Regarding Cowanesque

[cvalley]

Guys, esp. Shellback -

I see you've been to Cowanesque several times now with little luck. Just wanted to say don't give up on it. My dad lives just a few miles away from it, and enjoys good crappie and other panfish action. It's the lake he and his buddies fish the most in that area. I myself only went once with him there years ago, but I remember catching crappie all day long on minnows...it was probably Springtime. Also wanted to let you know he has a map he got from the USGS (800-USA-MAPS) that gives him a bit of info about structure since it's apparently based on surveys prior to the significant raising of the water level many years back. I haven't seen the map myself but he claims it is quite useful to him.

New member, and really enjoying all the great info. I now live in Southeastern PA in Lehigh County and I'm currently OBSESSED with finding decent crappie fishing here. I've seen several posts about area lakes but would love to learn more. Looking forward to fall weather and then ice!

[S10CHEVY]

Welcome to crappie.com cvalley and to the Pa message boards. We are currently trying to start a club here in Pa called Keystone Crappie Association. Look above where you are posting now, and you will see the link for it. Keith

[Big Zig]

"obsessed" with fishing? - Good man!! Welcome.

[Shellback]

Cvalley, I haven't given up on Cowanesque yet, actually Cowanesque, Hammond and Tioga lakes have been closed since Sept 18th when we got bombed with Ivan. Tioga was 32 feet over normal pool, and I believe Cowanesque was 20 some feet over. They had to have a real mess on their hands. I called yesterday and their are supposed to open on the 1st of Oct. I noticed you mentioned something about raising the level of Cowanesque years back. A fellow at the park campground office mentioned that. He said the campground now, was the second one as the first one is now under water. Seems they raised the lake for water storage for some utility or something. That would be handy to have an early map to get an idea of the bottom structure. Hopefully I'll get to one of the 3 lakes in the next week, this cool weather should get them moving into the shallows for awhile.

[cvalley]

Thanks for the warm welcome, guys. Looking forward to the KCA getting established. Don't forget us Southeastern PA folks!

Again, great site. How's the water temp? Must be getting good...

[Shellback]

Well I started off yesterday on Hammond lake, Tioga would have been my lake of choice, but it is still closed from the flooding and the Corps said it probably won't open it to boats again until next spring. Hammond lake is still so muddy you lose site of your jig in 8"s of water! I spent 3 hours there with zilch, nada, nary a bite! Another fellow who I talked to came in empty handed too, and he fishes the lake regularly. Loaded up the boat and took a fast run to Cowanesque. Tried one blowdown that was pretty hot before the flood, at least for other folks, not me. Anyhow, nothing there either. Ran back across the lake to a little cove under a bridge, and bam, one tater chip crappie. Then the wife picked up a couple small perch, but that was it for the day. Cowanesque was a little more clear than Hammond, but not alot. Man, this 4 1/2 hours of driving and $35 to $40 bucks in gas for no fish is getting to be a killer. I see some places are getting as much as $2.029 for gas, diesel was $2.249! Looks like almost a week of stable weather ahead of us up here, so maybe fishing will pickup.

[jigerjim]

Shellback Have you done any fishen closer to home? Myself, I haven done any Crappie fishen at all. The river has cleared up nice right now , so I'm spending most of my time over there. Smallie's are hot right now.

[Shellback]

Hello Jim, I've only fished the Susquehanna a couple times in PA, and that was in Tunkhannock. Too much trouble getting my boat on and off the trailer there as it's real shallow. I've mostly fished the river in Owego, NY, as it's just as close as going south to the river. I actually was going to hit the river instead of Hammond, but then remembered I needed new licenses for the wife and I. $80.00 for a pair, so I passed and stayed in PA. Whereabouts do you launch in PA? I've got a 16 foot Smoker Craft, walkthru windshield with a Honda 50 HP. I'm real careful about where I run in the river, it's sure hard on props and lower units! Is there a launch down there in Meshoppen? I guess 287 is still closed from the flood.

[jigerjim]

Shellback I spend a lot of time Terrytown, The ramp isent too bad there. If a lot of people unload, the ramp get's slick, sometime's I put it in 4 wheel drive to get out. There is about 6 mile's of river to fish with only two rocke's to look out for. There about 1/4 mile below the ramp in the middle, there not too hard to see. I have a jet so I can travel at least 15 18 mile's

[cvalley]

I was up to visit my Dad, so we went fishing this past Saturday. There was still a detour between his house and Cowanesque Dam so went to Beechwood Lake near Sabinsville. Rather cold, rainy morning and the wind always blows up there. Caught some very small perch, 1 small crappie - nothing that exciting but occasional tentative bites the whole time we were there; we wrote them off as small perch. He commented also that Cowanesque has been very poor this year, and the word was that so had Beechwood for that matter. They have had a rough year up there! Don't feel bad if you're not catching them in that neck of the woods, Shellback - doesn't look like you're the only one.