Penns Creek, Centre County, 04/30/2016

[Sylvaneous]

Fish were rising when I arrived at Poe Paddy at 10:00. Overcast day with mist around the mountains. I started with a caddis and got one on my 1st good drift. This action subsided soon. I don't know what it was. There weren't many caddis about.
Water was low and clear but better because of rain Friday. March browns made their appearance in late AM. Fish were rising sporadically and forcefully. I tried a march brown dry, but only got 2 rises. to it. Sulfurs began to appear by maybe 1. A stuck-shuck dun, or "compara-dizzle" I like to call it, got immediate response. Always go with the more prevalent, smaller fly. With all the bugs present on the surface and the cloudy conditions, I expected the fish would be rising more.
Nice that fish were feeding in the softer water in the fastest sections. More fun. A march brown "compara-dizzle" (it's the shiz-nats) took a few in heavy water, so I got some action from that hatch.

Ended fishing in the early afternoon after the sulfurs were done (sz 16 mostly) Saw some caddis scooting around on the surface, hatching, but not of any significance.

The white dogwood and red/purple trilliums are blooming. That corresponds to march brown activity. They all are about 1 week early The sulfurs are crazy early. They usually correspond with the phlox blooming. None of those are anywhere near blooming, but for sulfurs, they weren't real heavy.

Not many people on the crik, which was nice. Even though I really prefer fishing in sunny weather, Penns really 'shines' when the sun does not!

Syl

 

[raftman]

Hey Syl,

I was up there also. I landed a few using a dark never sink caddis and a few on a pheasant tail emerger. I was also surprised to see sulfurs already. I'm interested in the march brown "compare-dizzle"/stuck-shuck dun. Do you happen to have any photos of that fly or a link to its description?

Thanks and solid report!

 

[3oh4]

Fished Penns Saturday as well, was the best I've ever seen a stream fish in my lifetime. I will remember the trip for the rest of my life.

 

[csoult]

3oh4 wrote:
Fished Penns Saturday as well, was the best I've ever seen a stream fish in my lifetime. I will remember the trip for the rest of my life.

Gotta love those days.

 

[Sylvaneous]

3oh4 wrote:
Fished Penns Saturday as well, was the best I've ever seen a stream fish in my lifetime. I will remember the trip for the rest of my life.

It gets better. The fishing, that is. I can't say about your life. And much worse, both the fishing AND life.

Penns can completely shut down. It can also, and does, have days where every size. 14 yellow what ever dry is eaten by a big, nasty brown trout.

Go again. Soon.

Syl

 

[pcray1231]

Thanks for the report. I've had days in late April when the sulfurs come out to play. And the action being in faster sections (even if in the soft water within) signifies that MB's is probably what's sustaining the activity. They are heavy water bugs. Sulphers are pool and glide bugs (regarding nymph and hatching activity, not spinners).

When you get those late morning and early afternoon hatches on cool, cloudy, drizzly days. Yeah, that usually is the best. Fair weather really pushes things to evening. And don't get me wrong, the evening fishing can be great. It's just too condensed. Hours and hours of rising fish is where it's at.

 

[tobewan77]

I was up this weekend as well to scout wedding venues with my fiancée. Got some time to fish saturday afternoon in in the rain at Inglby. She has elbow problems so fly fishing is out of the question for her. Set her up with an ultra light spinning rig and a casting bubble. Wasn't sure what to expect out of this. But she landed 2 nice browns on a march brown dry. Was pretty cool. I had a lot of action on a march brown.

Sunday, we drove down to Poe in the morning and simply hiked from the campground up to the old washed out bridge. Fish were rising everywhere. Saw a bunch of march browns and caddis and the odd Hendrickson. It's in great shape right now. Not sure what this week's rain will do.

 

[3oh4]

Yea it was an all day affair of rising fish... Spring Creek fished great the next day as well subsurface. I'm having the shakes being at work and not being able to be on the streams; living 4 hours away from Penns and having a day like that can kill a man.

 

[mr7183]

Anyone have a guess if Penns will be wadable this weekend? Might camp at Poe Paddy.

Gotta get some practice in before the Jam.

 

[pcray1231]

Well, it was very low for this time of year.

It's currently still on the low side, but trending towards normal after a half inch of rain over a 3 day period fell on previously dry ground.

This week - starting with wet ground:

Today: cloudy & cool with 0.13" rain predicted
Tomorrow: cloudy & cool with 0.18" rain predicted
Thursday: cloudy & cool with 0.33" rain predicted
Friday: cloudy & cool with 0.09" rain predicted
Saturday: sunny & warm with 0.09" rain predicted (t-storm)
Sunday: sunny & cool with no rain.

I don't know how much to trust the forecast (a prediction of 0.1", in thunderstorm season, often means you have a 1/5 chance of getting 0.5" and a 4/5 chance of 0.0").

But if you were to take the forecast verbatim I'd expect it won't be chocolate milk and blown out. But it won't be low anymore, either. And a sunny weekend means that, even if hatches aren't pushed to evening so quickly, fish response on top will be muted during the day.

So wadable, probably, though not as easily as it is now. Fishing as well? Probably not as well on top.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

Fished it friday, saturday, and sunday It's still low need more rain.

 

[albatross]

Fished Tuesday May 3rd with CSoult and Glenfiddich. Penns is still low on water in a seasonal sense, but at a nice level for angling. We saw a mix of caddis, sulphurs, and March browns from 9 am to 6 pm while on the water. There weren't a ton of rising fish, but the riser's who revealed themselves proved relatively easy to catch. Sulphurs were more effective in the morning and the fish started crushing March browns in the afternoon. It was a delightful day on the water with good friends.

 

[mr7183]

Penns is forecasted for just under an inch of rain today. Can the stream support that without blowing out?

 

[carlfishes]

Here's NWS prediction for Penns:

http://water.weather.gov/resources/hydrographs/pncp1_hg.png

2.8' Saturday AM and then dropping off--currently at 2.27

 

[troutpoop]

Does anyone know what that translates into CFS??

 

[ROVERT]

2.8' is going to be around 600 cfs which I would translate to fishable but not easily or safely crossable.

 

[pcray1231]

Normal for now is about 500 cfs. For comparison. i.e. if that prediction holds true it'll be "a little high" for the time of year.

Crossable in the shallower crossings, fishable depending on color, but not low like it was....

 

[troutpoop]

Thank you. I've always found my best fishing there between 300-500cfs with the water slightly stained.
I'm gonna spend the day there Monday. I'll keep a sharp eye on the gauge before I leave. It may be a game time decision.

 

[1hook]

Fished it yesterday, flows were around 400 cfs, water was pretty off color, visibility not that great.

Fished from about 12-5 Pm. The fish weren't very active on the surface but sulphers were coming off in fairly decent numbers, saw some March brown spinners as well.

Nymphing brought a few decent Browns to hand.

Although the dry action wasn't great the fish that did come up seemed pretty easy to hook on a sulpher pattern. If you were patient enough to wait for a fish to rise there was a good chance you could catch him if casted immediately after the rise,

I caught about 5 fish this way, the rest came on Nymphing.

Pretty decent day over all, had hoped for some better dry action, maybe this week things will get better as the water clears.