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Home › Waters › Pennsylvania › Kettle Creek
Creek · North-central Pennsylvania, Potter and Clinton counties, the Pennsylvania Wilds around Cross Fork and Ole Bull · Pennsylvania

Kettle Creek Fishing Guides

A freestone trout creek through the heart of the Pennsylvania Wilds, wild brook trout water with a long fly fishing history at Cross Fork.

A small waterfall stepping through mossy boulders in an eastern hardwood forest
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Kettle Creek

Kettle Creek drains a hundred and thirty-six square miles of the Pennsylvania Wilds above the gauge at Cross Fork, running south through some of the emptiest forest country in the eastern United States before it reaches the West Branch Susquehanna. The valley is almost entirely state forest and state game land, and the creek has the cold, clean, slightly tannic character that goes with heavily wooded headwaters on acidic ground.

This is freestone water and it behaves like it. Flows run high and cold through the spring, drop steadily through the summer, and can get genuinely thin by August in a dry year. The creek is a sequence of riffles, plunge pools and long flats, with a good deal of woody structure and an easy wade for most of its length. Wild brook trout are the native fish and they are present throughout, most densely in the tributaries and the upper reaches around Ole Bull. Brown trout hold in the larger pools of the main stem, and rainbows are stocked in several sections.

The Cross Fork area has a long fly fishing history and remains the social center of the valley, with a handful of lodges and shops that have served anglers for generations. Several reaches carry special regulations, including delayed harvest and catch and release fly fishing water, and the boundaries are posted along the road.

The other thing to know about Kettle Creek is the dark sky. Cherry Springs State Park sits at the head of the drainage and is one of the best stargazing sites in the East, which means the valley is genuinely remote, cell service is unreliable, and the nearest real supplies are a long drive away. Anglers planning more than a day here generally stay in the valley rather than commuting to it.

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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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Posting to Kettle Creek.

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

Cross Fork - the gauge reach, with village access, lodging and a fly shop.
Ole Bull State Park - the upper creek, with camping and developed bank access.
Kettle Creek State Park - the lower valley above the Alvin R. Bush Dam.
Hammersley Fork - a wild tributary joining above Cross Fork, reached on foot.
Germania - the upper valley near the headwaters with state forest access.
Route 144 - the road following the creek with repeated pullouts.
Cherry Springs State Park - the dark sky park at the head of the drainage.

Seasons

Spring: high cold water and the best flows of the year, with the main stem fishing well.
Summer: dropping and thin, with the tributaries and shaded headwaters holding the brook trout.
Fall: cooler water and good fishing, with brook trout colored up for the spawn.
Winter: cold and often iced, with limited access on the forest roads.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Kettle Creek?

As of Sep 17, 5:00 am, the USGS gauge Kettle Creek at Cross Fork, PA reads 130 cfs, with water temperature 60.4 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Kettle Creek?

Anglers target Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout on the Kettle Creek in Pennsylvania.

Where can you access the Kettle Creek?

Cross Fork - the gauge reach, with village access, lodging and a fly shop. Ole Bull State Park - the upper creek, with camping and developed bank access. Kettle Creek State Park - the lower valley above the Alvin R. Bush Dam. Hammersley Fork - a wild tributary joining above Cross Fork, reached on foot. Germania - the upper valley near the headwaters with state forest access. Route 144 - the road following the creek with repeated pullouts. Cherry Springs State Park - the dark sky park at the head of the drainage.

When is the best time to fish the Kettle Creek?

Spring: high cold water and the best flows of the year, with the main stem fishing well. Summer: dropping and thin, with the tributaries and shaded headwaters holding the brook trout. Fall: cooler water and good fishing, with brook trout colored up for the spawn. Winter: cold and often iced, with limited access on the forest roads.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Kettle Creek?

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