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Home › Waters › Pennsylvania › Tulpehocken Creek
Tailwater · Berks County · Pennsylvania

Tulpehocken Creek Fishing Guides

Pennsylvania's best-known suburban tailwater — cold bottom releases from Blue Marsh Lake hold wild-acting brown trout right outside Reading.

A concrete dam releasing water into the river below it

Map of the Tulpehocken Creek

24 numbered points: 4 access points, 10 bridges, 3 parks and conservation areas, 2 regulation section limits, 4 hazards, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Sep 16, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Access / boat ramp (4)
  • Bridge crossing (10)
  • Park / conservation area (3)
  • Regulation section limit (2)
  • Dam / hazard (4)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 24 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Marion Township Park
Marion Township, Berks County		Park / conservation area40.37921, -76.23189Township park on the bank near the head of the mapped reach, 0.24 km off the creek.
2Main Street bridge, Womelsdorf
Borough street crossing		Bridge crossing40.37332, -76.21843
3Mill Spring Park
Womelsdorf		Park / conservation area40.37033, -76.19438Bank park 0.10 km off the creek, just upstream of the Conrad Weiser Parkway crossing.
4Conrad Weiser Parkway bridge
US 422		Bridge crossing40.37139, -76.19297The main highway crossing of the upper creek.
5Old Charming Forge Dam
Low-head dam		Dam / hazard40.38732, -76.17134On the centreline; GNIS 1208952. A second OSM object of the same name sits 0.4 km upstream on the same structure.
6Charming Forge Road bridge
T-road crossing		Bridge crossing40.39065, -76.17189
7Kricks Mill Road bridge
Township road crossing		Bridge crossing40.41329, -76.17126
8Sundays Mill Dam
Low-head dam		Dam / hazard40.41615, -76.16780On the centreline; GNIS 1208989.
9Station Road bridge
Township road crossing		Bridge crossing40.41986, -76.16413
10North Heidelberg Road bridge
Secondary road, above Blue Marsh		Bridge crossing40.42525, -76.11237Last road crossing before the creek enters the Blue Marsh Lake pool.
11Kayak Launch, Blue Marsh Lake
Blue Marsh Lake, upper pool		Access / boat ramp40.41953, -76.10533OSM carries no operator name for this slipway; it is the upper-pool launch on the north shore.
12Sheidy Boat Launch
Blue Marsh Lake (USACE)		Access / boat ramp40.41181, -76.08823Slipway on the upper arm of the lake, 0.04 km off the chained centreline.
13Church Road bridge
Township road over the lake arm		Bridge crossing40.40583, -76.08047
14Blue Marsh Lake National Recreation Area
US Army Corps of Engineers		Park / conservation area40.38595, -76.04608The federal recreation area surrounding the lake; day-use areas, trails and the launches below sit inside it.
15State Hill Boat Launch
Blue Marsh Lake (USACE)		Access / boat ramp40.37021, -76.04458South-shore launch, 0.28 km off the chained centreline.
16Dry Brooks Boat Launch
Blue Marsh Lake (USACE)		Access / boat ramp40.38497, -76.03339Launch inside the Dry Brooks day-use area, the closest ramp to the dam.
17Blue Marsh Dam
USACE, NID PA00921		Dam / hazard40.37941, -76.03159The dam that makes the tailwater below. Everything downstream of here fishes cold through the summer.
18Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only - upper limit
PFBC special-regulation reach, Berks County		Regulation section limit40.37757, -76.03139Published upper limit is the first deflector below Blue Marsh Dam. Placed by walking PFBC's published 3.79 miles up the centreline from the T-921 covered bridge; it lands 0.24 km below the dam. Rules on the PFBC page.
19USGS 01470960 Tulpehocken Creek near Reading
USGS streamgage		USGS gauge40.37057, -76.02519The gauge the tailwater is read on; 0.04 km off the chained centreline.
20Rebers Bridge Road bridge
Tailwater, Union Canal Trail parking		Bridge crossing40.37316, -76.00819One of the two usual parking-and-walk-in points on the Delayed Harvest water.
21Papermill Road bridge
Tailwater, Union Canal Trail parking		Bridge crossing40.36611, -75.99450The lower of the two usual walk-in points above the covered bridge.
22Wertz's Red Bridge (T-921 covered bridge)
Covered bridge, Union Canal Trail		Bridge crossing40.36904, -75.97907The covered bridge PFBC names as the downstream limit of the Delayed Harvest reach.
23Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only - lower limit
PFBC special-regulation reach, Berks County		Regulation section limit40.36886, -75.97927Published lower limit: the T-921 covered bridge. Stocked trout water continues from here to the mouth. Rules on the PFBC page.
24Tulpehocken Dam
Low-head dam, Reading		Dam / hazard40.34633, -75.95212On the last reach above the Schuylkill confluence.

