Penns Creek Angler
Article April 2009
Is there room for everyone
It’s funny to me that we a jewel of a creek to fish but hardly anybody fishes from October to May. My favorite time to be on the water is October until May and then I put the rod away for a while or fish the dark of night because of the crowds. Once the Green Drake is gone for another year the creek becomes empty of anglers once again. The only thing that stops me from fishing from that point on is water temperature and level. It’s unsporting to sit at the mouth of a feeder creek and fish for trout when the water temperature is over 76 degrees in the afternoon. Most of the trout that you catch will die because of the stress of being caught. Some people thing the fishing starts at Coburn and ends at the Glen Iron Bridge, this is far from the truth! Above Coburn there are miles of fishable water if you ask politely for permission. The water from Coburn to about the town of Weikert is easily accessed by using Poe Paddy State Park and holds some very nice fish, its one of my favorite places to fish in the early morning. The other access is the fish commission parking lot at the end of Weikert Rd. This access will give you the ability to fish about 4 miles of creek upstream to Poe Paddy. The water below the fish commission parking lot is posted in certain places but for the most part there are several access points along Weikert Road just look for the cars and you will see these spots. In the town of Weikert there is another fish commission parking area that give access to about 3 miles upstream and 3 miles downstream that ends about where the sportsman’s club property starts. If you are not a member of the club you can still use the parking lot to walk down to the creek and fish several miles downstream. If you do some investigation or stop at a fly shop you will gain information about other areas that are off the beaten path. All in all we have about 25 miles of trout water to fish. I have found trout as far down as the town of Penns Creek, now that’s a lot of water. So the next time you find yourself in a bind and cant find an area to fish simply ask other fisherman or stop in at Penns Creek Angler. I might not tell you all the secrets because the fun of fishing is finding your own spot and catching fish but I will help you catch more fish. This year should be one of the best in many years to come to Penns Creek. The water levels have been perfect and many trout have held over from the fall stocking that was done by the Union County Sportsman’s Club. If you don’t belong to the club you should think about joining or buying a fish button that provides money to feed the fish and helps provide the great fishing on the lower end of the creek that is stocked. However there are many spots down low on the creek that hold beautiful native trout. So finding a spot should never be a problem. I’ve been fish the Penns Creek for 32 years and never ran into a problem where I could find some water to myself. But again that’s where your local tackle shop comes into play. When I go fishing out West or another stream I don’t know, I’ll tell my secret about how to find out what’s hatching where to go and how to present the flies. Its just this simple walk into the local tackle shop put a 20.00 bill on the counter and ask the shop owner where should I go, what do I need as far as flies and how should I present them. Its the easiest and fastest was to the trout.
“Catch you Later”
Bruce Fisher
© 2009