Fishing Creek is a long tributary of the Susquehanna River in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It joins the Susquehanna River near the census-designated place of Rupert and the town of Bloomsburg. The watershed has an area of .
Nomadic Native Americans arrived in the lower reaches of Fishing Creek around 8000 BCE, and some were spending winters in the upper reaches of the valley by 3000 to 2000 BCE. In the past few centuries, the Fishing Creek area has been home to many industries, mills, and dams. It drains parts of five Pennsylvania counties: Columbia, Montour, Sullivan, Luzerne, and Lycoming. The creek's main tributaries include Hemlock Creek, Little Fishing Creek, Green Creek, Huntington Creek, West Branch Fishing Creek, and East Branch Fishing Creek.
Public recreation activities include canoeing, birdwatching, and fishing. The creek is known for its trout population, which includes brook, brown and rainbow trout; it also contains many other species of fish. Northern hardwood trees and ruffed grouse live in the surrounding area.
Some stretches of Fishing Creek contain significant amounts of algae because of leaking septic systems in the watershed. The area around the tributary West Creek is the least habitable part of the Fishing Creek area, according to a 2011 study. The water quality of Fishing Creek can vary. Its pH ranges from 4.9 to 8.5, while the concentration of dissolved oxygen ranges from 5 to 17.5 mg per liter. The creek's average discharge is ; its watershed contains gravel, shale and various loams—in particular the Albrights soil series and the Leck Kill soil.
Course
Fishing Creek's source is above sea level in Sugarloaf Township, south of State Game Lands Number 13 and Pennsylvania Route 118, where East Branch and West Branch Fishing Creeks of southern Sullivan County meet in northern Columbia County. The creek heads approximately south with a few bends through Sugarloaf Township for about . In the southern part of the township, it turns east for less than a mile and picks up Coles Creekits first named tributary after the confluence of the East and West Branches. It empties into Fishing Creek from the northeast, upstream of its mouth.
Around this point, Fishing Creek turns sharply south into Benton Township and starts flowing parallel to Pennsylvania Route 487. Here it flows four or five miles, including about a mile in Benton, where West Creek parallels Fishing Creek and empties into it from the west just south of Benton and upstream of the mouth. Fishing Creek crosses under Pennsylvania Route 239 and continues approximately south, passing through the community of Maple Grove and flowing into Fishing Creek Township and Stillwater. In Stillwater, Raven Creek empties into the creek from the northeast, above the mouth. About south, the creek turns and picks up Huntington Creek, and then flows past the communities of Zaners, Forks, and Pealertown. The mouth of Huntington Creek is above the mouth of Fishing Creek.
Upon leaving Fishing Creek Township, about after picking up Huntington Creek, Fishing Creek flows southwest past Knob Mountain and into Orange Township. It passes near the northern edge of Knob Mountain downstream, then by Orangeville, and makes a 90° turn to the northwest. Shortly after this turn it picks up Green Creek above its mouth and turns west. After some distance, it turns south again, passing Bowman Bridge and a gauging station. From this point, the creek flows along the border between Orange and Mount Pleasant Townships for almost . While on the border between these two townships, it flows past Kocher Park. The creek stays considerably nearer to the western edge of the river valley than the eastern edge at this point. Near Lightstreet, it turns west into Mount Pleasant Township, passing several lakes and the Turkey Hill Oxbow. Upon entering Mount Pleasant Township, the creek stops paralleling Pennsylvania Route 487 and flows in the vicinity of Interstate 80 for .
Along the border of Mount Pleasant Township and Bloomsburg, Fishing Creek picks up Little Fishing Creek at a distance of upstream of its mouth before turning south and paralleling the western border of Bloomsburg. As it flows between Bloomsburg and Fernville, it turns sharply westward, paralleling U.S. Route 11, and picks up Hemlock Creek, which is above the mouth. Shortly after picking up Hemlock Creek, Fishing Creek turns southeast under U.S. Route 11 and flows parallel to Pennsylvania Route 42 for slightly over , picking up Montour Run from the right, then empties later into the Susquehanna between Bloomsburg and Rupert. The Rupert Covered Bridge No. 56 crosses the main stem of the creek. Its mouth is above sea level lower than, and downstream of, the source.
Tributaries
Fishing Creek has several major tributaries and numerous minor ones. The major tributaries are Hemlock Creek, Little Fishing Creek, Green Creek, Huntington Creek, and the East and West Branch Fishing Creeks. West Branch Fishing Creek rises on North Mountain and flows east into Fishing Creek. East Branch Fishing Creek is a tributary that starts on North Mountain in Sullivan County and is approximately long. Huntington Creek starts in State Game Lands number 57 and heads southwest through Luzerne County until it reaches the north side of Knob Mountain, which it runs parallel to until it merges with Fishing Creek. Huntington Creek drains the eastern and northeastern parts of the Fishing Creek watershed. Four covered bridges cross Huntington Creek; these are the Twin Bridges–East Paden Covered Bridge No. 120, the Twin Bridges–West Paden Covered Bridge No. 121, the Josiah Hess Covered Bridge No. 122, and the Huntington Mills Bridge.
