It was sunny and crystal clear, I was sort of surprised to have the action that I had. Extremely surprised by the trout. It wasn’t exactly swift water where I got it.

I fish Smithton a bit, since I am comfortable wading that section alone and takes me 25 minutes to get there and easy to do small window of time fishing trips. There really isn’t anything special about the area, beyond it being mostly easy to wade and usually able to get a few.

We floated Cedar Creek to West Newton last time out. Went with my wife and kids, them in tubes and me in kayak. Not all that much wadable water the whole stretch. Parts that were, I’m not sure how to get to them from a car. Even floating from Hazelbakers is limited. Granted, you can wade any of the river, but those slow moving deep areas aren’t very easy to wade and aren’t very productive for me, the swift semi deep stuff after rapids are great from the yak, but often hard to get to without a kayak. A buddy of mine and I hit near Perryopolis one time and pretty much got stuck on one side of the river. Had to cross in some pretty sketchy rapids. We were debating to swim across another section…. Would not want to be doing that alone.

Porktown
A buddy of mine and I hit near Perryopolis one time and pretty much got stuck on one side of the river. Had to cross in some pretty sketchy rapids. We were debating to swim across another section…. Would not want to be doing that alone.

I pretty much always take the kayak. Even if it’s just to paddle upstream and hop out and wade. I much prefer actually fishing while wading or standing, but the kayak just opens up a little more water than wading alone and you never have to worry swimming out.

I think I’ve only ever caught that one rainbow in the yough, and that was earlier this year. I would think by now a lot have either been caught or died because the water got too warm. Although I would always see a couple palominos by West Newton late into the summer. So I guess if they are able to find pockets of cooler water they can make it through the summer.

I have heard there are some cold water springs through out the river that keeps them alive. But was only talk from anglers.

When I did hazelbaker last, I did really well from the yak. Dragged a ZMan jerkbait or fluke jerkbait and would give it a pretty constant pop, pop, pop, rest and repeat. Got a few with the TRD that way too. Last year in the Kiski, did the same with tube jigs and did well.

I struggle with the senkos while drifting. Seems like they seem to work better while anchored or wading. I did get a few with them, but action was so much better for me with the dragging approach. I’m sure it changes daily though.

I’ve had my kayak for about 20 years. Used it a good bit for 2-3 years, bought a boat and it sat unused for about 10 years. The past year I think that I used it 5 times, which is by far the most that I have used since the first few years. I will try to use it a bit more next year. I’ll have to explore more areas that I can paddle up and drift down. Do you know if there is a public launch point at Layton/Hazelbaker area?

See any alligators near Kiski? Hear it's a hotspot!
 

Porktown
I have heard there are some cold water springs through out the river that keeps them alive. But was only talk from anglers.

When I did hazelbaker last, I did really well from the yak. Dragged a ZMan jerkbait or fluke jerkbait and would give it a pretty constant pop, pop, pop, rest and repeat. Got a few with the TRD that way too. Last year in the Kiski, did the same with tube jigs and did well.

I struggle with the senkos while drifting. Seems like they seem to work better while anchored or wading. I did get a few with them, but action was so much better for me with the dragging approach. I’m sure it changes daily though.

I’ve had my kayak for about 20 years. Used it a good bit for 2-3 years, bought a boat and it sat unused for about 10 years. The past year I think that I used it 5 times, which is by far the most that I have used since the first few years. I will try to use it a bit more next year. I’ll have to explore more areas that I can paddle up and drift down. Do you know if there is a public launch point at Layton/Hazelbaker area?

I think hazelbakers is open to the public for a launch fee? I’m not 100% sure. Perryopolis launch is a couple miles down from there I think. And then there is another launch about 2 miles below that. With kayaks you can almost drop in anywhere tho.

I’ve also had some success on river floats just dragging different baits like paddle tails or ned rigs. Weightless senkos seem to be more effective while falling through the water column rather than being dragged. I usually keep three or four rods rigged up on the kayak and switch between them a lot, so depending on the current or river bottom or whatever I like to switch it up a lot.

This summer I’ve been using paddle tails with an underspin more often, especially around dusk. I don’t use a lot of reaction baits so I’m trying to work more flashy stuff into my repertoire, for low light conditions or muddy water or whatever. I have some jerkbaits and squarebills and stuff like that but I don’t have much confidence in them, so if I don’t get bit in the first 5 or 6 casts I switch back to soft plastics.

Had another solid day on the Allegheny today up around Parker. Started out a little slow until all the holiday weekend traffic cooled down but the last couple hours were nicely productive. Ended up with two 18s and a bunch of smaller ones between 12-15. They were some fat and healthy 18 inchers tho. I follow that keystone connection guide service on Facebook and they had posted something earlier this summer about the smallmouth on the Allegheny being noticeably thick and chunky this year and I’d have to concur.

The Big Lake was good to us today. 2 man West of Elk. We got a bonus Trout. Hopefully she let's us out a few more times. Then I havta decide on either swapping these motors out, or find something bare bones to put the 20 on.

I hit Arthur today after the showers. First time taking the boat out since June. Water was 75, so wasn’t expecting much. Got a few dink stripes and some cats. Not as bad as I do most summer Arthur outings. Guessing the rain and overcast helped. Bring on October!!!

The upcoming cool weather should help.

Fished Tarentum yesterday morning, caught one 15" sauger, and I got to see a bunch of nice bass boats. Hopefully it will be better in October.  

We went West of Elk again. Did pretty good. Short on the 2man limit but we caught fish. Lots of snipes this trip. I had a trout smash a crank bait on a flatline. Took him for a good ride and he shook off at the rail. I didn't even have to touch him. 👍. If we get the weather, I'm thinking one last trip outta Shades. I'd like to fish that deep 1 more time before I switch to local fishing. It was another banner year, so if I don't get up'dere again, it won't break my heart. My only problem is now it's the waiting game for sub 50° water temps around here. 🙄