Penn's, Kettle, Little J

[afishinado]

PennKev wrote:
At the time of this post, Penns flowing at 388cfs. This is just about ideal IMO. I would not call it "low".There is a bit of rain in the forecast for the next week or so. I would expect it to stay at a good fishing level, if not blow out between now and the jam due to a well placed storm.

Don't make it harder than it needs to be, if there are no rising fish, nymphs will work well. I find Penn's to be no more fickle than any other stream when it comes to nymphing. Fish faster water, runs and pockets and you will get into fish. Trying to match the hatches, even in the nymph form, is productive but don't over think it it. Getting down and getting good drifts will produce fish with your basics tried and true patterns, Hares ears, caddis larva and pupa, etc.

Kev

Good advice above, but Penns can be fickle. Not to say I haven't had some great fishing there, but I can't tell you how many times I nymphed my heart out with little results. And then, like magic, a hatch appears and fish start popping up all over the place...or not. The fish seem to have so much food, they often choose when to begin feeding. They seem to be on a schedule at times. This also happens on the D River quite often.

Anyway, Penns is a beautiful place to fish and just being there is always rewarding no matter how many I catch.

 

[pcray1231]

As far as being "low", it's low as in low for early May, not low as in low for August. 388 cfs is well below the median (461 cfs) for this time of year.

Agree on the future weather concerns, but that goes without saying in May. Also agree with you and afish, in that there are various definitions of "fickle". I sort of tried to explain my view, perhaps poorly. Penns fish seem extremely fickle in terms of timing. There are plenty of times, perhaps the majority, where it doesn't matter what you do, you're gonna be scraping to get much of anything. And then suddenly it turns on, for nymphs and dries alike. And it can turn back off just as quickly.

In terms of selectivity, I guess they're fickle compared to many freestoners, but not really fickle compared to fish in other large limestoners. If they are feeding and you have even a reasonable imitation of what they're feeding on, they don't need a ton of convincing, and aren't the type to refuse an offering because a wing is a touch too short or something. i.e. when fish are feeding, it's not really a difficult stream at all.

I was more going at the approach that the OP is from Ohio and seemingly new to central PA. I don't know his exact history and knowledge base, he may be new to limestoners and larger wild trout in general. If you haven't fished Penns, but you have fished other PA wild trout streams with big hatches, then it's not really that difficult. If you've been fishing large stocked streams primarily by tossing woolly buggers about, well, he could be in for a bit of a different type of experience.

And not that woolly buggers can't work on Penns. There's a time for that. It's just that everything is going to be a little more specific than what he's used to. At these times they don't eat, but at this time they feed on this, and at this time they feed on something else. This isn't Penns specific, but it is true of Penns, and at no time is it more true than on a bug factory of a stream in mid-May that's full of wild brown trout.

 

[skeeter]

Not trying to gloat but I fished Penns for the first time on 4/26 (flow around 500cfs) and between my friend and I we caught close to 50 wild browns and one native. We fished from sun-up till 4pm and drove home. We wore a smile for a week after that, it was literally the best fishing experience of my life. At this point I am basically in love with that stream, but it kicked my butt- bring a wading staff, I forgot mine.

When we first got started, we were over-thinking our nymphing approach with all the grannoms and blue quills hatching around us but once we just started trying different flies and trying literally everything in the fly box we got it right. Once we figured out what they were keying in on it got really easy - meaning presentation wasn't everything, rather presenting in different forms (swings, dead drifts, etc) worked. So basically what Pcray is saying.

What was shocking about Penns, and it is the only place I ever experienced it, was that we would fish a really "fishy" stretch (a run or glide) and not get a single bump, but then we would move and fish similarly "fishy" water and it was like fish in a barrel. Two or three, or four 16"+ fish in one spot. It was terribly confusing and weird. Was it me, was there no fish, were they turning on and off in different stretches???? I don't have an answer for that. It it was like some symbiotic feeding pattern between the trout - like I said weird.

So my suggestions are, if they aren't hitting the surface, try the common core of nymphs, variations of PT and HE in sz 16-12, stones in 14-10, and caddis imitations sz 18-16. We couldn't get anything going on wetflys even though bugs were popping off everywhere. Move around, but if you get into them in a stretch, fish it completely then fish it again. You will loose flies - if you loose that hot fly and it was your last, you might be SOL - that's what happened to us. I hope you have a great experience and good luck!

 

[geebee]

for those of us coming up for the first time, this is all very interesting information guys. good stuff.

how does Spring Creek vary compared to Penns re the moods of the fish, and fishing ?

so far the Spring Mills forecast on WU shows a 70% chance of a couple of hours rain this saturday night and wednesday.

fingers are crossed.

 

[Brownie101]

Skeeter, I was there as well on 4/26 and 4/27. On 4/26 I caught one brown in 4 hours, but 5/6 guys I talked to were skunked, including a veteran of the stream for 25 years. What were you using? On 4/27 I caught some very nice browns in riffles on #16 green caddis larva.

 

[pcray1231]

Spring creek is much more stable, generally. Don't get me wrong it still blows up during hatches, and that's how you rack up large numbers. But even in the absence of such you can nearly always manage a few with whatever method you choose to employ, and no matter what the conditions.

More fish, less food.

Depending where you go, it does generally see more pressure though, and the fish can sometimes be fairly fussy about things like perfect presentation.

 

[skeeter]

PM sent Brownie101

 

[dstutenroth]

There is a lot of good info in this thread, At the risk of sounding redundant I'm going to move this post to the top again as I promised my son (who has 3 youngin's and wife who thinks fishing is an derivative act of the devil-hence he doesnt get many opportunities) a day of flyfishing on Penns or nearby creeks and am lookig for current stream / river information.

He rarely keeps (see above) so FFO is absolutley fine

Its been about 5 years since my dad dad I were there fishing so a buddy and me are planning to drive up Wed to scout the area out and fish a little before bringing him up on Sunday.

So my ? is would you scout Penns or tribs? All i want to give him is action and ignite that FF-fire in him again.