Penns Creek 4/19

[JZEE]

FWIW I won’t bother with Penns, even if bugs are popping, above 700. And I prefer to not be bothered with it above 500. But I have my weaknesses. And reports of rising fish are one of them.

I fell off my chair reading this from Swattie87 😎 . Yes, rising fish on Penns can surely make you do things in a quick pinch. They can make you call off work, forget the yard and say no to your wife and the family plans that were made. Perhaps no other stream in the state has that much power like Penns.

 

[bringthepain]

I for one hope it’s “blown out” more this year than last. It’s far better for both the fish and the fishing at an off color 600-800 cfs than when it’s a “perfect” 200 cfs. Plus it cuts down on the crowds. Last year was a zoo, no doubt due to the fact that it had the most easily wadable flows I’ve seen in probably 10 years.

The best day i ever had on penns was higher just like you describe above, i think it was like 800

 

[mszoke1802]

I’ve enjoyed reading all of you guys banter going back and forth about wading and crossing Penns.

And for the record, I’m not the guy that some of you may have seen at the mouth of Big Poe last year near the end of April. He waded out to the middle of the Penns there and then waded right down the middle of the stream all the way through Love’s riffle, and maybe another hundred yards farther downstream before he got out. No wading staff, and he never fell in. The guy must have been an Olympic gymnast to have stayed upright through that water. I even watched him land a couple trout too.

Kinda reminded me of this dude that I saw a couple years ago who was fishing in this river.

View attachment 1641234820

For perspective (I know my phone camera doesn’t show it), this river flow Is several times more than Penns creek is, on average, and is probably 150 feet wide where I took this picture.

When I first saw this fisherman, the guy was wading right across the fast riffle at the head head of this long pool, about 100’ or so upstream - a place that’s so fast that most fisherman never wade out farther than 10 feet from shore.

Next, the dude waded right down the middle of the river (which is over the top of my waders, and don’t ask how I know that) until the guy ended up here, where I took this picture.

I regularly fish this place, and rarely go farther than a few feet beyond the large flat rock that you can see just under the water behind the fisherman. The water there is nearly to the top of my waders, and with my longest cast I can just reach the opposite shoreline In front of this fisherman.

I watched this fisherman fish there for well over an hour, and finally tired of watching so I went back to my truck and took a nap. Awhile later, I woke to a knock on my truck window. It was this dude who apologized for taking up most of the prime water while fishing there for much of the afternoon.

I said that no apology was needed, and that I wasn’t in any hurry to begin fishing. I probably had already started fishing that day at sunrise, and planned to fish until near dark that evening, as I had done for several weeks straight up to then.

The most surprising ending to this encounter was that this fisherman dude was not a guy, as I had thought all the time while watching, but was actually a middle aged woman. 😮 I never saw her catch a single fish that day. Nor did I tell her that the exact place she was standing probably held well over 100 large trout before she waded into the middle of the pool. 😊

And I’m sure you guys already know that some of the places mentioned where you cross Penns can also hold its best fish.

This sounded like my buddy til you mentioned a female. I wade penns slowly with a staff. My pal moves quick thru it without a staff. I usually move downstream of him in case he falls I can help him out. But I’ve never seen him fall. I think only time I wade far into this pool is in the fall when levels are low.

 

[martin0206]

I’ll chime in the two biggest dry fly fish I’ve ever caught on Penns came on back to back casts in mid April during a Hendrickson hatch when flows were 800 cfs and it was chocolate milk. It was a ****** day and almost no one was fishing. I found an eddy that was collecting hendos pilling into it and the fish were chomping. I almost didn’t fish it looked so bad. If you’re planning on going even if the weather doesn’t look good take a walk and you’ll likely find fish eating somewhere. Hendricksons can be good on upper and lower Penns and Mid April should be great unless it’s completely blown out.

 

[JeffP]

I’ll chime in the two biggest dry fly fish I’ve ever caught on Penns came on back to back casts in mid April during a Hendrickson hatch when flows were 800 cfs and it was chocolate milk. It was a ****** day and almost no one was fishing. I found an eddy that was collecting hendos pilling into it and the fish were chomping. I almost didn’t fish it looked so bad. If you’re planning on going even if the weather doesn’t look good take a walk and you’ll likely find fish eating somewhere. Hendricksons can be good on upper and lower Penns and Mid April should be great unless it’s completely blown out.

Well it's looking like Penns won't be much lower than 1000 by Thursday! 🙁 I saw Penns Creek Angler had Grannom's starting 5 days ago. I'm not optimistic Grannoms or Hendrickson's will still be around. We will see. I was really hoping for fishing something other than buggers but the big boys could be out by then. It should be enough time to clear out a bit. Hopefully there will be no more rain.

 

[Swattie87]

Penns. So high right now.

