Disappointed!

I haven't fished Cross Creek, but I absolutely love fishing Arthur and Wilhelm as well as Pymie. It wasn't always so though. Each of those lakes is entirely different from each other and all are fished differently as well. Every time I partnered with someone whether it was in a club, regional, or whatever kind of bass tourney it was, my goal was to learn SOMETHING NEW. Sometimes it was HOW to do something and sometimes it was HOW NOT TO DO something. There is always something new to learn, and the same applies to each and every body of water. Be patient and learn each lake little by little. It WILL HAPPEN for you. Good luck !!!!!
 

It's you're not your. Hope dis helpis

you are or you're stupid! would be a little more correct and before you ask,yes I belong to the grammar pOLicE

fun to fish
Your Stupid!

Prehaps you can give me a few tips!

fun 2 fish - i agree with you - but, it's also PA with millions of people around chasing a limited resource - so what can you expect.
 
my historically favorite lake - keystone - is now the dead sea.  many claim it's due to the straw hats keeping everything they catch to make fish patties - i don't know but it's not worth fishing it anymore - the food base for sport fish has been devastated.
 
i actually do not know of a lake i would go to in western PA to chase game fish - you're either fighting crowds (pymy and many others), fighting huge boats/motors (loyalhanna, crooked creek, the rivers and many others) or just catching puny bluegills.
 
we leave for northern ontario next week for our annual "catching" trip (walleye and pike) and we're considering doing two of these - the second replacing any western PA fishing which has become a waste of time.
 
phish

F to F
I agree, arthur and wilhelm have a large amount of bait fish to compete with. In the future this could relate to bigger fish??? CC just sucks, way over fished. Pyma is good still but has its issues as well, last year you could not even put in due to water levels. This year so far so good.

Say what now??

 
After that, I guess the phish fear him too much and refuse to bite.

It's all about knowledge. F2F, maybe try focusing on one or two lakes all season and get to know them better, rather than fishing a bunch of places without actually spending the time to figure them out.

phishfearme

have walked many miles in waders chasing trout - only good for about 6 weeks in late april thru may.


phish

Say what now??

streams get too low and warm after about june 1 - why do you think the commission stops stocking after late may?  i've seen flocks of holdovers in laurel hill creek facing into small brook trout streams that enter LHC that will scatter as soon as anything approaches - these fish are next to impossible to catch and will no doubt die within a few weeks.
 
even the delayed harvest areas are near impossible to fish.  the yough dam outflow stays cold and good flow but the snot weed has totally fouled that area up.
 
you are welcome to spend your time in these low, warm water conditions - i prefer to do something else.
 
phish

To the OP(and whoever else..)
 
You mentioned Arthur, Pymy, etc...what about Shenango Lake? Just throwing out another option. And then there's various rivers including the the Allegheny, Mon, and Ohio as you mentioned.  I've only been out on the boat a couple times this year(Mosquito Lake in Ohio, yeah, not much help in regards to this thread) but I've been fishing(shore fishing/wading) some rivers and streams all spring and now summer for warmwaters species and trout.  Lots of bass, walleye, panfish, etc. to be had.  Just something different.  And as others have mentioned instead of trying a bunch of different places just spend time on a couple and try to figure them out. 

Yeah check out the stocking lists come fall.  Most special regs streams tend to get a fall stocking(except I don't the Slippery Rock is next fall?).  I believe there's a couple DHALO streams near Pittsburgh which should get a fall stocking, but I'd check the list first as they're not stocking as many streams as they used to in the fall.
 

phishfearme

i stand by my statement that i think it's best to save your money and go someplace real - and if anyone thinks western PA fishing is great, i would bet they've not been to northern ontario or montana.

phish

 
I used to think the fishing in W. PA is great(and still do to an extent), and although I never fished Ontario or Montana, I did make a trip to Colorado last year and I'd have to say, the worst trout stream I fished during my time out there was better than the best stream I've fished in PA, and I've fished some very good streams in PA.  So you make a point there, but still the fishing isn't all that bad in PA ;)
 
I actually live in Ohio, though only 15min from the border and I find myself doing most of my fishing in PA. Yeah, the fishing in Ohio is good, but I still think the non-resident license is well worth the money.  I can catch good numbers of trout, walleye, lmb, smb, white bass, hybrids, pike, catfish, panfish, and carp within an hour from home.  Good numbers(and often size) of each of those species.  And that's from shore/wading.  Anything over an hour add many more stocked and wild trout opportunities, steelhead, and more warmwater opportunities.  Yeah, it took me a while to figure them out and learn the waters, but I'm now successful because of it.  Many skunkings, but also many fantastic days.  Gotta know where, when, how, and how to adapt if the conditions aren't the best.

The times I have fished Mosquito this year I did alright with bass and crappie, but no walleye for me.  I can catch walleye perfectly fine in rivers but can't figure them out on the lake to save my life.  Tried trolling a few times but don't think I'm doing it right and may not have the right equipment/setup. 
 
That said, before I call Mosquito a dead sea in regards to walleye(which it isn't), I should probably spend more time on it and try to figure it out before moving to Ontario lol JK

mikastorm - thanks for the pointer - this lake is actually closer to me than pymy - i just never looked outta state before - i'll give it a try.  does anyone know off hand if one day non-resident ohio licenses are still available?  i got one for fishing lake erie out of ashtabula but is that the same license that would be used for non-lake erie lakes?
 
thanks,
phish

slabdaddy

You can get a one day license for $11. You can also take that old license (if it's from this year) and use it as credit toward a year non-resident license.

 
thanks john - $11 is not bad for a one day license.  i don't think PA even offers this option for non-residents.
phish

And Ohio doesn't have any Lake Erie or Trout Stamps, so that saves you money.