Lower Yough Advice

[silfeid]

So, long story short, I keep striking out on the Lower Yough. I've fished the river a number of times in the stretch between Bruner Run (whitewater take-out) and Bear Run, and although I've seen trout there before (including some sizeable ones), I've yet to catch any. Most days I go seem to be entirely fishless - not so much as the sight of a creek chub, let alone a bass, god forbid a trout. I fished it today without seeing so much as a minnow.

I'm a competent spin fisherman and a beginner fly fisherman. I've fished this stretch (sections of it, really) with both setups, in different seasons, and had similarly dismal results every time. I don't get why. Assuming that the water heats up moderately from Ohiopyle (last relevant USGS gauge), the temperature in this stretch should be just fine for trout until late summer, at which point it still remains survivable for brownies and rainbows, although they may not be feeding then.

My guide book ("Keystone Fly Fishing") says that they're in there. I know the water quality is good, the water temperature is good for 3/4+ of the year, and that an enormous number of fish are stocked upriver every year, with no barriers to downward movement (assuming they shoot right over the falls at Ohiopyle, which I'm sure they do). Beyond that, the stretch I'm talking about does not seem to see very much fishing pressure - it's fairly difficult to wade and navigate, and requires quite a bit of shoe leather to access, unless you make use of Stewarton Road, which it doesn't seem a ton of people are doing. Yet I keep fishing this stretch and not getting so much as a bite - not from even a creek chub. What gives?

I know that Laurel Run is acid mine compromised (it takes but a glance), but surely that trickle can't negate the rest of the river? Besides, I'm not faring any better upstream of it, and Bear Run's water is of excellent quality.

I doubt that my fly/lure choice has much to do with it, but for what it's worth, I tend to use spoons and rooster tails if spin fishing, and olive or black woolly buggers if fly fishing - doesn't seem much point to dry flies if no fish are rising.

I know that the Yough has a reputation on this site as a wily and enigmatic river, but if anyone has had good success on this section in the past, any advice would be much appreciate - I'm stymied and baffled.

 

[flyguyfishing]

“but if anyone has had good success on this section in the past, any advice would be much appreciate”

Then crickets chirping.

Exactly how I would have guessed this thread would progress.

 

[Bopper]

What time of day are you fishing? There are eagles there and the fish don't like to expose themselves in daylight.

 

[curtrein]

Hey Man:
I feel your pain and probably many on this forum have the same experience as you, hence the lack of response. I’ve only fished the lower Yough a handful of times over the last 20 years. Let me tell you this. That water is extremely cold and from my experience, these fish really don’t get more active until mid-April to May for me. Some of my best action where I caught a couple have been in early summer and early September. The Yough is a fickle lady. The water is cold, water looks awesome and we all know there are some monsters in there. You just gotta put your time in and hopefully you’ll eventually fish it a day that they are more generous. One tip I can attest to is to work bankside lanes pretty throughly before casting out farther into the river. I’ve spooked many a good fish holding tight to the banks where sometime there is an immediate 3-4ft drop off. Literally, the fish can be anywhere because of the classically good habitat. Just keep at it man. The Yough is very conservative with what fish she yields.

 

[dryflyguy]

I've fished most of the Youghiogheny between Connellsville and Confluence, accessing via the bike trail.
But have never tried the whitewater section - including where you're talking about - because I assume its mostly pocket water. And not worth much for dry fly fishing.
I do find nice pools on the other sections of there river that fit my style.

The flow is the key IMO.
I only fish if the CFS is under 1,000
Above that makes for tough and limited wading.
And I doubt that the fish would rise much in higher flows anyway

Also, the water temp can get over 70 degrees during summer down there.
So you need to pay attention to that too
But when everything is just right, it can be pretty good.

A question to the OP:
I've seen Stewarton road marked on most maps as leading down to the river.
But have never tried to go down there.
During a past Youghiogheny River thread, the subject of access came up.
And I asked if it was OK to drive down that road.
A person - who seemed to know what they were talking about - claimed that the road doesn't exist anymore.
Have been curious about it for awhile.......

