Favorite Fishing Destinations Countdown: No. 6 - Lake Pymatuning, Pennsylvania

It's hard for me to not get excited about Lake Pymatuning as I write this because I'll be visiting there in a little more than a week, staying in a lakeside cabin in Pymatuning State Park and splitting fishing time between Pymatuning and a couple of other Western Pennsylvania lakes. Lake Pymatuning might be the most user-friendly major lake I've ever fished, and it a fabulous destination for family outings. It's fairly large, covering more than 17,000 acres, but it fishes small in the sense that good fishing is widespread and you don't need specialized knowledge or a fancy boat to tap into great fishing for multiple species. 

In truth, you don't need a boat at all. Multiple tracts of Pymatuning State Park offer extensive shoreline access to much of the lake, plus multiple piers, and the lake's shallow margins lend themselves to good wade-fishing in several areas. Seasonally (some winters, anyway), Pymatuning is also an excellent walk-on ice-fishing lake.

From a boating perspective, motors of more than 20 horsepower may not be operated on Pymatuning, so there's no threat of big boat wakes from pleasure boaters. Most boaters are fishermen or paddlers enjoying the lake, so Pymatuning is great to fish from a canoe, kayak or johnboat. I'm actually bringing my kayak along on my upcoming trip and am looking forward to putting it to work on Pymatuning.

Adding to its user friendly nature, Pymatuning is a fabulous multi-species lake, and because it has a lot good shallow cover and structure around it's edges, those fish tend to be in predictable places. Crappie (both black and white), walleyes and bass are the headline species, but Pymatuning also offers great opportunities for catching catfish and a host of panfish species. A couple of years ago, I spent a fun spring day on the lake with my good friend Darl Black, and we went out with a real multi-species mindset. If memory serves me correctly, we caught 10 species that day.

Beyond offering great fishing access, the state park lends itself nicely to overnight stays, with nice cabins at a reasonable cost and plenty of campsites in two different campgrounds.

Area information: Visit Crawford

Park Information: Pymatuning State Park

Walleye Quest

I arrived in Cleveland today and will spend the next couple of days walleye fishing on Lake Erie. I'll be riding with folks who can really teach me a lot about trolling lures, rigs, locations and more, so I'm looking forward to learning and shooting photos almost as much as I'm looking forward to catching fish.

We'll mostly be fishing Walleye Bandits and Rogues, I think, and I'm especially looking forward to seeing some of the newest Rogues in action.

Of course I just like the idea of getting out on Erie. There's something unique and wonderful about spending time on any of the Great Lakes, and I haven't done so since last May.

Species No. 19

With Darl Black and I having tallied eight species in a day over the weekend, I figured I'd probably added at least a couple of fish to this year's species tally. When I pulled up this year's list, though, I realized I'd already caught at least one of seven of the eight species that we landed. The lone newcomer to my 2015 tally was a walleye.

The walleye was species No. 19 for this year. With that addition, Pennsylvania ties Georgia for the number of species added to the list. Each has contributed four. Through late May, species have been added from eight different states.

Looking back a year, a walleye was the last species added last May (from South Dakota). It was No. 17, so I'm two species ahead of last year's pace, for whatever that is worth.

Good Night Walleyes

Home for tonight has holes in the floor. In fact it's where I've caught walleyes throughout the day today, in one of Red Lake Remote's sleeper fish houses.

It was tempting to just keep fishing, but tiredness won, so now I'm in a bunk, amazingly comfortable, considering that it is somewhere around zero just outside the fish house. it's my first night ever on the ice and I suspect I'll sleep very well, maybe even dreaming about walleyes.

Next Species?

I'm fairly certain that I'll get to add to my 2014 fish species list some time this week while ice-fishing in Minnesota, but I wonder how many species will get added and which will come first. Having already logged a yellow perch, bluegill and black crappie, my first guess is a walleye. A pike seems fairly likely, too. A bass less slightly less likely, but very possible. Of course, I hope I can catch something cool and different like a whitefish of some sort or an eelpout, because I'm unlikely to catch one of those anywhere else I'm apt to fish, but I'll take anything that wants to bite. Year's tally, at the moment, stands at seven species.

Better sleep now, I suppose. It'll be time to leave for the airport before I know it!

'Eyes After the Storm

The first significant snowfall and hard front of the Minnesota winter had an undeniable effect on the early-season walleye bite. We caught fish today but we had to work a bit, which wasn't the case at all even yesterday.

With stained water and dirty ice, sound was a key ingredient.  Some fish hit dead sticks or silent jigging baits, but rattling lures like Lindy Darters and Rattl'n Flyer Spoons were the best producers.

Despite a tougher than normal bite, I enjoyed experiencing Red Lake ice fishing firsthand, getting out in the ice for the first time this winter and spending the day being entertained and educated by 4th-generation guide Jonny Petrowske.