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

Pennsylvania Smallmouth Fishing Report

The last word on this blog, way too long ago, had been that I was northbound for a couple of days of smallmouth fishing with Pennsylvania tournament angler, Ty Spade. Although I posted pics a few place, I never did update this page, so I'm finally doing so now.

Despite obvious success that the photo above shows, Ty and I hit tough river conditions and really had to work for our reward. Giant rains the day before I traveled north and a couple of days before that completely blew out one of the rivers he had in mind for us to fish and left the other way muddier than normal. His jetboat also was down, narrowing our options on the Susquehanna River, where we ended up fishing.

On day 1 we really had to grind it out just to catch some fish, although we did end up catching a few pretty decent smallies. On day 2, Ty started seeing some things that gave him clues, and he persisted in a few areas where he knew the larger fish had to be. The river color also got a tiny bit better, although not by much. While we still didn't catch big numbers and we never encountered the furious topwater bite he'd envisioned when we planned the trip, we definitely found high-quality smallmouths for what turned out to be a really fun and productive photo trip.

We ended up catching fish on a fair variety of lures. Among the top producers, though, were a BOOYAH spinnerbait matched with a YUM Pulse swimbait, a Bomber Fat A and Bandit 200.

I look forward to the next round, whenever that might turn out to be.

Run for the Bronze

As often seems to be the case with me from mid-spring through late fall, I'm off on a smallmouth quest this week. I've never quite been able to commit to a favorite style of fishing, but I can say with certainty that river bronzeback fishing is way up there on the list.

I fly to Pennsylvania today to spend a couple of days with Ty Spade fishing the Susquehanna River and possibly the Juniata River. The Juniata is a "maybe" because it got hit with some recent mud and we'll have to see how it shapes up. Both are new waters to me, so whatever plan we end up going with will be great.

I actually was supposed to travel to the same area late last summer, but airline problems caused me to cancel that trip. So I've been looking forward to this one for a quite a while!

I wish I could promise, "report to follow," but I've been so sporadic with this blog of late that I dare not make promises. I can say with pretty good certainty that pictures and reports will be posted, but they might be on my Facebook page (Jeff Samsel fishing) or on Instagram or Twitter (@jeffsamsel).

31 Species in 2015

I may be getting ahead of myself. After all, nearly two weeks remain in 2015, and who knows what kind of fishing I might end up doing. I don't really think I'll likely tally any new species in that time, though, and if I were to, I could always post an update, so here we go:

As of now, my 2015 species list is at 31. That's my largest tally in the few years I've been keeping a list, and a pretty fair number, I think, considering that I didn't do any coastal fishing this year. Next year's fishing plans look like they'll include a decent amount of saltwater, so the list could be longer and look a lot different.

The way I keep my list, which has no purpose beyond my own journaling, is to record the first fish of any given kind I catch in a year and list the species, water body, state and month.

The top contributing state this year was a tie between my home state of Georgia and neighboring Alabama, with six listings apiece. A dozen states accounted produced at least one.

Top month, quite easily, was January, with nine. That doesn't mean I catch the most fish during January. It gets first crack, though, so it easily grabs the first pond bluegill and bass and stuff like that. Plus, I did an Arkansas trout trip and a Pennsylvania ice trip in January this year, and both offered completely different species. Nine months yielded at least one listing (all except March, August and December).

The most geographically distant species this year was a whitefish, which came from a little stream in Olympic National Park in Washington. Closest to home were bluegill and largemouth bass, which came from the same pond, which is about 4 miles form my house.

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.

Simply Fun Fishing

Darl Black and I see one another fairly often most years, being invited to many of the same media events. Many, if not most, of those events center around fishing, but most are pretty structured, and the fishing is in shifts with pros or guides with pretty targeted story- and photo-gathering objectives.

 

This weekend I was going to be within a couple of hours of where Darl likes to fish and runs guide trips, so we decided to get to get together for a day. And while we both always want to gather photos when we fish, there was no event dictating times or objectives. We'd just go fishing.

 

Because it was Memorial Day weekend, Darl chose Lake Pymatuning, which has virtually no fast pleasure boating traffic due to a 20-horsepower motor limit.

