NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA FISHING REPORT

Transcription

1 NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA FISHING REPORT Published by Blackwolfe Communications LLC Issue: June 7, 2017 The NW PA Fishing Report is brought to you by: Fishing with Darl Black Guide Service Julie Como with Shenango Lake Hybrid Striper. We have learned that the S in Shenango also stands for Striper! The Landing Net by Darl Black Normally, I would be sad to see the month of May come to an end. Not this year I m pleased to see May in the rearview mirror. Normally May means extraordinary fishing for many species at area lakes, especially Pymatuning. But as many fishermen have remarked: it s been an odd, inconsistent, cold & windy and generally off year at several of our popular waters. Fortunately there have been some very good area fishing opportunities, too, helping to ease the bad bites. The past two week s bright spots in NW PA Fishing have been: Stripers at Shenango Lake; Smallmouth Bass at PIB; Smallmouth Bass in Allegheny River; Walleyes on Lake Erie; some exceptional size Crappies at Wilhelm. The 10 day forecast looks like an improvement less rain, more sun and warmer temps. Normally I would predict an improvement in catches, but I don t want to jinx the forecast.

2 The NW PA Fishing Report provides timely angling information for Crawford, Erie, Mercer, and Venango counties. Fishing comments and photos are offered by regional tackle shops and area anglers. The NW PA Fishing Report is based on experiences, observations and opinions of individual contributors; information sources are considered reliable but comments are not independently verified. In providing information or pictures, you are agreeing to your comments being edited for clarity and brevity, and posted to websites and distributed electronically. A Word About Prize Sponsors Gamma Fishing will continue to provide a spool of Gamma Line to one individual whose name is drawn from among contributors to the first NW PA Fishing Report of each month. Gamma Line: the best Polyflex (mono) and Fluorocarbon that an angler can buy. Angler Al at American First Aid will be giving away one pair of Radians Polarized Safety Glasses each month from June through November. These will be awarded to a contributor from the second Fishing Report of each month. Angler Al offers many safety-related products to accommodate your business, boats, trailers, vehicles and homes. I have a customized angler first aid kit from American First Aid in my boat. He provides on-site CPR first aid and AED training. For more information contact him at or at albell.of.afa@zoominternet.net. For all you old timers and newbies too, here is great news from Grubmaster John Galida of Butler. Remember all the fish you use to catch (and still do) with Galida s Grubz? Wondered what happened to Galida s Grubz? They re back! John had a new mold built for that wonderful ribbed Grubz still a four-inch bait but with deeper cut ribs, which John says is the secret to the bait s success. Many anglers believe ribs send out vibrations which are like ringing the dinner bell, and when fish grab a Grubz, they hold onto it because the texture of the ribs make it feel more alive. Grubz are being offered in 8 colors, including the famous New mold Grubmaster Galida Smoke. You can find more information about Galida s Grubz on Facebook and on the web at Galida s Grubz are for sale at one of our cooperating tackle shops CDS in Grove City. Between June and November, one contributor from each of the Fishing Reports will win a bag of Galida Grubz the only lure you need to catch a fish in spring, summer or fall!

