100 Best: Cedar Run

Location: Northcentral Pennsylvania
Type of stream: Freestone
Angling methods: Fly
Species: Brown, brook trout
Access: Moderate
Season: Year-round
Supporting Services: Slate Run 
Short take: Maybe a little easier to fish than Slate Run, but maybe not!
Handicapped Access: None
Closest Chapter: Lock Haven
 
Most of Cedar Run flows through the adjoining Tioga State Forest, but the mouth of the river and properties around the village of Letonia are private. A good road shadows the stream up to its headwaters. Generally speaking access is not an issue. A gentle knock at the door and a polite request is usually all that’s needed. Over its 11-mile course, the stream drops about 60 feet per mile, and flows average between 40 and 60 cfs.
 
Cedar Run seems to out produce nearby Slate Run when it comes to mid-sized browns of 9 to 12 inches, according to Tom Finkbiner of Slate Run Tackle Shop. Cedar has better riffles, runs, and pools than Slate. Small brookies and some nice browns will be found in the headwaters and tributaries such as Buck Run which comes in above Letonia and Fahnstock and Mine Hole Runs that that join the stream below that tiny village.  The valley through which Cedar Run flows is a little reasonably open, but the flows from the tributaries keep it cool through the dog days of summer. Hatches are heavy and pretty diverse.
 
When it warms at summer’s zenith, browns move into the lower reaches of  Cedar Run.  Not uncommon for a 20-inch brown to sip that little ant you’re fishing. Cedar Run from the confluence of Buck Run down to its mouth is designated by the state as a Trophy Trout Project.

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