 

Because so many species are shallow and using similar types of areas during May at Pymatuning, Darl decided we'd make a game of seeing how many species we could catch. Using fairly light tackle for the most part and a variety of smallish baits, including Road Runners, hair jigs, grubs and the like, we ran from spot to spot, fishing weedbeds, stumps, downed trees, humps, points, rocks... Some spots were for specific target species. Others were just for whatever bit.

 

The light gear mult-species approach was just plain fun, and we ended up catching eight species. Interestingly, there were at least five other species that we could have just as likely caught doing the same stuff, along with a couple of other longshots.

 

If you're going to be in western Pennsylvania and want to do some fun fishing, I'd definitely suggest checking out Fishing with Darl Black.

Complicated Packing

My next two fishing trips are to Pennsylvania to ice fish for crappie and various other species and to Missouri to fish for trout on Lake Taneycomo. Consecutive trips that are dissimilar in character happen a fair amount for me, and I'm used to those. What complicates these trips is that they are aren't quite back-to-back, but they are close enough to one another, date-wise, that going home between trips kind of doesn't make sense. Geography doesn't help either. They are neither near one another, so it would be obvious that I should stay in the area, nor in the opposite direction where home is in between anyway. Instead, home and the two locations make a giant triangle.

As of now, I remain undecided about whether to just link trips and fill the days in-between with other fishing or drive home for a couple of days. One giant trip is my leaning today, but it might be different tomorrow. However, if I want to make that an option, I need to tote along stuff for both trips and enough clothes to last me a week and a half. So today, along with filling a duffel very full with a big variety of stuff, I've been gathering everything from ice gear to trout fishing waders. Because the trips are so different in character and gear needs, the car will likely look like it's packed for a month of travel.

Of course any time I'm packing, even for a single trip, I wonder what important thing I will forget. And naturally I figure it out about the time I need it. Two trips in one equals twice that risk. I guess I'll find out eventually how good (or bad) a job I did!

Erie Ice Calling

Ice cover in the Presque Isle Bay area is getting thicker all the
time. Dave Lefebre photo.

Dave Lefebre with a
big yellow perch caught
during last year's trip.

When the ice clearly calls I only know of one reasonable response, and right now that call is coming from Erie, Pennsylvania, where it's 5 degrees at the moment, according to the little weather experts inside my computer. A possible plan to head north and fish the frozen waters of Presque Isle Bay and other Northern PA locations with bass pro Dave Lefebre had been hanging out there, but all hinged on the ice. The cold that's gripped a lot of the country over the past few days has a firm hold on the Erie area, and the ice is thickening in a hurry.

Yesterday, after scouting some ice and looking at the long-range, Dave said the time was right to settle plans for sooner, rather than later. Looks like I'll be pointing the go-cart north in a little more than a week. It'll be my first drive to ice country, which is kind of cool. Mostly, I'm mostly just excited to have an ice plan solidly in place. No temps above freezing between now and then and not a lot of snow, so the outlook looks great for high-quality ice

Last year we divided time between a bay off Presque Isle Bay and a cool little trout lake called Lake Pleasant, and we caught crappie, yellow perch, one largemouth, various sunfish and a couple of kinds of trout, that I can think of off-hand. Lots of fish and lots of fun. I'm not sure exactly where we'll fish this year, but I'm certain Dave will have a cool plan and all the right stuff for an outstanding trip. Stay tuned.

Five in the Books

My 2014 fish list got a nice kick start during last week's ice fishing adventures in Pennsylvania, with five species tallied. The bright-colored pumpkinseeds were probably my favorite addition simply because that's not a kind of fish I always encounter. None last year, I know. The others -- bluegill, black crappie, yellow perch and rainbow trout -- were all on last year's list and are all species I normally stumble across over the course of the year.

Next weekend's plans take me to Alabama's Black Belt Region, where a largemouth bass and maybe another species are two are likely to be added to the 2014 list. (Trip, which begins on Thursday afternoon, is actually a "Cast & Blast" event, but ducks or deer don't go on the fish list.) Word has it that a seriously big bass is a definite possibility in small lakes I will be fishing, so stay tuned!

Erie Ice Fest, Day 2

We couldn't have asked for better weather today. The wind that had been in the forecast didn't materialize, but the air temperature was cold enough that our ice didn't deteriorate. Given no wind, we returned to Presque Isle Bay -- same area as yesterday -- for another round of catching crappie, perch, bluegills and pumpkinseeds. The crappie still didn't go on a rampage like they did for Dave Lefebre just a couple of days ago, but over the course of the day, we caught quite a few, and much like yesterday, we caught a gazillion of the other species. Dave also caught one largemouth and smelt.