3 So everyone is up to speed on how the prize drawing works I pull names from among all those who contributed to a particular issue of the NW PA Fishing Report. The names are posted on the GAMMA Tip Page. In order to claim the prize, the individual MUST send an to darlblack@windstream.net stating they saw their name as a winner, and provide a mailing address for me to send the prize. If you don t contact me before the next Fishing Report, the prize goes back into the hopper. I do not send out a prize unless you see your name and contact me. Remember to check the GAMMA Tip page to see if you are a winner! County by County Reports FRENCH CREEK flowing through all four counties Matt Watson (Franklin); filed 6-4: Fishing has still been spotty this last month. I ended up the month of May with 16 walleyes, 18 bass, 2 pike and 3 flatheads. Twelve of the eyes were caught on French Creek between Franklin and Cochranton. Most of the bass were around two pounds, but several were close to 4 pounds. One pike was 24 inches and the other was 35 inches. (The bigger pike came from below the dam at Wilhelm.) Both pike hit a musky bucktail. Hopefully tings will pick up soon! CRAWFORD COUNTY Pymatuning Lake Richter s Bait & Tackle; filed 6-5: This has been a very frustrating spring of fishing on Pymatuning. Blame it on being windier than normal, water colder than normal, high/dirty water, too many weeds, too much baitfish all of those excuses or none of them. But the facts are walleyes are not being caught like every other year, and other species have been running hot and cold all through May. Some anglers are catching a few crappies, perch, and catfish, but walleyes are missing in action. Guys who really know what they are doing on walleyes are coming back empty handed or with maybe one walleye or two. The hottest bite right now is bluegills and there is a higher than usual number of muskies being reported. I am looking for a turn-around for other species in June. Jamestown Marina; filed 6-5: Fishing has been inconsistent. It was another slow weekend at the lake. A few crappies and some perch reported. Walleyes are missing from the equation in the lake. However, they are still catching some walleyes in the Shenango River below the dam early and late in the day. Here s what a Pymie walleye looks like! (Tanner

4 Duck-N- Drake; filed 6-5: Every time I think the weather is going to turn around and fish are going to turn on, I m let down by the reports that come back in. Seems when anglers start catching a few walleyes, the bite suddenly turns off. Mid-week had a couple guys in who were using leeches and getting some walleyes then this Saturday and Sunday, no reports of eyes. I ve got one report of crappies in 11 feet of water and another from a guy wading to catch crappies. Fish seem to be scattered and not where expected to be at this time of year been that way all month. It s more like luck stumbling into a few fish than actually catching by using past experience or knowledge. This has been an inconsistent spring. Gateway Bait; filed 6-5: Seems all my customers are struggling to catch fish. A handful of guys are catching bluegills and catfish right now, but beyond that it is pretty slow. What of walleyes? Maybe they are waiting for the Summer Solace later this month to start feeding. This has been an odd year so far. Poff s Place; filed 6-5: I m hearing from a couple customers that they are doing a little better on walleye over the weekend than the week before when they didn t catch a single walleye. Fish really seem to be scattered. It s hard to pattern anything; nothing is reliable. It seems like you need to be in the right place at the right time. Jim McClave (Andover); filed 6-5: Been catching a few fish at Pymie. Nothing to write home about. Crappie catch is down. And walleye are really tough to find. We have been catching some nice size gills lately on minnows and worms. And an occasional white bass and nice crappie or two now and then. Not as good as past years. PS: The carp are hitting minnows in the shallows! (See Photos) Jim McClave RJ Graham (Tionesta); filed 6-5: Largemouth bass are starting to hit the pads. About time! Ken Smith (Sharon); filed 6-4: - May 30: I fished Pymatuning with my brother Richard Smith. We boxed 19 crappies and over forty big bluegills. We used some hand tied jigs I made, tipped with them with waxworms and suspended below a bobber. (See photo) - June 4: I fished Pymatuning with Tim Oden of Farrell. He is a coach on the high school basketball staff. We hand-glided the Jamestown area in 13 feet of water near couple humps and weedlines. Bobby Garland Baby Shads were the bait of choice. We got rained on constantly but still managed to put 25 good size crappies in the cooler along with a nice channel cat. Fished until lightening chased us off the lake. Hear the crappie bite is heating up in the Stumps up North. (See photo) Richard Smith Tim Oden

