A Weekend Trip

http://users.penn.com/~skvarka/

Kinzua fly fishing school McKean Co PA

I beleive it was Georgia, I saw the episode also.  I don't think that I wanna fish in dust though.  17" below in rainfall this year.

If you want to go in the month of May, Potter County, no question about it.
 
The Adirondacks are quite a haul.  It takes a long time to get up in there.

mike,

you've got a lot of different water there with totally different styles. It depends entirely in what you want and when you want to go.

When I think of each of those places, here are the first things to come to mind:

Catskills and Delaware river: Cold and slow in April/early may. Crowded Mid may to end of June. HOT from the end of june until October (except the tailwaters which are crowded) October- gorgeous. The catskills have been going through a tough time the past few years. The multiple floods took a lot of bug life. The low hot water over the summers hurt the fish. Yes there are good days to be had, but unless you want to go for the history of it I'd pass on the Catskills.

Mossy Creek- $$$. Mostly day passes, little public access. For what I understand you get, not worth it to me. Why pay for fish when you don't have to?

Adirondaks- don't know them terribly well but you're a long way from DC to get there. Think 7+ hours to hit the lower end.

Potter County- some of my former 'home' waters. If you go before Memorial day you can get some phenomenal hatches. After that you're taking chances with warm water. Once cooler water comes around in October the fishing picks again.

Canada- hope you have our ****. Seriously though, you do have the exchange rate in your favor (as weak as the dollar is). I've heard good things about the Grand as a trout fishery and there is a chance of steelhead for a lot of the year.

gunpowder- doesn't impress me as a destination. Yes, there are trout there. Also lots of people (fishing and not) and there isn't much else there. Certainly not enough to keep me entertained for 4 days.



If it were me, and I were planning a 4-day trip I would want a mixture of fishing type, stream type, and scenery. It would depend on the time of year but it would definitely be PA mountains. Center county would be a good jumping off point to hit spring creek, penns, and all of the others in the area. Not a bad drive down to the Letort and Breeches. Little J is right over the hill. If you plan 4 days and the fish aren't doing on one stream, hop over to the other. Or, plan to fish 8 streams in 4 days.

Could do the same in potter/cameron/Mckean/Elk county, though you'll have different streams and fewer wild fish. You've got Pine Creek with slate and cedar run to fish as well.

If you don't necessarily want to do all trout, you could do a day on the susquehanna (guided) for carp and smallmouth with both fly rod and spinning rod. Then pop over to the breeches and letort for 2 days fishing. Gas and hotel would be dirt cheap (plan around the car shows).

Also consider the idea of saltwater. Wait until the fall and book a day for stripers/albies/blues off the NJ coast with both fly rod and conventional gear. Then swing back around to the gunpowder for a day and then up to the breeches. You're about 3 hours from the NJ coast to the gunpowder and an hour and a half up to the breeches.

Bunches of possibilities.

Thanks
Rick

have you thought about the smoky mountains? or the mountains in north carolina?  you can combo trout nad bass.

Northwest to Northcentral PA...Allegheny River, Clarion River and headwaters, ANF streams,Kinzua and S. Branch,  moving east towards Potter and all that it has to offer.  For a good price, tons of options and a shot at uncrowded conditions I don't think it can be beat.  I would be surprised if you could do the Grand in Canada for four days, lodging, guides for two guys for under two grand.  The exchange is AGAINST you right now.  It's almost even and if things continue you could actually owe the canadians a couple of cents on the dollar. Now that's scary.  Good luck...it's a nice problem that you have :)