Lower, Lower Yough River, Westmoreland County, 6/23/2013

[greenghost]

Wet waded near Smithton for bass on a hot steamy evening, air temperature 86. Water temperature in the mid-70s. Strong flow at about 950cfs. Excellent water clarity. Busy day on the river with rafts and canoes and inner tubes.

I worked along edges of deeper water near weed beds and between islands in the McKivens Archipelago with a white popper. Caught many bass mostly smallish 6 to 10 inches... one did push 15.

One surprise was a small hybrid striper, around 12", taken on a white bugger from a deeper slough in the middle of the river. I assume it either migrated up from the Mon or a local sportsmen's club has stocked the river? Has anybody heard about stockings of hybrids?

Although the fishing was constant, it seems the fish are smaller in this part of the river. Didn't really matter though, good day to be wet wading.

 

[JackM]

No mooneyes? I have caught a wide variety of ww fish in the Yough, but never a hybrid. The Mon has plenty, so it wouldn't surprise me if there were migrations.

 

[greenghost]

Mooneyes, Jack? I assume you mean this fish?

 

[JackM]

Those or goldeneyes can be found (rising) in Smithton and Dawson according to my samplings.

Old Stream Report

 

[snookpirate]

Nice report. I was just downstream around the bridge that afternoon. I had about the same results using big streamers/crayfish patterns but no hybrids or mooneyes. I don't believe I ever caught a hybrid in that area. I did surprisingly catch a nice 14in rainbow though. Took a H20 temp shortly after that and had a reading of around 80. Hot day but was nice getting out for a few hours.

 

[tomgamber]

Some friends of mine are catching many trouts under the 711 bridge right in Connellsville on flies. A few hours earlier and we may have caught a crime scene but they fish are there. Nice ones too,

 

[barbless]

fwiw, I read in A. J. McClane's Fishing Encyclopedia that hot-smoked goldeneye ('goldeye' is the spelling in the encyclopedia entry) was once famed as a gourmet delicacy back in the 1920s. It was a favorite of rich swells like President Woodrow Wilson and the Prince of Wales, and a specialty of the dining cars on Canadian railroad lines. Mooneye is supposed to be similar tasting when smoked.

The book says that the fish aren't all that tasty when prepared with standard cooking methods- apparently, the flesh is sort of mushy. But the hot-smoking process turns it into something exceptional.

 

[slumdumb]

tomgamber

Some friends of mine are catching many trouts under the 711 bridge right in Connellsville on flies. A few hours earlier and we may have caught a crime scene but they fish are there. Nice ones too,

Ask them if they'd be kind enough to clean them out of the eddies and from behind the rocks... they are pretty easy to spot, being they're are belly up

 

[tomgamber]

I didn't see any dead ones.