Data helps determine where, when to fish amid ice melt
For anglers who love the hardtop, nearly a month of ice fishing on Pittsburgh-area lakes and ponds was a gift. Now, most of that ice and the rain that melted it are flowing through creeks and rivers, creating a new set of opportunities.
Despite the springlike weather, fish continue to feed and anglers who understand snow and ice melt continue to catch them.
“There’s always a lull just after the ice melts when everybody stops fishing for a while,” said Jayson Tanner of Monroeville, who was browsing spinners for sale at the Walmart in North Versailles on Tuesday. “I guess it takes people a while to get used to the new environment. But that’s when I like to get out there and hit that flow before anybody else gets to it.”
Tanner said digital information guides his fishing decisions in ice-melt conditions.
“It’s all right here,” he said, pulling a smartphone from his pocket.
Pertinent information is available for free to anglers who know how to find it. Even during rapidly changing periods of ice melt, knowledge of water and weather conditions combined with stocking schedules and fishing
regulations can put anglers at the right place at the right time.
Start with water flow data from the U.S. Geological Survey, calculated to provide flooding awareness on hundreds of Pennsylvania creeks and rivers. It is also the perfect tool to show anglers when waters are rising, blown out or receding.
You don’t have to be a hydrologist to understand the readings. Pick a waterway. The charts indicating discharge, cubic feet per second, and gauge height, feet generally parallel each other, showing the flow and water depth at automated streamside stations. When the water rises, so do the line graphs. Receding water is indicated by receding graphs. The data shows rain and melting ice and snow resulting in days of unfishable flood waters extending many miles downstream. It also indicates that smaller streams drain faster, guiding wily anglers to fishable waters.
Weather predictions decrease in accuracy after more than a few days out, but weekend and 10-day prognostications at websites such as weather.com can help anglers to plan their trips. It’s not about fishing in the rain. Rising temperatures and rain can reverse receding stream flow and spoil fishable waters.
Additional information posted by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission can help to guide angling choices. Under COVID-19 protocol, most trout fishing is prohibited until the statewide Mentored Youth Trout Day, March 27, and opening day, April 3. Two notable exceptions and the stocking schedule provide an antidote for cabin fever.
The Adult Trout Stocking by County page shows anglers where and when the fish will go into the water. Several programs allow anglers to catch them before the season starts.
Lakes managed for the Stocked Trout Waters Open to Year-Round Fishing program are open for general angling, but trout are available on a strictly catch-and-release basis through opening day. In southwestern Pennsylvania, those waters include North Park Lake (Allegheny County); Raccoon and Brady’s Run lakes (Beaver); Dunlap Creek Lake (Fayette); Youghiogheny River from the lake to the Casselman River (Fayette, Somerset counties); Laurel Hill Lake, Blue Hole Creek from Gary’s Run to the mouth, and Fall Creek from Ansell Run to the mouth (Somerset); Canonsburg Lake (Washington); and Keystone, Northmoreland, and upper and lower Twin Lakes (Westmoreland).
Glances at the digital data show anglers that Brady’s Run Lake is open for Stocked Trout Waters Open to YearRound Fishing but won’t be stocked until March 23. North Park Lake, however, is now open for no-harvest trout fishing and will get its first state delivery of rainbow and golden rainbow trout Monday.
Trout fishing using flies and spinning lures is always legal in stream sections designated for Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only, although harvest is restricted or prohibited based on the time of year. Some of those waters are also enrolled in the Keystone Select program, in which large numbers of former hatchery breeders beyond their reproductive years and 14 to 20plus inches in length are stocked in addition to the 9to 11-inchers raised for general stockings. Waters included in both overlapping programs are listed together on the Fish and Boat site.
Informed by data gathered on his computer, Tanner said the Panther Martins, Mepps and Trout Worms he picked up at Walmart were destined to get their first casts at Loyalhanna Creek in Westmoreland County.
“I know part of Loyalhanna is in the Delayed Harvest and Keystone Select programs,” he said. “The stocking schedule says the trout, including the big breeders, were stocked Feb. 17. USGS at Kingston Dam says the melt-off crested on Monday and was going down fast, and the weather report says no rain for the rest of the week and temperatures in the high 30s. So, where do you think I’ll be the next few days?”