep in mind to that the majority of river smallies up here in the Delaware and Schuylkill are only going to be 10" but my gosh do these riverborne fish fight like crazy.

My other favorite tactic was also mentioned: just lazily drifting a large bugger or crayfish pattern along the bottom like nymphing.

PS- Dobeitz, I've been to the Western NC trout fishing mecca once, on a last-minute whim going to Charlotte. Called my buddy from the road and said I'd be getting in a day later as I was heading west in NC because I HAD TO fish the Smokies at least once in my lifetime. Ended up in Bryson City. It was a crazy 1 day trip in which I blitzed several streams in one day- Deep Creek, Noland Creek, Tuckaseegee River and the Nantahala River. I did best on the (upper)Nantahala as well as on Noland. To this day I dream of getting back there.

If you flyfish for trout, you will not be disappointed living in PA. However, you're going to have to head north out of the Philly area to find our best trout fishing (there are a few trout options near Philly though). Head north into the Poconos and Northeast PA or out to central PA, both in the State College area as well as the Cumberland Valley area west of Harrisburg. We have more than a few world-class streams and many more that are just shy of that. I strongly suggest you pick up "Trout Streams of Pennsylvania" by Dwight Landis. My copy is always in my truck and is dog-eared and well-used!
 
Try Nashiminy off of York road area. Tyler Park is heavly fished.
 
Again, thank you all very much for the help. My interest in the Delaware couldn't be higher now. I am going to get on that starting Monday morning if the weather is ok.

I'll also make sure to hit the Neshaminy near York rd after work (likely tomorrow).

Ryan, I bought the book by Landis on Amazon before I even got here! I def. like it so far.
 
If you want to fish the Delaware River at Scudders Falls there is a boat ramp and parking area. You can wade into the river right at the boat ramp, water is pretty shallow. As for technique, I was always successful with the method you employed, down stream swing with a woolly bugger in faster riffles
 
btw, what size leader and tippet does everyone use for SMB?
 
I use a generic 9' 4x taped leader for smb.
 
hey Chris2P - is the ramp that you're talking about on the PA or NJ side? google maps shows what may be that ramp on the NJ side...but just want to make sure.

I haven't done a whole lot of SMB fishing in Delaware (only in the upper Allegheny on the western side of the state) - but I just got a hold of a nice 8wt. and would like to give it a try.
 
Bulls Island area would be my choice. You can also think about Allentown and the LL for wild trout. Stream is spring fed and water temps should still be ok this year. (I've been wet wading on the LL where I was in 60 or colder water and the air temp was in the 90s.)

You may also be interested in BCTU.

http://www.buckstu.org/

This group is very active in local stream conservation. One of the pending projects is in central Bucks not too far from you.
 
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