There used to be blue walleye aka “blue pike” in Erie. They were harvested commercially until the fishery suddenly collapsed in the 60s and they were declared extinct in the 89s. It’s kind of a fascinating story.

There was some controversy about taxonomy and whether blue walleye was a separate species, a subspecies, or just a color variant. I think it’s currently considered a rare color variant based on genetic testing. I would imagine its especially rare around here.

I’d say that’s a helluva catch.

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.

I hit up the Yough on Friday afternoon/evening.  Got a few smallmouth.  Only one bruiser.  First time this year to the Yough.  I made the mistake of not checking my wading bag before heading out.  Got there and noticed my leader line wasn't in my bag, no forceps and didn't replenish my hook supply.  Ended up using some old 4# mono that I had stashed in my truck for emergencies and had some pliers in my truck tools.  Got to the point of pure disgust of how many fish broke me off.  Likely would have been a pretty nice outing if I had been prepared.  Still an enjoyable few hours out.  

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.

What’s your plan of attack for the eyes? I have only heard of guys drifting crawlers. The stretch that I fish doesn’t have much deep water. Although I know of a few pools that do.

How do you do your kayak drop and retrieve? Hazelbakers, go with another person, drop a bike off and lock it up, or just pound a stretch that you can paddle back and forth from? I debated to take mine on Friday, but didn’t have a good plan of attack and spur of the moment, so went solo.

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.

You guys fish straight arties in these sections?  Sounds like it would killer for spinning minnies....esp. for the walleyes where there is some deeper, faster water.  

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

That's awesome, thanks for the info.  I used to float the Cedar Creek to West Newton a lot growing up with my Dad.  Once I got my drivers license, I'd throw my bike on the canoe with us and bike back up.  Or drop it off first and lock it up.  Some great water in that stretch.  I'd also go at times with my bike and head about a mile down stream from Cedar Creek and fish from shore in some deeper areas.
 
Good to hear there is a spot to paddle up and not have to deal with the transport.  I was debating that at Smithton Beach, but sure it likely gets hammered and pretty much have to fish weekdays when nice out or having the float parties to contend with.
 
I've mostly been going between Smithton and Jacobs Creek.  Not the best kayaking water, with small rapids pretty close to each other.  But makes for wading a bit easier, you can cross the river in most sections and be waist deep.  Some of the sections with the bigger pools is hard to wade.  I tried wading at Cedar Creek one year and had water up to my chest, trying to get to the main channel...  From years of trying to force feed eyes on Arthur, I have gotten disgusted targeting them there at least.  I'll get one every so often, but more skunkings or other fish than eyes when targeting them.  I used to catch a ton of them on the Allegheny and Ohio in my river days, but not table fare for me.  Not the most fun fish to catch if not eating.  I'm sure they wouldn't be horrible and the rivers have cleaned up a bit in the past 15 years, since I stopped fishing them.  Heck, 15 years ago, I am not sure if I'd eat on out of the Yough?
 
I do straight artificial myself, since I have been wading and trying to stay light.  I should probably give minnows a try or at least some crawlers.  Shadlure isn't far out of the way for me.  If I am taking a boat, that frees up a good bit of what I can take.  Especially if I would take my 12' tin can, but I haven't registered that thing for a few years.  Not even sure if my motor works on it anymore...

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.