2025 PWWTU Outdoor Adventures Recap

Camping, Fishing, Camaraderie

The group, led by Glenn “Andy” Andrews, planned four outings in 2025. The first was a return visit to Little Pine State Park in May, a favorite stream and campground with access to “Big” Pine and Kettle creeks. Unfortunately, a windstorm early in the month severely damaged the trees in the park and the campground was closed. Trip cancelled.

The second outing was to Kettle Creek State Park

The weather was typical for June, but the tents were warm:

Glenn, Joe Hlista, Tom Suttor all caught nice (14”) browns about a half-mile downstream from the dam. A friendly fellow camper roasted a whole pig and invited the group to join the fun.

In June, Andy ventured to Laurel Hill Creek and Indian Creek in the Laurel Highlands. He stayed at the Laurel Hill State Park campground. One day, after fishing Indian Creek just north of Rt. 31, he left his fishing vest in the bed of his truck for a few minutes to take a concealed leak. The vest was missing when he returned. Be careful.

In mid-August, after several weeks without rain, the group ventured to Franklin County the site of many spring-fed limestone streams. Stayed at Cown’s Gap state park campground. Big lake…didn’t fish. Fished 10 limestone creeks in 3 days. including the West Branch of Conococheague Creek near Springtown and Buck Run in Mercersburg. Many streams had extremely low water; however, some spring-fed creeks were OK.

Bucks Run / Dickey Run (local name). Stream was improved by the Mercersburg Sportsman’s Club. They own the property, which includes 1/2 mile of the stream which they let the public fish. The creek is 10 -12 feet wide and comes from a private lake (members only!). We saw fish in the creek exceed 20” in length. Record for the lake is 29”. I checked the stream temperature and had a reading of 58 degrees. Oxygen content came in at greater than 9 mg/L.  

Falling Hills Spring Run is probably one of the most famous limestone creeks in Pennsylvania. Picture perfect and located near Stoufferstown, Pa., the creek is 9 – 12 feet wide and has good weed growth. Depth was, my guess, 3 – 6 feet deep. Temperature was 58 degrees. Oxygen level was excellent at 10mg/L.   Church Hill Sprung Run is located near Mercersburg. It could use a little help to keep this creek in prime condition. It receives just too much fishing pressure and not enough love and respect. Still, very pretty and fun to fish. Water temperature was 60 degrees and oxygen levels were about 9 – 10mg/L.

All three creeks Andy researched had mayflies, atones and caddis, yet all were smaller and fewer in number than he expected, perhaps because his frame of reference is the streams around Mt. Hood in Oregon.   Glenn used a dissolved oxygen test kit made by Salifert. It will measure dissolved oxygen in the range 0 to 15mg/L. Oxygen content sufficient to support healthy fish should be at least 6mg/L in fresh water.  Plans for 2026 include the annual trip to Little Pine and possible trips to Fulton County East of Franklin. Contact Andy for more details: [email protected]