Pine creek

marcq

marcq

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Joined
Apr 21, 2009
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Heading to pine creek the last weekend of June. Staying at pettecoat junction. Wonder if trout would still be an around in pine or will the stream be to warm and better off fishing for smallmouth. Second flues you pack?

Thanks marc
 
Not sure about this year but in years past the section of Pine in the area of that campground gets warm pretty quickly. It’s low, slow, flat and missing good tree cover
 
marcq said:
Heading to pine creek the last weekend of June. Staying at pettecoat junction. Wonder if trout would still be an around in pine or will the stream be to warm and better off fishing for smallmouth. Second flues you pack?

Thanks marc
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Dear marcq,

Air temps and precipitation will be the determining factors. Depending on how both play out it's possible you can trout fish in the mornings and evenings and smallie fish during the day.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
 
TimMurphy said:
Dear marcq,

Air temps and precipitation will be the determining factors. Depending on how both play out it's possible you can trout fish in the mornings and evenings and smallie fish during the day.

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂
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This. Possible some years, but most years, the Trout are in the tribs by then, or stacked at the trib mouths in thermal refuge mode. (Don’t fish for them in that scenario.)

Take a rod either way. The Smallie action will be good if it’s too warm for Trout.
 
Just spent the last 3 days in the valley upstream of Waterville. We fished at Ross Run in the mornings and Little Pine above the lake. Big creek was approaching 68 and rising in the mornings, and little creek cooling down from 67 in the evenings. It will likely reach 70+ in a couple weeks, but the feeders should be colder.
 
lycoflyfisher said:
It will probably hit 70 in the next few days with upper 80s and 90 air temps. If your fishing pine or anyother bigger stocked water, time to start filling the freezer.
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And there is nothing wrong with fishing the mouths of tribs for congregated stocked trout. The vast majority are going to die anyway due to competition for food and space, stressful temps, energy loss to poor positioning within the hierarchy, and predation. Harvest gives a few of the remaining fish a better chance of survival but it’s a pipe dream to think that not harvesting state stocked fish is going to do anything truly positive for a warm stream fishery.
 
Mike said:
And there is nothing wrong with fishing the mouths of tribs for congregated stocked trout. The vast majority are going to die anyway due to competition for food and space, stressful temps, energy loss to poor positioning within the hierarchy, and predation. Harvest gives a few of the remaining fish a better chance of survival but it’s a pipe dream to think that not harvesting state stocked fish is going to do anything truly positive for a warm stream fishery.
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About 20 years ago, while staying at Petticoat Junction, I saw many dozens of stocked trout a few pools up into Cedar Run. There was a dead rainbow that was north of 2 feet long and fat. Aside from the stockers dying without being harvested, they put additional stress on the wild population. Limit out!
 
Caught a good bit of trout with my family in about 2 hrs of fishing Pine this evening, except my wife, she was the chub master.

Nice bow my son caught

IMG_20260612_221128.jpg
 
Was camping with my family a few days at black walnut bottom. Temps are getting way too warm for trout. They were actively feeding thursday night after thunderstorms, lots of surface activity Friday am until about 10. Watched some flyfisherman fish the evening and again this morning. They took way too long bringing in a couple trout and spent a long time trying to revive fish. Within 5 minutes both times an eagle came down a hundred yards below them and picked up a trout.
 
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Smart birds. Yeah, if you catch them now, probably best to plan on harvesting them.
 
sandflyx said:
upper pine is nice shape and cool 67 degrees during the day. rain has kept the creek in good shape
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The rain has helped a lot, but in fairness, 67 is too warm for catch and release for anything other than maybe Browns. I know that 67 is the line that gets repeated again and again, but there's a good bit of evidence that Brookies need it a good bit cooler than that for release and that even Rainbows can't take it. Browns a bit more resistant to those temps, but I really think most people would be wise to find something else to do when their water temp hits 64 or 65.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
Like fry or grill a field possession limit of stocked trout?
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Yeah, if you eat them and you're on a stocked trout stream, that's entirely different. I don't eat them and fish far more frequently on wild trout streams, so I tend to be pretty careful about such things.
 
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