Relocating to Lewistown

[jeremymcon]

Any PAFFer's in the Lewistown/State College/Huntington area? I'll be relocating there for my job this coming week, and will be looking for places to fish!

I'm really excited about all of the great trout streams that will be within a relatively short drive from me. Not really sure which one I should start with. I fished Spring Creek near the fisherman's paradise area once when I was in college up there (on spinning gear), but haven't been back since, so I'm definitely going to try that area again at some point.

I've also heard good things about Fishing Creek, but never managed to get there.

Where should I start? What streams are closest to Lewistown?

Technically I should be using my next couple weeks off to study for a certification exam before I start my job, but I think I'll probably be able to find some time for fishing ;-) I have to keep my priorities straight, after all.

 

[mattwolf]

Jeremy,

Congrats on the new position and you are moving to a great area to fish. I am from Howard originally that is on the other side of two mountains from you. I have a great frined who lives just outside of Lewistown. He took me to fish Standing Stone Creek a few months back. There is also Kish Creek and Honey Creek. Honey Creek is a great little stream on the eastern end. Tough to access but an awesome wild brook trout stream. There is also a great little bar/restaurand near there called the Wilderness. The stream flows down through New Lancaster Valley I think. Once you get back in there you are only a few miles away from Penns Creek as well. Here is a link to a map provided by the PA Fish and Boat Commission http://fishandboat.com/specreg.htm Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

 

[jeremymcon]

Thanks, Matt! That sort of local info is just the sort of stuff I'm looking for. Also thanks for the tip on the bar - I'll be looking for one of those up there too. Lol.

 

[McSneek]

This is like walking into a Dairy Queen and asking where the ice cream is.

 

[JackM]

Good analogy.
Find water.
Fish.

 

[jeremymcon]

McSneek wrote:
This is like walking into a Dairy Queen and asking where the ice cream is.

Lol. I feel like I'm more like a kid walking into a dairy queen and having no idea what flavor blizzard to order because they all look good.

 

[JackM]

A terrible problem you have on your hands, eh?

 

[jeremymcon]

JackM wrote:
A terrible problem you have on your hands, eh?

Ha ha ha I guess I've dealt with worse ;-)

 

[dc410]

Good luck with your job relocation, Jeremy. Your fishing options are virtually endless in that area of the state. What an opportunity for a young guy like you. Get yourself some good Topo mapping software and start highlighting those blueliners as you explore them. Don't overlook the warmwater game either. The Juniata River is an awesome warmwater fishery which flows right through Lewistown. Good luck and keep us posted on how your doing.

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear Jeremy,

If I were you I'd make sure I spent some time at Raystown too.

You'll be close enough that it won't have to be a weekend affair. If you got a float tube or kayak I'll bet you could catch anything from stripers to trout in some of those coves depending on the time of day and the time of year that you get out. I'd definitely work on learning the lake if I lived that close.

Good luck with your new gig and have fun!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[jeremymcon]

I'll definitely be fishing the Juniata! I'll be living like 5 minutes from it. Plus my fiance's dad loves to take his bass boat out on the Juniata, so I'm sure he'll be around to do that. I've been talking to him about targeting the Muskie we've seen there while fishing it in Huntington. Lol. We'll see what happens.

I'm really excited about this move! I'll be working a real job too, so maybe I'll find some money to buy a kayak or something. I've been to raystown lake once, but never fished it because I never had time, and I felt like it wasn't the type of place I'd have luck at from the shore.

 

[Ebrant10]

My wifes brother on the left was with the kid on the right when he caught this, at raystown, from the shore. It was on corn, but dont underestimate shore fishing at raystown. Just thought i would share... 🙂 ohh it was 40" and 33lbs.

 

[teacreekfreak]

its mountain bike season for me now, but you dont have to go anywhere other than kish, honey and tea creek when during fly season. Tea Creek and the best part of Honey Creek are in Reedsville. 5 or 10 mins from lewistown. Honey creek fishes best from the cave (alexanders caverns) downstream and does hold some brookies in the headwaters in new lancaster valley like a previous poster added. All browns from the cave downstream. If those three get boring head to penns...which never gets boring. Outdoor recreation is endless here, thats why i stuck around.........oh yeah and the wilderness bar in new lancaster valley.... wing nite wednesdays and thursdays the best around, you can get clams and tacos on thursdays too, cheap booze, middle of nowhere too......Enjoy!!!

