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Home › Waters › Pennsylvania › Buck Run
Spring creek · Southeastern Pennsylvania, Chester County limestone valley in the Brandywine drainage near Doe Run · Pennsylvania

Buck Run Fishing Guides

A Chester County limestone stream in the Doe Run valley, small, cold and holding wild brown trout in the West Branch Brandywine drainage.

A mountain stream running over mossy rock through eastern hardwoods
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Buck Run

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About the Buck Run

Buck Run flows through the Doe Run valley in western Chester County, one of the limestone-influenced streams that feed the West Branch Brandywine. Its drainage at the gauge is about twenty-two and a half square miles, and the country it runs through is the rolling horse-farm landscape south of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The gauge here publishes water temperature alongside discharge, which is unusual and genuinely useful on a stream where temperature governs the fishing.

The limestone influence is what separates Buck Run from the freestone mountain streams that make up most of Pennsylvania trout water. Groundwater buffers both temperature and flow, keeping the stream fishable later into summer than its size would suggest and supporting a richer invertebrate population than an acidic freestone stream carries. Wild brown trout are present, and the stream also receives stocking under Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission programmes.

Fishing is close-quarters work. The stream is narrow, often brushy, and clear enough that fish see anglers long before anglers see fish. Sulphur and caddis hatches carry the spring and early summer, while scuds, cressbugs and small nymphs produce year round. From July onward terrestrials matter, with beetles and ants fished tight to the bank accounting for a good share of the better fish.

Access is the main constraint. This is old private land, much of it in large holdings and preserved farmland, and public access is limited to specific points and easements rather than continuous water. Anglers should establish where they may fish before setting out. The Brandywine system below offers larger water and smallmouth bass when the small streams run warm, which gives an angler somewhere to go on the hot midsummer days when Buck Run itself is best left alone. Chester County holds several similar limestone streams within a short drive.

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Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

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Reviewed by hand before it appears. Pick the water, not the spot — we never publish exact locations.

Never published. We use it only if we need to ask about the photo.

Posting to Buck Run.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Access

Doe Run - the gauge reach and the village at the centre of the valley.
Springdell - road access to the lower stream above the Brandywine.
Coatesville - the nearest town for supplies and lodging.
West Branch Brandywine - the larger receiving water, with public access points.
Laurel Iron Works - a historic crossing on the lower reach.
Unionville - access on the neighbouring Doe Run water.
Hibernia County Park - public water on the Brandywine drainage nearby.

Seasons

Spring: the strongest hatches of the year and the highest reliable flow.
Summer: limestone water holds temperature, best fished early and on terrestrials.
Fall: wild brown trout become aggressive and colour up before spawning.
Winter: fishable on mild days with scuds and cressbugs under state regulations.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Buck Run?

As of Sep 17, 5:30 am, the USGS gauge Buck Run at Doe Run, PA reads 15 cfs, with water temperature 67.1 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Buck Run?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Fallfish, Rainbow Trout, Smallmouth Bass, White Sucker on the Buck Run in Pennsylvania.

Where can you access the Buck Run?

Doe Run - the gauge reach and the village at the centre of the valley. Springdell - road access to the lower stream above the Brandywine. Coatesville - the nearest town for supplies and lodging. West Branch Brandywine - the larger receiving water, with public access points. Laurel Iron Works - a historic crossing on the lower reach. Unionville - access on the neighbouring Doe Run water. Hibernia County Park - public water on the Brandywine drainage nearby.

When is the best time to fish the Buck Run?

Spring: the strongest hatches of the year and the highest reliable flow. Summer: limestone water holds temperature, best fished early and on terrestrials. Fall: wild brown trout become aggressive and colour up before spawning. Winter: fishable on mild days with scuds and cressbugs under state regulations.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Buck Run?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Pennsylvania agency site: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/fishandboat/fishing/regulations