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Home › Waters › Pennsylvania › Pohopoco Creek
Tailwater · Carbon County, the reach between Beltzville Dam and the Lehigh River at Parryville, in the Pocono foothills east of Jim Thorpe · Pennsylvania

Pohopoco Creek Fishing Guides

Pennsylvania's Pocono tailwater below Beltzville Dam, a short cold reach running to the Lehigh at Parryville that holds trout through the summer when nearby freestone water cannot.

A river breaking over ledge rock between forested banks in the Appalachians
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Guides on the Pohopoco Creek

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About the Pohopoco Creek

Pohopoco Creek below Beltzville Dam is one of Pennsylvania’s genuine tailwaters, and it is the reason anglers in the Lehigh Valley have somewhere to fish for trout in August. The creek drops out of Beltzville Lake in Carbon County and runs a few miles east and south to the Lehigh River at Parryville, and because the dam releases cold water from depth, this short reach stays within trout tolerance through a Pennsylvania summer that shuts down every freestone stream around it. The water is managed for trout and carries special regulation status over part of its length.

The gauge below the dam reports discharge, stage and water temperature, and the temperature reading is the one that justifies the trip. Releases are operational, driven by flood control and downstream needs, so flow arrives in steps and can change overnight with no weather to explain it. Anglers learn to check before driving. High summer releases can make wading difficult in the narrow reach, while low winter flows leave a small creek that is easy to cover and holds its fish in obvious places. A hard rain still colours the water through the tributaries below the dam.

Brown trout are the core of the fishery, holding well and growing on the stable food supply that a tailwater provides, with stocked rainbows adding numbers and the occasional brook trout appearing from the feeder streams. Smallmouth bass and rock bass move up from the Lehigh into the lowest water in summer, and fallfish are abundant enough to be a genuine nuisance on a dry fly. Access is good by Pennsylvania standards, with Beltzville State Park at the top of the reach and road frontage most of the way to Parryville.

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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).

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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.

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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

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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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Pohopoco Creek cfs

Now: 96.9 cfs, read 4:30 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 01449800, Pohopoco Cr bl Beltzville Dam nr Parryville, PA).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Beltzville State Park - the park at the dam, with formal parking, day use and access to the top of the tailwater.
Parryville - the village at the Lehigh confluence, the downstream end of the reach.
Lehigh River confluence - where the creek meets the Lehigh, with river access nearby at Parryville.
Jim Thorpe - the nearest tourist town to the west, with lodging, outfitters and Lehigh Gorge access.
Special regulation water - part of the tailwater carries gear and harvest restrictions and should be checked first.
Pohopoco Drive - the road that follows much of the reach and gives repeated short bank access.
Lehighton - the nearest town of size for fuel, food, tackle and licences.

Seasons

Spring: generous releases and stocked fish, with the best hatches of the year through April and May.
Summer: the reason this water exists on the map, cold releases holding trout while every freestone stream nearby is too warm to fish.
Fall: lower flows, clear water and brown trout colouring up and moving onto gravel late in the season.
Winter: minimum releases and a small clear creek that stays open through cold snaps, with rewarding low-pressure fishing.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Pohopoco Creek?

As of Oct 18, 4:30 pm, the USGS gauge Pohopoco Cr bl Beltzville Dam nr Parryville, PA reads 97 cfs, with water temperature 46.4 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Pohopoco Creek?

Anglers target Blacknose Dace, Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Fallfish, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Sucker on the Pohopoco Creek in Pennsylvania.

Where can you access the Pohopoco Creek?

Beltzville State Park - the park at the dam, with formal parking, day use and access to the top of the tailwater. Parryville - the village at the Lehigh confluence, the downstream end of the reach. Lehigh River confluence - where the creek meets the Lehigh, with river access nearby at Parryville. Jim Thorpe - the nearest tourist town to the west, with lodging, outfitters and Lehigh Gorge access. Special regulation water - part of the tailwater carries gear and harvest restrictions and should be checked first. Pohopoco Drive - the road that follows much of the reach and gives repeated short ban...

When is the best time to fish the Pohopoco Creek?

Spring: generous releases and stocked fish, with the best hatches of the year through April and May. Summer: the reason this water exists on the map, cold releases holding trout while every freestone stream nearby is too warm to fish. Fall: lower flows, clear water and brown trout colouring up and moving onto gravel late in the season. Winter: minimum releases and a small clear creek that stays open through cold snaps, with rewarding low-pressure fishing.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Pohopoco Creek?

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