I'll have to say, in my brief 15 years of fishing Penns, as some dams come down and as the Penns Valley conservancy works to shore-up upper Penns' soft banks and plant more cover trees, as fewer cows loll in the stream and as regulations further restrict kill fishing, I've seen conditions get better. It's been better and worse, but it can appear to be absolutely PAVED with wild trout when they're on the feed. Abuses of the past weren't limited to coal mine runoff. Too often, that great olde-tyme fishing was the result of stocking big fish in marquee locations. I don't know if this happened at Penns, but it happened and still does some places.

JBeary

Dear Syl,

You said a mouthful with your last two sentences.

The sad part is you're 100% correct.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

I'm puzzled about the references to coal mining on Penns Creek.

Also to the reference to dam removals on Penns Creek.

Can someone fill us in on the details?

Dear troutbert,

I don't think Syl is talking about Penns Creek when he talks about coal mining. I think he is merely suggesting that coal mining isn't the only thing that has influenced fishing over the years, stocking played a large role as well.

I might be wrong, but that's how I read his post.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

A dam upstream of Coburn backs water up for a pretty good distance. During summer water flows very slowly through the impoundment. I've always been curious about how the slowing of water at that dam affected water temperatures downstream, so last year I took temperatures below the dam and in the more free flowing water above the impoundment. The time was late July and though I didn't write down the temperatures I believe they were the same. I was really surprised by this. Hook Jaw is local, maybe he can do some additional temperature readings sometime.

Jeff

Quote:

I would bet there is permeation between the underground water and the surface water even in the "impounded" water. Plus, all the dam does is raised the water levels for a mile or two. I don't think it stops the cold water from running downhill from the cave.