Green Creek rises near Waller and heads roughly south to Rohrsburg and on to Orangeville, where it joins Fishing Creek. It drains the central part of the Fishing Creek watershed. Little Fishing Creek starts just in Lycoming County near the Columbia County Line. It winds through rural areas before reaching Pennsylvania Route 42, which it runs parallel to for the remainder of its length. It drains the western part of the Fishing Creek watershed. Four covered bridges cross Little Fishing Creek; these are the Wanich Covered Bridge No. 69, the Sam Eckman Covered Bridge No. 92, the Jud Christie Covered Bridge No. 95, and the Creasyville Covered Bridge.
Other tributaries of the main stem include Coles Creek and West Creek near Benton, Raven Creek in Fishing Creek Township, Hemlock Creek in Hemlock Township, Montour Run in Montour Township, and Deerlick Run and Stony Brook, both near Orange Township.
Watershed Fishing Creek drains most of Columbia County north of the Susquehanna River except for an area in the eastern part of the county, which is drained by Briar Creek. It also drains southern Sullivan County and western Luzerne County. Minor tributaries drain small portions of Montour County and southeastern Lycoming County. The upper part of the watershed is 85 percent forest and 13 percent farmland. Near its source, the other two percent is residential; closer to Benton, the remainder is urban. The creek's drainage basin consists of a number of sub-watersheds. The largest ones are the Huntington Creek watershed, with an area of 114 square miles; the Little Fishing Creek watershed, with an area of 68.1 square miles; the Green Creek drainage basin, with an area of 36.9 square miles; and the West Branch Fishing Creek drainage basin, with an area of 32.9 square miles.
Oxbow lake Northern Bloomsburg and Scott Township include a small oxbow lake of Fishing Creek; the area around this lake is known as the Turkey Hill Oxbow. The lake is located between Interstate 80 and the forests on the side of Turkey Hill. The oxbow is on a flood plain and includes grasses, forested wetlands, and areas of open water. In wet periods of the year, the Turkey Hill Oxbow lake receives overflow from the waters of Fishing Creek while during dry periods it contains water in only a few places.
Most land around the oxbow is steep. It is covered by hemlock and hardwood forests, as well as skunk cabbage seeps. The forests around the lake also contain black birch, yellow birch, white oak, red oak, sugar maple, tulip poplar, and Norway maple, while the understory contains slippery elm, European privet, Japanese barberry, American elderberry, wild hydrangea, witch hazel, mountain laurel, ironwood, and the rare American yew. The American yew population was in significant decline by 2004 due to heavy grazing by deer.
There are numerous wildflower species in the uplands and rock outcroppings of the Turkey Hill Oxbow. These include white baneberry, northern maidenhair fern, spikenard, blue cohosh, foamflower, false Solomon's seal, purple trillium, and wild columbine. Animals inhabiting the areas surrounding the pools include pickerel frogs, green frogs, wood ducks, and snapping turtles. Plants in this location include broadleaf arrowhead, northern blueflag, manna grasses, water starwort, and several varieties of sedges. Japanese knotweed has been seen near Interstate 80 on the northern edges of the Turkey Hill Oxbow.
History Native American settlement Having first inhabited Pennsylvania between 16,000 and 10,000 BCE, nomadic Native Americans reached the area near the mouth of Fishing Creek by 8000 BCE. By 3000 to 2000 BCE, some of them were going into the Fishing Creek valley during the winter to hunt deer and bears and returning to the Susquehanna River in the summer, creating trade routes. There was no permanent habitation until 1000 BCE when some Native American villages were built at the mouth of Fishing Creek. The Native Americans who settled in this area included the Shawnee and Susquehannock Indians. A Native American path ran along the creek from Bloomsburg to Orangeville before turning away in the direction of Tunkhannock Creek. Since at least 1769, there has also been a path between the mouths of Huntington and Green Creeks.
European settlement The first lots at the mouth of Fishing Creek were surveyed in 1769 when European settlers began moving into the area, and in the same year, the Penn family purchased of land upstream of Benton. In 1778, Moses Van Campen built a fort of logs covered with earth with a small swivel cannon on Fishing Creek to protect settlers on the frontier. There were settlers on the creek in Orange Township in 1780, and the Fishing Creek valley north of Orangeville, in what is now Stillwater, was first settled in 1783 by Daniel McHenry. The headwaters of the creek were settled in the late 1780s and early 1790s. Leonard Rupert established a ferry on the creek in 1786. The first sawmill on the upper portion of Fishing Creek was built in the late 1790s; it was destroyed in a flood in 1848.