Local Streams

Of the five local streams included in this web page, four are limestoners. The lone freestone creek is East Licking Creek. This web page contains general information and specific TU concerns about these streams. Details on hatches and directions on all of these streams can be found in Charlie Meck's 'Pennsylvania Trout streams and Their Hatches/2nd Edition' or Dwight Landis' 'Trout Streams of Pennsylvania-An Angler's Guide'. Joseph Armstrong's 'Trout Unlimited's Guide to Pennsylvania Limestone Streams' includes Penns Creek, Honey Creek, and Tea Creek.

Four miles of Penns Creek flows thru Mifflin County. Most of this water is the Fish
Commission's catch and release section on Penns Creek. None of these wild trout may be removed from the stream. There are lots of trout and lots of hatches. During the green drake hatch there are also lots of fisherman. This hatch is an event. Some would say a circus. However, there are plenty of other excellent hatches and usually plenty of room to fish.Here Penns Creek runs thru a scenic wooded valley. If you don't mind walking there is easy access to this special trout water. An abandoned railroad bed runs the entire length of the valley. It is open year round to all, but no motorized vehicles please. Beware of one thing about fishing Penns Creek. Be sure to check into stream conditions before traveling too far. A couple days of rain can easily turn this stream into a mud pie that may last for several days more. Then Penns Creek becomes a worm dunkers paradise.

Kishacoquillas Creek, Kish Creek for short, is our Rodney Dangerfield stream. It gets no respect, no respect at all, in many ways. This stream has been used and abused for a very long time. It has been this county's main sewer line since the white man arrived. It still is--with a difference. Today the sewage is treated. That problem has been addressed. There have been industrial spills, accidents, and dumps into Kish Creek for almost as long. That situation has been greatly improved in recent years. Which leaves the siltation problem. kishcrk.jpg (47621 bytes)

The west branch of Kish Creek drains a large, fertile agricultural valley. It is called Big Valley. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the local Soil Conservation District office have been working steadily to lessen the siltation problem in Big Valley. Progress is being made. It is a Big Problem and much remains to be accomplished. But we're headed in the right direction. There are also the pesticides, herbicides, and the excess nutrients that are continually and stealithly leeching into Kish Creek. None of this is good for trout or for streamborne insect populations. Some of it is disasterous.

So poor old Kish Creek flows along doing the best that it can. It is doing much better these days nontheless. So much better in some sections that there is actually natural reproductionof trout in one stretch. The picture at right shows a piece of this water. Here the stream runs beside the Burnham Lions Club Recreation Park. The Fish Commission stocks no trout here. It isn't necessary. Except for this one stretch of Kish Creek, the entire stream is stocked, put and take fishing.

And the fishing? Kish Creek is no dry fly fisherman's dream. There is a sulphur hatch from one end of this stream to the other. However, there are a lot of hatch variables on Kish Creek. Such as how heavy is nearby siltation and pesticide runoff? Has there been a chemical spill lately along here? I know. Dilution is the answer to pollution? So how much farther away do I have to get before the pollution is overcome by the dilution? It can be tricky. Some local knowledge never hurts. And then there's the headwaters trico hatch. It is there. Unfortunately the trout are not. This is open water and it is fished hard. Getting up at dawn to watch tricos being slurped down by gently rising chubs is not for everybody. It takes a special breed of dry fly fisherman to enjoy this sport. And then there are the caddis. They are around too. And much like the sulfur your fishing will depend on those variables--siltation, etc. There are hatches on Kish Creek, but their intensity can vary widely from one place to another.

So what's a poor fisherman to do? Try fishing wet. Kish Creek is described locally as a bait fishing stream. There is much truth in this description. Much of Kish Creek is a crustacean's paradise. The crayfish are thick in many places. Minnows are mostly everywhere. Nymphs can be deadly. Which brings up those variables again. The lower half of the west branch is home to a good population of stoneflies. But the trout are few and far between. There are holdover stockies around and they have a lot of water to roam around in. However the water warms early on the lower west branch. So after the middle of june figure on fishing at daybreak. And keep to the fast water. The pools are chub city by this time. And so forth. So you think fishing Penns Creek is tough. Try this sometime. To fish this stream effectively you need to know the kinds of things that aren't published in books.

Then there is placid, dependable Honey Creek. Where the hatches are wonderful and there's not a chub in sight. Alas, a variable has struck this stream too. Once upon a time there was a limestone quarry. This quarry ground limestone into pebbles for use in concrete and stabilizing dirt roads and such. They also washed their limestone pebbles and the runoff waste naturally found its' way into Honey Creek. Where it had a disaterous effect on many of those wonder little bugs swimming in and burrowing under Honey Creek. The Hendricksons were devestated. The drakes were decimated. The drakes are coming back, both brown and green. Those tough sulfurs never really went away. And there are blue quills and blue-winged olives, and caddis, and much more. And they're all doing fine again. The answer--the quarry installed settling ponds. There is a happy ending to this paragraph.

