Penn's Creek River Journal - Daniel Shields

[blackandgold4ever05]

Hi everyone. I am new to FFing and recently came back to the forum since I had a move last year when I was wanting to get into FFing but had an unexpected move from Pittsburgh to my hometown in central Pa.

Now that I have re-grouped and got back on my feet here in Central Pa, I have been able to fish Penns again and how nice it is to do it FFing. I grew up near Mifflinburg and have spent many days in my youth fishing, swimming, and just hanging around Penns from the Weikert area to New Berlin area.

To the book: I just picked up this book on Amazon.com and so far it is very interesting. I think the copyright is from 1995. I don't have much else to comment about it but wondering if anyone else has read this and what you might think of it and Penns Creek itself. I keep hearing about people that come here from many states and countries. I always took Penns for granted I guess because I grew up around it. I didnt realize until the past few years just how good it is in the eyes of fly fisherman.

 

[pcray1231]

I own it, it's a good read. It provides an interesting background of the stream, nice photography, and a decent description of the hatches and such. But I wouldn't say there's anything earth shattering in it, it's become an occasionally used reference, nothing more, nothing less. I'm not as much of a fan of the river journal books as much as I am of the stream enyclopedia's like Landis, the tactics books like Humphreys, and the myriad of special topic books (about various bugs, tying, nature of spring creeks, etc.).

As far as Penns, yeah, its a special stream. I'll stop short of calling it the "best" stream. It's attractiveness lies in its size, beautiful location, and ridiculous hatches, I know of no better bug factory. It offers perhaps the ultimate technical fishing experience. The trout population is very good but is matched by many other streams.

 

[jayL]

I basically use the river journal as a coffee table book. I read through it twice, and don't really think it has enough info to consider it a real reference. It's a neat book for the price.

 

[Fishidiot]

The River Journal series are favorites of mine. Frank Amato is no longer publishing them (at least that's what I was told when I sought to publish one myself). Dan Shields is a good guy and one of our state's top tier FFers. Those of you who frequented Fly Fisher's Paradise fly shop in the 80s/90s know him well. He also wrote a river journal on Spring Creek, although this was not published by FA.
As for Penns - it is of course legendary. And justifiably so. Back in the 50s Sparse Grey Hackle wrote in a major outdoor magazine that Penns was the best stream in the East. Not surprisingly, some Penns regulars were outraged at this early example of what they regarded as spot burning. The main drawback to Penns is that it tends to get pretty warm in summer and also goes muddy after a rain. Just about everything else about it is incredible.

 

[rrt]

The Penns Creek book is a nice book. As noted, it shows what can happen after a spot is burned as SGH did way back when. Shields wrote it well. Though Amato did not publish Shields' book about Spring Creek, Shields privately published it, and I think you can still get it from Flyfisher's Paradise fly shop in State College. It, too, is interesting.