Little Pine Creek DHALO, Lycoming Co, 6-10-22

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Jul 7, 2015
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Butler Co home, Forest Co camp
Time Fished: 330pm - 530pm
Weather Conditions: 74 Sunny, partial shade on water
Water Conditions: 60 degrees crystal clear
Insects: para, iso cases

I headed over to the Pine Creek valley to try to meet up with some friends. We had not made firm plans so I took a shot in the dark. When they weren’t at camp I decided to fish Little Pine for my first time ever.

I went upstream of the state park but it was still within the DHALO boundaries. It’s not your typical freestone stream. The stream bottom was a mixture of typical freestone rock covering 40% of the river bed and while the rest was a geological formation like none I had ever seen. At times the rock was deep red like clay and other times it looked gray like shale. Very unique.

The stream was crystal clear and dead. The water was very fast so I tied on a Humpy, just to search the water for an aggressive fish. I worked through 3 holes with no luck, but I did see a rise which gave me hope. Pretty much if a fish rose, it could be caught. I hooked 80% of the fish that rose. Two of three fish I caught were between 15”-18”. There were many big fish in this section and the clear water left no doubt what lived there.

I seemed to have chosen a decent section but I really have no idea. My goal was to be outside of the state park boundaries since angler pressure would be lower. I will have to return when conditions are better. A hatch here would be interesting with all of those big fish.

A short distance below me a hen turkey flew across the stream and began to yelp. Not sure why. Maybe to reunite with her poults she had to leave earlier.
 

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Very nice! I used to camp and fish there prior to the extension of the special regs section. Haven’t been up there for quite a few years. It always had dependable hatches the last two weeks of May when I would go there.
 
Sounds like you were close to our favorite places... Upstream of the slow water going into the lake... past the stone bridge foundation... at the clay bank across from the gun range... and continuing upstream...
I think the DHALO continues up toward English Center from there but we never went that far.
We weren't able to make it this year so far and the water's getting warmer.
 
Thanks for the report. I have not been there in close to 40 years, I bet, but I have fond memories as a teen fishing the plentiful hatches. I heard storms took a toll, as they have on many a crick. We used to tube in the summers from English Center to the slow water backing up from the lake.
 
Do they still have the upper end of the delayed harvest area posted? I know a few weeks back they had that whole section where you drive back the field posted and no more fishing. Something about someone stealing stuff out of a shed.
 
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