 

[silfeid]

What time of day are you fishing? There are eagles there and the fish don't like to expose themselves in daylight.

I've been thinking about this a lot myself. I pretty much exclusively fish from 10am-dusk. The last few times I've been there, I've observed a handful of impressively large raptors circling, seemingly not vultures (no binoculars on me, usually, but the head shape seems that of a raptor). Unfortunately, the railroad side is in the full sun during the afternoon, and is less hemlocky and hence more exposed to the sun before bud-out, too. Although I've identified spots where I think I *could* wade across the river if I had to, I'm generally not too eager to try. Some of the GAP side is pretty heavily shaded during the afternoon, and it may well be that fish are clustering there...I'll be trying that side next. I'm also pretty tempted to target big brown trout in this stretch at night, but it's a pretty hairy endeavor to be wading around in that river in the nighttime.

 

[silfeid]

Hey Man:
I feel your pain and probably many on this forum have the same experience as you, hence the lack of response. I’ve only fished the lower Yough a handful of times over the last 20 years. Let me tell you this. That water is extremely cold and from my experience, these fish really don’t get more active until mid-April to May for me. Some of my best action where I caught a couple have been in early summer and early September. The Yough is a fickle lady. The water is cold, water looks awesome and we all know there are some monsters in there. You just gotta put your time in and hopefully you’ll eventually fish it a day that they are more generous. One tip I can attest to is to work bankside lanes pretty throughly before casting out farther into the river. I’ve spooked many a good fish holding tight to the banks where sometime there is an immediate 3-4ft drop off. Literally, the fish can be anywhere because of the classically good habitat. Just keep at it man. The Yough is very conservative with what fish she yields.

Thanks for this. I've spooked a fair number of smallies along the banks, and sometimes fish that I couldn't ID because of how quickly they flashed away...I really love this water, and I know the fish are there, so I intend to keep at it scientifically, keeping notes, and see what progress I can make.

 

[silfeid]

I've fished most of the Youghiogheny between Connellsville and Confluence, accessing via the bike trail.
But have never tried the whitewater section - including where you're talking about - because I assume its mostly pocket water. And not worth much for dry fly fishing.
I do find nice pools on the other sections of there river that fit my style.

The flow is the key IMO.
I only fish if the CFS is under 1,000
Above that makes for tough and limited wading.
And I doubt that the fish would rise much in higher flows anyway

Also, the water temp can get over 70 degrees during summer down there.
So you need to pay attention to that too
But when everything is just right, it can be pretty good.

A question to the OP:
I've seen Stewarton road marked on most maps as leading down to the river.
But have never tried to go down there.
During a past Youghiogheny River thread, the subject of access came up.
And I asked if it was OK to drive down that road.
A person - who seemed to know what they were talking about - claimed that the road doesn't exist anymore.
Have been curious about it for awhile.......

It's mostly pocket water, but some of the pools that follow the more intense rapids can be surprisingly deep and placid (relatively speaking). I've observed heat-stressed trout in those areas in late August, and...there were a lot of them, and some of them were pretty big. It was tantalizing.

The wading is somewhat limited, although there are sections that I think wade fairly well as long as you're not hoping to make it more than 1/3 of the way out (which usually suffices). I've been developing a technique where I stand on one of the large boulders lining the stream and use a side-armed approach, which seems to work surprisingly well.

I try to monitor the temperatures pretty well, and assuming about 1 degree of temperature gain per mile below Ohiopyle, then I'd say that the water stays "trouty" through the greater part of the year, although yeah, by late summer it's of course a bit too much for them. Doesn't explain the relative lack of success with smallies there, though (although the eagle/osprey factor mentioned above is worth considering...I'm wondering if a light drizzle of rain might not be the best weather for this stretch).

I initially wasn't sure about Stewarton Road myself, having only seen it on maps, and had just slogged it down the railroad tracks from Ohiopyle, but last summer a raft guide going by told me about it and said he parked there sometimes himself - I haven't had any problems so far. There are no posted signs, and although the area where you can park (room for maybe 4 cars at most) is clearly owned by the railroad, I get the impression that they tolerate responsible use from fishermen. No easy way down to the Yough as far as I can tell, though - I wouldn't recommend using Crooked Run unless you're pretty surefooted and light on your feet to boot.

