News
August Dog Days? The so-called Dog Days of Summer can actually be rewarding from a fishing perspective if you choose your species and waterways carefully. Check out this week’s Report to see what is being caught and where. Don’t whine. Go Fish!
Crawford County Waters
Pymatuning Lake
Chris Hall (Espyville Outdoors): “Fishing along the Espyville causeway has been hot. Crappie and walleye are being caught underneath the PA bridge in the mornings and evenings with regularity. Most have been taken on jigheads with a white curly tail or split-tail grub; some success has been reported with minnows. Bluegills are being caught in select bays; taken on red worms or pieces of nightcrawlers.
“I had two gentlemen at the shop on Friday who said they caught over 300 carp at the Linesville Spillway…no pictures, but they were back to buy more Magic Bait and Van-Do Strawberry and Anise dough bait. Catfish are still being caught in decent numbers just about anywhere on the lake. Magic Bait Shrimp and Chicken Blood have been hot for channel cats. Actually Shrimp flavor is outselling all other flavors by a wide margin.”
Dave Richter (Richter’s General Store): “Walleye catches have been spotty – it’s August after all, a tough month in this shallow lake for walleye. Crappies are still biting in deep water in the southern portion of the lake closer to the dam. And I’ve had several customers tell me the largemouth and smallmouth bass fishing is darn good, too. One regular customer caught several smallmouths up to 3.5 pounds on crankbaits this week.”
Conneaut Lake
Steve Hughes (Clarion): “I fished the Conneaut Lake PA Bass Federation Tournament at on Sunday. Mark Hughes won it with 19.30 pounds of smallmouth off the humps, using tubes and drop-shot. I took 2nd with 17.94 pounds of largemouth by cranking a Bomber Fat Free Shad in Citrus Shad and flipping a Yum Wooly Bug in deep weeds.”
Darl Black (Cochranton): “The crappie fishing seems to have slowed somewhat at Conneaut, but the bluegill bite is very good – if you get out early. Marilyn and I found schools of decent size ‘gills around 14 to 17 feet off the weed flats and weed-capped humps where gravel or rock rubble bumped the deep weed line. I caught my ‘gills with a 1.5-inch Yum Wooly Beavertail on a 1/8-ounce Kalin Panfish Head. Marilyn caught twice as many on a generic split-tail grub tipped with a one-inch Berkley Gulp Alive! Leech fished on super fine 3-pound Power Pro Microline. Conneaut is somewhat off-color, so brighter, bolder colors seemed to work best for bluegills. In addition to the most ‘gills, Marilyn also wants it known that she caught the largest bluegill, the most crappies and the biggest smallmouth bass. She hooked the sole incidental 3-pound smallmouth on a 1/16-ounce Northland Bug-A-Boo Jig (marabou) on her first drop of the day to a sonar-found school of ‘gills on Granny Bar.”
Destin DeMarion (Grove City): “I have been fishing ConneautLakequite a bit and I must say I really like it. There are definitely some nice smallmouth and largemouth bass in the lake. On my most recent trip there on August 2nd, I caught three smallies in the 2.5 to 3.5 pound range plus eight largemouth bass in the 1.5 to 2.5 pound range. Most fish came by drop-shotting the deep weed edge with a TriggerX Spadetail or Jackall Crosstail Shad. I also caught a couple bass on a Strike King 5XD in Sexy Shad.”
Tamarack Lake
Ken Anderson (Tionesta): “I fishedTamarackLakethis past week. I landed two largemouth bass on rubber worms from shoreline wood, but had seven other bass come unbuttoned at the boat. The bite was good – but I must need new hooks! My daughter Breanna caught perch, crappie, sunfish and bass on Joe’s Fly Spinner.”
Woodcock Lake
Darl Black (Cochranton): “After our brief visit to Woodcock during the last week of July, Dale Black and I had decided to try night fishing the lake this week. Four of us in two boats (Dale and Chris Wolfgong, Marilyn and me) fished from about 7 PMto 11 PMon Friday, August 5. Each of use scored a respectable smallmouth with topwater lures, plus some smaller bass on topwater and jigs. The hot topwater baits were the Arbogast Jitterbug and the Heddon Crazy Shad. There were two boats launching at the same time going for walleye; one angler said they had caught walleye at night a week ago, but we didn’t see them later and thus don’t know how they made out on Friday night.”
Canadohta Lake
Larry Phillips (Spartanburg) reports having a very good summer on walleye at Canadohta. “This has been my best year ever, taking more legal walleye than any past year. My best single day this summer was three legal walleye – a 25”, 20” and 17” fish. All my walleyes have been taken by slow trolling a crawler harness in 10 to 13-feet of water. The hottest harness has been a Walleye Delight brand with glow-in-the-dark blades and red beads. Of course, having fat, healthy nightcrawlers to put on the worm harness is critical, too. I get my bait at Timberland Bait and Tackle.”
Erie County Waters
Presque Isle Bay
Danny Jones (North East): “On Thursday, August 4th, I caught 57 largemouth bass during an evening tournament. My best four fish weighed 10.3 pounds. I caught them all cranking deep!”
Lake Erie
Mike Tome (B.A.C. Bait): “Walleye success has slowed; more hit and miss now. Fish have moved deeper, out to the north side of the First Trench, into the Second Trench and out at the Mountain. Some of the best walleye fishermen have switched over to perch. Perch catches remain strong – phenomenal may be a better word.”
