BirdTrout
Big Elk Creek, Pennsylvania
23 mapped river miles, draining 31 square miles, in the Chester Sassafras basin watershed. No gauge stands in it; the nearest is 5.7 miles away, and what this page knows about its temperature is PA DEP's classification of the water itself.
50°F and colder is cold, through cold-transitional and cool, to warm above 70°F — the same four bands, breaking at 58, 64 and 70°F, that the app paints. Grey is water nobody has measured.
The nearest live reading
The nearest gauge is 5.7 miles away, at White Clay Creek Near Strickersville, Pa — not a reading of this water, but of what the region is doing today.
Thermal classification
PA DEP's classification of this water, reach by reach. A class, not a temperature — no July mean, because none was measured here.
| Reach | Typed miles | Band | PA DEP type |
|---|---|---|---|
| RM 22.6–9.4 | 13.2 | cool | — |
PA DEP has classified 13.2 of the 23 miles NHD carries for this stream — 58% of it. Every typed reach carries the same class, cool. The untyped reaches are not warm water — they are water PA DEP's inventory does not reach, and the mile ranges above span only the reaches it does.
Questions about this river
- Big Elk Creek fishing report — what it reads right now
- How to get to Big Elk Creek — access, parking and public land
- Big Elk Creek fishing regulations — season, size and gear by reach
PA DEP classification
PA DEP classifies this water as Trout Stocking. The management tier on those reaches is Trout Stocking. This is a designation of the fishery, not the season and creel rules — those change yearly and live with the agency.
Public land on the river
4 units of public or open-access land touch this river, 6,014 acres in total. Acreage is the whole unit, not the part beside the water.
| Unit | Owner | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| White Clay Creek Preserve | state park agency | 3,303 |
| Big Elk Creek State Park | another state agency | 1,911 |
| White Clay Creek State Park | state park agency | 747 |
| Big Elk Creek Woods | joint city-county land | 53 |
Species
PA DEP designates this as trout water — Trout Stocking — without naming the species. No fish survey or stocking record for this water is in the files this site reads.
Tributaries and watershed
6 named streams meet this one. Confluence miles are above the mouth; the longest twelve are listed.
- Little Elk Creek 24.1 mi · RM 0.0
- East Branch Big Elk Creek 8.7 mi · RM 22.6
- West Branch Big Elk Creek 6.1 mi · RM 22.6
- Hodgson Run 4.7 mi · RM 15.4
- Gramies Run 3.7 mi · RM 8.9
- Elk River 1.0 mi · RM 0.0
Big Elk Creek sits in HUC 8 02060002, the Chester Sassafras basin, and drains 31 square miles, Strahler order 4 at the mouth. 37 NHD reaches carry the name for 22.6 miles in total.
Other water nearby
The closest 6 rivers on this site, straight-line from the middle of this one — not drive time.