Penns creek, centre county, 5/19/2017

[boychick]

Fished ingleby area from about 11am-9:30pm. It was a tough day. Hot and sunny all day, no fish rising during the day. I caught a few nymphing and swinging soft hackles throughout the day. But you really had to work for them. I had high hopes for a good sulphur hatch and spinnerfall. I broke off a bruiser that smashed a sulphur Dunn in the riffles. It would have been great to land that fish, but the eat was a great consolation prize! The evening was a bust, bugs never really got going and there were only a few sporadic rises. I heard it was tough in this same area the night before too. All in all a beautiful day on the water, I just wish the fishing had been better.

 

[hammertime]

I can pretty much give the same report for the lower c and r section as well. Fish are there, just have to work for them.

Very sporadic rises, nothing consistent. Caddis I suspect.

 

[vcregular]

Penns Creek trout are allergic to the sun. :-o

 

[Jsnyder7]

Tough fishing all day for me also. Landed an 18 on a March Brown parachute. There was a solid spinner fall where I was at dark. Landed 3 in the last 20 minutes of daylight.

 

[boychick]

J, roughly speaking, where were you?

 

[McSneek]

Was in the upper C&R section and above Friday, May 19 and most of Saturday, May 20. Worst fishing I've experienced on Penns for this time of year. Oppressively hot and windy Friday followed by cool rainy conditions all day Saturday. No shortage of water. Tough wading. Minimal bug activity both days. Mostly March Browns - very light in color. Some spinners Friday night but the fish never came up for them or the duns on a consistent basis. Just very little in the way of surface activity. Had to work hard for fish. Really crowded too. I've never fished Penns on a weekend in prime time - now I know why.

 

[tomitrout]

I can concur, I fished a stretch above the Fish & Boat cabin, nymphin' and swinging the pockets and riffles. Saw some random sulphurs on the flat water but not enough to turn into anything consistent. Was on the water 10:30-3:30ish before throwing in the towel. Had to work for the fish I did sting, had a healthy take on a swung sulphur soft hackle that broke off the 4x. Guessing the shift in the weather has thrown things a bit off kilter...

 

[ROVERT]

I had a bad evening on Friday. I hooked up with a good fish on my second cast and promptly lost it. I was anxious to fish dries and didn't nymph for long. The top action never fired up, though.

I actually had a pretty good day on Saturday. That didn't seem to be the case for many others. I found the vast majority of my fish in mid calf to knee deep riffles. Not much in the typical heavier/deeper pocket water and nothing in the runs. Nothing huge, but a fair number of solid fish. Nymphing produced for me all day. The evening dry fly fishing was another disappointment but I was content to stand in the easy water and cast to what few fish were showing themselves after a long day wading the riffles.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

I guess everyone in America is at Penns.

 

[McSneek]

Hook_Jaw wrote:
I guess everyone in America is at Penns.

No one goes there anymore - it's too crowded.

 

[mszoke1802]

Penns was mobbed this weekend, the fish knew and took cover. Tough weekend on water.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

I have fished penns my whole lifetime I only go in the late fall and winter anymore to many jag offs.

 

[pcray1231]

I was in the c&r section from mid afternoon on the 17th and 18th.

I had virtually no luck nymphing.

Both evenings, rising began 5:30-6:00. Not a lot of fish, but the ones up were fairly steady and nice sized. Right on the edges against shoreline rocks, hard to see if not watching a section of shoreline. They were taking sulpher duns.

Both nights we had a solid spinner fall which got fish in the middle work in some. Again, I've seen a lot more rise, but it was enough and they did take a spinner if you got the right drift. March Browns were present but sulphers stole the show. Nice flurry both nights.

9 and 5 were my totals, which for me makes both nights fall in the "average" category. Most on dries.

 

[ryguyfi]

We fished it Sunday from around 11-3. In the right spots fish were rising here and there. Sulphurs were popping pretty regularly as well as a decent amount of tan caddis. Only 1-2 strikes on the sulphurs for the 3 of us but a decent amount on the caddis. For some reason I always seem to get better action on top on caddis there this time of year. I probably had 6 hook ups a few missed strikes but no fish to hand.

 

[FLY_Mike]

shouldn't the green drake hatch be happening about now?

 

[pcray1231]

They have started by now in some years, but it's a bit early. First week of June is average.

Seems hatch timings are average, or even a bit behind this year.

 

[McSneek]

Bruce at Penns Creek Anglers is reporting Green Drakes on the lower end.

 

[Jsnyder7]

Boychick, I wasn't far from the fish commission house.

 

[boychick]

Thanks J. A few stupid questions, where is the fish commission house? Also, when guys talk upper and lower catch and release, what sections are they referring they actually referring to?

 

[ROVERT]

https://earth.google.com/web/@40.8449952,-77.37318696,269.0057986a,86.75978637d,35y,0h,0t,0r

I'm not sure what the dividing line would be but if I had to guess, I'd say the upper section is from the tunnel down to the second set of islands. The lower section would then be from there down to Cherry Run. I'm not very familiar with the lower section.