Pennsylvania's 2006 Fishing Calendar

October 05, 2010

Planning your 2006 fishing vacation getaways? Here's a sampling of 36 great trips to get you started. (February 2006)

By Mike Bleech

Pack your fishing tackle and charge the battery for your electric motor. Don't forget your waders. It's already time to start planning a year of great fishing in Pennsylvania.

Opportunities range from panfish through the ice to smallmouths, northern pike, muskies, walleyes, trout and catfish. There are more opportunities available than you can fit into several lifetimes, but it's always worth a try!

In case you cannot make up your mind where to go, or perhaps you want to try something different this year, here are 36 suggestions for some great fishing getaways in 2006.

JANUARY

Lake Chillisquaque

Panfish

Lake Chillisquaque is a 165-acre impoundment in the Montour Preserve, which is owned by the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company (PPL) and governed by Panfish Enhancement Special Regulations, which are designed to increase the number and size of panfish.

Surveys by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission last year turned up good quantities of crappies, bluegills, pumpkinseeds and yellow perch. This could be the break-out year. Results of the special regulations should start to pay dividends.

EXCELLENT		GOOD		FAIR
January	February	March	April	May	June
YELLOW PERCH	RAINBOWS	STEELHEAD	BROWN TROUT	SMALLMOUTHS	RAINBOWS
Lake Chillisquaque	Stovers Dam	Walnut Creek	Penns Creek	Lake Erie	Allegheny River
Tips: Try small minnows alone or with jigs for perch and crappie. Use grubs for bluegills and pumpkinseeds.	Tips: Be flexible. Use bait or flashy lures during winter. A jigging spoon tipped with baits is a good start.	Tips: March is a great time to fly-fish for steelhead. Sucker spawn patterns have been hot lately.	Tips: Penns Creek could still be cold when trout season opens, and flows may be high. Fish slow and deep till things warm up.	Tips: Shiners are good for spring fishing. Various jigs and blade baits are best when using artificial lures.	Tips: The best June bait is an emerald shiner. Also, try stick baits or spoons with spinning gear.
PIKE	YELLOW PERCH	STRIPERS	CRAPPIES	WALLEYES	LARGEMOUTHS
Eaton Reservoir	Presque Isle Bay	Delaware River	Shenango Lake	Struble Lake	Rose Vally Lake
PICKEREL	RAINBOWS	RAINBOWS	BROWN TROUT	MUSKIES	BROWN TROUT
Auburn Dam	Shenango River	North Park Lake	Schuylkill River	Lake Arthur	Saucon Creek
July	August	September	October	November	December
CRAPPIES	LARGEMOUTHS	STEELHEAD	BLUEGILLS	WALLEYES	RAINBOWS
Kahle Lake	F.J. Sayers Lake	Twentymile Creek	Promised Land Lake	Allegheny River	Bucks County Lakes
Tips: Try yellow, chartreuse or white jigs tipped with grubs or minnows to ey on larger fish.	Tips: The hotter the weather gets, the more important it becomes to fish early or late in the day, even at night.	Tips: Stick baits can be effective, but carry spoons and other heavy lures when longer casts are needed.	Tips: Fish around cover when possible, and then go deep using jigs tipped with grubs, worms or small minnows.	Tips: Use live shiners or chubs to catch the biggest fish, or try jigs and stick baits for more versatility.	Tips: Bucks County's big trout go for live minnows this month. Fish lively baits under a bobber for the best action
LARGEMOUTHS	YELLOW PERCH	CHANNEL CATS	SMALLMOUTHS	WHITE BASS	WALLEYES
Koon Lake	Lake Erie	Deep Creek Dam	Clarion River	Kimzua Dam	North Branch Susquehanna River
SMALLMOUTHS	FLATHEADS	LARGEMOUTHS	YELLOW PERCH	PIKE	YELLOW PERCH
Tioga River	Allegheny River	Stephen Foster Lake	Laurel Hill Lake	Glendale Lake	Beechwood Lake

JUNE

Allegheny River

Rainbow Trout

Trout fishing in the Special Regulations section of the Allegheny River between the Kinzua Dam and the mouth of Conewango Creek should peak during early June. Both brown trout and rainbow trout over 4 pounds are common. Top-end fish reach about 8 pounds.

Fly-fishing can be excellent from mid-May through most of June. Concentrate on larger nymphs. If you want to catch trout near the surface, try caddis emergers, but do not expect to catch the bigger trout this way.

Rose Valley Lake

Largemouth Bass

Rose Valley Lake, a 389-acre lake north of Williamsport, has been responding well to Big Bass Regulations. Numbers of largemouth bass over 12 inches and over 15 inches have been steadily increasing in PFBC surveys. This lake also holds some nice bluegills.

Saucon Creek

Rainbow Trout

Saucon Creek has been a fine trout fishery since soon after 1997 special regulations were imposed. Starting last year, the special regulations were modified to Trophy Trout rules.

Look for nice holdover browns in the city of Bethlehem property downstream 2.1 miles to the state Route 0412 bridge.

JULY

Kahle Lake

Crappies

Expect some hot early-summer crappie action at Kahle Lake. This 253-acre impoundment is on the border of Clarion and Venango counties.

Only electric motors are allowed. The lake is ringed by weedbeds. Largemouth bass, bluegills and muskies also provide action.

