THE FOX CROSSING POOL on Pithole Creek, home of wild brown trout. Boulders pinch stream here, permitting, so hunters say, the pursued fox to bound across the fast dropping stream. This scenic spot is reached by hiking 30 minutes from Oleopolis. PENNSYLVANIA ANGLE#
PITHOLE CREEK JERHAPS no trout stream in Northwestern <strong>Pennsylvania</strong> ^ as as much fascination for fishermen as Pithole Creek in V enango County. This stream is approximately 13 miles ° n g, receives brown <strong>and</strong> rainbow trout from the <strong>Pennsylvania</strong> <strong>Fish</strong> <strong>Commission</strong> in its pre-season stocking; <strong>and</strong> * many pools will have two dozen fishermen crossing ,ne s on the opening morning of any trout season. While Pithole has fascination for many, it has trout for ut the few. And those few know how <strong>and</strong> when to fish J 16 stream. In its upper reaches near Route 36, <strong>and</strong> 'easantville, Pithole Creek is one mass of alders <strong>and</strong> ftor nbeams. These preclude bank fishing. And those who future in the creek bed must fight brush, branch <strong>and</strong> bu §gy webs. But the adventuresome who know how to float a night- ^awler into <strong>and</strong> through this tangle catch trout . . . take Ii ^nion-bellied browns with bloody-red spots. The browns do n °t grab the worm or the minnow on the first pass. Whence <strong>and</strong> persistence are needed. Perhaps the bait J*«J float under the alder branches <strong>and</strong> be worked up , r ° u gh a likely, snaggy spot twenty times before the br °wn trout will strike. . The fishermen who know what the rewards are there ln the upper tangles of Pithole Creek, wade the stream, °ve very slowly <strong>and</strong> cautiously <strong>and</strong> come home with ~t <strong>and</strong> a knowing look. Near the famous ghost oil town of Pithole City, now ev elopecj j n t o a museum <strong>and</strong> picnic area, Pithole Creek Urr >s into a typical Allegheny River tributary. It begins drop fast 50 feet to a mile. It has a rocky bed <strong>and</strong> ge boulders jut into the stream. , . e mid-stream rocks <strong>and</strong> boulders create small pools *nich extend under the rocks. And there hide Pithole's •g brown trout. . rorn under these rocks, when the creek is muddy or " kv > young boys will snake out trout which old men . ^" In milky water the brown trout which have sur- ^d several seasons suddenly become foolish. They will ace from under their boulder hideouts <strong>and</strong> snap at eithe; start], ar >ce. Should he miss the first presentation, the brown 1 suddenly finds its senses of survival. st 1°.* manv Ay fishermen try Pithole's pools from the last Peking pomt on the Eagle Rock Road, through three ty'l!f °^ g0r S e into-Oleopolis. Here the trout seem extra " They can see the tiniest tippets. Dry fly anglers It i° rve trout scurrying 50 feet ahead in clear pools. akes the canniest fly fisherman under these conditions, b pres ^ ent a dry fly in such a way to fool a one-pound r minnow or nightcrawler with a suddenness that e s the unsuspecting angler. They give him one APR, L-1965 By STEVE SZALEWICZ Pithole Creek has still another fascination—It has a riotous history dealing with the discovery of oil at Pithole City in 1865. The Pithole settlement was among the earliest in Venango County. In 1796 Alex<strong>and</strong>er McElhaney arrived to remain just a few months. Indians drove him off to Centre County. After a score of years some hardy farmers hewed out l<strong>and</strong> at the junction of Pithole <strong>and</strong> West Pithole Creeks. These farm l<strong>and</strong>s which once gave only a meager existence suddenly in 1865 became valuable real estate. Oil was discovered in very liberal quantities. In six months the farms grew from three families to 15,000 people. Pithole City died in 18 months. Oil petered out, people moved on. Left for today's trout fishermen are two l<strong>and</strong>marks . . . the restored green lanes of the wild city <strong>and</strong> two railroad beds of the Reno <strong>and</strong> Pithole <strong>and</strong> the Oil City <strong>and</strong> Pithole City railroads. <strong>Fish</strong>ermen who know the creek choose to walk the nearby old bed either to get to a favorite pool or to return to the car after a day's fishing. A FEW REMNANTS of the "Oil Excitement" of the 1860s still remain on fhe bonks of wild Pithole Creek. A few yards downstream from the oil tank rest, still imbedded in the stream, a few segments of the Pithole City-Oleopolis pipeline, one of the earliest oil conveyances in the world. The cast iron pipe is clearly visible, although very few trout fishermen know its place in oil history.
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