Only one day remaining, and we're currently debating where to fish. More likely than not, we'll head back to the same area in hopes that a slab-fest breaks out. Works for me. It's a fun place to fish. Of course if we fish somewhere else, I'll bet I'd have fun there too. We might even do both, starting the day back on Presque Isle and then spending the afternoon fishing somewhere else.

One way or the other, I'd better sleep a while.

Erie Ice Fest 2014, Day 1

Dave Lefebre would tell you the fish didn't bite today, and I suppose that based on his expectations they did not. The truth is that we easily caught a couple of hundred fish, but at day's end, the cooler only contained four crappie and a dozen of the best bluegills. Two days ago, Lefebre fished the same area just for an afternoon and left with close to 50 crappie in the box.

You sure won't hear me  complaining. I had a big time catching fish all day long and am happy to be able to start my 2014 fish species list with black crappie, bluegill, pumpkinseed and yellow perch. I also learned a lot by watching Dave fish, asking questions and putting some of the answers into practice.

As of a few minutes ago, Dave was still debating tomorrow's plan. I think we'll probably head back to Presque Isle Bay State Park and fish the same general area we fished today, trusting that the crappie were just in a fussy mood and will cooperate better tomorrow. Word is that the wind might be really howling, though, and if that is the case, Dave has another plan in mind. Whatever the plan, you can trust I'll be ready for it, but with that in mind, I suppose I probably ought to sleep a while.

Travel Slippers

Every time I travel to ice fish I debate the same question. Add about 6 pounds and a bunch of bulk to a duffel that's already overstuffed and heavy or wear my clunky sub-zero-rated boots for five days, through travel and all?  As usual, I chose the latter, so I'm sporting the ice boots in the Atlanta airport.

I actually pack light compared to most other folks on many trips I go on, but unless you borrow all the junk you need at the other end, there is no such thing as packing light for an ice trip. My ice suit, on its own, probably has more weight and mass than all my clothes for some summer trips. Add the layers that go beneath, plus gloves,
beanie and facemask, and the bag is fairly bulky without packing anything to wear off the ice or changes of clothes. It's not a terrible thing. Just a way ice travel is different from most other travel I do.

Bags aside, I'm excited about prospects of getting out on the ice this week. The jury remains out about how many options we'll have. It was way too warm in Pennsylvania yesterday. I trust we'll figure out something, though. Actually, I trust that Dave Lefebre will figure out something. I'm a clueless follower on this trip.

First Fish of '14, Come Monday?

Well, it seems likely now that my first fish of 2014 will come up through a hole in the Pennsylvania ice. I fly to Erie on Sunday for three days of fishing with FLW Tour pro and Ice Force team member Dave Lefebre.

 Even a couple of days ago, plans seemed a little iffy due to weird winter weather. However, enough cold during that last hard snap seemingly penetrated the snow for some pretty good ice to form on several lakes, and the weekend warming trend looks less severe than had been forecast. I'm not sure whether we'll end up fishing ponds or lakes, but it does appear we'll have some good options next week.

So what will that first fish be? Could very well be a bluegill, crappie or largemouth bass, just like I'd catch from a local pond, or it could be a yellow perch, walleye or something else that has a more northerly flavor. Hopefully, this year's list will be at least a few lines long by next Thursday, when I return home.

I do still have two full days in Georgia before I drive to Atlanta early Sunday for my fight to Erie, but it's unlikely I'll do any fishing around home today or tomorrow. A few things work against such a notion. First, it's supposed to be pretty rainy. That alone wouldn't keep me home because rainy days and brown trout go together nicely. Bigger factors are the fish stories that need to be written and the stuff I need to do to get ready for travel. Gathering and packing gear to keep me warm and to help me catch fish and doing stuff like clearing memory cards and charging batteries need to be bigger priorities than catching a bluegill from a pond near home.

Come Monday, I'll be fishing.