Koon Lake

Largemouth Bass

Koon Lake is a 268-acre impoundment owned by a water company that supplies water for Cumberland, Maryland. It is a likely place to find 5-pound bass. Boats are allowed with electric motors, but there is no launch ramp, so boats must be carried to the water.

Tioga River

Smallmouth Bass

Check out the Tioga Lake spillway for smallmouth bass this month. Use live minnows, jigs or stick baits.

AUGUST

F.J. Sayers Lake

Largemouth Bass

Bass anglers had some hot fishing action last summer at F.J. Sayers Lake and should expect the same this year. There are plenty of fish in the 4-to 6-pound class, but these bass have seen plenty of lures. Your chances of finding the bigger bass should improve if you get away from visible cover along the shore and look for midlake structure.

Use big lures if you want the big bass. Live bait is also very productive.

Lake Erie

Yellow Perch

Lake Erie yellow perch fishing is nothing short of fabulous. On a good day, expect a 20-fish limit of 10- to 12-inch perch. The hottest area has been west of Presque Isle and off Walnut Creek. Party boat fishing is available in Erie near Dobbins Landing.

Allegheny River

Flathead Catfish

From Pittsburgh north through Venango County, the deeper pools of the Allegheny River are haunted by big flathead catfish. Look for water that is at least 15 feet deep and fish near sunken boulders. Cut bait or live chubs work well.

SEPTEMBER

Twentymile Creek

Steelhead

Some of the most exciting steelhead fishing occurs in the Lake Erie tributary mouths just before these migratory fish enter the creeks.

Twentymile Creek flows into Lake Erie between North East Marina and the New York border. Wear chest waders and rain gear to keep dry.

Deep Creek Dam

Channel Catfish

Deep Creek Dam is a 25-acre lake owned by the Montgomery County Parks Department. The PFBC has been stocking fingerling channel catfish. The catch rate during a sample was double the average for the Southeast Region. Some fish were over 20 inches.

Stephen Foster Lake

Largemouth Bass

Stephen Foster Lake in Bradford County has a good population of largemouth bass over 12 inches. It is in Mt. Pisgah State Park, which does not have a campground. Only electric motors are allowed on this 75-acre lake.

OCTOBER

Promised Land Lake

Bluegills

Panfish Enhancement Regulations for sunfish and yellow perch were implemented in 2000 at Promised Land Lake. Here is a lake where you can catch a mess of slab bluegills over 8 inches. Pumpkinseeds are also doing well, with many fish over 7 inches.

If you want good ice-fishing for yellow perch, go to Presque Isle Bay. Fishing often gets better as winter progresses.

The 422-acre Promised Land Lake and the 173-acre Lower Lake are in Promised Land State Park in Pike County.

Clarion River

Smallmouth Bass

Fall is the best time for smallmouth bass fishing on the Clarion River. This small river flows past the southern edge of Allegheny National Forest. Any fish over 3 pounds is excellent, but any smallmouth in a current is great sport.

Laurel Hill Lake

Yellow Perch

A Fish and Boat Commission survey turned up a good number of perch over 9 inches and bluegills over 7 inches at 63-acre Laurel Hill Lake. This is an electric motors-only lake in Laurel Hill State Park, which has a campground.

NOVEMBER

Allegheny River

Walleyes

Walleye fishing is always good in the Allegheny River, but this is the time to get the big ones. There are 15-pound-plus walleyes here.

Good walleye fishing may be found from the Kinzua Dam down to Pittsburgh. Look for the bigger walleyes above I-80.

One of the top Lake Erie tributaries for steelhead is Walnut Creek. There is good public access near the mouth at the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's Walnut Creek Access.

Kinzua Dam Tailwaters

White Bass

White bass fishing in the Kinzua Dam tailwaters is the best in this part of the country during good years. The fish are abundant and big -- average size can be 14 inches. Get them with emerald shiners, jigs or small stick baits.

Glendale Lake

Northern Pike

Pike get cranked up when the water temperature starts dropping. Glendale Lake probably boasts the best northe

rn pike fishing in the middle of Pennsylvania.

DECEMBER

Bucks County Lakes

Rainbow Trout

What's a sportsman to do once deer season is over? Go Christmas shopping? If you are a together sort of person, you had that done long ago, and now you can tell folks you are going shopping. but what you will really be doing is grinning and giggling while you catch trout.

Levittown Lake and Lake Luxembourg are a couple of small lakes in Bucks County. They are dandy lakes, but really there is nothing special about them except that on Dec. 20, both will be stocked with trout. Several other lakes around the Commonwealth will also be stocked this month, but compared with the commotion spring stocking causes, this is mild.

Susquehanna River

Walleyes

Head up to the North Branch Susquehanna River for walleyes to close out the year. If the weather is passable, you might even try float-fishing. Offer leadhead jigs tipped with live minnows along current edges.

Beechwood Lake

Yellow Perch

Just because it is one of the first Pennsylvania lakes to get good ice, anglers should consider Beechwood Lake in Tioga County. This tiny lake holds trout, crappies, perch, sunfish and chain pickerel. Just like your Christmas stocking, you never know what will come out next.

For more information about fishing in Pennsylvania, contact the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, P.O. Box 67000, 1601 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg, PA 17106-7000; or call (717) 705-7800.