Walnut Creek

Type
Freestone river, Pennsylvania (East)
Designation
Steelhead / salmon water
USGS gauges
1 live
Guides
None listed
Shops
3 nearby

Today on the Walnut Creek

Reading the gauge…

Regulations & access Guides & shops

Walnut Creek is a freestone river in Pennsylvania, listed as Steelhead / salmon water by Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

More about the Walnut Creek

1 USGS gauge on the water reports flow. 3 shops nearby are listed here; the nearest destination hub is Erie & Steelhead Alley.

Updated · Sources: Lake Erie Tributaries (PFBC Steelhead page), USGS Water Data

Representative photograph of similar water; not a photograph of this place.
Representative photograph, not this water.
Where it is

Walnut Creek is a freestone river in Pennsylvania. Our destination hub Erie & Steelhead Alley is 8 mi away in a straight line and lists it among its waters.

Flow now at the gauge
Reading the gauges…

Follow Walnut Creek for flow alerts

Pick one of its USGS gauges and hear from us when the flow moves into or out of its usual range for the date, or crosses a flow you set. We check the public USGS reading every 2 hours and email only when it crosses, at most once every 6 hours. Flow alone is not a fishing forecast or a safety call.

Follow this water

Signed in: one step. Otherwise we email a confirmation link first. Every alert has one-click links to stop it.

Where to fish

About this

Start from the agency's public access map. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Walnut Creek on the map

About this

Gauges, shops and guides within 40 miles

Map of Walnut Creek: gauges, shops and guides

RestroomsAccess map

Map of Walnut Creek with 1 USGS gauge, and shops and guides with an exact address within 40 miles.

Restrooms near Walnut Creek

Restrooms near Walnut Creek

Restrooms within 2 miles of Walnut Creek in a straight line, nearest first, with what anglers found when they went. The map says a restroom is there, not whether it is clean or open today.

No restroom mapped within 2 mi yet — add one you know.

Campgrounds, fishing access sites and boat ramps often have one that isn't on the map yet.

Restroom locations and map details: © OpenStreetMap contributors, Open Database License, read Oct 24, 2026. Ratings, answers and photos are members' own; who shared them is never shown, and every photo is reviewed before it appears. Visits older than 18 months no longer count. Distances are straight-line miles, not driving. Nothing here grants access to private land. Community guidelines.

More water near Walnut Creek

  • The Allegheny River curving through wooded hills in Venango CountySteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Trout Run
    Photo credit

    The Allegheny River in Venango County, Pennsylvania. Photo: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Trout Run.

    Trout Run

    Pennsylvania · about 4 mi

    Brown trout

  • Aerial view of the town of Tyrone in a green valley between forested ridgesSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Cascade Creek
    Photo credit

    Tyrone, Pennsylvania, from the air: Bald Eagle Creek meets the Little Juniata River in the town (the creek is not visible at this distance). Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Cascade Creek.

    Cascade Creek

    Pennsylvania · about 6 mi

  • Black-and-white view of the Little Juniata River flowing under a steel truss bridge between wooded banksSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Elk Creek
    Photo credit

    The Little Juniata River at the 1898 Birmingham Bridge, near Birmingham, Pennsylvania (black-and-white survey photograph). Photo: Jet Lowe, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Not Elk Creek.

    Elk Creek

    Pennsylvania · about 6 mi

  • Spring Creek flowing through Talleyrand Park in Bellefonte, with willows and a stone wall on the bankSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Crooked Creek
    Photo credit

    Spring Creek in Talleyrand Park, Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Photo: Nicholas A. Tonelli, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Crooked Creek.

    Crooked Creek

    Pennsylvania · about 10 mi

  • Fishing Creek in Clinton County, a broad, calm creek between trees with a hill behindSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Fourmile Creek
    Photo credit

    Fishing Creek from PA Route 150, Clinton County, Pennsylvania. Photo: Ruhrfisch, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Fourmile Creek.

    Fourmile Creek

    Pennsylvania · about 13 mi

  • Sunrise through bare trees over a misty, still pool on Penns CreekSteelhead / salmon waterRepresentative photo · not Raccoon Creek
    Photo credit

    Sunrise on Penns Creek, Union County, Pennsylvania. Photo: WiiWillieWiki, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Not Raccoon Creek.

    Raccoon Creek

    Pennsylvania · about 14 mi

Sources Pennsylvania where to fish mapsOverture Maps places (guide map points)

Where the map point comes from

Position: the USGS gauge Walnut Creek Upstream Pool, near Erie, PA.

The map shows USGS gauges (tap one for its flow reading), and shops and guides within 40 miles that publish a street address on their own website. Everyone else is in the lists below.

Regulations

About this

Seasons, limits, special regulations and closures for each reach are on the agency pages below. Read them before you go.