 

[silfeid]

Thanks for the (belated) replies, fellas! I'll let you know what I can piece together - I intend to work this water pretty methodically over the next few months.

 

[flyguyfishing]

- I intend to work this water pretty methodically over the next few months.

Glad ya got some responses. I think you have a good plan. It might take longer than a couple months to figure out, but good luck. It is a beautiful area and there has to be some big trout in there.

 

[Arminacast]

I haven't fished that section for a couple of years, but my results have been similar. The few trout that I have caught, came on a heavily weighted woolly bugger. I believe that Stewarton road was the " take out " for the rafters before the Bruner run take out was established.

 

[dryflyguy]

I haven't fished that section for a couple of years, but my results have been similar. The few trout that I have caught, came on a heavily weighted woolly bugger. I believe that Stewarton road was the " take out " for the rafters before the Bruner run take out was established.

Speaking of Bruner Run take out, I've been thinking about starting a float trip there.
But not sure if its open to the public.
Several people have told me that the road to it is gated. And sometimes its open, sometimes its not.
Anybody know if it can be used as a public launch?

 

[silfeid]

So, I've been meaning to post a follow-up to this thread for some time now, and the dead of "winter" (these temperatures are nuts) is probably a good time to do it. I do want to say that if you're going to pay a visit to this stretch of water on the basis of this (not wholly unfavorable) report, please practice catch and release fishing on that day. No one's encouraged to share info on waters if it means they're likely to have a worse fishing experience as a result. Alright, enough with the holier-than-thou-ism.

There is clearly a healthy population of trout in the section of the river between say Jonathan Run and (presumably) Indian Creek, although I've only gone as far downstream as Workman Run. They're there, and they're a pretty good mix of stockies-of-the-year and larger holdover fish, based on size and coloration, and they're overwhelmingly rainbow trout, as far as I can tell.

That being said, the fish are fickle, and the terrain is rough - not for the faint-hearted or out-of-shape angler. Lots of rock hopping and scrambling, briars to wade through, at times the only going is through the river, etc. Not unmanageable, but don't expect an easy saunter along the river by any means. The scramble down from the GAP isn't necessarily easy in most places, and the scramble down from the RR tracks on the other side is generally much worse - quite steep. There are a lot of water snakes on this stretch of the river, and I've seen at least one rattlesnake - almost stepped on a smaller guy on the ascent back up to the tracks. So a lot of caution is required. Most of you probably expected all of that, but I think a disclaimer advisable all the same.

I didn't end up fishing the Yough at all until the end of June 2022, when water temperatures in that stretch of the river were in the higher range of what trout will tolerate, assuming a gain of a few degrees from the Ohiopyle gauge. A buddy and I fished the left bank (GAP side) of the river from Laurel Run (RR side) to Jonathan Run with spinning gear for about six hours and we caught 15-20 fish between us, all of them smallmouth bass, however - no sign of any trout. I saw some fishing rising at the tail end of the broad pool at the mouth of Jonathan Run in the late evening, and I suspect they may have been trout, but without a way to cast a dry fly I had no way to be sure (no showy rises and poor light).

I returned to this stretch of the river a few times over the summer, with water temperatures in a similar range at the Ohiopyle gauge, but although I landed decent numbers of smallmouth, I caught nary a trout here all summer. The size range of the smallies is considerable - little guys are abundant, but I've caught the occasional 12" fish in that stretch too.

I came back to this stretch of the Yough when water temperatures started to fall in early October, and although I didn't meet with any overwhelming degree of success, I did start catching some trout, almost exclusively rainbow trout, with a solitary brown, and no brookies, although they do stock them further up, at least most years. Generally I averaged about a fish an hour, which isn't great but is just enough to keep me going. Although I did occasionally catch small mouth bass at this time of year, they were few and far between, and exclusively in the 4-6" range. I caught all of my fish using streamers, either woolly worms, woolly buggers, or the near-nuff crayfish pattern, which latter I'd heartily recommend here and on the Casselman as well. There was one day in late October when I observed fish rising quite actively, but I couldn't discern any hatch, and there was a lot of debris (mostly leaves) in the water - I assume I'm wrong, but I kind of had the impression that the fish were confused by all the clutter and rising to non-food sources. Either that or they were rising to very tiny midges. Needless to say, everything subsurface was completely ignored that day, maddeningly.

