Photo by Polly Dean

Many Pennsylvania anglers have found that fishing for winter trout is hotter than ever these days. When the thermometer stays above the freezing mark, or even a little below, a productive day on a Keystone State trout stream can chase the winter blues away.

Here’s a look at 10 top trout streams that will make anglers feel as good as if they were sitting beside a roaring fireplace this month:

SAUCON CREEK
A few years ago, the Little Schuylkill River was the major rejuvenation story in the Southeast Region. These days, that honor belongs to Saucon Creek in Northampton County.

When biologists from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission surveyed the stream, they found an amazing array of wild brown trout. Based on that survey, a 2.1-mile section of the stream was placed under Delayed Harvest regulations.

One site studied was upstream of the High Street bridge in Hellertown, while a second site was within Saucon Park in Bethlehem. The biologist who performed the survey found nearly 1,400 wild brown trout in those areas, according to Dave Arnold, the PFBC’s Area Five fisheries manager.

Saucon Creek is a limestoner of moderate width (40 to 45 feet in the areas surveyed). It is also primarily a fast, shallow stream with a substrate consisting mostly of small-diameter rocks and gravel.

If that sounds like a scientist’s description, it actually isn’t. I grew up along this stream and have watched it return from its days as an outlet for mine drainage to the Class A trout stream it is today.

Access to Saucon Creek is best at the municipal parks in Hellertown and Bethlehem, but there are also a few secondary road crossings off Route 412.

CLARION RIVER TRIBUTARIES
Kurt Thomas is a guide on the northwest’s Clarion River.

“I have watched this river blossom from a polluted, poor fishery into a fantastic river with a strong population of healthy brown trout,” Thomas said. “The Clarion is a high-quality fishery for large brown trout. It’s possible to connect with fish in the 20-inch range. And indeed, some are much larger.”

Thomas credits some of this resurgence to the PFBC’s specialized stocking program.

“The state has maintained a program of stocking fingerling brown trout here for many years. Catchable-sized trout are not stocked, and are not necessary, in the Clarion River,” he noted. “There is good reproduction of brown trout in the Clarion and several quality tributaries.

Thomas frequently focuses his attentions on the Clarion tributaries.

“Excellent trout fishing exists in the East and West branches of the Clarion River, the catch-and-release, all-tackle section beginning in Johnsonburg extending over eight miles down into Ridgway, and continuing for many miles below the town of Ridgway,” he said. “The East Branch Clarion is a tailwater stream. Regulated trout water exists on sections of both these tributaries as well as the catch-and-release water on the main river.”

The major access route through the Clarion watershed is Route 949 to Ridgeway. Johnsonburg is where the two branches meet. Take Route 219 toward Wilcox for the West Branch and for the East Branch, state Route 1004 toward Bendigo State Park in Elk County.