5 Fishing with Darl Black; filed 6-2: Pymatuning crappie fishing continues to be lukewarm at best. The Memorial Day weekend storm brought exceptionally high and very dirty water to Pymatuning and problems for me in finding groups of active crappies during trips on June 1 and June 2 just picking up one here, one there. Fortunately, bedding bluegills came through for my guest on June 2. With full moon coming on June 9th and somewhat improved water conditions, I m expecting a better bite in deeper water next time out. ERIE COUNTY Lake Erie and Tributaries Erie Sports Store; filed 6-5: Jim Rzomp caught this 12-inch perch off Shades Beach in 40 of water. On this day about a week ago we caught 22 nice perch. That was one of the better perch days on Lake Erie in the last several weeks. Overall the bite has been very slow on both the East Side and the West Side of the Lake. The walleye fishing has been good. We caught 3 walleye and 3 catfish on Wednesday, May 31; we were drifting with willow leaf spinners and crawlers. The fish we caught were in 25 to 35 FOW. There have been good catches of walleyes reported anywhere from 10 to 50 FOW. Jim Rzomp Lake Erie Bait & Tackle; filed 6-5: Walleyes continue to be caught near shore, trolling plugs in the evening when the wind is favorable. The last two nights I have caught 5 keepers each evening plus several throwbacks by making trolling passes in 20 feet, feet and 8-10 feet. Best bite has been right at sunset. Next few days do not look favorable. I went to Elk Creek the other day, and there are still smallmouths in the stream; didn t see any on beds or even any old beds. Don t know if they spawned yet. I hear from customers that Presque Isle Bay is really hot on bass this year. Nothing to report on perch; too much wind. Poor Richards; filed 6-5: They are picking up walleyes west towards Virginia Beach and the state line in 25 to 40 feet. Perch are spotty in 30 to 45 feet. Schools are small and can easily be missed. On the East side, I hear perch are caught in 30 FOW off the Sunoco Crib. There are still some bass in Elk Creek. Elk Creek Sports; filed 6-5: Walleye fishing is not bad; eyes being caught in 25 to 30 feet of water along the entire West Side shoreline. Some limits being taken; lot of 15 to 17 fish, plus sublegal ones. Smallmouth bass are still in Elk Creek, and catfish are in lower Elk. Haven t

6 heard anything about perch. There has been too much wind for the perch anglers. You can troll for walleyes in 2 to 3 footers, but need calmer seas to fish for perch. Danny Erie Bass Charters; filed 6-5: Bass fishing in Presque Isle Bay has been phenomenal. I ve had multiple trips the past couple weeks and we ve caught a lot of smallmouths and largemouths. There s a little bit of everything happening right now with bass pre-spawn, spawn and post spawn. You can catch them on just about anything you throw from spinnerbait to drop-shot, they eat it. We still have some June dates open. Book today at eriebasscharters.com. (More photos in Livewell) Charles Bandurski; filed 6-3: I caught several smallmouths like the one pictured here in Misery Bay today. Exciting fishing! MERCER COUNTY Charles Bandurski CDS; filed 6-5: We ve had a good spring on fishing tackle. Seems lots of guys are fishing. Hear reports of trout still be caught in local streams. And the walleye bite at Erie must be good since we are sold out of deep-running Bandits, plus a big dent in Bomber Minnows, Storm Hotn-Tots, and Storm Thundersticks stocks. Lake Wilhelm Lake Wilhelm Marina; filed 6-5: We are running a summer-long fishing contest. The leader in crappie division right now is a 19-3/4 inch 3.5 pound crappie. We also had an 18 inch 3 pound crappie brought in. Haven t seen any walleyes, but anglers are making good catches of crappies and bluegills. Fergie s Bait; filed 6-5: Reports of panfish being caught from shore. But the best news is about a couple nice walleyes. One taken by Tom Degorio on June 2 near the dam and a six pound 26.5 inch one taken along the shore by Nick Sorg using an ice rod! (See Photos) Nick Sorg Tom Degorio Jamie Hughes; filed 6-4: The bite was very tough Friday at Wilhelm for bass; I only caught four keepers by flipping shallow grass around Launch 4. I used a beaver-style bait and ½-ounce pegged weight. Also I missed a couple on a Booyah Pad Crusher Frog. I focused on fishing near spawning bluegills; I saw lots of cruising post-spawn bass and fry guarders. I suspect they just came off the beds lots of empty nests. On a positive note, the summer bite is going to start heating up soon!

