Camping and fishing trip ideas Central/N.Central PA

[tailingloop]

I'm taking my 3 year old son camping for 4 days at the end of July. We are going to spend 2 days at Promised Land SP lake fishing, and the next 2 nights I have yet to determine where we are going. I'd like to take him to some easily accessible brookie creeks somewhere in Central Pa. He gets around pretty good with me locally as I have been taking him fly. fishing with me since he started walking. I was thinking of reserving a campsite at Poe paddy SP, Hyner Run Sp, Bald Eagle SP or maybe Little Pine SP. I have never been to any of these parks before and was wondering if anyone had any insight, tips or reccomendations for me. Open to suggestions, PM me if you must... My son can't bushwhack miles up a creek but I was thinking about car hopping some holes and such. Thanks!

 

[henrydavid]

Be prepared for heavy crowds at Promised Land State Park if you're going on a weekend. Although it's not brookie fishing Peck's Pond is very close by and offers excellent small and largemouth bass and pickerel fishing and 2 boat launches.

Egypt Meadow and Bruce Lake are nice hike in lakes, both very scenic and decent fishing. Egypt Meadow is a short walk, Bruce is over a mile each way.

If you don't have a boat be prepared to pay New York style rates for boat rentals, especially at Promised Land Park.

The trout streams are likely to be low with warm water temps by that time of the season.

If you fish Promised Land Lower Lake try some poppers or dry flies by the pads, both the Lower & Upper Lake have panfish enhancement regulations and the gills get pretty big.

 

[gfoledc]

pm sent

 

[bikerfish]

little pine is nice, English run flows past the campground and has brookies in it.
lyman run st park might be good, lyman run has some nice fish and is a pretty easy walk.
hyner run has camping along the stream, and I've caught fish there in the past, but I haven't been there in a few years so I don't know how it's been fishing, but the campground is nice, with a fairly new shower building, and I also think they have a swimming pool.
another option is sizerville st park near emporium, stream runs right past the campground, a short walk and you can find some fish.

 

[sipe]

I enjoyed Big Poe creek which flows through Poe Paddy. We ere there last week and had no trouble getting both stocked and wild browns (mostly wild) to hit big attractor Wulff style dries and also many hit a very small pink San Juan worm (3/4" total length). Beautiful stream with Penns as an option if water temps are ok.

 

[Chaz]

A 3 year old, on a trout stream, seems a bit young. I understand what you want to do is get him started, but having a son myself and knowing what the attention span is of young kids, well...

 

[JackM]

Funny to read Chaz' comments, because my boy didn't start enjoying FFing until I got him on brookies on a small creek, It was easier for him to get a cast/drift and the fish were aggressive and not drag-shy. In fairness, he was about 8 year old at the time, but the same priciple may apply.

 

[tailingloop]

Thanks for the help everyone. I think I'm leaning towards little pine so we can fish the lake or the creeks that surround the park. As far as taking a 3 year old to a trout stream, I can say it requires a lot of patience on my end. My son loves it though. Wether playing in the water, flipping rocks or trying to fish, he is just happy to be out with his dad on the water. My wife says I created a fish monster! Here is a pic of him from right before his second birthday...

 

[NedZeppelin]

Future forum poster!

 

[pcray1231]

Poe Paddy is a wonderful CG, one of my favorites. Nice, pleasant, wooded location. Not overrun with RV's like many CG's. Just a nice place to tent and hike. Location right on Penns.

However, it's rather isolated. You have Big Poe, which is stocked and has a few natives, but will be a little warm in August (comes out of a lake). Little Poe has lots of tiny brookies. Swift Run has a few brookies but isn't that good. Other than that, it's a LONG drive to anywhere else to fish, even other tribs of Penns.

The other I'll mention, that always gets overlooked, is Cherry Springs SP. There are a ridiculous number of public brookie streams nearby. And it's a dark sky park, darkest skies east of the Mississippi. So it's popular with star-gazers, which could be cool for your son to see a sky like THAT. One side of the road is the observing field. No fires, lights must be red filtered, etc. The other side is the campground, where you can make fires and use flashlights. There's always a few night trippers on the observing field, but the campground is usually empty or close to it. Just make sure to avoid the star party weekends. Think they'res 2 per year. They're always on new moon weekends so if you avoid those you are good. The E. Branch is a good stream to car hop holes.

I much prefer that for the NC region, better than places like Ole Bull and such.