Big Spring Creek, Cumberland County, 1/3/13

[airbornedoc]

First time fishing in PA. This was a tough spot today. OUt today from 1330-sundown. Fished from just upstream of the washed out bridge down for about 300meters. Landed 3 brookies, hooked several more but just some tough fishing. Only took to size 18 sowbug, size 20 black zebra midge and size 18 pheasant tail nymph. One guy on the river said he caught a 20"brown on a clouser downstream from the washedout bridge.

Note: the last big spring creek report I saw was >2yrs old. If you fish, please post something for the rest of us. I'd like to come back to PA and fish again but would like a few carrots. I'd hate to let my nonresident annual license go to waste.

 

[Phish_On]

That was idratherbephishin and I. It was a bow not a brown. Lilttle over 20. Tough stream. Somedays treats you real well, somedays you get the skunk.

 

[Fishidiot]

Airborne,
Welcome to the Paff forums - thanks for the report. There was a Big Spring fishing report from just a couple weeks ago. Yes, the stream is difficult. BS is heavily fished by our readership and is frequently discussed on this forum (as well as the other Cumberland Valley streams). If you wish to search past threads, it's best to use the "Advanced Search" button in the lower right of the webpage. Now that you have your 2013 license, hang out with us here online and you'll get plenty of PA fishing motivation. 🙂

The bridge isn't washed out but was torn down for repairs. I walked that section with a friend on New Year's day. Please be aware the brooks are spawning in that area of BS right now (this is much later than when they spawn in most of PA) - please watch your step and be respectful of spawners.

Also, we're a bit picky about format here in Stream Reports: please include in the title line the Name/County/Date format as can be seen (I fixed it). This is not a big deal and we're not trying to discourage your report - we have to tell most new posters about this requirement (happened to me too when I posted my first fishing report).
Again, welcome Airbornedoc!

 

[wgmiller]

And scrap the nymphs and go for streamers if you really want to have fun on that stream and catch fish. The fish are all nestled in the streamside vegetation and enticing them out is the key to success. Sculpin patterns, buggers, and other streamers in olive, tan, or brown will produce. Drop them on stream bottom or drift them through the runs.

 

[Phish_On]

Geoff is right, if you want to catch bigger fish streamers are the way to go. On the other hand I do well there with a dry dropper set up.

 

[geebee]

three brookies is a good day, especially in January imho.

mike hecks pages has a lot of information on fishing big spring and he posts fishing reports regularly.

what was the stream temp ?

 

[wgmiller]

Good point Phsh_On. You can certainly catch fish on a nymph setup or even dry fly during the summer for that matter. But the "big boys" (as you well know) like to come out and play with the streamers. And what a rush it is when they do!

If I were a bettin' man, I'd say the stream was in the low 50's...

 

[Phish_On]

51-52 degrees couple spots I checked. Big flies big fish. I don't always belive this, but it holds true at BS most of the time. I like the dry dropper set up. I'm not looking for big fish. The smaller ones look prettier.

 

[wgmiller]

Phish_On wrote:
I'm not looking for big fish. The smaller ones look prettier.

Can't argue with you on that one... A 5-7" streambred rainbow is gorgeous!

 

[IdratherbePhishing]

The Brookies on that stream have a really kool golden hue. There's a couple above the dam that are almost yellow. Stripping streamers up top is tough due to the current being so slow. I would recommend it down below though.

 

[Fishidiot]

IdratherbePhishing wrote:
The Brookies on that stream have a really kool golden hue.

What you're referring to is a seasonal color change in Big Spring brookies that comes on with spawning. These spawners (I believe it is primarily the male fish) get a slate tan hue over their backs that is very noticeable on spawning fish in Big Spring this time of year. By February, as the spawning period has ended, that color hue disappears.

Again.....please be aware of the spawning activity that is currently underway; leave those fish alone and watch your step.