Penns Creek - Centre County - 5/27/2025

tjsingle

tjsingle

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Joined
Feb 27, 2017
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Downingtown, PA
Hey all-

Figured I'd post a report on my trip yesterday up to Penns. I have every other Friday off with the 9-80 schedule, and this week was my Friday off. I opted to move it to Tuesday and drive up to Penns before this current bout of rain. I didn't want to chance it because it seems like Friday there's another chance as well. Plus I figured the crowds might be less on a Tuesday. I've never fished the green drake hatch, so I was really looking forward to getting up there for it.

Left Chester County early in the morning, I didn't intend on getting up there earlier than 9AM. I planned on staying till dark for the spinner fall then turn back home to hopefully be home around midnight.

I parked at Poe Paddy, as I hadn't fished there since last year and I wanted to mix it up from the last time I fished Penns in April. Water conditions were obviously higher than normal, which make things difficult at first but I found success quickly. I decided that I would work the edges with of a larger pools tailout where I knew there would likely be some eager trout. I found a pod of risers that were eating caddis around 11AM, and quickly put three in the net. Including a 16-17"ish trout, I didn't measure him though. The others were 13" and 14" a piece. After fishing the edges for a while, I found a spot I found wade on and not be below my waist on a gravel bar. I fished there for a while as the fish kept picking off the various bugs on the water. I had a couple more takes, and two more hookups which popped off in the current (I definitely horsed the one).

Decided to fish it back to the truck and then try some different spots along the way. A couple more takes on smaller fish as well. At this point it was 3PM. I was looking for more rising fish, so I scoped out a spot I knew would likely be good. The bug action was at a lull, but steadily increased as the afternoon waned and the evening set in.

Pretty much everything was hatching, green drakes, caddis, sulphur's, MB's, etc. It was a little bit difficult to figure out what the fish were eating, but eventually they were keyed into the drakes. Watching the hatch progress throughout the day was really cool to see, can't say I've seen anything like it. Had a couple more takes, but still wasn't getting many hookups. Honestly, it was a little bit frustrating, especially after multiple fly changes, trying things like small twitches or skating the flies. I think looking back I should've switch out my leader to a 7.5' 4X with tippet, rather than the 9' 5X with tippet, might've worked out better for the takes I did have.

Regardless of the frustration, I kept fishing and found a good spot to sit at for the spinner fall(s). Finally landed my first trout on a green drake fly, ironically towards the end of the spinner fall.

All in all, I had a good day. The drive home always sucks, and I question why I try to day trip Penns.

My hookup to landing ratio was pretty bad, but considering the higher than normal flow and the fact I did not go for a swim, I'm not that mad. However there is one fish I am still thinking about 🤣. Definitely was bigger than the 17"ish one I landed earlier, but I guess that's why we all keep going back right?

Water Conditions:
Color: Green, visibility was pretty good
Flow: 800CFS in the morning, around 750CFS at night
Water Temp: Mid-50s
Rocks: Slippery

I was always curious, the camps adjacent to the creek near Poe Paddy, I assume their all privately owned? Would be cool to stay in one for a weekend.


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Is there a decent amount of parking at Poe Paddy? I’ve never fished the drake hatch before but planned on going Friday after work. I anticipate the Mid State Trail lot where I usually park will be full by the time I get there.
 
The water will likely be up this weekend which will continue to keep people away. I suspect parking won't be what it usually is during the drakes. It certainly wasn't crowded last weekend.

I swung GD and sulphur soft hackles on Saturday and Sunday. It was ridiculous how many eats I got. My landing percentage was terrible but still netted 15-20 fish in six or seven hours of fishing.
 
It “looks” so fishable in that bridge pic. But my knees are knocking at 800 cfs. About the highest I’ve fished it, and it was dicey and you had to pick your spots. Largely not crossable in those flows…Spots where you can cross may be a mile or more apart.

Good report. I’m sure it fished for a brief window there, if you had the mindset and opportunity to be out there. (Today’s additional rain undid all of that progress though probably.)
 
ROVERT said:
The water will likely be up this weekend which will continue to keep people away. I suspect parking won't be what it usually is during the drakes. It certainly wasn't crowded last weekend.