 

[Mashbill]

3250 0n the 12th at 4pm ... 2480 half day later on the 13th - drop of almost 800 ... if you get let off easy with the forcasted showers for tomorrow and wednesday, and the wind / breeze keeps up -- im betting she drops close to 500 a day , for four-ish days. that puts the over/under at 600 by this thursday

im betting under. when you finally get phone service back, you'll be posting about the epic time you had! better send us the pics. ( be VERY SAFE wading .. i'd stay between the parking lot ... upstream to Omaha Beach )

do a good deed today. place a offering to the river gods under Weather Rock. you'll be just fine.

 

[Swattie87]

I’ll take the over 600 cfs by next Thursday.

Streams falling after a big rain fall on a more exponentially decreasing curve as opposed to a linear one. My high school Calc teacher will be thoroughly impressed that I actually retained something from 25 years ago. For me, math stopped making sense when there were more letters than numbers. But for practical purposes Penns won’t fall at a steady rate, it will fall a decreasing rate as it goes.

Edit: And of course any additional rain between now and then will have an increased effect because of the groundwater tables being fully charged, and to a large extent, the plant life hasn’t fully leafed out yet, which translates into more water making it into the water table than after leaf out.

 

[Mashbill]

i'll bet a Mammy's Donut whoopie pie --- you pick the flavor.

 

[Swattie87]

i'll bet a Mammy's Donut whoopie pie --- you pick the flavor.

Haha, deal. I had to look up where those are from, but they do look good!

My guess is it’ll be somewhere between 800 and 1k by next Thursday. If I was Vegas I’d set the over/under at 850 for next Thursday at noon, with no more measurable rain.

 

[Mashbill]

now i have to do a good dead today as well!

this will be fun.

 

[Andrwhite610]

Haha, deal. I had to look up where those are from, but they do look good!

My guess is it’ll be somewhere between 800 and 1k by next Thursday. If I was Vegas I’d set the over/under at 850 for next Thursday at noon, with no more measurable rain.

I think you just discovered a new draft kings betting option….Use promo code #PAFF for first $100 bets free!

 

[JeffP]

3250 0n the 12th at 4pm ... 2480 half day later on the 13th - drop of almost 800 ... if you get let off easy with the forcasted showers for tomorrow and wednesday, and the wind / breeze keeps up -- im betting she drops close to 500 a day , for four-ish days. that puts the over/under at 600 by this thursday

im betting under. when you finally get phone service back, you'll be posting about the epic time you had! better send us the pics. ( be VERY SAFE wading .. i'd stay between the parking lot ... upstream to Omaha Beach )

do a good deed today. place a offering to the river gods under Weather Rock. you'll be just fine.

Let's go 600! And I will!

 

[Nocktavius]

It fishes fine as long as it’s on the drop and below about 1200. Just gotta know your spots.

 

[JeffP]

3250 0n the 12th at 4pm ... 2480 half day later on the 13th - drop of almost 800 ... if you get let off easy with the forcasted showers for tomorrow and wednesday, and the wind / breeze keeps up -- im betting she drops close to 500 a day , for four-ish days. that puts the over/under at 600 by this thursday

im betting under. when you finally get phone service back, you'll be posting about the epic time you had! better send us the pics. ( be VERY SAFE wading .. i'd stay between the parking lot ... upstream to Omaha Beach )

do a good deed today. place a offering to the river gods under Weather Rock. you'll be just fine.

Some of the nastiest wading I've experienced is right around cabin where we are staying. The hole in front of his cabin is nice during lower water but kind of "boils" when higher and has a tree in exactly the wrong spot. Immediately downstream looks wadeable but deeper than it looks right around the shore. It's treacherous just upstream. And the big pool we call the swimming pool is tough to access without getting into deep silty water and the fish always rise on the opposite bank. I've had 3 spills in that section in 1 day and watched others in the water as well. You feel bad when you are sitting on the deck with a beer and a guy fishing right below you takes a header.

 

[Mashbill]

660 drop in 24 hours — I picked up some cushion to my 500 estimate … I’m going to need it

 

[Swattie87]

There goes the no rain piece. Not sure it’s gonna get a ton, but it’ll be enough to move the gauge. Call it a push and revisit after the next deluge?

 

[discomidge]

1K by May, fingers crossed

 

[Andrwhite610]

I have a camping trip on Penns for weekend of May 3rd…what CFS should I be hoping for by then? It seems from reading info on here and the web 600 or less is good wading flows but what’s the limits for fish-ability?

 

[discomidge]

Everyone's got their own thresholds and it depends on how well you know the stream so I can't say exactly what the upper limit is. I know some folks fish from the bank in really high water (like 2K+). The highest I've ever fished it is around 1150. It jumped from 800 to that while my brother and I were out there one afternoon. Personally, I go elsewhere when I know it's gonna be that high though. Been catching a lot of brookies lately (lol).