streamerguy
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 9, 2011
- Messages
- 1,457
Just got back yesterday after spending a few days in the State College area. It wasn't exactly a fishing only trip, as the whole family went and we did a lot of non-fishing stuff while we were there, but I still got to visit a bunch of nice little streams and catch some beautiful fish.
Day 1 - Our first stop was the Black Moshannon State Park/Forest area. I fished for like 10 minutes in the lake, but couldn't buy a bite. Saw some bluegills(pretty big ones too) on the beds but they had other priorities. Stopped at two other small streams in the forest in search of brook trout. The first one was pretty small, brushy, and buggy for the most part. I managed 2 here and lost another. The next stream was pretty much unfishable because of rhododendron, but we found a spot that was more open and I was able to get in a few casts. Missed 2 little guys here. After lunch I visited Spring Creek for the first time. Fished a little at the Benner Springs section by the hatchery. Had 2 little fish bight my fly but couldn't get the hook set. That was all the fish action there except for spooking a few. Next we went to Fisherman's Paradise. Didn't catch anything there either, but fished there and Benner in the late afternoon hours so I'm sure that wasn't helping one bit. Spooked a couple here also, I was amazed by the amount of fish that weren't holding in the main current, but instead pretty much right next to shore. Also saw some little bluegills, what looked to be a rock bass, and huge carp at paradise. Not usesd to seing that on a premier wild trout stream! Even though I only managed 2 fish on the first day, I still had a great time fishing new water and getting skunked fishing my first limestoner. lol.
Day 2 - Got up pretty early to fish Spring Creek again. Started off fishing a spot in between FP and Bellefonte. Didn't get anything on nymphs, and saw no rises, so I tied on a wooly bugger and got a hit right away. Hurray! My first Spring Creek trout! The fish fought more like a big bluegill with the vibrating and looked more oval shaped, and I wouldn't of been surprised if it was since I saw some in other sections. Well, it turns out it was a trout, but foul hooked in the tail. Oh well. So we headed over to Fisherman’s Paradise to give that another try. I still used that same wooly bugger and ended up catching 3 beautiful brown trout. Finally! And the best part is I saw 2 of the trout swim over and nail my fly. Also had a few other fish swim towards my fly but reject it at the last second. After lunch and some non-fishing related stuff my brother and I headed over to a tiny creek in the northern part of Rothrock State Forest. I was only expecting brookies here, but the first fish ended up being a little wild brownie! It was my first ever wild brown caught on a dry. Ended up fooling a few brookies here too. One of the fish even gave me 6 chances to catch him! On casts 1 through 5 I couldn’t get the hook set, and on cast 6 I finally hooked him but he came off at my feet. I never had the same fish hit my fly on 6 consecutive casts. On the way back to the hotel we drove by Logan Branch, looked like a nice little stream, but was really brushy in a lot of sections. We were running low on daylight and decided not to fish it.
Day 3 – Was planning to fish Spring again, but my love of small freestone streams sent us to a little creek that’s supposed to have a good population of both brown and brook trout. Thought the stream would be up because of all the rain, but it was still kinda low. Didn’t get anything, didn’t even see one dart away. Must of fished the wrong section, there wasn’t much good holding water either. So we headed back home in the rain, and after stopping somewhere for lunch we decided to head over to a small creek somewhere in Clearfield county to hopefully avoid the skunk. It was a great decision stopping there, beautiful little creek and had some colorful native brookies.
I’m really kicking myself now for not fishing more of Spring Creek and not checking out BFC, Penns, and other limestoners. Still had a great time and can’t wait to do it again!
Day 1 - Our first stop was the Black Moshannon State Park/Forest area. I fished for like 10 minutes in the lake, but couldn't buy a bite. Saw some bluegills(pretty big ones too) on the beds but they had other priorities. Stopped at two other small streams in the forest in search of brook trout. The first one was pretty small, brushy, and buggy for the most part. I managed 2 here and lost another. The next stream was pretty much unfishable because of rhododendron, but we found a spot that was more open and I was able to get in a few casts. Missed 2 little guys here. After lunch I visited Spring Creek for the first time. Fished a little at the Benner Springs section by the hatchery. Had 2 little fish bight my fly but couldn't get the hook set. That was all the fish action there except for spooking a few. Next we went to Fisherman's Paradise. Didn't catch anything there either, but fished there and Benner in the late afternoon hours so I'm sure that wasn't helping one bit. Spooked a couple here also, I was amazed by the amount of fish that weren't holding in the main current, but instead pretty much right next to shore. Also saw some little bluegills, what looked to be a rock bass, and huge carp at paradise. Not usesd to seing that on a premier wild trout stream! Even though I only managed 2 fish on the first day, I still had a great time fishing new water and getting skunked fishing my first limestoner. lol.
Day 2 - Got up pretty early to fish Spring Creek again. Started off fishing a spot in between FP and Bellefonte. Didn't get anything on nymphs, and saw no rises, so I tied on a wooly bugger and got a hit right away. Hurray! My first Spring Creek trout! The fish fought more like a big bluegill with the vibrating and looked more oval shaped, and I wouldn't of been surprised if it was since I saw some in other sections. Well, it turns out it was a trout, but foul hooked in the tail. Oh well. So we headed over to Fisherman’s Paradise to give that another try. I still used that same wooly bugger and ended up catching 3 beautiful brown trout. Finally! And the best part is I saw 2 of the trout swim over and nail my fly. Also had a few other fish swim towards my fly but reject it at the last second. After lunch and some non-fishing related stuff my brother and I headed over to a tiny creek in the northern part of Rothrock State Forest. I was only expecting brookies here, but the first fish ended up being a little wild brownie! It was my first ever wild brown caught on a dry. Ended up fooling a few brookies here too. One of the fish even gave me 6 chances to catch him! On casts 1 through 5 I couldn’t get the hook set, and on cast 6 I finally hooked him but he came off at my feet. I never had the same fish hit my fly on 6 consecutive casts. On the way back to the hotel we drove by Logan Branch, looked like a nice little stream, but was really brushy in a lot of sections. We were running low on daylight and decided not to fish it.
Day 3 – Was planning to fish Spring again, but my love of small freestone streams sent us to a little creek that’s supposed to have a good population of both brown and brook trout. Thought the stream would be up because of all the rain, but it was still kinda low. Didn’t get anything, didn’t even see one dart away. Must of fished the wrong section, there wasn’t much good holding water either. So we headed back home in the rain, and after stopping somewhere for lunch we decided to head over to a small creek somewhere in Clearfield county to hopefully avoid the skunk. It was a great decision stopping there, beautiful little creek and had some colorful native brookies.
I’m really kicking myself now for not fishing more of Spring Creek and not checking out BFC, Penns, and other limestoners. Still had a great time and can’t wait to do it again!
