Fly Fishing Penns Creek

Upper Penns is a slightly lower gradient waterway, with long sections of classic flat spring creek water. The riffle and run sections are relatively short and usually somewhat shallow. There’s not many large rocks to break up the water, but a number of downed trees and root balls to keep things interesting. The pools and holes on the upper river are surprisingly deep for a stream that is only thirty feet wide on average. Many of the pull offs are near these spots, as they get filled with fish in during the spring stocking. The hatches are not as prolific as on the lower river, but the fish will rise pretty eagerly when theres any sort of bugs about. Upper Penns rarely gets too high to fish unless there is significant rain. It will muddy up due to the large amount of farmland in the surrounding area, but usually clears quickly. Much of the upper section gets warm in the summer, so be sure to check you’re temps. 

Lower Penns is virtually a different river than the water upstream. This section is two to three times the width of Upper Penns on average, and has much more volume and depth. The substrate is much rockier, with plenty of boulders up to the size of a small car. The lower in the river you go, the rockier it gets. The rocks get pretty slick as well. That coupled with the usually high volume flow makes Lower Penns Creek one of the hardest rivers to wade in the state. If you’re not a competent wader, use caution when fishing this area, as going in could be dangerous. 

Though the rocks make the wading difficult, they make for some exceptional long, pockety runs. They give the fish plenty of places to sit behind and pick off bugs in the drift, and even more crevices and holes to hide in, out of reach of predators or flies. You could fish a hundred yard section of river for hours and still not get your fly in every little pothole. Penns may be famous for its dry fly opportunities, but it is one of the best nymphing rivers in the state as well. 

Lower Penns has a number of cold water springs that dump in along its length, but still gets warm in some sections from June through September. There have been some notably warm summers of that that resulted in fish kills. Please be a good steward of the water and check your temps!

Hatches and Seasons on Penns Creek

The hatches are what brings people to Penns. On any given day of the year, there’s a trout rising somewhere on the river. The bugs start off slow, with sporadic midges popping up through January and February. In later February you can find a few little black stones in certain sections. As the spring approaches, the fish start fattening up on the nymphs that are starting to grow to a notable size. Late winter can be some of the best nymphing of the year, especially on warmer days. 

The mayflies start showing themselves in mid-March, with early blue wings popping off when the conditions are right. Things really start picking up in mid April with the Hendrickson hatch on the lower river. These are the first notable dries the fish see and is usually one of the best hatches of the year. It will raise some of the largest fish, who feed with near reckless abandon. 

As April moves forward, the hatches pick up exponentially. Grannoms, blue quills, blue wings, and black caddis all come off in notable numbers as May approaches. As May sets in,  sulfurs, cahills, and tan caddis, all start coming off. All these bugs continue on into June, the blue wings even continuing all the way into July. Sulfur are the most important fly during this period. If you find yourself on Penns Creek in May or June an hour or so before dark, you’ll be nearly certain to find a few fish rising to sulfurs. 

Also in May, green drakes start appearing on the lower river. These are the bugs that puts Penns on so many anglers destination lists. They’re big and easy, and they bring up the trophy fish. They start just before dark, and fish will eat them well into the night. The drakes start way down low on he creek, and progress upstream until they stop well above Coburn in June. They often coincide with the sulfur hatch, and even if there are drakes around, trout will often key into the sulfurs while it’s still light out. When the sun goes down though, you can fish to the sounds of splashy rises as trout attack coffin fly spinners. As fun as the drake hatch is, it brings out more anglers than anything else. Fighting for a spot to fish can put a damper on the excitement, so be prepared if you’re gonna travel here for the big bugs. 

Towards the end of June, some large stoneflies will emerge, though it’s hard to hit a fishable hatch. It seems with the fish having just seen large bugs in the form of green drakes, it doesn’t take too many big stones on the water to convince them to try a few. Slate drakes also start coming off late in the month, and continue through July, August, and sometimes even September. These can make for some fun fishing during the warmest months. 

Around mid July, Tricos start to come around in certain sections of the river. Towards the end of the month, white flies will have a spotty emergence as well. Neither of these hatches are particularly prolific on the river, but both provide consistent action during their course, and provide at least one or two banner days a year. The Tricos will hatch until the end of September, and just as they begin petering out, blue winged olives and black caddis start to hatch again. They’ll pop off until the end of October. After that, the only chance for a rising fish will be midges until the next spring. 

Aside from the usual dry flies, the trout in Penns Creek will rise readily to a terrestrial fished on the bank any time from May to September. These fish won’t run to a large hopper, but an inchworm, ant, or beetle will bring some fish up. In the same timeframe, craneflies will be all over above and below the waters surface. The fish usually ignore these once hatched, but they will eat plenty of larvae when they float by.  

After the spawn in November, the fish will key in heavily to eggs. Pale yellow or peach eggs will fool large numbers of fish through January. This is probably the best “hatch” of the year if you prefer nymphing to dry flies, bringing some of the largest fish of the year to the net.