Penns Creek Hydrograph

Tups

Tups

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Joined
Sep 18, 2006
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791
Location
Milroy PA
What volume of discharge is safely wadeable for Penns Creek at Poe Paddy? I see the guage is recording a bit over 800 cfs right now. I am assuming such a level would be dangerous to wade. I may be heading up this weekend, but will work on plan B if water conditions are too high at Penns.
 
People will have different opinions and levels of comfort but I use 500 as my safe wade level.
 
I would look at Plan B, aka Spring Creek...lol. Penns at 800 is kinda high for wading, as well the water temp is still low, down around 40* +/-

The LJ is a sorta high, Fishing Creek is probably a little tough and usually starts off kinda slow with the cold water temps. If you are looking to fish one of the big 4 Central PA streams, Spring would probably be your best choice.
 
Oh gawd everyone will be at spring creek this weekend...I know where I will be. Not Spring.
 
Maurice wrote:
Oh gawd everyone will be at spring creek this weekend...I know where I will be. Not Spring.
Click to expand...

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." Yogi Berra.
 
Thanks for the advice. I'm not a champion wader, so high water discourages me, especially if it is rising. I didn't realize Spring Creek was popular on opening day. On the other hand, I suppose everywhere is popular on opening day. My Plan B will be a bit east of Spring Creek.
 
Tups,

I was Not thinking Opening Day crowd here...I was thinking every hatch chasing, trout bum with an itch to get to Central PA and cannot fish the three of the Big four.
 
Maurice: I see. What are the hatches expected at Spring this weekend? Grannom? BWO?

I found a Grannom hatch on a central PA Limestoner on Easter Wkend (April 4/5). With low-forties water temps, not much feeding activity until April 7 when the water temp hit 48F.

I did well with a #14 Greenwell's Glory wet fly.
 
I fished Spring last weekend and there was a caddis hatch on Sunday morning. Didn't see any risers and all fish I caught were on pretty basic nymphs...hares ear, pheasant tails, etc. Sizes 10-12 were the ticket.
 
Tups wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I'm not a champion wader, so high water discourages me, especially if it is rising. I didn't realize Spring Creek was popular on opening day. On the other hand, I suppose everywhere is popular on opening day. My Plan B will be a bit east of Spring Creek.
Click to expand...
It's never opening day on Spring Creek or it's always opening day on Spring Creek, it depends on whether you think it's crowded when you get there.
Actually there is no closed season on Spring Creek.
 
Personal pref is for Penns 350-400 cfs. You will probably see some crowds due to 'opening day' madness. Forsythia just popped here so Grannoms aren't far behind. 10-12 days (or so) til blue quills and hendricksons get up and running.
 
You can still catch lots of fish on the edges at high cfs on Penns. I agree with other posters though, 300-500 cfs is ideal at Penns.

On a side note, what a terrible stream to wade. Might was well be ice skating.
 
I second fishing the edges. But it makes for a rather long day.
 
Penns Creek & Slippery Rock Creek are the two places that have me looking to buy a wading staff when I get a chance. No issues anywhere else but these 2 to this point....
 
http://charlesmeck.com/a20060600.html

Krayfish: this topic of wildflowers and aquatic insects has come up for discussion in the past. Meck says Grannoms emerge when forsythia is just beginning to open. Based on my observations on Easter Sunday in central PA, I would add that the first Grannoms emerge when the Colt's Foot blooms. I didn't see any forsythia in bloom.
 
Tups wrote:
http://charlesmeck.com/a20060600.html

Krayfish: this topic of wildflowers and aquatic insects has come up for discussion in the past. Meck says Grannoms emerge when forsythia is just beginning to open. Based on my observations on Easter Sunday in central PA, I would add that the first Grannoms emerge when the Colt's Foot blooms. I didn't see any forsythia in bloom.
Click to expand...

good point - it depends where you are. here in SEPA forsythia is out all over the place, along with japanese cherry blossom.

in the past i have used forsythia a different way - it signals the arrival of the first striped bass scouts & herring, two weeks later when the forsythia is at its peak, is when the keepers arrive and when the apple trees blossom is when the run is at its peak.

regardless of the changes in longtitude and lattitude, i've found it works both here in SEPA/DELMARVA and on Cape Cod.

i have charlie mecks pocket hatch guide and I agree, somehow the whole thing is related.

i'm going to guess that before calenders existed, mans forebears used the blooms to predict the movement and availability of both game and fish.

 
Tups,

I'm near Harrisburg and the forsythia really opened up over the last day or two. I do most of my fishing upstate and it takes about 2 weeks for the flowers to bloom up there. That's usually a pretty good indicator for paraleps to start. That can be scratched if there's prolonged snow melt or cold night that keep the water temps down.

I can't vouch for the correlation between other plants and hatches. I just use daffodils and forsythia to mark the beginning of my fishing season
 
The plants and blooms are a good indicator for sure, however I tend to look at water temps more than anything, once they get around 50, it really picks up. However one bloom I do look out for is the Tiger Lily late June, that's a good indicator for me that trout are on the lookout for terrestrials.
 
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