7 Angler Al (Franklin); filed 5-31: On Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I fished Wilhelm for walleye by trolling Hot-n-Tots for two hours. No walleyes. Sunday I returned with Mikey Galkowski; we tried crawler harnesses but no walleye. We did manage to catch lots of small crappies and one catfish by drifting in 15 feet of water using ants tipped with waxworms. Shenango Lake Mikey Galkowski 5 Points Country Store, filed 6-5: The word is the hybrid striper bite is on at Shenango, and some walleyes are being picked up, too. Crappies are running small; bite may improve once water level goes down. We have the hot lures for stripers and walleyes; stop by to check them out. Rick Como (Sharpsville); filed 6-5: It s been a tough past few weeks on Shenango due to the constant rain bringing water level up to 3.5 feet above normal. Fishing for stripers is still good early in the morning and late evening in a few spots around the lake. The walleye bite started to come on, and then the rains came. Crappies are still hitting well during the high water if you can locate the schools. White bass are beginning to show up in deep water now that the spawn run is winding down. The good news is the lake has dropped a couple feet in the last few days so hopefully the fishing will get back to normal pre-summer patterns if they keep the gates open at the dam to lower lake to summer pool. (See cover photo of Julie Como) Fish West PA; filed 6-3: We had fish turn on as tough as conditions are with high water and murkiness. Today the lake started dropping and we think that s when fish hit best. Today, Ace and I caught 7 good size hybrid stripers, 4 walleyes on spinnerbaits we were not even fishing for, a pike and several nice bass. Crappie bite was good until the storm on the 28 th raised the lake; tough to find crappies in the high, dirty water. (See Striper Photos in Livewell) Shenango Lake Largemouth Ken Smith (Sharon); filed 6-4: I fished Shenango Lake on May 27 with a couple vets. One, my brother Bill Smith, and the other was Tyrone Williams. It was a pleasure and honor to fish with them. The bite was good but the time shared was outstanding. We boated over 60 small crappies in 3.5 hours. Hang Glided brush in 12 feet of water with new jig bodies I obtained from a friend Greg Dudley through a custom pour company. A blue chartreuse body on a 1/16-oz head put a lot of fish in the boat. Another color called Nivana also worked well. As I write this report on June 4 th, the lake is high and muddy from all the rain we are getting. Hopefully it will get back to summer pool soon. Enjoy your fishing and be sure to thank a veteran for their service to our country.

8 VENANGO COUNTY Sugar Creek Angler Al (Franklin); filed 5-31: Sweet Sugar Creek came through for me in more than one way. It was lights out for trout, as I caught double digit rainbows and couple dandy browns. Then I found a pool of chubs and shiners caught bucket of them for bait over at Justus Lake. (See Photo) Sugar Creek Brown Justus Lake Angler Al; filed 5-31: I managed to find time to fish Justus Lake on Monday, slowly trolling live bait along the shoreline. Numerous legal size largemouth bass and smallmouth bass hit aggressively. Looking to return there on opening day of bass. (See photos in Livewell) Allegheny River RJ Graham (Tionesta); filed 6-5: The Allegheny River is on fire for smallies! All my fish have come on a jig with a small craw on the bass. Bass are moving to faster water but not all there yet. See picture of Jaden Haugh with respectable June smallmouth. Jaden Haugh Gene Winger (Oil City); filed 6-4: I m back on the river and having a blast! Week of May 22: I fished the Oil City Flats on Friday and Saturday, managing a few nice bass nothing huge. We were using Winco Solid Body River Darters and Swim Baits. May 29 to June 1: Denny Watson and I worked the river hard this week catching lots of bass. We found most in their usual spawning areas but also picking up large females still full of eggs. The females were hanging back in deeper water. Yes, the spawn is still on! Two of our favorite baits seemed to produce the most fish. Again, Winco 3.75 River Darter Swim Baits and 3 Tastee Tubes. As a bonus, I landed my biggest bass of the season on Thursday, weighing 4.5 Denny Watson pounds and measuring 20.5 inches. What a great week on the Allegheny River! (See Photos here and in Livewell) Keystone Connection Guide Service; filed 6-4: If smallmouth bass could sing, I suspect they d be belting out the Rolling Stones Classic I can t Get No Satisfaction. On four occasions this spring, Allegheny River smallies have moved toward spawning flats, creating beds in some instances, only to be driven off by high water. The last deluge was May 28, which raised the river six to seven feet. Happily it quickly fell this time, so I was able to resume guide trips within a

