Tobyhanna Creek Pennsylvania Fly 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)
Brook Trout (Wild)
and Stocked Trout
Size
Medium to Large
Location
Northeastern Pennsylvania
Nearest Towns
Tobyhanna
Scranton
Season
Year-round in the Delayed Harvest
Section
Access:
Fair
Non-Resident License
State of Pennsylvania
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Seasons:
The season is year-round in the delayed
harvest area but regular season rules of
mid April through February applies
elsewhere.
Spring:
Springtime is the best time to fish
Tobyhanna Creek.
Summer:
The fishing slows down some during the
hottest part of summer but still can be good.
Fall:
As you can see in the pictures, Autumn is a beautiful time to fish the stream.
Winter:
Fish can be caught during the winter and
can even be good on warm days.
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.
Options For Selecting Flies:
1. Email us (sales@perfectflystore.com)
with the dates you will be fishing this stream and we will send you a list of our fly suggestions. Please allow up to 24 hours for a response.
2. Call us 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide which flies you need
3. Email us (sales@perfectflystore.com)
with a budget for flies and we will select them to match the budget and get them to you in time for your fly fishing trip.
All orders are shipped free in the
U. S. Orders over $100 are shipped via Priority Mail.
Copyright 2016 James Marsh
Tobyhanna Creek is a Pocono Mountains trout stream that flows from Tobyhanna Lake. It is fairly large, averaging about forty to sixty feet wide. Much of the stream runs through state game lands. Above I-380, the stream consist mostly of pocket water. The elevation of the creek is fairly high in that location. it is high enough that Tobyhanna Lake freezes over in the Winter. The stream flows for about seven miles through State Game Land # 127 and under I-380.
There is a “Delayed Harvest – Artificial Lures Only” section, that’s one mile long that extends from the confluence of Still Swamp Run, downstream to the Pennsylvania Power service bridge. This area receives a fall stocking of trout. It requires a hike to get to this area of water.
The middle section of Tobyhanna can be accessed rather easily. Route 423 parallels the stream. On the east side of I-380, State Game Land #127 has several parking areas and a foot trail leads down to the stream.
Tobyhanna Creek Fly Fishing Guide:
Fly fishing Tobyhanna Creek in the stocked Delayed Harvest Area is one thing and catching the stream’s wild trout is another. Stocked trout are far less selective than stream born or holdover trout. You can get by with generic and non-specific imitations. Although catching trout on the dry fly is a lot of fun, you will probably do much better fishing nymphs. Strike indicators work fine in the stocked areas.
Even though the upper part of Tobyhanna Creek consist mostly of pocket water, the stream has lots of slow moving water and large pools in its middle and lower ends. Much of the stream flows very slow. The trout have ample time to examine your fly as well as they want to. This results is tough challenges at times.
Another problem with the stream is tannic acid. It is tea colored water. Don’t let this fool you though. When you fill a glass with its water and look at it in the light, it appears to be very clear. It affects the way the trout see your fly much less than you think.
It the upper part of the stream pocket water, we recommend that you fish the stream in an upstream direction using up and up and across presentations. Fish the current seams and lines of bubbles down the runs and riffles. When you are fishing the smooth water in the lower section of the stream, fish in a downstream direction making your presentations down and down and across. When you fish downstream, you will need to make longer cast and get the fly drifting drag free. Done in an ideal manner, the trout will see the fly before they can see the tippet and leader.
The DLH section can be accessed by taking a shorter hike or a longer ones. Most anglers take the easiest routes to the stream. Putting in some extra effort to reach areas that are not heavily fished can be rewarding.
Tobyhanna Creek Hatches and Trout Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in Tobyhanna Creek and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726.
The hatches are not huge or prolific on Tobyhanna like they are in most of Pennsylvania’s Spring Creeks, but they do have a fairly large diversity of aquatic insects. When something does hatch, you may find the trout keying in on the insects.
The first insects to hatch are the Little Winter Stoneflies. Little Browns and Little Blacks are common in the pocket water sections of the stream. Blue-winged Olives start hatching in late March and will hatch off and on until October. There are several species but none of them are huge hatches.
Blue Quills normally start hatching near the end of March. They are usually around for about a month. In April and early May, you may find a few March Browns in the faster sections of water.
Caddisflies are present, but not real abundant. The LIttle Black Caddis start hatching in mid April and hatch for about three weeks.
By May, Green Sedges make their appearance. These caddisflies can hatch for as long as three months but never in any large quantities.
Cinnamon Caddis are the most common caddisflies. They are more plentiful on the lower section of the stream. There is also some Little Brown Caddis that hatch in the slower sections of the water.
There is a Hendrickson hatch that occurs in late April and early May but again, it usually isn’t prolific. You can catch trout eating the emergers and the spinners late in the day near dark. Slate Drakes are another common mayfly but they never hatch in any large quantities. They do hatch off and on from June until near October. There are a few Light Cahills that hatch in June but in a very sparse manner.
Sculpin, baitfish and crayfish are present in the creek and provide food for the trout. Streamers that imitate these work well at times. Terrestrial insects, mainly beetles, grasshoppers and ants provide part of the food for the trout. Imitations of them work from late June until near the end of September.
We recommend our own “Perfect Flies”, not just because we sell them but also because they are the most realistic imitations of trout food you can purchase. They are also the most effective trout flies you can buy. They work far better than the typical flies especially in the slow water areas of the stream where the trout get a good look at your fly. We hope you will give them a try.
Fly Fishing Gear, Tackle and Trout Flies for Tobyhanna Creek Pennsylvania
Fly Line:
We are recommending a 4 weight, floating fly line as the lightest fly line you need. We
recommend a 5 weight, floating fly line for most of the fishing including dry flies and lighter nymphs and a 6 weight, fly floating fly line for heavier nymphs and streamers.
Leaders:
Leaders should range in sizes from a 0X for streamers up to a 6X for midges and small dry flies. Lengths ranging from seven and one-half feet, up to 12 feet in length are suggested.
Tippets:
Extra tippet material ranging from 0X to 6X should be available for the leaders we list above.
Fly Rods:
We recommend a fast action fly rod, nine feet in length for all three weights of fly lines.
Fly Reels:
The fly reels you use for the 4, 5 or 6 weight lines, if you choose to use them all, should be light and have good drags. You are subject to hook a large trout in Tobyhanna Creek and you don’t want to loose it because of a lousy drag.
Waders:
We recommend waders. There are few places you could fish without them. We prefer the
breathable type but you could use neoprene waders during the winter if you preferred.
Wading Boots:
We recommend felt soles for your wading boots. You may want to consider the new rubber sole boots that help prevent the spread of Didymo but we have not tested them on this stream.
Trout Flies:
You can get by with generic and non-specific imitations when you are fishing the newly stocked trout. For the holdover trout and wild trout, we recommend our own “Perfect Flies”. We havespecific imitations of all the major species of aquatic insects in all stages of life. We hope you will check them out. We have several regular customers who regularly fish Tobyhanna Creek.