Penns Creek Fly Fishing, Coburn PA
Well, just back from my first trip to Pennsylvania. Lets just say that river lives up to at least two aspects of it’s reputation…….
First….bugs…and I mean LOTS of bugs. I’d heard Penns described as an insect "factory" due to the high quality of the water flowing over limestone for miles. Amen. At times, it was difficult NOT to breath the things in! Since it was the best use of my time (you’ll read why in a second) I took note of the insects I observed in great numbers in a period of 5-10 minutes. Clouds of cream-colored midges (very tiny) that I hope are high in protein, tan caddis hatching, black caddis hatching, 2 colors of sulphurs (a lemon-yellow and pale orange) gray foxes hatching, green drakes hatching…………Egg-bearing mayflies (sulphurs or foxes, not sure) and egg-laying caddis. WOW! And those were just the ones I could see in the fading light of Monday evening. Now, what were they eating?
If Penns wasn’t running the color of chocolate milk, I might be able to tell you….the OTHER aspect of it’s reputation..It does not recover quickly after rain. While I did manage two small browns at the confluence of Elk and Penns, the only fish that put a real bend in the rod came from one of the many secondary streams I drove great lengths to investigate. A mile or so upstream of where Spruce Creek meets the Little Juniata, there is a pull-off. With the rain coming down hard, I suited up for what was likely my last kick at the can for this trip. Spruce creek is a gorgeous stream with decent access. It’s banks are pretty choked-up with foliage, forcing you to quietly wade into the river to be in casting position. The stain in the water limited visibility to about 12". After nymphing a series of shallow runs for over an hour, I had almost given up when I spotted a slower moving run beneath some overhanging branches on the opposite bank. I cut all the tippet off my leader, rendering it a stiff six foot streamer-thrower. I tied on a black, size #6 conehead bugger and set about the task of getting the thing under those branches. On the third cast, it reached the far bank….I let it sink for 3 seconds and began twitching the streamer towards me. A nice brown pounced on the streamer, and jumped when I set the hook. The "setting" process tangled my rod in the maple branches I was crouching under to cast to this spot. For a few moments, I was unable to keep any tension on the hook, and thought the trout would be lost. Luckily, the hook set was good, the trout was landed. If it hadn’t been raining so hard, I’d have taken a better shot of the trout.
If you’re planning a trip to fish Penns and the surrounding area, be sure to have some flexibility in your timing. Call ahead for conditions.
