Need Camping/Fishing Recommendation

[Luke]

I have a campsite at Poe Paddy reserved this Thursday night through Sunday and had planned a nice relaxing long weekend on Penn's Creek.

But the water temperatures are not very conducive to continuing with this plan.

I am looking for a plan B and frankly I kind of have fishing-block for the perfect idea. I am too much of a creature of habit with camping and fishing Penns Creek!

Can anyone suggest a good plan B, C, or D within 2.5 hours of Leola, PA? I have a couple of ideas, but I am not too attached to them yet.

 

[dryflyguy]

It definitely pays to keep an open mind when fishing - and to be flexible enough to change plans when things don't look good where you originally wanted to go.

I have no idea where Leola is. But if the delaware river is within your 2.5 mile radius - that would be at the top of my plan B list.

Also, a true spring creek - or headwater brookie stream - would get serious consideration during a heat wave like this

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Lancaster County, DFG.

Look to small streams or spring creeks, like DFG said. I don't camp much, so I'm no help there, but there are tons of brookie streams w/in a 2.5 hour radius.

Caledonia St Park in Gettysburg seems to ring a bell w/ me. You wouldn't be too far from some spring creek action out there.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Also, if memory serves me right, there are some small brookie streams in the state partk.

 

[Troy]

There are a lot of mountain streams in Bald Eagle Forest. You could always fish Penns in the early morning and hit the mountain streams in the afternoon. For the evening you can just drink beer and relax. Sounds like a nice trip to me. Most of my fishing/camping trips are so hectic that I find myself so tired at the end of my so called vacation days. I like it like that, but sometimes it would be nice to have the evening to just relax.

 

[Luke]

I am a bit worried about the comment from another thread which stated that even though the water temperatures are cooler in the morning the dissolved oxygen levels are often actual at their lowest. This was the first time that I had ever heard that particular theory or fact.

I am thinking about making this a family camping trip instead of a men's fishing trip. I am considering to call the DCNR and see if I can transfer my reservation from Poe Paddy (next to Penns, no showers) to Poe Valley (next to swimming lake, w/showers). Then maybe I could do some limited fishing and also swimming, biking, and playing with the kids.

I know that this is often sacred territory, but if anyone would like to PM me with some of the prime brookie streams I would appreciate your insights. I have a pretty good idea of the best couple, but I always spend 99% of my time on the bigger water of Penns.

 

[Chaz]

Always have a Plan B and maybe even a Plan C. that said there are 2 very nice camp grounds at Bellfonte, the better of the 2 is KOA. This give access to not only Spring Creek and Fishing Creek, but hundreds of cold water streams.