Got out on Penns this afternoon from around 2 to dark. Walked a ways down the trail from the end of tunnel road and fished back up. Weather was around 50 F and overcast with a little bit of rain mixed in. Flows were perfect in my opinion and the water had a nice limestone green color to it. Saw a few midges around and saw a handful of big caddis(?) coming off around dusk, but nothing too noteworthy bug wise. Nymphed my way up the stream and the fish seemed to be pretty opportunistic. Got a bunch on walts worms, frenchies, and really started banging them on a big black/gold/orange pats rubber legs. Lost my only pats in a tree of course and between losing that fly and darkness the bite slowed down. Lost what felt like a good one on either a squirmy or a walts at the end. Ran straight downstream of me in some faster water and couldn't move quick enough to chase him down. Feel like once a nice fish gets straight downstream of me in faster water they pop off almost every time. Fish were pretty spread out and got them in the deep, slower water behind boulders in glides and in the rifles/pocket water. Overall a great day with the warm weather. Even got a bonus brookie on the first cast of the day in the little creek that runs under the path. Wonder how many times that fish has been caught by guys on the walk down it's a nice little hole. Fish seemed to be beat up a little with some jaw damage.
Penns Creek, Centre County, 2/9/23
- Thread starter JackNiem
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Penns Woods
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Sounds like a successful trip. Thanks for the report.
goose54cdd
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That's great! Glad you had fun.
I am assuming it would have been perfect since we have had no foul weather or cold temperatures here in central PA for a while. The other mountain roads I have been on have been fine. Maybe a little muddy with some ruts, but otherwise fine.
Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
Didn't drive on any of the mountain roads yesterday just tunnel road in Coburn, but would think you should be good to go. However, I have been amazed by how long ice can stay on the cold side of mountain roads before. There were spots of ice and frozen ground down at river level so I would think its possible there could be snow/ice at higher elevations. I've come across some very unexpected patches of ice on those mountain roads before so I would still use a little caution just in case.
tjsingle
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Nice to see a Penns report! Sounds like a fun afternoon
pcray1231
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Penns kicked my butt Saturday. Too sunny...
goose54cdd
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Did you try the shady areas? Just curious?
JeffP
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I wonder if the sun makes that much of a difference this early. I know it does later.
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My experience with Penns is it fishes like junk on sunny days. No matter the time of year. This is true of all streams to a degree probably, but the effect does seem magnified on Penns. If I’m going to fish it all day, I won’t go on a bluebird day.
Cloudy and drizzly is best, but I’ve had good days on partly cloudy days. Catch a cloud for 20 minutes or half an hour and things pick up, then stop when the sun comes back out. Pack beer (non-alcoholic of course if on the state forest sections) and a good lunch and snacks for those days for when the sun’s out. A hammock isn’t a bad idea either.
A lot of times, I just go for the evening fun though.
Cloudy and drizzly is best, but I’ve had good days on partly cloudy days. Catch a cloud for 20 minutes or half an hour and things pick up, then stop when the sun comes back out. Pack beer (non-alcoholic of course if on the state forest sections) and a good lunch and snacks for those days for when the sun’s out. A hammock isn’t a bad idea either.
A lot of times, I just go for the evening fun though.
Prospector
Well-known member
Swattie,
I can’t speak for Penns since Ive only fished it once. But I’m on board with the approach that days with clouds and drizzle are the best conditions on brown trout fisheries.
However I would have thought that in February the water temperature change caused by sunlight would trump the cloudy day trigger. I’ve read Jay Thurston’s research and it indicated, to him at least, that when water temps were in the 40s there were 2 main feeding triggers: temperature rises from 44 to 45 and 48 to 49. It’s not like they are going wild, but trout get more active when temp breaks those barriers. If the water temp falls 1 degree, feeding stops. Once it hits 50 then I would expect clouds to be more important to trigger the bite than temp. Since 50+ is comfortable for a trout.
