Places We Like To Fish

Bobs Lake
I would have to say our favorite place to fish, by far, is Bobs Lake in Ontario, Canada. We make this trip for one or two weeks every summer in July. Bobs Lake is about 16 miles long and 5 miles wide and offers some of the best fishing we have every encountered. There is also plenty of wild life for you nature lovers as well. Bobs Lake has never let us down in the quantity or quality of the fish we caught. We catch LM bass, SM bass, pike, walleye, perch and of course, sunnies. There are many places to stay on Bobs Lake. You can rent houses, stay at campgrounds or stay in a lodge.

Schuylkill River
We have fished the length of the Schuylkill River from Pottstown to Philadelphia border. The ramps we use are:

Flat Rock Park access. This ramp, Which can accommodate most boats, is located in Lower Merion Township at Flat Rock Park off of  River Rd. On this section of  river you can run from the Fayette St. Bridge in Conshohocken  to the Flat Rock Dam. It is maintained by Lower Merion Township.
Haws Ave. access. Is located in River Front Park in the Borough of Norristown and the end of Haws Ave. This ramp can accommodate most boats and is maintained by the Borough of Norristown. At this ramp you can go upriver to Valley Forge Park.
Valley Forge Park ramp. This ramp is maintained by Valley Forge Park, is located at the end of Trooper Rd near 422, and can be used by most boats, except Jet Skis. According to the park Jet Skis do not fit in with the use of our National Parks. From this ramp you can go down river to the Haws Ave. Ramp.  You can also go up river to some excellent fishing if you have a small or jet boat. I have gone all the way up to the Pawlings Rd. bridge in Audubon. To make that journey you need patience and a skill. The remains of a dam are just down from the Pawlings Rd. bridge that has breech on the right hand side you can go through if you are careful.

Mont Clare. This a small unimproved ramp, built by Upper Providence Township and others, is located off of RT 29 in Mont Clare along the canal near Lock 60. This ramp is gravel I would not recommend backing down the ramp unless you have 4 wheel drive. The ramp is mainly used for canoes and kayaks. A small aluminum jon or "V" bottom that can be carried is perfect. I use our little boat, or a friends 10' jon boat, with an electric motor. From this ramp you can go upriver to the Black Rock Dam and down river pretty far. I have only ever gone to the RT 29 Bridge in Mont Clare. After that there are to many rapids unless you are in a caone or kayak. The riffles below the dam offer good SM bass fishing.

Phoenixville Ramp. This has to be one of our favorite places to launch and fish along the Schuylkill River. The ramp is located at Rt. 113 in Phoenixville. From this ramp we go up river and fish around the tressel above the power station. The warm water outlet from the power plant is a good spot as well. You will also have good luck fishing both banks, around the island and the deep water between the power plant and the tressel.

There is an island upriver from the tressel that I would like to fish around but the water gets too shallow above the tressel for our big boat. Some day I'll put our 9.8 HP outboard on our little boat and head up there.

Limerick, PA. Limerick Township has just rebuilt a good little ramp just down stream from Vincent Dam. It is located off of Trinley Mill Rd. in Linfield, PA. This ramp is a brand new and paved. But, be careful, the water is not very deep here. This ramp is just for smaller boats. The fishing has been good here. You can go up river to the dam and down to a few riffles that only a canoe or kayak can go through.

Tow Path Park has a small gravel ramp located off of Rt 724 in East Coventry Township in Chester County. This is another small boat ramp used mostly for canoes and kayaks. You can launch a small boat here but the river here is shallow.

Pottstown has a ramp located off of South Hanover St. This is a concrete ramp that you can launch a bigger boat but you can not take it to far up or down stream before the water gets to shallow. More water can be covered if you have a smaller boat with an electric motor.
Perkiomen Creek
Hoy Park is located off of Arcola Rd. In Lower Providence Township next to the Skippack Creek.It has a small ramp for canoes and kayaks. You can not get a trailer in the water. If you can not carry your boat off and on the trailer this ramp is not for you.  I can get our little boat's trailer to the edge of the water and push it in the water. To get the boat back on the trailer I pull it onto the ramp and the use the winch to pull the boat back onto the trailer.
At this ramp you can access the Perky above the Indian Head Dam. You can then go down to the dam and up to the Arcola Rd. Bridge.

Graterford there is no boat ramp here but the fishing is excellent. The entrance road is south of a big yellow caboose. There is a pumping station for the Limerick power plant along the creek that has a dam you can fish. But the best fishing can be found by wading in the creek from the dam down to the Rt. 113 Bridge.

Central Perkiomen Valley Park has a ramp of sorts to get onto the Perky but I do not know what kind of luck you will have with a trailer boat. I think it is more for canoes and kayaks. I do know the fishing is good under the Plank Rd. bridge and down stream along the bank. Wading is a great way to fish as well. Be careful around bridge the water gets deep quick. More park info.

Schwenksville has a dock behind the firehouse that I have fished off of many times. It offers a great place to take little kids to fish.

Raystown Lake
In June, 2006 we are going to try fishing in Raystown Lake. We are going to try using a guide service, Striper Guide Service,  for the first time. We'll update this site afterwards to let you know how it went.

Update: 06/21/06

Well we went to Raystown Lake over the 2006 Father's Day weekend. In short the fishing was terrible. On Friday we had three boats on the water covering all areas of the lake and using every kind of lure available. Few fish were caught.

On Saturday we went out on the charter boat from 5:30 am to 1:30 pm and caught 2 lake trout and a carp. At  6:00 pm we went out on our own boats again and again nothing worth mentioning was caught. Even though we did not catch much during our charter trip I do have to say the captain did know what he was doing and tried to put us on the fish, we could see them on the depth finder, they just were not biting. You can see a picture of the fish my brother caught here.

On Sunday evening we went out this time armed with minnows and  worms from the local store. We fished from mile marker 28 down to the power lines. The only thing woth telling you about was a little musky I caught on a 3" jointed minnow.

Green Lane Reservoir
As mentioned in our boat page we are keeping our small boat at Green Lane Reservoir. We have fished there a couple of time already this spring, 2006, and we have had good luck. I am curious to see how the rest of the season goes.

Beltzville Lake
 
Over the years we have fished Beltzville Lake with  little luck. We launch at the Preacher’s Camp launch area and try to fish in the no wake area of the lake. We have also fished every cove, creek and every other area we think the fish are located. However luck has been underwhelming. I think our problem is the lake is deep, very deep. We normally do not do that kind of fishing. Every bank drops right into 20' of water right away. The only shallow area is the swim beach and they do not allow boats there. I have heard stories of people catching big fish but have never seen it first hand. We have caught fish there but they are few and far between. I was with a friend that caught a muskie there, once. I even caught a bass there, once.

If you are into water skiing or tubing this is the lake for you. If you like swimming, ditto, the beach is nice. If you like just cruising on your boat go for it. If you want to catch fish stay away,

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