dunbar creek
overview
39.94554 / -79.58082 These coordinates identify the approximate mid-point of Dunbar Creek’s 4.2-mile Catch-and-Release, Fly-Fishing-Only Special Regulation section in Fayette County. This point is accessible from Dunbar Borough via SR SR 1055, also known as the Dunbar-Ohiopyle Road. To reach interior parts of the Catch-and-Release, Fly-Fishing-Only section and beyond, turn right (South) if headed from Dunbar Borough toward Ohiopyle, onto the unpaved Tucker Run Road which follows Dunbar Creek upstream for another mile. This road is better known locally as “Betty Knox Road.”
Dunbar Creek was named for Thomas Dunbar, a colonel in British General Edward Braddock’s failed 1755 campaign to seize Fort Duquesne (at present-day Pittsburgh) from the French. Braddock left Colonel Dunbar behind with half the army’s strength atop Chestnut Ridge to guard the wagons and supplies while the commanding general made his final push toward the fort and disaster. When the survivors of Braddock’s defeat streamed back over the ridge to Dunbar’s camp, Dunbar burned the supplies and joined the retreat.
Catch-and-Release, Fly-Fishing-Only
The entire Catch-and-Release, Fly-Fishing-Only section flows within State Game Lands No. 51, so is open to public fishing throughout. No trout may be killed or possessed at any time within the Special Regulation span. Fishing is permitted year-round. Since state game lands embrace nearly the entire upper Dunbar Creek watershed, no recreational facilities or marked trails have been developed. Upstream from the last parking lot, you are essentially fishing “wilderness.”
a lovely freestoner
The stream here is a lovely mountain freestone descending off the rugged western slope of Chestnut Ridge, flowing toward its confluence with the Youghiogheny River at Connellsville. With the exception of the unpaved Betty Knox Road and a large parking area upstream where the road dead-ends, the stream corridor is entirely forested with a diverse woodland community of maple, oak, sweet buckeye, black cherry, beech, birch, and eastern hemlock. Rhododendron crowds the banks in many stretches, and mountain laurel flourishes farther upstream.
Dunbar Creek provides an attractive mix of fast runs and intimate pools, accented often by large boulders in the flow. The Fish and Boat Commission stocks the Catch-and-Release, Fly-Fishing-Only section twice in spring and once each fall. Formerly, brook and brown trout were stocked but the Commission has transitioned to stocking only rainbow trout because rainbows are seen as less of an alien threat to the Dunbar Creek basin’s improving and expanding population of wild brook trout. Anglers can expect to catch wild brook trout anywhere along the Betty Knox Road, or upstream and downstream for several miles. Recently, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and American Rivers, supported by donations from the Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited, replaced dilapidated and hazardous “jack dams,” which blocked fish-passage, with passable cross-vanes that improved habitat and allow trout movement upstream and down.
25 year commitment
The Chestnut Ridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited has also carries out a 25-year commitment to improve Dunbar Creek by treating acid-mine-drainage in the creek’s Glade Run tributary, degraded by poorly reclaimed mines in the headwaters. The chapter built a passive treatment system in 2003 and continues twice-yearly dosing of three Glade Run tributaries with high-carbonate alkaline limestone “sand.” To improve anglers’ experience, Chestnut Ridge TU also conducts an annual litter-cleanup on the Saturday before the opening of the general trout season.
Stream Conditions
Dunbar Creek maintains cold water temperatures well, due to its entirely forested watershed, but the creek can rise quickly after storms because of steep topography. The creek seldom muddies, however, and returns to fishable conditions soon.
Hatches
Hatches on Dunbar are modest but improving as water quality improves, including a Green Drake hatch in late May and early June, which is sparse but the trout take notice. Hare’s-ear type nymphs are effective in early season, as are streamers of various styles. Terrestrials are reliable trout-catchers throughout the summer.
attractions
Nearby points of interest include Ohiopyle State Park, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes at Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob, Fort Necessity National Battlefield, and the reconstructed “coke ovens” built by the Dunbar Historical Society in Dunbar Borough.