Official designation: Steelhead / salmon water

Each comes from the agency's own published list; where the list names a reach it is quoted. A designation applies to the listed reach, not necessarily the whole water. Listed in the finder under salmon & steelhead.

The water on the map

About this

Measured from the NHDPlus High Resolution (flowlines and waterbodies) (U.S. Geological Survey, read 2026-11-04) for this water’s own mapped feature. Rounded figures; they describe the channel, not today’s conditions.

Length
22 mi (20.6 in PA)
Drains
38.1 sq mi
Drop
623 ft · 28.4 ft/mi
Watershed
Chautauqua-Conneaut

Public land along it

About this

Areas the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), public access (U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Project, read 2026-11-05) lists as owned or held in easement and open to the public, crossed by the mapped channel. Boundaries are mapped, not surveyed. Nothing on this page grants or implies access: check the agency map, posted signs and landowner permission before you fish.

1.3 of 20.6 mi on public land

  • Cassidy CampgroundState Fish and Wildlife · 0.4 mi
  • Walnut Creek Access (Lake Erie)State Fish and Wildlife · 0.4 mi
  • Andrew J. Conner Nature CenterUnknown · 0.3 mi
  • Dutch Road Access, Walnut CreekState Fish and Wildlife · 0.3 mi

Nothing on this page grants or implies access.

Guides and shops near Walnut Creek

About this

Listings marked Unclaimed are built from open map records and the business's own website: confirm licensing, rates, dates and hours directly.

Guides

No guide within 40 miles yet.

3 shops nearby

How these are chosen

Guides whose own website names this water come first, nearest first. Distances are straight-line.

Shops: fly shops first. A distance is shown when the shop’s website gives its location (within 60 miles); otherwise the shop is in one of the towns within 25 miles of the water.

Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories.

Species and hatches

About this

The hatch and season chart for this water's region.

When the bugs come off

Regional hatch months: Catskills and the Northeast
About this chart

8 hatches charted for the region, not measured on this water. From Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission.

  1. January: no charted hatch
  2. February: no charted hatch
  3. March: no charted hatch
  4. April: 3 charted hatches
  5. May: 2 charted hatches
  6. June: 1 charted hatch
  7. July: 1 charted hatch
  8. August: 1 charted hatch
  9. September: 2 charted hatches
  10. October: 1 charted hatch
  11. November: no charted hatch
  12. December: no charted hatch

Blue Quill (April) · Hendrickson (April) · Quill Gordon (April) · Green drake (May) · Mayflies (best hatches) (May) · Mayflies, stoneflies and caddisflies (June to September) · and 2 more on the chart

Erie & Steelhead Alley

About this

Erie is the Lake Erie port city in north-west Pennsylvania; Walnut, Elk, Twentymile and the county's other short tributaries reach the lake along its shore, Conneaut Creek runs on into Ohio, and the Presque Isle peninsula shelters Presque Isle Bay.

Destination hub · 8 mi away in a straight line

Gear checklist

About this

A steelhead and salmon fly-fishing checklist: a switch or spey rod (or 9′6″ single-hand) in 7–8 weight, Skagit lines and sink tips, swing flies, studded boots and cold-weather layers, with estimated prices and where to buy.

An angler wades the Deschutes River and casts, dry canyon slopes behind

Steelhead & salmon

11′–13′6″ two-hand rod, 7–8 weight, Skagit head + sink tips · Steelhead and Pacific salmon

Open the checklist
Videos for this water (5)

Watch: reading a trout stream

About this

Seams, shelves and soft water, shown on real rivers.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • How I Learned to Read Water (Fly Fishing)Embedded from YouTube · Mad River Outfitters · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • How To Read The Water with Tom RosenbauerEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Reading the Water to Successfully Locate TroutEmbedded from YouTube · Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on reading water

Watch: nymphing basics

About this

Indicator rigs, depth and detecting the take.

Public YouTube videos from established channels, chosen by us to support this page. Not sponsored; the creators are not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear.

  • 90° Nymph RigEmbedded from YouTube · Huge Fly Fisherman · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube
  • Casting with an Indicator & Better Nymphing TechniquesEmbedded from YouTube · The New Fly Fisher · not affiliated with Legendary Fly Gear. Watch on YouTube

Not sponsored All videos on nymphing

Fish Tales

About this

Trip stories anglers chose to share publicly and tagged with Walnut Creek.

No stories from here yet.

Sources for this page

Not a statement of access, fish presence or conditions.

Something wrong?

All 12 sources and dates

A water page organises discovery. It does not assert public access, legal access, current fish presence, guide availability or fishing conditions.

Flows, gauge statistics and flood stages come from USGS and the National Weather Service when the page is shown. Regulations, stocking, species and season statements link to the agency that publishes them; this page copies only the species names and the quoted sentences. Guide and shop listings come from the Legendary directories. Position: the USGS gauge Walnut Creek Upstream Pool, near Erie, PA. Water type is our own classification.