Penns Creek, Union County, October 10/5-7/2023

Life has been very good lately, but very busy with my daughter getting married last week and a move coming up. All good things and no problems. I made the last minute call to get away for a break and fit in a few days away for some fall fishing. The weather, water and time were perfect. Having moved a year ago I really missed my backyard fire-pit. Part of my plans for fishing included a fire, a steak, and some bourbon. The trip turned out perfect and had a bonus of some nice fall colors to add to the atmosphere.

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Thursday
The weather was beautiful for an early fall morning - sunny with temperatures in the low 70’s. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was nice to see the leaves turning. I started up off Tunnel Road and there were a few people around but clearly not like the spring. The water was running at about 220 CFS, clear and around 62 degrees. Hatches were a mix of BWOs and caddis.

I tried a lot of different tandem rigs, but had my best luck with a caddis and zebra midge combo. I caught a few smaller bows that seemed like fingerlings that were stocked. I moved to a lower section of the special regs for the afternoon. By 6:00 pm the caddis really picked up along with BWOs, and BWO spinners.

The evening came together with a nice fire, steak and some Basil Hayden.

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Friday
Maurice joined me in the morning for the morning assault. The weather turned cloudy and dropped to the low 60’s. I was very optimistic for the day. We went back to the Special Regs section but had a slow go. I picked up a nice 16” bow on a black wooly bugger - looked like a fish that was stocked a few miles below in the spring. It was a very slow morning.

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We moved downstream for the afternoon. We found a great stretch and switched over to a green wooly bugger. This turned out to be a fan favorite and got plenty of action the rest of the day. One of my better days on Penns. I stuck with the bugger and was later reminded that I was basically cheating with a woolly bugger. Towards the end of the day I found some bourbon to get over my wooly bugger guilt.

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Sporadic BWOs, caddis and a couple of slate drakes could be seen during the day. We tried to match the hatches but with only limited luck.

Saturday
I was back to going solo. The rain started overnight and was still hanging on until about 11:00 am. The rain didn’t really change the water level or temperature. The air did get colder, only in the 50’s.

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I went back to the lower Penns stretch I fished the afternoon before. I figured I could pick up where I left off and go back to my cheating ways with a wooly bugger. No such luck and the trout were on to my evil ways. Once the rain stopped, a few caddis were around and then a big BWO hatch switched on. They were a size #22 and I started seeing a few trout constantly rising. Being lazy, I put on a caddis and found plenty of takers.

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I bailed at noon to head home. I had a great few days to get away, fish with Maurice, and catch a lot more trout than I expected for fall fishing.

 

Woolly bugger shaming. Thats funny. He slaughtered em. Its not the cheating, its the lies! When asked; “what are you using” and I hear streamer, I expect hear “hackle wing, bucktail, zoo cougar or the like” when I saw that olive beadhead bugger with flashabou tied on a size 8 hook with black thread I felt lied to. LOL. But as you can see, The pattern is burned into my brain.

My view everytime I looked upstream and the “same bow” we caught an hour apart.

 

Thanks for the report. You sure had an eventful trip.

 

Sounds like a great weekend. I was supposed to camp their this weekend but my plans got changed unfortunately. Nice report.

 

glad you enjoyed yourself. and i agree, a back yard fire pit soothes the soul. weather permitting i light mine up every friday evening to relax after the work week. and then saturday mornings i unwind even more with fly fishing.

 

Nice write-up, Dave.

It's good for the soul to fish alone for a while, but also a great thing to have a friend join you. Maurice is a hoot and I'm sure you enjoyed his company. Glad you enjoyed your fire, your bourbon as well having fun catching a bunch of trout.

Oh yeah, no need to feel guilty for cheatin' by fishin' wooly buggers.....we all have our moments of weakness.

 

Makes me want to retire on the spot and head up there! Fire, bourbon, trout, and changing leaves. Thanks for sharing! P.S. I always seem to cheat better with black buggers rather than green.

 

You were almost in my backyard in pic 5

 

How are the leaves at this point? Are they beginning to create an issue for fishing? I’m tentatively planning a short trip up to Penns next week for a couple days (assuming work does not get in the way and pending final spousal approval).

 

How are the leaves at this point? Are they beginning to create an issue for fishing? I’m tentatively planning a short trip up to Penns next week for a couple days (assuming work does not get in the way and pending final spousal approval).

There were starting to show up in the water with a strong breeze. It wasn't a real issue last week.

 

Makes me want to retire on the spot and head up there! Fire, bourbon, trout, and changing leaves. Thanks for sharing! P.S. I always seem to cheat better with black buggers rather than green.

I started off cheating with black buggers and they worked, but the green ones won the day.

 

How are the leaves at this point? Are they beginning to create an issue for fishing? I’m tentatively planning a short trip up to Penns next week for a couple days (assuming work does not get in the way and pending final spousal approval).

I was there yesterday. The leaves were a bit if a problem when fishing drys. Perhaps half of my casts either caught a leaf, or I had trouble seeing my fly among the leaves. Fishing nymphs or streamers weren‘t as bad. It appeared that just 1/4 of the leaves have come down so far.