 

[lv2nymph]

I'm in Statecollege, right now I'm working like a madman but that will be done end of August. We should get out and do some fishin, I know a couple of places.

 

[jeremymcon]

teacreekfreak wrote:
its mountain bike season for me now, but you dont have to go anywhere other than kish, honey and tea creek when during fly season. Tea Creek and the best part of Honey Creek are in Reedsville. 5 or 10 mins from lewistown. Honey creek fishes best from the cave (alexanders caverns) downstream and does hold some brookies in the headwaters in new lancaster valley like a previous poster added. All browns from the cave downstream. If those three get boring head to penns...which never gets boring. Outdoor recreation is endless here, thats why i stuck around.........oh yeah and the wilderness bar in new lancaster valley.... wing nite wednesdays and thursdays the best around, you can get clams and tacos on thursdays too, cheap booze, middle of nowhere too......Enjoy!!!

Sweet! Tea creek must be good if you chose it as your username. Lol. I knew there was going to be a lot of great fishing in the area, but every time I hear more about it I just get more and more excited about the move. I'm definitely checking out the wilderness bar too.

@lv2nymph : when I get settled in in Lewistown I'll pm you, and we'll try to get out. I've told other people on the forum I'd fish with them before, but I really believe I'll have time now that school's over. Lol. We'll see.

 

[Fishidiot]

dc410 wrote:
The Juniata River is an awesome warmwater fishery which flows right through Lewistown.

+1!
The Juniata River is just a great place and fishes well around town. One of my favorite places to fish is right there in town. There's a boat ramp and places to wade as well.

 

[Chaz]

Look no further then Kish Creek Honey Creek and Treaster Run. Then branch out from there. Just about every blue line in that area holds trout year round.
Then there's the 'J.' One of my best fishing companions live in Lewistown, maybe he'll chime in.

 

[jeremymcon]

I took a day off from studying and unpacking on tuesday to go explore the area. I did a little more exploring than fishing, but did manage to catch a few fish! I fished a small section of tea creek around lunch time, but didn't catch anything. There were definitely lots of fish there, though. I guess I just need to figure out the stream. Then I went to spring creek, where I managed one brown trout (in the attached picture). I was throwing g all sorts of nymphs, and even a couple streamers at those fish, but what ended up working for me there was a green weenie!

After spring creek I fished honey creek for a little while, and managed to catch a couple 12-14 inch brown trout, and long-distance released a couple more!

Then in the evening I met up with a PAFF'er and fished a secret spot on the Juniata river (thanks timeregulator!). I caught the a pretty decent smallmouth (average sized, according to timeregulator, but pretty big in my eyes) on my first cast! After I learned a little about reading the water, and caught a few more bass, timeregulator proceeded to tell me that it wasn't a very good night for smallmouth. If that was a bad night I'm looking forward to a good one on the Juniata.

I need to tie some more big brown wooly buggers, and a bunch more green weenies before the next time I go out...

 

[Swattie87]

That's a great looking Brown. Funny it came on a GW, but hey, give em' what they want!

Lewistown is a good place to settle down if you're a fisherman. Not that I'm in a position to do it, but if I was, Mifflin County would be near tops on my list as a place to build a fishing cabin. Lots of public land with good, small freestoners, some good under the radar limestoners, 45 minutes or less to the big, famous limestoners, and probably the best WW river in the state right there. Plus I can be up there in about 90 minutes as opposed to the nearly 4 hours for the drive to Potter/Tioga...would get a lot more use out of it.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

I only fished Tea Creek once but the stretch we fished really reminded me of a local limestoner in Lebanon Co. It's a stream you fish, jeremy (we talked about it in PM about 2 weeks ago).

So I fished it the same way. Caddis with an olive scud dropped off (or maybe it was a tan scud). It produced well for me.