Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014 - 30

photo-Darl Black

Oil Creek rapidly put down wells hoping to find more
and indeed they did, although usually only after reaching
the Venango Third Sand, about 300 feet beneath stream
level. Marginally successful agricultural farms became very
productive "oil farms," usually named for their owners such
as Tarr Farm, Blood Farm and McClintock Farm. Several
rusting "wolf rigs" (so-called portable drilling rigs) remain
throughout Oil Creek State Park as well as pumpjacks, small
pipelines and small storage tanks.
At the conclusion of the Civil War, hopeful entrepreneurs
and former soldiers flocked in large numbers to Oil
Creek Valley, populating the brand new oil boomtowns
of Petroleum Centre, Funkville and Columbia Farm. The
steep banks of Oil Creek became denuded, because timber
was in high demand for quickly-built homes, oil barrels, oil
derricks, oil tanks, railroad ties, rail cars and firewood. Few
boomtown buildings remain. But, you can view a fascinating
miniature diorama of Petroleum Centre inside the train
station, which is one of four active excursion stations for the
Oil Creek and Titusville Railroad along Oil Creek.
According to Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission
Area 2 Fisheries Manager Allen Woomer, the most recent
general aquatic survey of Oil Creek was conducted in
1988. Creek conditions are unchanged since then, with pH
ranging from 7 to 9, averaging about 7.5. He indicates that
"from Titusville downstream, Oil Creek is characterized
as a large and fertile warm water stream with a seasonal
catchable size trout stocking program that takes advantage
of the colder water temperatures during the traditional
spring trout fishing period. Smallmouth Bass are present
and common through this entire stretch from Titusville
downstream and are also present upstream in fair numbers,
but this fishery in Oil Creek is not anywhere near the quality
of the Smallmouth Bass in the Allegheny River. It also has
Rock Bass in fair numbers and Walleye in the downstream
section below Oil Creek State Park."

30

Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2014

photo-Michael Henderson

Vic Attardo casts a fly in Oil Creek.

Fly fishing
for trout

There are two delayed
harvest artificial lures only
sections on Oil Creek
within Oil Creek State
Park. A 1-mile segment
starts adjacent to Drake
Well Museum; while the
other's upstream line is the
Petroleum Centre Bridge
and continues 1.5 miles to
the Columbia Farm Railroad
Bridge. "These regulation
areas fit Oil Creek best,
Blue herons also fish on Oil Creek.
because they are catch
and release up to mid-June after which harvest of Brown
Trout and Rainbow Trout is allowed due to the rising water
temperatures," said Woomer.
Mike Laskowski, owner of Oil Creek Outfitters situated
along State Route 8 south of Titusville, has been fishing
Oil Creek for trout and Smallmouth Bass for 25 years. He
uses a 4 or 5 weight fly fishing rod in 9 feet length for the
spring. As the water gets low and clear in summer, he uses a
3 weight fly rod. He questions what kind of water or tactics
his customers prefer and recommends an area that has the
water they are seeking.
According to Laskowski, the most important hatches on
Oil Creek in April are the early black and brown stoneflies and
grannom caddis, while May has so many different insects that
it would take a book to list them all. "The dominant insect can
change day to day and area to area on Oil Creek. That is what
makes this stream so special; it is very rich aquatically. This
rich diversity of insects is what attracts fly anglers from all
over the country to Oil Creek," said Laskowski.
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014

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