Anymore since I mainly fish by myself I find it hard choosing a place to go on the first day of trout season.

I like to catch a lot of big fish, but that goes without saying. I also am not fond of the huge crowds that usually come on for just the first weekend or 2 of the season, so I usually find myself starting to fish the 2nd week of the season on weekdays.

This year I decided I am going to brave the first day of crowds and see how it goes. Now I just have to find a place to go.
I am posting some pictures of my Scouting Trip today to find a good spot. You can Click on any of the pictures to see the full sized version.

Dry Run Stream East Freedom PA These first 4 photos are from right behind my house in Blair County PA. There are no stocked fish here but there are native brook trout which are fun to catch. The further up stream you go from where this stream intersects with US RT. 200 the more and bigger fish you will find.

This stream is right behind my house so all I have to do is walk out and down over the creek bank. The down side is there are no really big fish here. I think my biggest ever was 13″ but they are there all year and can be caught almost any time of year.

The Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River The next several pictures are from the river across the street from me. It is not a bad place to fish and I do go there 3 or 4 mornings a week in the spring and summer. Usually I wait until after the first week or two of season to start. Then I may run into 1 or 2 other fisherman on any given day but it is never crowded.

The best spots I have found are right off exit 23 on I99. From a place called Don’s Pizza upstream to the Creekside Inn and then on upstream to the railroad bridge. There are loads of nice trout through that entire section.

Near Roaring Springs PA Secret Spot As I was scouting for spots I happened upon this small body of water. I really didn’t give it a lot of consideration but decided I should at least take a look. So I parked the car and walked across the muddy grass and look what I found!

OK OK those pics are a joke. That is from the city park there. It is called the Spring Dam. Those huge trout have been there since I was a little kid. They used to have a fishing derby day there for kids only. They were allowed to keep just one fish. That was always fun. I haven’t heard about any of those things in years there but my kids are grown now so I may just not be paying attention.

It is worth a trip there just to see them. A very nice little place.

Let me know if you try any of my spots. I would like to know how you make out.