9 few days. Recent trips were producing lots of 14 to 17-inch smallmouth, with several in the 18 to 20-inch class. Winco Wacky Worms and Z-Man 2.75 Tubes getting most of the bites. Plenty of northern pike and walleyes in the mix, too. On a side note, we ve been catching quality-size smallmouths and largemouths at Keystone Power Dam, where I offer guide trips, too. (See photos here & in Livewell) Knapp s guests Josh and Linda on the Middle Allegheny Brandy Coxson Griffin s Bait & Tackle; filed 6-1: Brandy Coxson caught this 4 pound smallie while fishing the Allegheny River. (See photo above right) Livewell Overflow! Starts here: Memory: Throwback photo to 2016 Angler Al on Justus Lake Dale Clemmer s 46 musky from Justus Lake taken on white spinnerbait Tom Ference on Keystone Lake with J. Knapp

10 The Livewell Brought to you by: Wiegel Brothers Marine 704 ½ Elk Street Franklin, PA Phone NW PA home for G-3 Boats Gene Winger on the Allegheny G3 Aluminum Boats boat needed to catch fish like these in the LIVEWELL! Danny Jones on Presque Isle Bay Randy and Ace on Shenango River Lake

11 Black Knight Industries Oil City, PA You can find GAMMA LINE locally at the following tackle shops: Consumer Direct Sports (CDS) Grove City Outlet Mall, PA Griffins Bait & Tackle Cooperstown, PA Maurer s Trading Post Franklin, PA Robinson s Bait & Tackle Linesville, PA Jeff Knapp Gamma Guide Charles Bandurski is the winner of a spool of Gamma Line and Jamie Hughes is winner of pack of Galida s Grubz for this issue of the Fishing Report. Please your shipping address to Darl Black to claim your prize. Gamma Guide Tip from Pete SmalliesontheYough.com, river wade guide: Smallie fishing is starting to go full-swing on the Allegheny River now that fish are finishing up with the spawn. The bass are beginning to set up in their summer patterns, and with water temperature getting into the 70s, the bite should be great all day long. The mix of lures an angler can use increases with warmer water temps, including one of my old time favorites Rapala Floating Minnows. Going into summer, I experiment with different lures to see what smallies will go after. I had a day in June when I caught brown bass on every lure I was carrying on a wade-fish session. That was six different lures; so don t be afraid to try something new especially if your go-to lure is not producing. The water is generally clear (barring heavy rain) so I go with 6-pound Gamma Edge Fluorocarbon spooled on a Shimano Stradic 2500 reel paired with a G.Loomis E6X rod. Super strong 6-pound Edge will handle all my baits, and is invisible to bass. Keep an eye out for surface activity in quiet areas and cast to it. Also, look to current seams along slack water areas and in. Smooth flats, rock studded flows, up swells at head of riffles, tailing water below riffles, eddies and more - smallmouth can be anywhere in June Pete Cartwright. (Pete may be reached at smallmouthfish@yahoo.com for guide information.)