Fished Tarentum this morning in the rain, the three of us burned through 1.25lbs of fatheads. Lots of super short walleye, a few keeper's too. Caught 2 big cats, and a few smallmouth.

Fished Tarentum again on Saturday with an old army buddy. We caught a few decent walley, lost a pretty big pike at the boat. 

I got out a few days in the past week to Arthur.  Pre-cold front, the night bite was on with bait everywhere.  Cold front moved in and seemed to have very limited bait movement at night.  Possibly some action late, late, but I wasn't going to wait up that late to find out.  I found them during the day, which I'd rather do anyway.  I couldn't find the crappie to save my life during the cold front.  Guessing similar with the bait, the front made the shallows colder and moved deeper.  But I wouldn't have thought they'd leave spawning beds even if cold?  Maybe spawned already?  I found some clear cut beds and nothing on them.  Possibly already pulled from them.  I focused much more attention to the harder pulling fish though, so could have just been the time spent trying to find them.  Thurs-Sat, saw maybe 1-2 other boats each day.  Guessing next few (dozen) times out, I will be jockeying for position with the kayaks, SUPs and pleasure boaters.  Maybe I should just focus on the cold fronts?  Just kidding, the pleasure boaters, kayaks and SUPs don't bother me.  Just like the anglers, if they have a shred of boating etiquette/common sense, all is fine.

 "Possibly some action late, late, but I wasn't going to wait up that late to find out."
 
 Pork, good thing you didn't wait around. This morning it was the normal (for this time of May) late, late until dawn feeding frenzy for the part of lake I was at.
 
  After a feeding like that the fish lay on the bottom for hours sayin "I ate tooo much"

 Hated when the Leather Backs would do that on the Allegheny fishing from shore. Couldn't get away from them at times.

 The night bite for me the first part of May was always the 3:30 -- 'till dawn. That changes earlier and earlier Until mid July from my experiences. 
 
 Not talking about the Crappie bite.
 

  The Crappie seem to hit good for a couple hours after dark then slows drastically for me. If the moon rises after that they seem to turn back on.
 
  Was nice every first few weeks of May. The reports of the top water action were "they ain't hitting yet." Guys would fish till 12, 1 or up to 2:00 am and leave. I wouldn't go down until 2:00 and always had the place to myself. Still not enough nut jobs out there to fish those hours for a dang fish. Learned that time from all night Catfishing a few years after they started stocking Byrds. Can still remember that first morning of the onslaught of Alewife 

Hit the yough yesterday and put a hurtin’ on some smallies. They were pretty active, feeding up in the shallows. Must have landed 20+ including a half dozen in 16-17-18 range, as well a 20, which was the biggest bass I’ve ever pulled out of the yough.

I didn’t weigh any of them. They were all pretty skinny and spawned out. I also noticed several schools of what I presumed to be bass fry hanging around the shoreline. Some of the smaller males might have still been hanging around guarding them, but at this point I imagine the spawn is pretty much over, at least around here.

Yea, it was probably one of the best days I’ve had on the yough tbh. Whenever we get some extended warm weather in May it always seems to get them pretty fired up.

It was pretty windy too, which was a pain in the @ss at times but it blew a lot of leaves and pollen onto the water which helped me find the slack water where they were sitting. The river was probably about a foot higher than it is in mid summer, so they were sitting in some spots that I wouldn’t normally target in say, July. It was nice to have those visual clues on the surface, to find the current patterns that are a little different when the water is up a bit.

Camped on pine creek a couple days this week, got some good fishing in on the day we floated cedar run to slate run. Got a nice mix of species- some bass, trout, and then a couple I’m not sure what’s, but they were some kind rough fish like a giant creek chub or a fall fish. Second time I’ve had a trout hit a ned rig.

That creek must be stocked pretty well because trout were surfacing everywhere, especially on Tuesday, the last warm day before the weather changed. On Wednesday the bite seemed to shut down when the rain moved in.

Also had an extra day of vacation this week after we got back so I floated the yough yesterday from cedar creek to west Newton. I barely got a bite the first couple hours on the water, then the wind died down and the weather seemed to change, and they turned on a little bit after like 5:30 or so. I still didn’t do that well though, nothing big.

I think the post spawn + post cold front conditions put them in kind of a funny mood, but that seems to be typical of the smallmouth bite in may and June. If you get 3 or 4 days of warm, stable weather, they get fired up, but a change in the weather pattern throws them into a funk. The weather forecast right now looks like it gets pretty warm and stable from mid week through next weekend, so I’m gonna try to get out there during that time if I can. Maybe I’ll hit the Allegheny for the first time this year.

Slammed the walleyes Wednesday. Beautiful day to be out. 

Fished Erie Wednesday thru Saturday. Lots of bugs, heat and fish each day. Most eyes were 25-45 ft down. Landed a few steelhead each day as well. Bigger fish were found in the upper 60s lower 70s ft of water. Managed a 37 lb box (6 fish)Saturday good enough for second place in the Walleye bash. Current was much stronger Saturday than other days. 5 color core n shallow divers did most of the damage.

I’ve been trying to find some decent creeks to wade. Looking for stuff that’s closer to home, so like 30-45 min from pittsburgh.

I hit connoquenessing around zelienople last week. Waded about a mile-long section and caught a bunch of small bass. I figure there has to be sections of the creek with some bigger fish, I just need to find them. There are a bunch of posts in this forum that mentioned some other access points that seem worth a try. Definitely a lot of fish in the creek though.

I also tried the kiski at avonmore on the kayak. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this river, but it didn’t seem healthy. I saw few if any baitfish or crayfish or any other forage in the water, no vegetation either. I ended up getting a handful of bass, and a couple were decent sized… but they were all super skinny and scrawny looking, like they just finished spawning. Maybe it’s just a bad stretch of river, I dunno. I might try another access point. I have a feeling there are some water quality issues. Although it was surprisingly crystal clear, like visibility may have been around 10 ft.

Took the boat out on Saturday up in Dunkirk NY, apparently there was another fishing tournament so parking was a pain. Lots of marks on the graph between 95 and 107 FOW,  I managed to catch 3 smaller walleye (14"-17") with a dipsy diver and a purple bayrat.

Wading & Fishing: I have seen guys knee deep on the opposite side lock at the C.W. Bill Young Lock and Dam in Harmarville. I wouldn't dare try bare footed, god only knows what you could potentially step on. 

Not sure you want to risk trying to wade at the Trentum or Freeport stretches of the river. One step your in 2 feet the next step it could be 7-8 feet. 

Swimming: I would most likely go up to where Red Bank Creek meets the Allegheny.