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Penns Creek Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

A limestone stream that rises at Penns Cave and runs to the Susquehanna, with wild brown trout and special-regulation water from Coburn down through the Poe Paddy gorge.

2/5
Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.
Flow
244 cfs
Air / High
58 / 58 F
Wind
ENE 3 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 01555000, Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

2/5Slow. Work for them.Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Penns Creek is in its winter mode: slow, deep and deliberate. The river is running 244 cfs, dropping and clearing. Today brings clear skies, wind ENE around 3 mph, rising pressure near 1026 hPa and a high of 58. Water sits around 47 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 9:43 AM-11:43 AM and 10:12 PM-12:12 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Brown troutExcellent

Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

Tomorrow: Similar at 55 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Pennsylvania requires a fishing licence from age 16, from $27.97 for residents. What a Pennsylvania licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing brown trout here? Check the size and bag limits with PFBC before you keep anything. The season dates for Pennsylvania, read off the agency, are on the Pennsylvania seasons page.

Water and weather

Live readings from Penns Creek at Penns Creek.

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 01555000.

371650930244 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Today’s flow against 97 years of October 23

At 244 cfs, the flow at USGS gauge 01555000 (Penns Creek at Penns Creek) is at the 75th percentile for the date: normal. In half of the 97 years of approved record the daily mean on October 23 was below 100 cfs; the highest was 3,360 cfs and the lowest 42 cfs.

p10 50median 100p90 623

Percentiles of the daily mean flow for this date, from the USGS Water Data Statistics API for gauge 01555000; today’s reading is the latest instantaneous value. Classes follow the ones the USGS used on its WaterWatch maps (retired at the end of 2025): below 10th, much below normal; 10th–24th, below; 25th–75th, normal; 76th–90th, above; over 90th, much above.

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp58 F
High / Low58 / 42 F
WindENE 3-5 mph
Pressure1026.3 hPa, rising
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:29 / 18:17
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~47 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunset

Which day to fish Penns Creek this week

The best day on Penns Creek this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 4 out of 5, against 2 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” good at 4/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Tough

Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Solunar majors
9:43 AM-11:43 AM and 10:12 PM-12:12 AM
Minor period
4:05 AM-5:05 AM
Sun
07:29 to 18:17
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Overcast, 6 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Penns Creek: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Brown trout illustration

Brown trout

Spring along Great Lakes shorelines; low light and overcast days in rivers; fall spawning runs

A European trout first stocked in the US in 1883 and now fished in rivers and lakes nationwide; it tolerates warmer water than other trout, and mature stream fish feed mostly at night. Below 50Β°F, fish slowly through the deeper pools; in early spring on the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR notes browns are often caught inshore before other species start biting.

When to come: the Penns Creek calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Brown trout
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 47 F (estimated, not a reading).

30405060JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~47 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Penns Creek today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 62 F, wind to 9 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 61 F, wind to 7 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

2/5 Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing. Brown trout led the card at excellent. High of 66 F, wind to 10 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Pennsylvania requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Pennsylvania fishing license plus trout permit. PFBC's 2026 summary lists three special-regulation reaches: brown trout catch-and-release from SR 45 in Spring Mills to Elk Creek; All-Tackle Trout Slot Limit from Elk Creek to 600 meters below Swift Run; Catch and Release Artificial Lures Only from there to the island near Jolly Grove Lane. Check the PFBC summary for the exact rules on each reach.

Access

Coburn, the DCNR access area near Ingleby and Poe Paddy State Park; the abandoned railroad grade is the only route into the middle of the slot-limit reach.

About this water

An 81-mile limestone stream (PFBC) from Penns Cave in Centre County through Mifflin and Union counties to the Susquehanna River near Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania.

Fishing Penns Creek: the full guide

From Penns Cave to Selinsgrove

PFBC describes Penns Creek as a fertile limestone stream that rises from a spring in Penns Cave, Centre County, and flows east about 81 miles to the Susquehanna River near Selinsgrove. The reach below Coburn was stocked until 1992, when PFBC designated it Class A wild trout water and stopped stocking it. PFBC's 2007 survey near Ingleby found high numbers and biomass of wild brown trout, with more fish of 14 inches and larger than a decade earlier. The middle of that reach can be reached only on an abandoned railroad grade that runs beside the stream.

Three sets of rules in a row

Upstream, from the State Road 45 bridge in Spring Mills to Elk Creek, brown trout are catch-and-release at all times and the water closes from the third Monday in February to the trout opener. From the Elk Creek confluence at Coburn down to 600 meters below Swift Run (6.98 miles), the All-Tackle Trout Slot Limit applies: two trout a day from 7 to under 12 inches between the opener and Labor Day, with no harvest the rest of the year. Below that, 7.48 miles to the island near the end of Jolly Grove Lane are Catch and Release Artificial Lures Only, open all year. Stocked sections lie above Coburn and below Jolly Grove Lane.

Poe Paddy and the green drake

Poe Paddy State Park sits where Big Poe Creek joins Penns Creek, inside the gorge. Pennsylvania's park service calls the creek a trout angler's paradise with a nationally recognized green drake mayfly hatch in June, and the Mid State Trail passes through the park. The USGS gauge on this page, Penns Creek at Penns Creek, is in Snyder County far downstream of the gorge, so read it as a guide to the whole basin rather than to the wild trout water.

Common questions

Is any of Penns Creek catch-and-release?

Yes. PFBC lists 7.48 miles from about 600 meters below Swift Run to the island near the end of Jolly Grove Lane as Catch and Release Artificial Lures Only. Above it, the Coburn reach allows all tackle and limited harvest under the slot limit.

When is the green drake hatch?

Pennsylvania's state park service places the green drake hatch at Poe Paddy in June.

Is Penns Creek stocked?

Not in the wild trout reach. PFBC stopped stocking the Coburn section in 1992; stocked sections are upstream of Elk Creek and downstream of Jolly Grove Lane.

Is fishing good at Penns Creek right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Slow. Work for them. Conditions favor short windows and patient fishing.

Nearby waters

Spring Creek25 miWest Branch Susquehanna River25 miJuniata River27 miLittle Juniata River45 miYellow Breeches Creek46 miPine Creek49 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 01555000 β€” Penns Creek at Penns Creek
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 19:00 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 40.8300, -77.3200 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 6, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 6, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.