Little Schuylkill River, Schuylkill Co., 6/4/2016

[Berks]

Air: 73 -78F, cloudy to part sun, light wind
Water 67F (0930), 69F (1230)
Tamaqua gauge: 35cfs
Water: clear, ~3ft visibility
Hatches: caddis, few sulphurs, stonefly shucks on the rocks

Fished just up from Port Clinton from 9:30-12:30p. Saw two other gents on the water, one spin fishing and one cheering him on. This was my first time trying this area so I tied on my typical dry/dropper EHC over red copper John combo. Very few rising fish noted, landed one rainbow on the surface all others fell to the copper John. In all landed 12 with an even split between rainbows and browns. All looked healthy with some nice coloration on a few and several gave my 4wt a bit of a test. I was pleasantly surprised by the size, all in the 10-15” range. Also managed a few fallfish to close out the day.

I noticed several of the larger fish immediately headed straight for the exposed rocks after being hooked and tried head-butting the fly free from its mouth. Biggest fish of the day broke off after only a few seconds and my amateur-style moment of getting the excess fly-line mistakenly wrapped around the reel foot.

 

[Mike]

Berks:

Thanks for giving it a try. This is the stretch that I have been promoting, trying to get anglers interested in at least giving it a go. It seems that there is a little more activity there this year, which may have salvaged it from being removed from the stocking program. It is pretty water in places and there is a lot of room to fish. You may even occasionally catch a 9-11 inch wild brookie. One angler whom I interviewed suggested that the stretch where you fished reminded him of a stretch of big Pine that he fishes religiously when he heads up north.

 

[AndyP]

Hey Mike could you PM an access point ?

 

[afishinado]

Hey Andy, below is a water trail map listing all the parking and access areas available for West Branch, Little Skuke and the main stem all the way down to Reading.

If you can't find a place to fish on this stream/river you probably shouldn't be driving, or fishing for that matter.

Good luck.

Scroll down for map of the Skuke

 

[Mike]

The most obvious access points are immediately upstream from the main part of Port Clinton Village via the town road that parallels the Ltl Schuylkill. That easy access continues up to where the road meets RT 61. Trout are stocked from the mouth upstream for about 1.1 mi. The main Schuylkill in town also has trout from a rodeo as well as smallmouths. Fallfish are in both.

 

[Shaner]

Mike don't the fingerlings from Schuylkill River make it down there since your talking about stocked fish only?

 

[Mike]

Not really. That would be about 11 miles.

 

[mikesl]

Thanks for the report, have been meaning to get up there.

 

[Mike]

Shaner:
The portion of the main Schuylkill that still receives fingerling stockings extends from the confluence of Tumbling Run, just south of Pottsville, downstream to Rt 443 in Schuylkill Haven. Last week it received 6,000 Brown Trout fingerlings averaging about 3 inches long. That particular stretch has been stocked with fingerlings for over a decade, but that is not the stream that is the subject of this thread.

The subject stream of this thread is the Little Schuylkill, specifically in Port Clinton (along Rt 61 just above the Berks Co/Schuylkill Co line). In that stretch it is an adult trout stocked stream, receiving one inseason stocking and no preseason stocking. The pre and inseason fish are combined into one stocking. There are also occasional wild Brook Trout caught in that stretch due to the proximity to a number of small wild Brook Trout streams.

The reason for no preseason stocking is that the stream is generally very high and fast flowing on the opening weekend, which pushes anglers back against the trees, making it difficult to fish. I also suspect that such conditions on opening day might tend to some of stocked trout out of the Ltl Schuylkill into the main Schuylkill, as some of the habitat would not be great holding water under high flow conditions. Stocking inseason only is, therefore, adaptive management, putting fish "in front" of the anglers at a time when the river is most fishable, similar to the new delayed preseason stocking schedule followed for the first time this year in the Tully DH Area. We have been paying attention to the reported improved catches there.

 

[Shaner]

the web site states fingerling stocking Schuylkill River Headwaters downstream to T-837 Landingville. I know the post was about the "Little" but Port Clinton is where the LS meets the Main. I just didn't know if the fingerlings were known to move that far. I know rainbows tend to move far and browns tend to stay more put. Figured I would ask ;-)