Guides on the Tulpehocken Creek

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

About the Tulpehocken Creek

Tulpehocken Creek below Blue Marsh Lake is the tailwater that made year-round trout fishing possible in southeastern Pennsylvania. The Army Corps flood-control dam at Blue Marsh releases from depth, and that cold bottom water carries roughly four miles of creek down through Berks County to the Schuylkill River at Reading at temperatures a freestone stream at this latitude could never hold in August. The USGS station at the damsite reports discharge, stage and water temperature, and because releases here change with flood-control needs, the gauge is the first thing anyone checks.

Brown trout dominate, with rainbow trout mixed in, and the population combines stocked fish with holdovers that have been in the creek long enough to behave like wild fish — selective, structure-oriented and hard to fool in the flat water. The Tulpehocken is famous among Pennsylvania fly anglers for its sulphur hatch in late spring and for prolific midge and caddis activity that keeps fish looking up much of the year. Smallmouth bass, rock bass and white suckers share the lower reach as the water warms toward the Schuylkill.

The creek is managed under Pennsylvania’s Delayed Harvest Artificial Lures Only rules for the primary tailwater section, which keeps fish in the system and supports the technical, small-fly fishing the water is known for. It is walk-and-wade throughout, with a paved rail-trail running the length of the tailwater that makes it one of the most accessible trout streams in the state. That accessibility also means real pressure, especially on weekends.

Access is excellent. Blue Marsh Lake’s recreation areas cover the top of the reach, and the Tulpehocken Creek Trail and Berks County park land follow it down to Reading with parking at multiple points. A Pennsylvania fishing license plus a trout permit is required, and the Fish and Boat Commission link below carries the current Delayed Harvest season dates and tackle rules for this specific section, which differ from the statewide regulations.

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  • 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.
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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.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Tulpehocken Creek cfs

Now: 228 cfs, read 11:15 pm CDT, Wed Oct 21, 2026 (USGS 01470960, Tulpehocken Cr at Blue Marsh Damsite near Reading).

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

Access

Blue Marsh Lake damsite — the top of the tailwater at the USGS gauge.
Rebers Bridge Road — the classic mid-tailwater access with parking on both banks.
Paper Mill Road — access to the upper Delayed Harvest water.
Tulpehocken Creek Trail parking areas — trail access the full length of the reach.
Red Bridge / Palisades area — lower tailwater access toward Reading.
Gring's Mill Recreation Area — county park access with facilities and parking.
Schuylkill River confluence at Reading — bottom-end access where the trout water ends.

Seasons

Spring: heavy releases early, then the sulphur hatch from mid-May into June — the signature weeks.
Summer: cold releases keep the tailwater fishing when nearby freestone streams are shut down.
Fall: falling flows, brown trout coloring up and moving, and excellent streamer and terrestrial fishing.
Winter: midge fishing on the flats, open water most of the season, and the lightest pressure of the year.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Tulpehocken Creek?

As of Oct 21, 11:15 pm, the USGS gauge Tulpehocken Cr at Blue Marsh Damsite near Reading reads 228 cfs, with water temperature 60.8 F. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Tulpehocken Creek?

Anglers target Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass, White Sucker on the Tulpehocken Creek in Pennsylvania.

Are there fishing guides on the Tulpehocken Creek?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Tulpehocken Creek. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Tulpehocken Creek?

Blue Marsh Lake damsite — the top of the tailwater at the USGS gauge. Rebers Bridge Road — the classic mid-tailwater access with parking on both banks. Paper Mill Road — access to the upper Delayed Harvest water. Tulpehocken Creek Trail parking areas — trail access the full length of the reach. Red Bridge / Palisades area — lower tailwater access toward Reading. Gring's Mill Recreation Area — county park access with facilities and parking. Schuylkill River confluence at Reading — bottom-end access where the trout water ends.

When is the best time to fish the Tulpehocken Creek?

Spring: heavy releases early, then the sulphur hatch from mid-May into June — the signature weeks. Summer: cold releases keep the tailwater fishing when nearby freestone streams are shut down. Fall: falling flows, brown trout coloring up and moving, and excellent streamer and terrestrial fishing. Winter: midge fishing on the flats, open water most of the season, and the lightest pressure of the year.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Tulpehocken Creek?

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