I was struck by the seasonality/speciation pattern that I observed - it seems like once water temperatures get above 65 or so, the abundant smallmouth bass in the river really take over, and the bows sort of shut down, presumably becoming actively mostly in the very early morning, at dusk, and at night. Then once water temperatures fall below that point, the trout regain dominance in the river and are readier to fall prey to an angler - I actually noticed a spike in trout activity during the mid-afternoon in mid-October.

I'm still convinced that there are (very) large brown trout in this stretch of the river, given the relatively high (deep) average depth, but I didn't gather any evidence of their presence. Presumably such fish are active exclusively at dusk and during the night, as I gather to be typically the case. It's a pretty hairy area to be night fishing at all, and certainly far too dangerous to attempt alone, but I suspect a mouse lure on a night with a full moon might just land a trophy brown trout from this stretch of the river.

I'll be heading back to this area in the spring, probably from mid-April onwards, since in my experience the wild trout take a lot longer/need higher water temperatures to come out of their relative torpor than do stocked fish newly transplanted to a stream. Maybe I'll see you on the water.

 

[Bopper]

Speaking of Bruner Run take out, I've been thinking about starting a float trip there.
But not sure if its open to the public.
Several people have told me that the road to it is gated. And sometimes its open, sometimes its not.
Anybody know if it can be used as a public launch?

In years past the Bruner Run take takeout road has been open to public access during the rafting off season.

 

[dryflyguy]

In years past the Bruner Run take takeout road has been open to public access during the rafting off season.

And I'd guess the rafting season is from Memorial Day to Labor Day?

 

[silfeid]

And I'd guess the rafting season is from Memorial Day to Labor Day?

Rafting/kayaking season is basically anytime it's not winter, and maybe even then. I've never fished the section between Jonathan and Bruner Runs without encountering at least one person in a watercraft. It gets annoying, not so much because they might spook the fish (although they might), but because for each group of rafters, you are the one fisherman they will see all day, so they make a point of saying hello. Whereas I will see fifty rafts go by in that day, and I frankly just get tired of acknowledging them. If it's warm out, expect the rafting to be incessant.

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

You can try the Stream Reports Forum... There's one on there from last July.

https://www.paflyfish.com/threads/youghiogheny-river-westmoreland-county-7-16-2022.81223/post-912879

 

[krayfish2]

If you are looking to target the big "alpha" browns that you believe are there, try some of this:

Focus on the heads and tails of pools

Fish first or last light

Big fish typically eat BIG food. I know a spin guy that throws smithwick baits 5"-6". Don't be afraid to hurl some big flies. With the newer synthetic material, pike flies or streamer like D&D aren't too bad to cast

In a river like that, identify near bank cover (huge boulders) where soft water and faster water create a seam. That will give a big fish cover under the boulder without expending a lot of energy.... and.... there's a constant buffet line running right in front of him.

Crayfish are important to that river.

You may also find that big fish are eating less often due to the big meals they're having (8" chub or sucker) which will make them a tougher to target.

I think you're on the right track and will turn up an absolute monster if you stick with it.

 

[dryflyguy]

Silfeid -

I've caught trout in the Yough all the way down to Connellsville
I've found fish rising in many spots of that 27 mille stretch between there and the dam.
In my experience, almost all risers caught were trout.

 

[flyguyfishing]

Thanks for the update and good luck catching a whale.

As a kid/adolescent, we would stop in West Newton for shiners. An older gentlemen had a bait/tackle shop in his garage right on the Yough. He always said, “Hope you catch a whale.” We would fish the Yough or the Hutchinson pond (large mouth).

The sportsman club in West Newton would stock the Yough. We caught trout in Sutersville.