Help Blue Lining!

D

Dabandfly96

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Joined
Dec 1, 2023
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17
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West chester
Hi Everyone,

I’ve started venturing more towards blue lining recently. I’m from SEPA / West Chester Pa. And I haven’t been having much luck. Does anyone have tips? I’m really just trying to understand the process from start to finish.

What map should I be looking at? How do I know if there are brook trout even in there?

How do you navigate thick woods / do you stay in the water most of the time?

How do you pick a small tributary feeding into the bigger stream? Should it go uphill or downhill?

What flies do you guys usually throw? Natural or something enticing?

Also, tips on areas near me would be so greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Dab
 
The PFBC trout streams interactive map is a great place to start. I would filter for Class A and Natural Reproduction streams, and I also like to highlight state game lands, state parks, and state forests to see what falls on public lands.

For Class A streams, the map will specify brook or brown trout.

Most streams will have some trails, game trails or manmade, nearby. In northern and central PA I can often navigate easily outside of the stream bed. In the Poconos in NEPA the rhododendron makes that tough and I’m usually sticking to the stream channel.

There’s a lot of trial and error in this pursuit, that’s the fun of it! For flies, I like a general attractor like an elk hair caddis or foam beetle. Usually small mountain stream trout aren’t picky if conditions are good.

From WC, I’d recommend heading up towards the southern edge of the Poconos.

https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/733dd58067ab453f954aa78598ab5a01
 
The Class A streams list is where I'd concentrate my efforts. I used to try to find steams with the longest lenghts to make my efforts potentially more rewarding.
 
Adding to the great advice already given, if a Class-A or Nat'l repro stream from the list flows down from higher altitude, into a town/municipal drinking water reservoir, however small, that can be a sign of colder, higher quality water. Just make sure you are allowed to access said streams. If portions of them are upstream of the collection reservoirs on state game lands or state forest, you're set.

I know some don't like to share spots, which is fine, but it doesn't hurt to ask a friend either. I've only been on here officially for a little less than a year, but I have posted a few stream reports which invariably are smaller, blue line-type streams on public lands. Check them out, if interested, and find similar streams.

Joe
 
Ive got a couple spots marked in Lycoming county I plan to check out Sunday, overnight temps under 60
 
TCWNY said:
Ive got a couple spots marked in Lycoming county I plan to check out Sunday, overnight temps under 60
Click to expand...
A beautiful area of the state. Hoping for a cool summer with some precipitation, so the streams fish well this fall.
 
you can learn a lot very quickly from "The Orvis Guide to Small Stream Fly Fishing"... some used ones are $15 on amazon.
 
I had a go this afternoon in the laurel highlands. Conditions perfect - plenty of water but crystal clear. Nice and cold (the water). Beautiful afternoon. Not much in the way of fish though. They are so tiny in this stream - don’t know why. Seems there is good habitat. Enough action to be fun but it’s a fairly long hike in. 2nd try and I think I’ve decided the juice isn’t worth the squeeze on this one. I seem to find more and bigger brookies in streams that are more easily accessed and often also stocked around here - which really makes no sense but it’s what have found.
 
Kms has already done the heavy lifting a few posts below yours. Click on the map he created, and thank him later, lol.

Here is a link:
Map
 
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