Penns Creek Tunnel C&R section April 12-13

[LBCaddis]

So I was at Penns Creek this weekend to fish the catch and release section. I see that the tunnel is still closed so I made the trek over the hill. On the other side I was talking to one of the locals who said that the tunnel is the same as it has been but that someone complained to the state so now they have posted the signs. Anyone have any insight to that. Guess I will continue to trek around.

By the way it was a beautiful weekend and a lot of little black stone flys were hatching. Water was high and I did not see any consistent risers. Picked up a couple on stone fly nymphs.

 

[pcray1231]

I took Friday off work, and was headed north (non-fishing weekend). I thought about fishing Penns but went to Spring instead. Only fished about 2.5 hours, from about 12:30-3. Caught 8, one big one that went I wanna say 18, but I didn't measure, so probably more like 16". All on dries. BWO's in the eddies. Not a heavy hatch or consistent risers, but they were looking up in those eddies, and once you picked one out and let it sit over him, he was gonna hit. You'd either catch or miss him.

Tends to be the rule for me on these early hatches on the big famous waters. Hatches aren't blockbusters and you don't get every fish rising every 3 seconds like you do some evenings in May. But when you do find a sporadic riser it's usually a pushover. Cover water and watch CLOSELY. Or nymph.

Other guys said they had success nymphing.

 

[McSneek]

LBCaddis wrote:
So I was at Penns Creek this weekend to fish the catch and release section. I see that the tunnel is still closed so I made the trek over the hill. On the other side I was talking to one of the locals who said that the tunnel is the same as it has been but that someone complained to the state so now they have posted the signs. Anyone have any insight to that. Guess I will continue to trek around.

Was told the same thing, quite possibly by the same guy. Last fall I ignored the barricades and went through the tunnel to save time.

Can you get through the tunnel or did they put larger barricades up and totally block off the entrances?

 

[strap44]

Barricades up? Last summer I went through the tunnel after being told the same story from some guys at the cabin (before it, not bridge side). But at that time there was just a road cone with a sign stating it was closed. Also the sign was thrown down in some weeds. Plan on going up there later today or thursday.

 

[pcray1231]

I haven't been there since last spring. But then there were barricades, completely blocked off, and we went around.

We were there several days straight and somebody actually cut a hole in the barricade and went through. Then that hole got patched within a day.

I know it's still closed but don't know whether the barricade is still in place, or if they backed off on that.

The "official" word was that the tunnel was inspected and the roof deemed unstable. And there always has been, in fact, fallen rocks on the floor, and it's pretty obvious where they came from. The DCNR was trying to come up with funding to put rock bolts in there to stabilize it.

That all may be true, but yeah, it's pretty likely they inspected it because someone complained. Once made aware of a potential danger, I'm sure they have to cover their butts for liability purposes. I'm not a lawyer, but I'd think a "tunnel closed, falling rock" sign, without a barricade, would cover their legal butt, while giving a wink wink about going through with the understanding that you enter at your own risk.

 

[MrMustard]

I was there two weeks ago. There is still a sign up and I suppose a partial "barricade" on the side of the foot bridge. One could easily walk around it and through the tunnel. The barricade on the backside was pulled down completely. There were plenty of people walking through the tunnel freely.