Pennsylvania

Fishing in Pennsylvania

Here is yet another wonderful fishing destination, Pennsylvania! With its more than 85,000 miles of rivers and streams, 4,000 island ponds and lakes spread in 160,000 acres, and top of all, 470,000 acres of Lake Erie, Pennsylvania presents loads of fishing opportunities. Wherever you are in this state, there is always a spot nearby for fishing in Pennsylvania.

Hot Spots

Pennsylvania is divided into 7 main regions:

Presque Ssle

Great Lakes Region

The newest Pennsylvania State Park, Erie Bluffs is 540 acres of the shoreline of Lake Erie presenting world-class steelhead fishery. The 1,860-acre Lake Willhelm, and 17,088-acre Pymatuning Reservoir, both warm-water fisheries, are very popular among the anglers for their largemouth and smallmouth bass, walleye, northern pike, bluegill, muskellunge, crappie, perch, catfish and sunfish and much more. Oil Creek is famous for bass and trout. Presque Isle is the only seashore of the state, and offers perch, bass, walleye, trout and steelhead fishing in Lake Erie and panfish, perch, bass, muskellunge, northern pike, walleye, crappies, steelheads, and smelt in the Presque Isle Bay.

Northeast Pennsylvania Mountains

This region consists of 949-acre Beltzville Lake, the 165-acre Frances Slocum Lake, the 170-acre Tobyhanna Lake and the 250-acre Gouldsboro Lake, the 198-acre Lackawanna Lake, 9-acre Lake Frances, Stephen Foster Lake of Mt. Pisgah, 6 miles of the Nescopeck Creek, 422-acre Promised Lake and 173-acre Lower Lake, 290-acre Prompton Lake, 245-acre Lake Jean, and Loyalsock Creek all of which provide excellent catches of warm-water and cold-water fishes, like trout, striped bass, walleye, largemouth and smallmouth bass, perch, muskellunge, crappie, bluegill, catfish, pickerel, stocked trout, yellow perch, sunfish, fallfish and sucker, bullhead, channel catfish, brown trout and native brook trout. Hickory Run provides excellent fisheries in form of streams stocked with brook and brown trout, and the Lehigh River filled with warm-water game fish, panfish and trout. The northern section of the Lehigh Gorge, between the Francis E. Walter Dam and Sandy Run stocked with trout, is very popular amongst the anglers.

Pittsburgh and Its Countryside

The warm-water fishery of the Allegheny River, the 78-acre Keystone Lake, 4-acre Kooser Lake and Run, 63-acre Laurel Hill Lake, 3,225-acre Lake Arthur, 101-acre Raccoon Lake, the Youghiogheny River and the Yellow Creek with natural and stocked largemouth bass, tiger muskellunge, northern pike, yellow perch, bullheads, trout, sucker, bluegill, sunfish, black crappie, walleye, channel catfish, hybrid stripped bass, fingerling trout, smallmouth bass, muskellunge, and many more are the main attractions for the anglers.

Delaware Canal

Philadelphia and the Countryside

The Delaware Canal filled with American Shad, striped bass, walleye, and smallmouth bass, Skippack Creek providing spring trout and warm-water fishing throughout the year, the 22-acre Scotts Run Lake providing cold-water fishing, 68-acre Hopewell Lake containing wide variety of warm-water species like northern pike, chain pickerel, and muskellunge, Bushkill Creek stocked with trout, 535-acre Marsh Creek Lake with good to excellent fishing for warm-water fishing, the 1,450-acre Lake Nockamixon, a warm-water fishery, Ridley Creek stocked with trout, and White Clay Creek stocked with trout, are the main angling destinations of this region.

Pennsylvania Wilds

The 1,730-acre Sayers Reservoir and its 23 miles shoreline, the East Branch of the Clarion River, 250-acre Black Moshannon Lake and Creek, the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and its many feeder streams, 68-acre Chapman Lake, 1,160-acre East Branch Lake, 137-acre Hills Creek Lake, Hyner Run, 167-acre Kettle Creek Reservoir, the 3.3 mile of shoreline and 4.2 miles of stream of 94-acre Little Pine Lake, 45-acre Lyman Run Lake, 20-acre Parker Lake, Rauchtown River and its tributaries, and 142-acre George B. Stevenson Reservoir are all excellent fishing destinations of a fine blend of warm and cold-water fishery of the region, of largemouth and smallmouth bass, brook and brown trout, bluegill, pickerel, perch, panfish, catfish, tiger muskellunge, crappie, and so on.

The Alleghenies and Her Valleys

Bob’s Creek and its tributaries, the beautiful 155-acre Canoe Lake, 42-acre Cowans Gap Lake, 6-acre Greenwood Lake, 52-acre Locust Lake, White Deer Creek, Standing Stone Creek, Penns Creek, Poe Valley Lake, 1,635-acre Glendale Lake, Rapid Run, 451-acre Shawnee Lake, 3,060-acre Lake Augusta, Trough Creek, 96-acre Tuscarora Lake, the Raystown Branch of the Juniata River, and the 22-acre Whipple Lake and Laurel Run all provide excellent fishery of natural and stocked fishes like trout, largemouth and smallmouth bass, rock bass, walleye, muskellunge, carp, sucker, black crappies, yellow perch, bluegill and what not!

Dutch Country Roads

Buck Run, East Branch Conococheague and Rocky Mountain creeks and Carbaugh Run, 1,275-acre Lake Marburg, 3.5-acre Doubling Gap Lake, Fowler Run, 340-acre Pinchot Lake, 88-acre Holman Lake, 85-acre Memorial Lake, West Branch of Antietam Creek, 25-acre Laurel Lake and the smaller 1.7-acre Fuller Lake, and Trout Run are the attractions to anglers for the fishing of smallmouth and largemouth bass, brook, brown and rainbow trout, white and black crappie, yellow perch, and many more.

Ice Fishing

The Pymatuning Reservoir is famous for ice fishing during the winter months. Ice fishing is permitted in the Frances Slocum Lake, Promised Lake, Greenwood Lake and Stephen Foster Lake too.

License

In the Pymatuning Reservoir, while fishing by boat, license of Ohio or Pennsylvania, are honored anywhere in the lake, and while fishing from the shore, only Ohio license will do for fishing from the Ohio shore, and only Pennsylvania license will do for fishing from Pennsylvania shore.

This is a state which provides fishing throughout the year. Pick up your tackle and set for fishing in Pennsylvania any time!