Pine Creek Pennsylvania Fishing Report & Options for Selecting Flies: Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Freestone
Species
Brown Trout (Wild and stocked with
holdovers)
Brook Trout (native and stocked with
holdovers)
Rainbow Trout (stocked with some
holdovers in tributaries)
Size
Large
Location
Northcentral Pennsylvania
Nearest Town
Ansonia
Rexford
Season
Middle of April through February
Access:
Easy to Difficult
Non-Resident License
State of Pennsylvania
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Seasons:
The season is the standard Pennsylvania trout season.
Spring:
Springtime is the best time for fly fishing Pine Creek due to the hatches.
Summer:
Summertime can be okay if during the hottest days you fish a tributary stream
Fall:
Fall is the best time to catch the larger brown trout
Winter:
Wintertime can be tough and the water can even be frozen in places
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
4, 5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 to 12 ft., 5 or 6X Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Supreme Four, Superb Five
or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 4/5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Fly Fishing Pine Creek Pennsylvania
Pine Creek is one Pennsylvania stream that differs greatly from the typical one, if there’s such a thing as typical. First of all, it’s sixty miles long and has more tributary stream than any creek in the United States. I don’t really know that for a fact, but it has a lot of them. It can be as wide as 100 feet and even double that. It has riffles that are a mile long. It also has had some problems with some of its tributary stream, especially Babb Creek, which is thought to add some mine acid to the stream. It has a limestone grinder in it, to help with the acid problem.
The basic problem with Pine Creek is water temperature. It gets into the low seventies at certain times of the year and this is too warm to support trout. Most all of its numerous tributaries have cooler water and offer an alternative to fishing the main stem during hot weather. They also help keep the main stem cool. Without them, the stream would really have problems. Fly fishing Pine Creek in the hot part of the Summer just about dictates moving into one of these feeder streams.
Some Pennsylvania rivers should be called creeks and some creeks would be better described as a river. This is one of the later. It is a large as many rivers. Now that I have pointed out most of its negative points, let me give some good ones. It has a huge diversity and good quantities of aquatic insects. Above Galeton, Pine creek is about forty or fifty feet wide and the water is much cooler. It also has a good population of stream-bred brown and brook trout. It damed at Galeton and this contributes to the warm water problem below. At Ansonia, Pine Creek receives water from Marsh Creek and flows through a deep gorge or canyon that’s about 15 miles long. Below Slate Run, a tributary we have a complete section on, the stream has lots of riffles and provides some good trout fishing.
The first hatches of the year are usually the Little Black Early Stoneflies that hatch in March. There will also be some Little Brown Early Stoneflies. They hatch for about a month. Also in March, you will find the first Blue-winged Olives starting to hatch. The many different species will hatch off and on until early Fall. There will be a peak in the hatch again in June and then again in late September and October.
April starts the hatches of Blue Quills and Quill Gordons. The Quill Gordon hatch last for about a month but the Blue Quills can continue to come off for up to two months. The first three weeks of May, you will usually find the Hendricksons hatching. These include the Red Quill, of course. About the same time the American March Browns will begin to hatch. They will continue through the first week or two of June. Sulphurs will also start hatching about the middle of May. The hatch can last until the middle of June.
Light Cahills and Pale Evening Duns both start to hatch around the first of June and continue until the second week of July. You will also find the Slate Drakes starting to hatch about the first of June. This hatch can last for a long time but not in any large quantities. Tricos will hatch in July and last on into August. These are found in the slower to moderate water.
Caddisflies are also very plentiful. The most abundant species are the Spotted Sedges and Cinnamon Sedges. The different species start hatching around the first of May and continue until early Fall. Green Sedges are also found in the riffles and runs.
Terrestrial insects become important about the middle of June and remain a source of food for the trout through the month of September. Ants and beetles are the most plentiful but inch worms and grasshoppers can also be important.
Depending on when you fish Pine Creek and depending on exactly where you fish it, you may decide its the best stream in the state and you may well decide its the worst. These two things swing the success anglers have drastically. Fly fishing Pine Creek can be a real
challenge at times or it can be very easy to fish.