Tionesta Creek, Forest Co, 5-24-19

[Prospector]

Time Fished: 7pm - 850pm

Weather Conditions: 65 degrees, Cloudy, no wind

Water Conditions: 60 degrees, slightly stained, 330 cfs (median for this date is 382) so it was a little lower than normal.

Insects: when I arrived size 16 Caddis were flying upstream in decent numbers (probably 3-10 always around you); I’ve seen much larger swarms. At dark I saw a few light colored mayflies hatch. The light was dim but I’d guess they were sulphurs. Only saw one rise

I started off swinging 2 wets. I hit a lot more dead water than normal, but when I was into fish they hit well. Overall the trout were undersized compared to the last several years but they were lively and some jumped multiple times.

There is a subtle turn in the creek and I was wading on the inside of the turn but I was getting many of my strikes on the far outside edge. I made 2 more passes with wets with no luck. Seemed like the bite stooped about 8pm when the water temp dipped below 60. To finish the night I changed to a streamer and couldn’t get a strike despite covering historically good streamer water. Ended up with 6 rainbows.

The no-see-ums took away some of the fun by being in full attack mode the darker it got. I thought I had sprayed well enough but they found the spots I missed.

There are going to be lots of kayak, canoes and tubers on the creek from 1030 am thru afternoon so be prepared to hop out when traffic becomes too steady to fish.

 

[Prospector]

I went back to Tionesta Creek for a while today 5-25-19 after morning turkey was a bust.

Time Fished: 830am - 1130am

Weather Conditions: 75 degrees, mostly cloudy that changed to sunny

Water Conditions: 56 degrees, flow was 326 cfs which is a little lower than normal; a little stained

Insects: Caddis began to appear around 10am but in small numbers; I noted about 25 rises with the most consistent fish coming up once every 5 minutes. The Caddis left when the clouds left.

First pass was with 3 wets. Bottom fly was BH Soft Hackle Pheasant Tail. I thought that was a good choice with all of the Tan Caddis last night, but no dice. Switched it out for BH olive wooly and immediately caught 2 rainbows. Sun came out and stayed and things pretty much
shutdown.

I tried a dry fly just to see how my new rod (9’ 6w) performed on a hookset. No takers so I still don’t know the answer.

I put on a streamer and broke it off in a fish on the second cast. A short time later I caught a nice brown. The rest of the morning I got a lot of practice casting far across the creek. If the cloud cover had stayed action would have been better.

Saw the eagle and a Red Fox along the creek. Now back to turkey.

 

[Prospector]

These were collected on 5/24/19. Note the dark bodied caddis was about twice as big as the tan bodied caddis. The wing color on both of these was similar to body color. I'd say the dark caddis was sz 16 and the tan was about a sz 20

 

[bhruz]

Thanks for the report, what's a good to starting point exploring Tionesta, never fished there, thanks.

 

[Prospector]

Bhruz,

I have a pretty extensive summary in the PA Fishing Traveller Forum about the Tionesta area. It covers not only the Tionesta Creek but other streams in about an hour radius. So check that out but excuse my typos.

To answer your question. I’d recommend fishing from Kelletville upstream . As you drive northeast toward Sheffield you will run across clusters of houses/camps that are essentially tiny named villages. Some of the better or most popular locations are Mayburg, Truemans, Lynch. Further upstream of Lynch I believe the water is a little cooler (not much) but it also is narrower and easier to fish. Any pulloffs below Henry’s Mill are decent. Further above some branches meet. The West Branch near Sheffield Park or the South Branch near Barnes stays a little cooler too. The West Branch probably fishes a little better. You will see some decent insects at times. If you get a chance to go be sure to provide a report. Enjoy!!

 

[bhruz]

great, thanks again.