Jeff Staaf (Poor Richards): “Walleyes are out in 70 to 80 feet of water on the West side; crawler harnesses are out producing plugs. A few steelheads are showing up, too, in walleye catches. Perch are biting in 52 to 57 feet of water this past week; emerald shiners and small golden shiners are all that’s needed to limit out in short time.”
Mercer County Waters
Shenango Lake & Shenango River
Laurie Frantz (R&L Bait): “I’ve got some exciting fishing news. Charles Kinney of Clarks Mills had a banner day on theShenangoRiverthis week. Fishing somewhere above theShenangoLakewaters in the river proper, he caught a 48-inch, 38 lb 10 oz musky plus a 41-3/4 inch, 13 lb 6 oz tiger musky.”
R&L Bait announces new hours –6 AM to 6 PM, six days a week; closed on Mondays.
Stoneboro Lake (i.e. Sandy Lake)
Chuck Papinchak (Cochranton): “I was back atStoneboroLakethis past week, and again caught several 1-1/2 pound largemouth bass on drop-shot worms, plus a couple on spinnerbaits. The water in the lake is very clear. I hope to try there for musky later in the week.”
Neshannock Creek
Bob Shuey (Neshannock Creek Fly Shop) reports the creek is too warm and too low, and trout are severely stressed. “We need rain and cooler temps.”
Venango County Waters
Allegheny River
Dale Black (OilCity) says smallmouth fishing in the river is slow, but if you downsize to a 3” Yum Dinger and drift it with the current, you can catch a few bass. (See Photo #5)
French Creek (Erie, Crawford and Venango Counties)
John Ensworth (John’s Bait) reports selling shiners and nightcrawlers like crazy this past weekend, with most of the bait headed to French Creek. One customer reported catching both northern pike and smallmouth on shiners.
Lou Letterle (Franklin): “I managed to fish a couple times this past week on both French Creek and the Allegheny River. The most productive trip was on lower French Creek near Franklinwhen I took my kids and two of their friends wade-fishing. To keep things simple (and reduce snags), I rigged each rod with either a Yum Dinger or a Fluke – both baits rigged un-weighted on a circle hook. All four kids (Brandi & Corey Letterle and Christi & Carly Zaboroski) caught smallmouth and had a great time.”
Dustin Shay (Meadville) and friends have been on French Creek several days this week. “Russ Chancey caught a 30” walleye on a riffle runner minnow. We also caught some nice smallmouth on riffle runners as well. On another day, Russ caught a 4 pound largemouth from French Creek on a Big Bite Cane Stick which I won in a Fishing Report drawing earlier this year .”
Gamma Salutes
The winner of Gamma Line this week is Lou Letterle for the photos submitted of his son and daughter, and their friends, fishing French Creek for smallmouth bass.
Gamma Line is available locally at CDS (Grove City), Espyville Outdoors (Espyville), Poor Richards (Erie), and John’s Bait (Meadville).
Lure Pack Winner
Winner this week of a Booyah/Yum lure packet is Ken Anderson.
Outdoor Calendar of Events
Monthly Fly-Tying Class – Free, Walk In 814-590-1366
Farrell’s Hook, Line & Stitch (At the Bank Mall),Meadville
2nd Tuesday of each month;6 PM to 7:30 PM
Aug 27 Walt’s Tavern Bass Benefit Tournament; $100.00/team
Information contact: Dan Mincin at 724-986-6557
Sept 18 Allegheny RiverBass Team Tournament #1
$100 per team; for info contact Eric Heil lt.heil@yahoo.com
Oct 16 Allegheny RiverBass Team Tournament #2
$100 per team; for info contact Eric Heil lt.heil@yahoo.com
Nov 5 PA Steelhead Expo atRainbowGardens,Erie,PA
Details to come
Information contributed by:
– Chris’ Tackle Box, Jamestown, PA
– Maurer’s Trading Post, Franklin, PA
– Oil Creek Outfitters, Titusville, PA
– John’s Bait & Tackle, Meadville, PA
– Van Tassel’s Timberland Bait, Canadohta Lake, PA
– Fergie’s Bait & Tackle, Sandy Lake, PA
– R & L Bait & Tackle, Greenville, PA
– B.A.C. Bait & Tackle, Erie, PA
– Poor Richards Bait & Tackle, Fairview, PA
– Presque Isle Angler, Erie, PA
– Neshannock Creek Fly Shop, Volant, PA
– Erie Sports Store, Erie, PA
– CLTackle.com
– Espyville Outdoors, Espyville, PA
– Farrell’s Hook, Line & Stitch, Meadville, PA
– Consumer Direct Sports, Grove City, PA
– Jigger Wholesale Tackle, Franklin, PA
– Area anglers
Sponsored by: PA Great Lakes Region
& GAMMA Fishing Line (now owned by Black Knight Industries of Oil City)
Connect to all counties at www.PaGreatLakes.com
– Crawford County Convention &Visitors Bureau at www.visitcrawford.org
– VisitErie at www.visiterie.com
– VisitMercerCountyPA at www.visitmercercountypa.com
– Oil Region Alliance at www.oilregion.org
Note: The information in the NW PA Weekly Fishing Report is based on the observations and opinions of individuals at the reporting tackle shops and expert area anglers. Although the information is reliable, it is not independently verified.
If you have fishing information or a picture of your catch from one of the waters in the following counties, please contact Darl Black at darlblack@windstream.net
In providing a picture, you are agreeing to it being posted on the Fishing Report.
Keep Up with More NW PA Fishing at http://darlblack.blogspot.com
