I had planned to fish Buffalo Creek on Monday but heavy rain overnight caused me concern that the watershed might be running high & muddy sub-optimal conditions for fly fishing. Still wanting to get out and enjoy what promised to be a nice day I packed my kayak in the truck and headed up to Glade Run lake in Butler county.
Trees in the lake
About Glade Run lake
From the PA Fish and Boat website "Located in Butler County, Glade Run Lake is a 52-acre impoundment owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and managed by the Fish and Boat Commission for public fishing and boating."
Having been completely drained and shutdown due to issues with the dam the lake was restored thanks to the hard work of the Glade Run Conservancy It is stocked with trout and also has a healthy population of pan fish and a largemouth bass population that I've seen grow from fingerlings into fish that frequently run in the 16" range.
Besides being a decent fishery the lake has a large bird population and its own set of eagles.
The lake is electric motor only.
Fishing the lake
When the lake was restored the trees that had grown during the draw down weren't removed so there is a ton of cover (or looked at another way plenty of places to get hung up).
The downside however is that this makes fishing from shore difficult (not impossible). Fishing from a boat, canoe, or kayak in my opinion is the preferred method.
Yesterday's action
Given how cool it was in the morning I figured there was no sense in starting early. I arrived around 10am and the fishing only got better as the weather warmed.
I started out using a two fly rig of a black/green Wooly Bugger being trailed by a Mop Fly. Something I'd never tried on the lake before. I quickly caught my 1st trout of the day on the Mop Fly.
I had several more trout show interest including a couple that followed the flies right up to the boat but only managed to net one more fish.
Switching things up, I tried using a Muddler Minnow on the back end to no effect. Next, I switched the trailing fly to a San Juan worm but again the trout showed no interest despite evidence of them being all around me.
Eventually I changed up my enter setup. Putting on the tried and true chartreuse Wooly Bugger and trailing it with a Wooly Worm (which actually looks nothing like a worm but fish seem to like it).
The Wooly Worm seemed to be the fly of choice for the day. By the time I departed (around 2pm) 10 trout had found the net (all released) and most had been caught on the Wooly Worm.
When I fish the two fly rig my hit rate is typically 40% of the fish are caught on the lead fly and 60% on the trailer. On this day however I only caught one on the front fly.
The lake is also a great place to just go for a paddle
While stream fishing is certainly my preferred way to trout fish when the streams aren't fishable the lakes make for a viable option.
Close to home and with an active wildlife population and decent fishing opportunities Glade Run is a nice alternative.