Snow & Ice

Sunday plans put me on an airplane to Erie, Pennsylvania to spend a few days on the ice with FLW Tour pro Dave Lefebre. I've been looking forward to the trip for a few reasons. First, it's ice-fishing, and I haven't been on the ice yet this winter. Also, I've never gotten to fish with Dave. Closely related, Dave truly loves ice-fishing, and my favorite fishing trips are almost always with people who are doing the kind of fishing they are passionate about or sharing a favorite destination. Finally, Lake Pymatuning, which we'd hoped to make a primary destination, has become one of my favorite lakes in the last couple of years, but I've only fished open water there.

Ice conditions could be iffy, though, so I'm not sure how our plans might end up shifting. It has been wonderfully cold up there in recent days (as in well below zero, around the clock), but I gather that the thin early ice had just enough snow on it to insulate it from the coldest cold and the ice hasn't thickened as much as one might think it would have. An even bigger concern is that warmer weather is forecast to arrive just ahead of me. Saturday is supposed to bring high 40s and rain, which can't be good for ice conditions.

We might switch venues or even go out in a boat somewhere if the warm rain does too much thawing. Or we might end up having to cancel. Or, the forecast may shift again, and it might be cold up there this weekend. I learned long ago that what the weatherman says on Wednesday only tells me so much about what will happen on Saturday, especially in the realm of complex winter systems.

Craws, Minnows & Bugs

Another Michael's visit to pick up art supplies for my daughter while my wife and I were out and about. Another walk down the fur and feather aisle and the yarn aisle, both resulting in new materials for me to play with at home.

Little by little I'm building my bug-making supplies and figuring out the qualities of different materials. Little by little, feather, fur and foil wrappings are turning into imitations of shad, aquatic insect larvae and crawfish, plus a few gaudy attractors. Some have been water tested so I know how they move in the water. Others look sort of like I want them to when I hold them in my hand, but I've not yet seen how they swim or fall through the water column and how the characteristics of the materials change when they get wet.

I do know that trout will eat some of my Ugly Bugs. Next week, I'll get to test some little ones through the ice on Pennsylvania perch, crappie and bluegills. I have a few bugs in my head in mind that I want to make real for that trip. Better get to tying, I guess.

Industry Updates & Weather Watching

Deadlines, distractions and a fast-moving clock kept me from finding my way to the blog world yesterday, but it was an interesting day in the fishing industry. Two new ventures by bass pros were announced, and while there's a bit of overlap in names and faces, the two companies seem to be otherwise unrelated.

Timmy Horton announced Profound Outdoors, a new lure company with lures created by a team of bass pros that will utilize a grass roots approach to sales. You can read the release on Timmy's facebook page, and if you look there, you'll see by the comments and shares that the announcement created a lot of buzz and a lot of questions. Timmy also reported on his page that he hopes to have the Profound Outdoors website live today, and I suspect that will answer a lot of questions, both about the structure and about the lures themselves.

The other announcement by a team of noteworthy pros was the creation of Pro Web Live, which brings home delivery of pro seminars via the internet. These are specific seminars at slated times, delivered with an exclusive feed and with the opportunity to ask questions live. This is the news that Dave Lefebre had mentioned a couple of days ago.

Related to Dave, I've been watching the weather in western Pennsylvania because I'm supposed to do some ice fishing with him in a week and a half. They are finally getting good, cold temperatures, but too much snow is keeping the ice that exists pretty insulted, which makes it tough for it to thicken properly.

I've also been watching weather around the Santee Cooper lakes, where I would have been catfishing yesterday had it not been pouring rain. I might get to try that one again next week, but if I'm going to do that, I'd better get back to writing fish stories.

New Year Fishes

And so we begin anew. New friends, new places, new fishing adventures and almost certainly a nice dose of time enjoyed with old friends on favored waters and around familiar fish camps.

So where will this year's fishing adventures take me? Many, many unknowns there. I don't even know where I'll spend my first fishing days of the new year. The soonest solid plan puts me on ice in Pennsylvania in a week and a half (as much as an ice plan is every solid), but I may travel to South Carolina between now and then, and it's certainly not impossible that I steal a day or part of a day to visit a pond or a trout stream close to home.

Looking at my calendar, at appears 2014 might include quite a bit of fishing in the North. Confirmed travel plans, as of now, have me fishing in seven different states, and those seven include Minnesota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New York.

The seven states with the set plans don't include Georgia, but I'm fairly confident I'll spend at least one day fishing around home some time in the next 52 weeks. I suppose the same could be said about both Carolinas.

