One man mini jam

[rrt]

At 62, I seldom travel more than a half-hour to fish any more. But, while you guys were having your big jam, I decided to take a day trip to fish a place I used to like to go when I was young. I arrived at 1:30, but after no fish in the first 20 minutes, I drove to another section where I landed a handful by 3:00, when I stopped for a sandwich and a 7-Up. While having the sandwich and comtemplating leaving for Kettle Creek, another fly-fisherman stopped to chat. When I said what I was thinking about doing, he thought I ought to stay on the creek where I was, telling me that flies would be on from 4 to 6, and he suggested a once-familiar section for me to try. "Kettle is awfully crowded," he told me. " A couple of my friends went there last night. They found a place to fish among other guys, but it took a lot of work." So I stayed, fished where he suggested, and using a beat up Sulphur from the night before around home while fishing to risers to small(size 12) green drakes and some march browns, caught a nice number of fish, including some nice wild brook and brown trout and a number of stocked rainbows and browns, including a big brown. My benefactor was right about the flies ending at 6, and though I still had time to rush to Kettle, I got the bright idea to fish Spring Creek on the way home, for old time's sake. There was no room for me anywhere on the creek: 2 or 3 fishermen were in every 30 or 40-yard stretch of water. The parking lots at Fishermen's Paradise were actually full. I think half the population of State College must have been on the creek. Anyhow, creek one turned out all right, but what has happened to Spring Creek over the years is what it is, I guess. I was home earlier than I had told my wife I would be, which is a good thing, as I found out when I was young that when you're late, you're in trouble. It had been an interesting day in a number of respects. (Have attempted to add 2 pics; we'll see if I was successful.)

 

[wgmiller]

Should've fished the Canyon. It wasn't bad at all last Saturday...

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, you have to realize that parking lot at Paradise is access to A LOT of water upstream from there.

While there's nowhere to be totally alone on Spring Creek, you can certainly escape the huge crowds and get a 3 or 4 pool stretch to yourself, even at sulfur time. Outwalk them, people are lazy. Fish lesser known parts, etc.

If you parked at Paradise and observed the crowds right there, then you were selectively choosing the MOST crowded part of the stream.

 

[Lonewolve]

RRT, Great post enjoyed reading every letter of it. Spring Creek also doesn't fish as great as it once did either since the floods.alot of great water was silted in,over development like has happened here in the Lehigh Valley has been detrimental as well.Still fun at times to fish.
My only gripe is that i am sick and tired of brown trout, yea i said it, youll all look at me like im nutz .I really would love to see brook trout more often, especially on the headwaters an tribs, or mountain streams..lately i have been tempted to start throwing the browns in the weeds.
there was a time when i liked catching browns..im suffering from brown burnout though.Hell even the rainbows would be welcomed at this point.

Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

RRT keep up the great reports was a fun read an i enjoyed it!

 

[wgmiller]

pcray1231 wrote:
Outwalk them, people are lazy. Fish lesser known parts, etc.

This certainly is true! Then again, I'm of the opinion that the older one gets, the more of a challenge this may be. Just all the more reason to engage in a fitness program outside of fishing (lifting 12 oz. weights doesn't count...).

But by all means, people tend to fish right where they park and in close proximity.

 

[Fishidiot]

I fished the Paradise Sunday and was amazed at the number of cars up at the Stackhouse parking lot. However, it soon became obvious that many (if not most) were hikers and folks walking up into the canyon. The actual number of fishermen on the lower Paradise was actually pretty few and I had plenty of space to fish.

 

[afishinado]

Also, Spring is overly crowded since Penns & Fishing are pretty much blown out at this time. It never ceases to amaze me how many fish Spring actually holds. Even when anglers are crawling all over the stream and you are essentially always fishing "behind" someone, you still catch a fair amount of fish.

[d]Nice post Rich. Lucky that other fellow "burned the stream" and you enjoyed some decent fishing. ;-) [/d]

 

[dryflyguy]

Yeah - I've also found that the parking lots at the paradise are always quite full. But that lots of the people are hiking or walking their dogs up the trail - or checking out the eagles.
And a short drive up or downstream puts me on sections where I can find find somewhat secluded water.

BTW - I spent a few days on kettle creek the week before the jam .
And found the fishing kinda disappointing. I did see quite a few fish rising on the lower part of the stream. But lots of them turned out to be bluegills and bass

 

[fadeaway263]

afishinado wrote:
Nice post Rich. Lucky that other fellow "burned the stream" and you enjoyed some decent fishing. ;-)

Careful Afish...I thought there was some talk on here earlier that spot burning comments would be moved by the MODS to another thread. :roll:

 

[troutbert]

Fisheries people at Penn State did a study of angler usage on Spring Creek, then combining that info with info on the trout population, they came up with an estimate that on average trout in Spring Creek are caught and released 6 times per year.

The Allegheny National Forest has some really interesting streams to explore. Just sayin'...

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
Fisheries people at Penn State did a study of angler usage on Spring Creek, then combining that info with info on the trout population, they came up with an estimate that on average trout in Spring Creek are caught and released 6 times per year.

The Allegheny National Forest has some really interesting streams to explore. Just sayin'...

In general, I've always thought those estimates were way off (low). I've caught the same fish twice in one day many times and have on occasion, caught the same fish (with some unique marking or trait) five or six time myself during a season, and I'm one angler (obviously).