Pine Creek near Slate Run, Lycoming Co.

[Phlipkid]

Spent Friday evening through Sunday AM fishing Pine Creek and Slate Run. The Friday evening hatch did not seem too impressive, but the fish were going bananas. I managed to land over 10 large browns on a small attractor in a run below Slate Run. the next day, I learned from a warden that the Slate Run Brown Trout Club stocks these huge brownies, so I stopped by and picked up a pin for $20. Best $20 I ever spent!!!

Saturday AM was more of the same with about 15 trout landed at the same run before it got too hot. Saturday afternoon, I headed up Slate Run to stay cool. Caught a few small brookies and browns and loved the valley breeze.

Saturday night was a repeat of Friday night. the downside was I decided to fish from the opposite side of the creek, and the casting and fly drift was more difficult. Still managed to land 6 or 7.

I checked the water temperature at the USGS gauge in Waterville this morning when I got back to civilization and noticed that the water is starting to get above 75 during the day now. What is going to happen to all of these fabulous trout with this section being regulated as catch and release? The water temp will be lethal within a couple of weeks.

 

[ryansheehan]

Alot will die, some will take up residence at the mouth of slate.

 

[Creekfisher]

I am with you on this. These are beautiful trout. I likely saw you there Saturday evening. I was just below the bridge.

 

[Phlipkid]

I was at Tomb Flats. which is a little further down.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

There are a lot of spring seeps coming into the bed of pine plus some will find their way up slate run or other tributaries. Alot die but I would bet that more survive than most people think.

 

[Dave_W]

lycoflyfisher wrote:
There are a lot of spring seeps coming into the bed of pine plus some will find their way up slate run or other tributaries. Alot die but I would bet that more survive than most people think.

I agree.

Pine can go over 80 degrees some summers and surveys suggest that trout vacate the river (or at least some sections) but with the tribs and seeps, I'd guess there is considerable survival. The mouth of Slate is one of the cold water refugia and trout stack up there around this time of year. There have been debates over the years over what measures, if any, might be implemented to protect these stacked up fish during summer.

 

[OldLefty]

Actually, temps have been taken at Waterville revealing 94 degrees during the summer in the past. You can figure that the temp at Slate Run area will be about 3 degrees lower than that recorded at the lower USGS site. Temps have already reached above 75 degrees up there and that's an indication that trout have had to seek out cold water refuges. We have had a lot of rain and now Pine is up and muddy...and cooler. It usually lasts but a short while at this time of year. Time will tell how many (or few) of those big trout survive.