Neshannock Creek (Keystone Select Section) - Lawrence County - 3/19/2016

PocketWater

PocketWater

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Time: 8:30am-12pm
Weather: Overcast
Air temp: low 30's to low 40's
Water temp: mid 40's
Water color: Some color to the water, not great visibility

Upon entering the town of Volant at 8:30 I immediately saw about a dozen fly fishermen standing in the creek near the fly shop. Couldn't of been more than 50' apart. I drove to the lot near the rail cars and there was 8 or 10 vehicles parked there. I geared up and headed downstream on the trail that parallels the creek.

After walking the converted railroad bed trail for a little over half a mile, I found a suitable section of stream where there was some distance between me and a group of fishermen upstream roughly 75 yards or 100 yards. They all seemed to be targeting a deeper section of water. Not knowing this stream well, I started fishing a cutout near some large trees right along the bank, where the current had eroded the bank near their roots. There was plenty of water there so I spent a solid hour drifting nymphs in this hole.

The group upstream hooked into at least 3 large trout that I witnessed. I caught a few fall fish, and managed to bring one 10" brown trout to hand.

Soon after I had arrived, a guy hopped in the stream below me so I had people on either side of me at this point so I couldn't easily fish up or down the creek. Soon after that guy arrived, more and more arrived. In the 2.5 hours I fished the stream became packed and I soon felt like I was on an Erie tributary. There were people entering the stream 15' from where you are casting, people walking 20' behind you as you back cast and had to watch out for them. One father and son stopped 20' behind me and the father started explaining to his son how to fly fish as I was trying to not drill them with a weighted streamer. It really just turned into circus so I decided to go investigate a couple wild trout streams I had wanted to do some recon on.

When I got back to my vehicle, the parking lot by the rail cars had, I'd guess, 50 cars in it. Between those 50 cars and the large amount right by the fly shop, a very cold Saturday in March looked like it was opening day of trout.

I'm sure for some folks hooking into one 20" trout will make their whole fishing season, but I think I'll pass on fishing Neshannock for a while. I liked it when it was DHALO because it was a large creek with plenty of room to get away from people but it is no longer that.
 
Sounds like a great time! Guess the PAF&BC would be happy with this report. #utilization
 
If the fisherpeople are on the Keystone Selection Sections, it means they aren't somewhere else 🙂 Plenty more unpopulated water to fish in the Commonwealth...
 
Absolutely Salmonoid. I tried not to sound too down on it or anything. To each their own. It certainly has created a lot of interest and excitement and has gotten people out fishing. I, myself, had a much better time in the afternoon chasing natives on small water and not seeing another person.
 
50 cars when you left... Sounds like a lot of license sales!!! Nice report, and at least you made a little chicken salad out of the event. I'm sure this mentality will wear down and there will be plenty of fish left in Neshannock by late May through June with a little more solitude. Maybe wishful thinking, but you never know.
 
I have only been to Neshannock a couple other times 3wt7X. I went there Saturday because my buddy had never been fly fishing and I remembered Neshannock as being rather wide without much in the way for casting. He got to cast the rod a little bit and started to get the hang of it before the troops stormed the beaches. He landed a few fall fish which was pretty funny to see.

After we left there we made a stop at North Country Brewery which is a fantastic place to eat some lunch and have a couple great brews. We even saw a beauty of a ringneck in a field right along the road, standing there with a female pheasant. Looked like we interupted a date of some sort.
 
Jeeze. And I thought Neshannock was a circus before....
 
These Keystone Select waters are modeled after Pine Creek, correct? I don't find it at all surprising that angler usage seems to duplicate what is seen in the Slate Run area.
 
My guess is that for the people really interested in hooking a 20" stockie, crowded waters aren't all that bothersome. Similar to steelhead mentality.

I think it was a shrewd move by PF&BC. And look forward to the possibility of less crowded waters elsewhere.
 
You can almost always avoid crowds by arriving at a stream, lake, or river at first light or better yet arrive at your fishing hole at first light, meaning that if there is a half mile to walk, do so in the dark. This is SOP for the most consistently successful anglers I have met. They arrive early and have caught the majority of their catch before many anglers are out of bed or away from the breakfast table. Their early catches are not always good, but the percentages are with them.

While I would not have called the Middle Branch of White Clay crowded, a Keystone Select stream, it may take a shift in typical fishing times to be able to cover more water if and when crowds develop. On the day that I was there a little walking and leap frogging around angler occupied holes could have kept an angler fishing new spots throughout the day.
 
I fished the Neshannock yesterday for a few hours in the afternoon. This place is always crowded, especially before the opening day of trout and after the Fall stocking. I would say, for a Thursday afternoon, it was at least 50% more crowded. I started behind the shop then went to the covered bridge. Saw a bunch of big fish in the water and most people I talked to had been there at least once before since the stocking. One guy said he landed an 8lber which I tried not to laugh, but had a few people talk about the many big fish they caught or saw. So in the eyes of the PFBC it looks like a success. I look forward to fishing a few times over some bugs and having some big fish available. There always is some with the lunker stocking but looks like there's 2-3 times that amount of big fish due to the Keystone stockings.
 
Interesting report. Will also be interesting to see if this level of angler interest continues into trout season and into the summer harvest period.

Although still too early to tell, from what we're hearing, I'd guess this program to be pretty popular. Whether it is selling more licenses may be tougher to measure. . . but new initiatives are worth trying and this one seems to be having a positive impact for both those who want to catch big stocked trout and for those who are happy to see fewer anglers elsewhere.
 
More interesting to me will be the angler dynamic when the harvest period begins. Will it be "opening day-esque" or just another C&R weekend on the Nock?
 
My guess is it will be business as usual when harvest begins. Maybe a few more people here and there but the excitement of trout season ends for most people on Monday after opening day. The meat hunters have their freezers filled and they won't be coming out a few months later to fill them again in a place that they typically don't go to.
 
I agree with ryguyfi. While there's more people fishing Neshannock this year, the angler breakdown(gear used, do they look like the harvest type, etc....) seems to be about normal for Neshannock for this time of year. If the freezer filler type aren't fishing Neshannock now, they likely won't flock there come June.

Now the old proposal(that didn't pass) to move up the harvest date to sometime in May and allowing bait would have hurt that section of Neshannock in my opinion, mostly because of the hype and publicity that would come with the reg change...

Maybe the stocking of bigger fish will bring more attention to DHALO regs, and maybe more people will then "discover" the harvest date if they weren't already familiar with those regs and Neshannock Creek, but I don't really think the freezer fillers will bother with that part of Neshannock.
 
I wonder how long those pig-sized trout will actually live in that stream. Given my experience with big stockies, I could imagine they will get hooked several times and many will go belly-up.

Syl
 
That combined with the herons, eagles, ospreys and amish, they could get plucked out pretty good...
 
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