But as stated, I base those assumptions only on what I’ve read. Any thoughts on those parameters?
pcray1231
Well-known member
Ok, well, it was crystal clear and pretty low. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and I was out midday. And it was cold, temp stayed below water temp all day, water temperatures were dropping.
I do well on Penns often, but Saturday wasnt one of those days. I tried shady areas, I tried nymphs, streamers, dry droppers, pocket water, tail outs, pools, glides. I threw the kitchen sink. I did not see a fish. Then went up a trib to successfully avoid the skunk and went for beer and wings, which was more sucessful.
I do well on Penns often, but Saturday wasnt one of those days. I tried shady areas, I tried nymphs, streamers, dry droppers, pocket water, tail outs, pools, glides. I threw the kitchen sink. I did not see a fish. Then went up a trib to successfully avoid the skunk and went for beer and wings, which was more sucessful.
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I agree with the generalities noted in the temperature theories above, but don’t think it’s necessarily that specific to those specific narrow windows. When cold water fishing, it’s the direction of the change that matters. I’ve had very good days (not necessarily on Penns, but in general) when the water temp was only 38 or 39, but the air temp was in the high 40’s or 50’s, after a big cold snap, and the water temp was on the rise from probably just above freezing. I’ve also had really bad days with the water temp in the mid 40’s, but falling from the days previous. Steady water temps in the Winter can fish ok too, even if very cold, mid 30’s or colder. It’s falling temps I try to avoid.
I agree that 50ish is the temperature where the swings start to matter less. They still affect things but the fish still are feeding pretty consistently and don’t get lockjaw from the temp change. Up until the water starts to get too warm, 70ish or so.
Prospector
Well-known member
Thurston’s research and observations occurred on Wisc spring creeks. I think he checked and recorded water temp every hour on the hour and recorded the time every fish was caught. From there he saw the trend that temperature rises from 44 to 45 and 48 to 49 were triggers to those Wisc trout.
From what PCray said, “on 2/11 the air temp was below water temp all day” then it’s almost a certainty the “water temperature rise” never occurred on Penn’s on Saturday and flies drifted past trout that didn’t want to open their mouth.
From what PCray said, “on 2/11 the air temp was below water temp all day” then it’s almost a certainty the “water temperature rise” never occurred on Penn’s on Saturday and flies drifted past trout that didn’t want to open their mouth.
pcray1231
Well-known member
Penns is an on/off stream. On some streams where fish are more opportunistic, you'll still have a worse day when things ain't right, but you can generally scrounge up a few fish nomatter what. On Penns they're well fed and can well afford to take days off. And pretty much everything was not in my favor, from water color and sun combo to temperatures. This wasn't just a sunny day, as you can see by the pic, it was one of those not a cloud in the sky, zero humidity, unrelenting sun, with no leaves on trees days, and I fished from 11-3 or so. So it was tough going.
And that wasn't a huge surprise really. I was hoping for a little more water color I guess, but I knew I was not meeting with the best fishing conditions. I was still happy to get out, it was a gorgeous day for humans, and I had some cabin fever goin on.
And that wasn't a huge surprise really. I was hoping for a little more water color I guess, but I knew I was not meeting with the best fishing conditions. I was still happy to get out, it was a gorgeous day for humans, and I had some cabin fever goin on.
discomidge
Well-known member
Glad I wasn't the only one to get skunked out there on Saturday (and sorry you got skunked pcray). I had pretty much the exact same experience, though I did see one fish (maybe). Otherwise, nada, it was DEAD. At least it was a pretty day. At some spots the banks were absolutely littered with stonefly shucks. I saw a couple LBS and lots of midges, but the stones weren't coming off like it looked like they recently had. I figured that because it was really warm Thurs/Fri, the fish had recently eaten well and didn't need to mess with a bluebird day.
wgmiller
Well-known member
I approach bluebird days on any creek with the mindset that any fish caught is a bonus. To me, just being in nature, soaking up some vitamin D, and being at peace is the true reward. Without a doubt my most productive days have been when the weather is least favorable (drizzle, rain, overcast, etc.).
