By Jason Say, Pennsylvania Sportsmen Portal

I am sure that most of you have heard about Penn’s Creek, but you are probably asking yourself, what the heck is the Dutchmen Family?  As a college student I had the opportunity to play basketball at Lebanon Valley College, in Annville PA, on a great team that won a Division III National Championship in 1994.  Our team name was the Lebanon Valley College Flying Dutchmen, and all members on the team as well as their families were considered part of the Dutchmen Family.

My first dry fly fish of the year.  Caught on a parachute adams.

My Good Friend – Mr. Harper.

Gettin down to business

Penn’s Creek

My first ever brook trout on this stream.

Caught his twin brother on the next cast.

I have been very fortunate in my life to have great family and friends and that didn’t change when I went to college.  Being over 4 hours from my home in Western PA it was tough playing hoops that first year and not getting home for the holidays.  If it wasn’t for the great families like the Hofsass’, Harper’s, Rhoades’, Zeiber’s and Stephenson’s I don’t know if I would have made it through that first year.  Each family was kind enough to invite me into their homes for holidays and treat me like I was one of their own.

Well that tradition continues and Mr. Harper, my good friend John Harper’s father, invites me every year to Penn’s Creek to fish with him and his friends.  This is my 4th year going up to Penn’s and every year is different.

The first year I went up to Penn’s with the Harper clan, I had a night like no other.  I have told many that I may die before I ever have another night like I did that night.  It was only my second year of fly fishing, so I really didn’t know what I was doing yet, but on this night I got lucky and had the right fly at the right time.  For the last two hours of the evening I caught a fish on almost every cast.  I was using a #14 Parachute Adams and caught one right after the other.  Well, the last three years I have not had an evening like that, but the fishing has always been good.

This year, I picked up a bunch in the morning on a hare’s ear dropper with a bead head pheasant tail.  I also lost, possibly, the fish of a lifetime.  I fought a 20″ plus brown for a good five minutes, felt like 20, and finally had him coming in and the hook popped out.  My heart sank, not that I would have kept him anyway, I would have really liked a photo.

Penn’s Creek is a beautiful stream, but if I can offer one piece of advice it would be to make sure you bring your wading staff.  This stream is so fast and rocky that it is very difficult to navigate.  That is one of the problems with fighting big fish, there isn’t any slow water to get them in. The other piece of advice, is use lots of weight when nymph fishing.  Due to the quick water, it is difficult to get down to the fish.  If you aren’t getting it down to them, you aren’t going to catch them.

I would like to thank Mr. Harper as well as the camp cook, Steve, for another great weekend on Penn’s.  I hope they will invite me again next year.