Fishing dreams and a trip I hope to make include a big western swing, possibly in September. The Walnut Valley Festival takes Nathaniel and me to Kansas most Septembers, so assuming we make that trip this year, I may work around the notion that we'd already be more than halfway to the Rockies and make some trout fishing plans. That would mean a lot of driving and gas and a pretty long block away from home, but I sure could use the material we could gather on such a trip, and I've never spent time stream fishing in the American West.

The trout trip, like most 2014 fishing plans, remains a big maybe. Whatever waters I get to discover, species I get to target and folks I get to meet, I'm looking forward to it, and I'm grateful for each opportunity ahead.

Vicarious Ice

I admit it. I spend far too much time looking at weather conditions in Minnesota the Dakotas and the rest of ice country. I wonder about how the ice is thickening and get concerned about strong winds or heavy snowfalls that might break up or sink newly forming ice. Most aren't even places I'm likely to travel this winter. When home is Georgia and every ice trip calls for at least a couple of airplane rides, it's tough to bring everything together more than a couple of times per winter. I just like to watch how things are developing and joining my friends in various parts of the ice belt as they anticipate good ice and time on it.

I also enjoy reading the reports and seeing the photos and am thankful that social media sites let me see who is catching what, and where -- sometimes almost as it is happening. Occasionally I even pull up Google Maps, type in a few things and think, "Hmmmm. It would only be a 20-hour drive to..." So far I've only thought about it!

I'm not sure if it's the ice culture, the ridiculousness of the conditions or the fishing itself that I like best. I suppose it's a blend, and I know the visual game of watching fish on electronics and figuring out the bite plays a major part. Whatever the mix of reasons, there's little doubt that I'm way more interested in pulling fish though holes in the ice than are most fishermen who call Georgia home. I have ice plans in mid-January in Western Pennsylvania. Whether I'll make another trip between now and then I'm not sure. If not, I'll have to keep ice-fishing vicariously.

Anticipating Ice

With more cold temperatures creeping into the North Georgia forecast and plenty of other signs that fall is giving way to winter, I probably should be scouting opportunities to travel to Florida to fish for bass or maybe South Louisiana to chase redfish or speckled trout. I suppose I'm not that sensible, though, because instead I find myself looking at 10-day forecasts in places like Deer River, Minn., Erie, Pa. and Granby, Colo., hoping to see good ice-forming outlooks and wondering how the lakes are coming along.

I like to watch fishing reports posted by Jeff Sundin, a northern Minnesota fishing guide who gets regular reports from other anglers and always begins driving the countryside and checking ice conditions first-hand around this time of year. Jeff is careful about where he walks and doesn't fish before it's prudent, but once he starts seeing ice, he'll begin stepping onto shallow margin areas and may check the thickness with a chisel, and he has a lot of eyes around the area that contribute to his annual "ice watch."

Meanwhile, back in Georgia, I find myself dreaming and scheming about possible northern excursions to fish through the ice as I re-spool little spinning reels and restock ice lure boxes. Maybe it's my native Minnesota blood, but I'm awfully fond of bundling up and walking out on the ice for someone who grew up in Florida and calls Georgia home. No ice plans have been in stone for this winter, but I suspect it won't be long.

Bugle Lips & Bread Battles -- Pymatuning Spillway

"Cheap entertainment," a mother said through a smile as her children threw slices of bread into the water and marveled at the frenzied carp show. "We've been here dozens of times, but it's always just as fun."

I understood the young bread throwers' fascination. I had no offerings of my own, but I was right there with them enjoying the show. Nothing contains the thousands of carp that congregate around the spillway at Pennsylvania's Pymatuning State Park. This living simply is good, as it has been for decades because of a longstanding tradition of feeding the fish, so the fish have no reason to go anywhere else.

I'd heard about the carp and had been told several times that I really needed to see them. Apparently only the Liberty Bell attracts more visitors in a year in Pennsylvania. Still, I had no comprehension how cool it really could be to watch a mass of rubber-lipped armor-sided fish begging for bread like spoiled house pets. I shot a couple of video clips, which I'll find the best of and post later, but you really have to see it yourself, so if you're ever anywhere near the Pennsylvania/Ohio border...

Of course, Pymatuning is a beautiful park with cabins and plentiful campsites and the fishing is outstanding, so you don't have to travel there just for the carp. Just don't leave the carp out of the plan when you are in the neighborhood!