Fishing Report: Turbulent weather put brakes on ice fishing
Hopes for a hard-water fishing season in Western Pennsylvania are on thin ice. Since Christmas, temperatures have dipped below 20 but quickly spiked into the mid40s with one oddball 73-degree Saturday. Ice on some lakes is thick enough to tease hopeful anglers, but too thin to support their weight.
Most of the region’s major ice fishing tournaments were canceled, postponed or remained in limbo. Tournaments at Pymatuning and Kahle Lake were canceled, and the Feb. 8 Canadohta Ice Fishing Tournament was postponed until March 14. The Western Pennsylvania Hardwater Tournament Series canceled events planned at Lake Wilhelm and Lake Arthur, while its contests at Presque Isle (Feb. 22), Edinboro Lake (Feb. 23) and Chautauqua Lake (March 7) are still on the schedule pending ice conditions.
Thursday, some regional lakes were reported to have shore-to-shore ice, but it didn’t meet recommended safety requirements calling for 4 inches of clear or “black” ice. Soft or “white” ice remains dangerous at 4 inches, as does any ice near protruding brush and over moving water.
Lake Erie and tributaries (Erie County) Following last weekend’s high water, eastside streams were covered with thin ice but steelhead trout were caught below the falls on Sixteenmile. West of the peninsula, waters were low Thursday but slush, small ice slabs and a green snow melt kept Elk and Walnut creeks flowing slightly higher than seasonal averages. Egg sacks and beaded flies were successful. In the bay, skim ice was too abundant for boating and too thin to support anglers. Crappies were taken off state park docks, but no catches of yellow perch were reported from city access points. Weekend temperatures were expected to remain in the mid- to high 30s with little chance of precipitation through early next week.
Pymatuning Lake(Crawford County) Unsafe skim ice
covered the southern end.
Panfish went for tipped jigs fished off the Jamestown docks.
French Creek (Crawford, Mercer, Venango counties) Walleye were active at dusk and Northern pike were taken as large as 30 inches.
Allegheny River (Venango County) Walleye fishing remained solid, and with water temperatures in the mid-30s, smallmouths continued taking hair jigs and tube baits.
Sugar Creek (Venango County) Trout went for live minnows.
Allegheny River (Warren County) Live creek chubs were the hot walleye bait at the Kinzua Dam outflow.
Deer Lakes (Allegheny County) Shore anglers casting beyond skim ice caught trout.
Quemahoning Reservoir (Somerset County) Unsafe ice covered most of the lake No fishing was reported.
High Point Lake (Somerset County) No reports of safe ice at 2,480 feet above sea level, one of the highest bodies of still water in Pennsylvania.