I swung GD and sulphur soft hackles on Saturday and Sunday. It was ridiculous how many eats I got. My landing percentage was terrible but still netted 15-20 fish in six or seven hours of fishing.
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Sounds like a great day! I stubbornly stuck to dries, likely to my detriment. I tossed around a streamer a bit but the fish could care less. More rain on Friday into Saturday will probably bump flows back over 1000 if I had to guess.

Swattie87 said:
It “looks” so fishable in that bridge pic. But my knees are knocking at 800 cfs. About the highest I’ve fished it, and it was dicey and you had to pick your spots. Largely not crossable in those flows…Spots where you can cross may be a mile or more apart.

Good report. I’m sure it fished for a brief window there, if you had the mindset and opportunity to be out there. (Today’s additional rain undid all of that progress though probably.)
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Thanks!

For the most part it was fishable. The issue becomes more or less can you make the cast or get into position to make the cast with those flows. It was also the highest I've ever fished it. In some of the spots I was waist deep, which isn't ideal when you can't see every step your taking. Wading staff definitely helped.

I tried to be strategic in where I fished to avoid crossing, which for the most part worked out.
 
tjsingle said:
Sounds like a great day! I stubbornly stuck to dries, likely to my detriment.
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My son was with me Saturday and Sunday evenings. He also stuck to dries. He caught a couple and missed a bunch but they were certainly more eager to take a wet. I finally got him to take my rod and try the wets. He caught a fish almost instantly.
 
tjsingle said:
I really don't fish wet flies often, and I probably should.
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I've been trying it more over the last few years. Success is sporadic but sometimes they really want them. This past weekend was on another level compared to anything I've experienced before. It is frustrating how few good hook ups I got out of the number of takes but downstream fishing is like that, for me at least.
 
wildtrout2 said:
I'd never fish with conditions that won't allow me to see where I'm putting my feet. Maybe it's an old guy thing. 😉
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I feel like I can't see my feet more often than I can in Penns, especially this year. Grab a wading staff and feel your way along.
 
ROVERT said:
I've been trying it more over the last few years. Success is sporadic but sometimes they really want them. This past weekend was on another level compared to anything I've experienced before. It is frustrating how few good hook ups I got out of the number of takes but downstream fishing is like that, for me at least.
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For me, fish porpoising on emerging caddis in slow to medium speed riffles and tailouts screams wet fly swing. Its the singular type of trout feeding behavior where neither nymphing nor surface tactics target the correct spot in the water column. A good tell will be a lack of good mayfly activity that day- something we've unfortunately seen more often than not this season with the high water and temperature swings.

My "wet fly" rig is probably still more light nymph and soft-hackle oriented than the classic type, but the swung presentation and lack of ticking bottom are the main keys to success. I find the best approach is to just zone out and not try to set the hook at all.
 
For all of the fishing that I’ve done on Penns, I’ve never found the route to Poe paddy successfully…the other day, I finally walked the length of trail from cherry run to Poe paddy & have a better sense of bearings, but from the roads I’m still clueless.

Is siglerville Millheim pike the ideal route? I think I was very close when I called it quits near pine swamp rd, near the top of the hill at a trailhead. I drew my route in red on the attached image. Likewise, both google and Apple Maps seem determined to lead me to the wrong roads via the wrong route every single time.

Ask me how fun it was trying to find sites on lick hollow rd when I first camped in that area.
 

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The yellow arrows would have gotten you there. You would pass Poe Valley on the right. Poe Paddy is then on the left after another 4-ish miles.
 
ntallen said:
For all of the fishing that I’ve done on Penns, I’ve never found the route to Poe paddy successfully…the other day, I finally walked the length of trail from cherry run to Poe paddy & have a better sense of bearings, but from the roads I’m still clueless.

Is siglerville Millheim pike the ideal route? I think I was very close when I called it quits near pine swamp rd, near the top of the hill at a trailhead. I drew my route in red on the attached image. Likewise, both google and Apple Maps seem determined to lead me to the wrong roads via the wrong route every single time.

Ask me how fun it was trying to find sites on lick hollow rd when I first camped in that area.
Click to expand...
I’m not sure what map you used, but if you use Google Maps, and check for the directions from Siglerville to Poe Paddy it will show you the best route.

There’s no need to go past Poe Valley. You’re just wasting time. Take the Siglerville Millhein Pike through Siglerville, and get on the Havice Valley Road. Follow that to the Paddy Mtn Road, and bingo, you’re there. Well, maybe a somewhat long bingo game. 😃
 
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