by Juan Veruete, Kayak Fish PA, LLC
I had the good fortune of being invited by the Crawford County Convention and Visitors Bureau to join several outdoor writers for a four day trip to experience the Smallmouth bass fishing available on French Creek near Meadville, Pennsylvania. We spent two days on the creek and caught a good number of smallmouth bass despite less than ideal conditions. Recent rains had the water up and muddy but that didn’t stop the smallmouth from feeding! The smallmouth we caught ranged from 8 inches to 17 inches. I’m sure there are probably some bigger fish lurking in the creek!
French Creeks headwaters start in New York State then flow 117 miles through Pennsylvania. The creek eventually dumps into the Allegheny River below Meadville Pennsylvania. The creek holds good numbers of smallmouth bass and even some walleye. We caught both on our trip. I even caught a bonus Pike. I am told by local fisherman that the water never quite gets crystal clear in the summer. It tends to have a little “brown” color to it.
French Creek is fairly shallow overall but offers riffles, runs, and deeper pools. Hot spots for smallmouth are naturally occurring wing dams formed by smaller creeks depositing sand, gravel, and chunk rock as they flow into French Creek. These “wing dams” as I call them create great current breaks and eddies.
There are plenty of access point on the river where you can take out or put in. The creek is easily wade fished when low and is a great creek to fish via kayak. The French Creek Project produces maps of the creek that include access points and distances between access points. This makes it easy to plan float trips.
Most of the fish we caught came on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and some on soft plastics. Productive baits were truly a function of the high muddy water. Once the water level drops, soft plastic baits are definitely the ticket.
If your looking for a nice little flow that offers great fishing and a relaxing float, this is definitely a creek you’d want to consider. I know that my time on the water was thoroughly enjoyable. The good numbers of smallmouth bass we were able to catch in the high turbid waters indicates that there is a healthy population. French Creek in northwest Pennsylvnian is great flow and the entire region including the Allegheny River is a fantastic fishing destination for any serious smallmouth fisherman.
Photograph for article by Dan Henninger.
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Nice to see you up in my part of the country. Also happy to see you doing well on French Creek. I’d like to know how far down you came on your floats. It’s pretty muddy with fine gravel over most of its bottom until you get well below Meadville. I used to fish French Creek occasionally when I wanted a change from Oil Creek. Oil Creek has better numbers of fish. French Creek can have tempermental fishing. When the river’s good, neither creek can measure up to it’s fishing quality, scenery and isolation. 15 or 20 years ago, the river wasn’t my choice. But it’s ecosystem has buffed-up since all the residences along the Allegheny had to have decent sewage systems. Even though only about 15% of the river is water you want to fish, that fishing can be great. If you ever want to sample it, give me a hoot and we’ll hook up. You’ll be catching smallies out of “nothing” water, as a Canadian told me.
July 1st, 2010 at 3:24 am
Sylvaneous, it was great water. The second day we hit the Allegheny and it was “off the hook”. We caught some truly big smallmouth. I’m definitely headed back again for an extended trip. I’ll look you up for sure!! I’d like to hit Oil Creek and the Allegheny again. I didn’t get a chance to fish oil creek when I was there. French Creek kept me busy!!