are you alloud to fish the main stretch of french creek still or is it considered an approved trout water?

There's maps of approved trout waters on the,pfbc site.

Only South Branch French Creek is an ATW, so yes you can fish the main French.

Says in book french creek and South branch french creek are both approved trout waters.. With french creek being labeled as *new

As far as I can tell, The only County that lists French Creek as an approved trout water is Erie County. French Creek is not on the list of approved trout waters in Crawford and Venango Counties.

http://fishinpa.com/troutregs.html

I emailed the fish com. to be sure...hopefully I'll hear back.
With French being added to ATW in Erie county, not sure if that makes the waters downstream ATW too.?
I sure hope not....

The only part of the (main) part of french creek that is being stocked is the branch from NY state line off rt 474 down to wattsburg were it joins with the other branch coming from the north, but I would think from there down to union city and on would not be considered ATW.
In the past when I was a kid they use to stock that part of the creek and from wattsburg down was good to fish because we would catch suckers before trout season would come in.

Just got a reply to this question....you pretty much nailed it fishinvic....here's what they say -

Regarding Fishing French Creek in Erie County:

The listing in the Summary Book for French Creek in Erie County incorrectly lists the entire length of the creek, when actually only the portion from the New York State Line to the confluence with the West Branch of French Creek near Wattsburg should be listed as approved trout waters.

That listing should be corrected in the next printing of the Summary Book of Fishing Regulations.

You may not fish from March 1st until the opening day of trout season in the portion of French Creek I just described (underlined above), but the remaining portion of the stream in Erie County remains open to fishing under the inland waters regulations.


Thomas J. Tarkowski
Assistant Regional Supervisor
NW Region-BLE