Honey Creek drains the eastern end of Big Valley. There is plenty of intensive agriculture at this end of the valley too. However, this stream has much less of a siltation problem than the west branch of Kish Creek. The three tributaries that unite to form Honey Creek all disappear into sink holes, then reemerge from a cave miles away. From this cave flows the cool and clear waters of Honey Creek. There is some siltation, but nothing approaching the scale affecting Kish Creek. There is plenty of natural trout reproduction here. No stock trucks visit Honey Creek. All of these trout are wild streambred fish. Wonderful. Right? Not to everybody. Many local residents deny that there is natural reproduction in Honey Creek wish to return to the days of the stock trucks. The anger about this is slowly cooling off, but only slowly.

Honey Creek is a class A trout stream. This means that it contains a healthy population of naturally reproducing trout. It means some other things too. It means that this stream would be an excellent candidate for special regulations--the same as Penns Creek. Well. Over the cold dead bodies of many of the property owners who own land beside Honey Creek. They will post their ground rather than allow any special regulations hamper their fishing. So Honey Creek remains no stocking and no special regulations, and will remain this way for the forseeable future. As a result there are many small, wild trout in this stream. There are a few lunkers lurking here and there. Overall the fish are small. On the other hand no ground is posted. Honey Creek is open to public fishing from cave to mouth.

Being a class A trout stream means something else too. It attracts the attention of fish-for-pay interests. Which means posted ground and private fishing clubs. Fortunately Honey Creek may not be easy prey for the fish-for-pay interests. Access is too easy. A paved road runs along the entire stream, often only a few feet away. Also ownership of streamside property may be too fragmented. There is no single land owner with exclusive rights to a large chunk of honey Creek. So enjoy the fishing. Honey Creek is not perfect, but it's still open to anyone who desires to fish anywhere on this excellent trout stream.

Tea Creek is a small limestoner. Except for the mill dam it averages 10 to 15 feet wide. This does not mean that Tea Creek is not an exceptional fisherie. That it is. Tea Creek is also a class A trout stream with plenty of natural reproduction. No stock trucks visit this stream either, nor do many fisherman. It is often overlooked, or avoided. There is very little wide open, unimpeded casting space on this stream. There is some. Mostly it is short casts and tight quarters.

Recently this prisine little jem of a trout stream was also slammed by a human blunder. One of Route 322's missing links is finally being paved into place. A few mile more of restricted access four lane highway will cross over Mifflin County. In the process there was an accident--to Tea Creek. A sink hole needed to be filled. Tons and tons of concrete were used to do the job. The sink hole gobbled up the concrete like it was merely an appetizer. The sink hole is still there. The concrete is down there somewhere. Miles away a ph spike killed nearly all of the fish in Tea Creek--almost, but not all. A few very lucky fish survived somehow to grow and spawn. The trout population in Tea Creek is recovering nicely. The survivors are still smallish, but they're growing. What this has done to the streamborne insect population is still being determined.

Tea Creek also has a 'fowl problem'. An old mill dam, or should we say 'duck dam', bestrides Tea Creek. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has offered to remove this dam free of charge to the mill owners. They have no objections to this arrangement. The Duck Lovers Club or Reedsville objects vehemently. On the upstream side of that dam is 'the duck pond', home base of operations to many ducks and several pairs of canada geese. Removing the dam would mean an unimpeded flow for trout spawning on this stream. It would also mean Tea Creek would have an even better cooling effect on the lower end of Kish Creek. It would be beneficial for two streams. It would also be bad for the ducks. The dam stays. What can be said about all of this but 'lord love a duck'. If you drive thru Reedsville watch out for crossing ducks. The road sign in picture at left says it all. Drive carefully. You're in 'duck country'.

East Licking Creek is a mountain freestone stream. Most of it flows thru state forest land. It is our Juniata County representative on this web page. Beginning this year the Fish Commission created a delayed harvest section on the upper end of East Licking Creek. The Karl B Guss State Forest picnic area bounds one end of this special regulations water. It is fine a place as any to have a picnic. When the other local streams are running high and brown, this one is still flyfishable. The runoff from farm fields is no problem here. The hatches aren't prolific but what is out there definitely attracts the interest of the fish. The key to sucessful fishing on a stream like this is be careful. The stealthy fisherman will catch the fish. Bank pounders have to be satisfied with a nice day in the woods.