Also I still haven’t taken the boat to the river yet but it’s still on the list of things to do… got distracted by kayak fishing and river smallmouth.

I hit the stretch between cedar creek and west Newton today, got into some nice ones. Keitech swim baits were the ticket today. I usually throw senkos and bitsy bugs with craw trailers, but the paddle tails with a weighted hook really got it done today. Might be my new go to.

Ima hit the yough for a couple hours Thursday morning. I took a couple days off work because I’m heading out of town Thursday afternoon. Gonna sneak some early fishing in. The weather and the river conditions should be great.

Definitely gonna go for some smallmouth but I might try to to change it up and get on some walleye in those deeper slow holes. My goal this summer is to start putting some walleye in the freezer more consistently.

So I made a friend on the GAP Facebook group that lets me store my bike and kayak gear in her backyard in west Newton while I float/ride back up to my car. I take out at that little overgrown ramp by the German club. I never felt comfortable just locking stuff up and leaving it at a public launch or whatever.

So if I’m by myself I’ll stash my stuff in her yard, or sometimes me and my girlfriend, or me and a buddy will take two vehicles and leave a car at a takeout point, or sometimes I’ll just drop in and paddle upstream then float back down, or I’ll just wet wade in the summer when the water is warm… kinda depends on what kinda mood I’m in, or what stretch I want to fish.

I generally fish anywhere from perryopolis down to buena vista, but the past few years I’ve fished the stretch between cedar creek and west Newton quite a bit, mainly because I got the hookup to stash gear, but also because there is some great water in that little stretch.

Maybe a mile up from the west Newton bridge there is a little mini rapid with some deeper water right below it. There’s an inlet from like a water treatment plant on the bike trail side right around this section.

The upper part of this stretch has faster current with a bunch of rocks and boulders and a sharp drop off on the train tracks bank side. There’s usually a bunch of smallmouth lurking there, especially around that drop off where the current is faster. I’ve seen walleye cruising around here too.

A little bit further down it apparently gets very deep, like 10’+ in some spots, and the current gets much lighter. I ran into an old timer last time I was up there and he was throwing tube jigs in this section for walleye. He was telling me about some big fish he’s pulled out of that stretch over the years.

So my plan Thursday is to drop in at the west Newton bridge and paddle up to that section, then try some swim baits or crank baits, or maybe a jig with a night crawler… just try some different presentations in that deeper water that should work better for walleye than bass. I think it’s a pretty fishy spot.

There are similar deep pools right above cedar creek park and Smithton beach too. I’ve caught lots of bass in super skinny water but I’m thinking those deep sections should be where the eyes are.

What’s a straight artie? Some kind of spinner rig?

Yea Smithton and cedar creek park get a lot of traffic on the weekends.

Smithton beach really pops off on hot summer days, especially when covid was at its peak and there was nothing else to do. It’s like a huge party- blaring music, dogs running around everywhere, inflatable unicorns, kids screaming, beer, weed, random guy with a guitar singing jimmy buffet’s greatest hits…

On the weekends you have to hit the spots that are harder to access. We’ve floated perryopolis to Smithton on a Saturday afternoon and it wasn’t too bad.

The old timer I ran into last week walked the train tracks out of west Newton and got down to the water from there. Also a good idea. Once you get down to that section you can wade the shoreline and fish that whole area, although you have to be careful because it drops off fast.

Yea the next set of rapids below Smithton is just below the I 70 bridge. It’s like a mile, mile and a half below Smithton beach. I generally don’t do as well on smallmouth down there as the stretch above Smithton but there are definitely some good spots.

Above Smithton there are a couple of pull off spots on the road past the old brewery where you can drop in. It’s a little tricky dragging or carrying a kayak through the brush but you can get on that real nice stretch just below Jacobs creek.

Finally got a chance to hit a new fishing hole I have been wanting to try.  Son and I hiked in (bout 1/2 a mile) and finally found a spot to set up.  Ended up catching enough keeper bluegill from shore to make a meal and a ton of small ones and a good 1/2 dozen or so almost keepable crappie.   Did catch one small 10" bass on the gill rod and my son had a big smack and miss on a frog.  No hits pitching the buzzbait but wasn't trying too hard.  

That sucks.  I am going to give it a try though.  I might give Smithton Beach a try, since you went eyeless on the WN stretch.  Still a coin flip.  I like the idea of having to paddle upstream first though.  Especially with pop up showers in the forecast for tomorrow and Saturday.  Probably give it a good solid 2 hours of walleye specific lures/techniques.  If nothing, then focus on the smallmouth.  I have spent years trying to force feed the eyes at Arthur and only a few came from targeting them.  I've caught more targeting hybrids.
 
I'd imagine the eye fishing might be better in the fall and spring?  I seemed to get into them more during those times when I used to fish the Allegheny and Ohio. 

I dunno. I only get a walleye here and there on the yough, always by accident.

