Lackawanna River (TT Section) Lackawanna County May 11, 2011

[salvelinusfontinalis]

It has been bothering me that the weather has been so nice lately but I have to work and when I dont.....it rains. So I took off work some this week and had the pleasure of fishing the Lackawanna River.

I started at the above pic which is just above the Winton Street Bridge in Archbald. Though Ive been fishing the river for years, its a large watershed with a ton of water and its hard to explore it all being the visitor I am. I decided to try some new areas.

I liked this section of River as it has a few really really deep pools and some nice runs. I fished from 7 am to 3 pm from Winton Street to the end of Robert Mellow Park. It was quite a venture to say the least. I was throwing heavy size 6 streamers with only one hit coming on the streamer. I was trying to target the larger fish but just couldn't get them to strike. I'm sure the bright sunlight did not help the venture at all. The good thing the Lack is at a fishable level and running fairly clear.

I talked with A&G Outfitters the other day and they told me its been looking good and fishing decent after all the flooding they have had. They told me swams of Caddis and midges but nothing on them, so fish streamers and nymphs in the seams. They were dead on.

After dedicating myself to streamer fishing so long I switched to nymphs (caddis and cranefly larva) and caught around 20 small fish.

Here is what they look like. I figure it was better than striking out.

Some more pics:
Lack trib

Mother Child River

Robert Mellow Park Footbridge

Just wanted to let anyone know that decides to fish this wonderful resource to becareful. This river is strong and a bear to wade. A few times I ended up swimming 🙂 but it felt good being it was 76+ out. I'm also fairly sun burnt today. The reflection of the sun off the river only made it worse. Also because of the strength of the water it will wear you down. After fishing Winton to end of Mellow I hit behind Schiffs @ 81, by the end of the day I was limping. Today I'm sore. The stream is strong and slippy. Just becareful.

Overall, good day to get out and it was beautiful.

P.S. Chaz if you read this....the stream we have talked about for sometime now is basically void of brookies. I talked to a few fly anglers on it in the last few hours of the evening. The browns have finally displaced them. It was apparent to because none were seen or landed in the 2 hours I was there. It has been getting worse each year and I think they have finally done it. Of course having 16-20" browns in that stream wont help either.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

A side note and it was just an observation. This river splits and makes islands fairly often. When it does....bam nice hole where the 2 meet. It was pretty cool.

Also:

These signs are at all the trail heads. What Ive noticed is the lack of any TT reg marker. Obviously, you cant post the whole river. It would take a millions of signs to do that. Maybe some at these trail head areas would be nice.

There was a kid just above Depot Street fishing w/ bait. I informed him of the regs and he seemed bummed. It was obvious he had no idea. I told him from below Depot Street to the Mellow Park foot bridge was open to bait. He was thankful and moved on.

Stream should be better marked. I would think at each bridge but the trail heads would be a start. For anyone planning on going but that do not know:

Lackawanna River – 5.2 miles; from the Gilmartin Street Bridge in Archbald downstream to the Lackawanna Avenue Bridge (SR 0347) in Olyphant. Excepted is a mid-section area extending 0.7 mile from the Depot Street Bridge in Jessup downstream to the foot bridge in Robert Mellow Park

 

[AndyP]

As usual a very nice report Sal. I'd like to take a run up there on a cloudy day in June. BTW, that little girl of yours is growing up ! I have a 3 year old son and it's a lot of fun.

 

[henrydavid]

Nice photos, I fished the Lackawanna once last year and caught small browns as well. What size were they and I assume their wild?

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

She is getting so big so fast! Its amazing really.

The browns averaged 7-10" and yes they are wild. They get much much bigger though and if I was you (living in Luzerne County) I would be fishing it more than once a year. I do and I live in Lancaster ;-) though not for much longer :-D

 

[RyanR]

The running joke amongst some local business owners, as we've been told, is that nobody that lives there fishes it but everybody else comes to fish it.

 

[albud1962]

Wonderful post Sal. Thanks for sharing your fishing experience.

 

[wgmiller]

Does this mean you're making your trek north Sal?

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Yes it does.

Its been frustrating. Everytime we have tried for years, something happens that delays us. This year we are bound and determined to make it happen. It will happen this time damn it!