Tioga County Lakes, Pine Creek, & Surrounding Waterways Fishing Report
- Posted on
- By Don Kelly
- Posted in Fishing Reports
- 0
Fishing Reports and info for Tioga County, Pine Creek, & Surrounding Waterways
Welcome to the new fishing report blog from Tackle Shack. Bookmark this page to easily reference fishing reports, ice conditions, and fishing updates for Tioga County and the surrounding waterways.
***12/11/2025 Tackle Shack Tioga County ICE Update!***
Good cold weather has settled into the area and all the lakes have at least some ice cover. Snow these past few days is going to slow ice growth. Birds, wind, and some rain are contributing to varied ice conditions too. If you get out, proper safety gear, especially a spud bar, is a must in the early season!
THESE REPORTS ARE FOR YOUR REFERENCE ONLY. ALWAYS check ice conditions yourself before venturing onto any frozen body of water. Spud, Spud, Spud, and constantly check thickness are you move.
Hills Creek- A few anglers have been fishing Hills Creek this week and one angler was out today. The edges are solid with no problem accessing the ice at either boat launch. There is a few inches of snow. We marked roughly 5” of mostly black ice at both the Pine launch and the Beaver Huts launch.
Beechwood- As of this morning, the road to the boat launch was not plowed and there was probably 3 inches or so of snow on the lake. Access from the launch was no issue and we found a consistent 5-5.5” of mostly black ice. Beechwood is due to be stocked with trout next week on 12/15.
Cowanesque- About half or so of the lake is frozen with most of the open water on the east end. There are large wet areas and open spots from the south shore launch west too though. We’ll check back in a week or so.
Hammond- Hammond is probably 2/3 frozen with a large patch of open water in the middle and quite a few wet spots throughout the lake. Again, we’ll check back next week sometime.
Hamilton- Hamilton appears mostly frozen, however there is a potential thin/wet spot on the opposite side, roughly in the middle of the lake, near the group of pine trees. We had no issue walking on at the boat launch and marked about 3.75-4”. We did not check at the dam end parking lot. With more snow today, any thin spots will likely be hidden.
Nessmuk- Birds are keeping a large section of Nessmuk open about ¾ of the way towards to dam on the opposite side of the lake. The edge at the boat launch was soft and wet. We were able to get on here, and found just under 4” of ice, however, this likely tapers to thinner ice farther out and until the rest freezes up, there is great potential for thin and dangerous areas. Hopefully the birds will head south again soon and this will finish freezing.
Again, be sure to check conditions yourself and ALWAYS carry a spud bar and safety picks. Good luck and be safe out there this season. We’re excited to be back on the hardwater and will be posting regular reports all winter long.
Pictures and more are available on our Facebook Page here - Facebook Post
12/5/2025
Ice Season is coming! Snow last week helped cool the lakes quickly and most have significant ice cover. We will begin posting ice conditions next week sometime. These will be available here as well as our Facebook page, and Iceshanty.com . We look forward to a great winter season!
11/17/1025
Docks have been pulled on the Army Corps lakes. A few people have been fishing on Hammond and catching crappies. Water temps are in the high 40's for the most part. Spillway action continues to be good with smallmouth, walleyes, and a few muskies. Swimbaits are working best in 3-3.5" inch sizes.
10/30/2025
Little to add to the below reports. Water temperatures are still dropping, but remain very low. Rain today should put some water back in the lakes. Anglers reported a good smallmouth bite on Cowanesque and some crappies at both Tioga and Hammond. Trout fishing has been good at Hamilton Lake and on Pine Creek too.
10/15/2025
Fall weather is here and water temps across the county are holding in the low 60's. Despite a little rain lately, water levels still remain very low. Anglers are catching fish, but many noted a tough bite on the Corps lakes. Hamilton, Nessmuk, and Hills Creek have been producing better with good days catching panfish. The Tioga spillway has been producing a number of short and keeper sized walleye. Lack of flow has been an issue, but evenings have fished well.
The Delayed harvest section of Pine was restocked a few weeks ago and anglers are catching trout on a variety of flies and hardbaits. Pine is also quite low.
Comments
Be the first to comment...