I did forget nightcrawlers tho. I wanted to try drifting some night crawlers on jig heads but that didn’t happen. Probably wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. I’m pretty new to targeting eyes, so somebody that knows what they are doing might have more success in that WN stretch.

pensfan1
They caught a bunch of eyes a few weeks ago out Moraine. Like limits. It's slowed a good bit, from reports I've gotten, now. On a side story... I also heard the "kING" OF Moraine was out there. He got a livescope and can't wait to tell anyone and everyone about it. Be on the look out. He'll be the LOUDEST Mouth there. Jus say'IN.

Ha ha. I’ve fished next to him many times and always had some good conversations (even if I’m 100 yards away, I feel like I am in the conversation). He always tells me that I should have been here yesterday or two days ago…. Fish where all over his scope then and couldn’t keep them off the hook… Not sure if I am really just that unlucky/bad at scheduling days off work to fish?

No doubt, I am giving good thought to hit Artie instead of the Yough. But the smallie backup plan is much better than the bluegill backup plan at Arthur to save the day.

MyWar
I dunno. I only get a walleye here and there on the yough, always by accident.

I did forget nightcrawlers tho. I wanted to try drifting some night crawlers on jig heads but that didn’t happen. Probably wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. I’m pretty new to targeting eyes, so somebody that knows what they are doing might have more success in that WN stretch.

I nice, lively leech on a jig head or a lindy rig type set-up slow bounced on the bottom may be good for the eyes in the river but, probably have a hard time keeping the smallies away too.

I decided the Yough. Probably poor decision. I was tucked away in the woods along the bank for about 45 minutes when a nice little thunder storm cell came through. The radar said I was sort of lucky, only hitting the edge of it. 1 mile down stream where I wade had the purple radar. It put a bunch of leaves and small branches in the river too.

No eyes. I tried bottom bouncing some crawlers, jigs and crawlers, jigs with fresh caught minnows. Only ended up with some smallmouth. I decided that I had enough no eye torture. Switched to targeting smallmouth and did okay. There was a nice tree in the water that was getting a ton of surface activity. I got one smallie out of it, anchored by it for a good hour. Just couldn’t find something they really wanted. Paddled back up to the pullout area and decided to go full out senko. First two casts, hook up. Thought that I was going to have a field day. Three other hits and couldn’t button them.

Got fish on a new rod and didn’t have any fish break me off. So it was an okay outing for being close to 90. I have a feeling if I went to Arthur, I’d be washing a skunk off of my hands. And burning another 3-4 gallons of gas in the process.

Two were nice ones, 14”-15” range and fat, in deep water, so gave a nice fight. The others were 12” range, which were okay. One smaller than my jig…. So definitely beat a skunking.

I saw a school of gar, which was pretty cool. A large turtle too. Saw probably 10 or so drum and I think an eye or two. I have to say the clearer water in the Yough is a bonus.

I keep my boat near Arthur and much more comfortable on it for a day of fishing. It is really stable, able to walk around on it without any sense of tipping and barely any rocking.. It’s slow, but for a day on the water, it is nice to be able to get up and walk around a little. Always a little fun to fire it up and cruise too. Boxing a few crappie is worth taking it out, but I never do well targeting them on deep structure (besides the dinks, with maybe 1-2 keeper size). Getting that possible wiper has been less and less of a probability in the past few years. I used to be pretty confident in getting 1-2 every other outing and really into them at night. Rarely getting any under 20”. I have only caught a handful over 20” in the past few years and none over 20” this year. I am pretty sure with the amount of bait in the lake, they are not stocking enough to keep up with the pressure.

With Arthur being about twice the commute, and even more if I try after work, it makes the Yough more and more of a better choice. Especially in this heat. I’ll probably stick with the wading in this heat though.

Porktown
Then while wading to a spot, just casting on my way there, I tied into something that pulled like a wiper. Took me on 2 drag peeling runs. One was going upstream too! Broke the surface, didn’t jump like a smallie usually would, couldn’t see what it was, but it was strong. Then unbuttoned. On a Senko (Basspro Sticko actually)…. Could have been a carp, cat, smallmouth, smaller musky or other.

Big freshwater drum maybe? I hook into a big one every once in a while and those things can really take off on you. I’ve had em hit senkos and bitsy bug jigs too. You’ll see some HUGE ones in the water from a kayak.

I hooked into something across from Smithton beach once. It hit a live shiner. Same deal- big runs, peeling drag, then broke off. Never jumped, but swirled near the surface a couple times. Never got a good look at it though.

I like to tell myself it must have had teeth because it chewed through like 8 or 10 lb flourocarbon (can’t remember exactly what I was using), so maybe a musky. But more likely, it was just a big @ss drum and a sloppy knot just failed.

Spent a little over a week trying to catch some walleye on the NY side of Erie. First day I caught a 26" with some dumb luck and a crawler harness. The rest of the week I managed to catch several very large drum. Back to the drawing board I guess.....