Big Spring Creek, Cumberland County, 10/16/2021

[jordan7982]

Went to Big Spring for the first time this past Saturday. I instantly fell in love with it. I spent about an hour and a half fishing a small section of water in the special reg area.

Conditions:
Time - 10:30am -12:00pm
Air Temp - 60s
Water Temp - didn't have my thermostat.
Precipitation - Started partly cloudy with some sun then quickly changed to a steady rain for the rest of the outing.

Didn't see any hatches, and I was really hoping to see some small olives or something. Did see some larger adult caddis around in the air, but still no action on the surface.

Caught 2 fish (which for me on a new stream and a CV spring creek, felt pretty good). One was a small rainbow that I didn't quite get in the net and the other was about a 6"-8" brookie that had great fall colors. Before the rain came, I was fishing a scud pattern with no success, then switched to a small olive dry fly and got the rainbow to rise to it from deep in a slower water section right before two currents met. The rain came and I switched back to a nymph (a heavy caddis-ish creation I made with a CDC collar) which took the brookie in the head of a riffle.

One note I'd like to add is holy smokes are there some big rainbows in there... I saw multiple behemoths lurking the slow sections in between riffles that I knew I didn't have a chance catching this day, but was having just as good as a time watching them. The very last riffle I fished was the place I caught the brookie. After I released him, I looked up to fish the other side of the riffle and saw another large red strip waving in the water. The only reason he was still there I think was the rain was giving me the cover to get close. I was within tightlining distance so I threw the same nymph that the brookie took, but wasn't seeing/feeling any takes after multiple drifts. I tired to get one step closer to get a better cast and off he went. Although I didn't catch that fish, it was just rewarding being able to even fish to it.

Last thing to mention, Am I the only one who likes to fish in the rain (With proper gear at least)?

 

[Jay_H]

Fished the Big Spring for the first time about a month ago myself. I really enjoyed it. Such a challenging stretch of water. Took 2 small rainbows and 2 7-9” Brook trout. Loved my day there. Glad you had such a great time.

 

[drakeking412]

im going to be in the area next week, boy am i excited. thanks for the report!

 

[Prospector]

Jordan, I also like to fish in the rain.

 

[Dave_W]

Nice report - thanks.

Rainy days are high confidence for me, especially on the CV trout streams (although my tolerance for being out in a cold rain has waned as I've gotten older).

There are still a lot of large rainbows in BS although not as many as a decade ago. There are large brookies too, many in the mid-teens, but they are much harder to see as they rarely venture out from cover.

I often remind CV newbies to lower your expectations for surface activity. While it's always good to read (or read again) Marinaro et-al, these books tend to inflate newbies' expectations for dry fly activity. By all means bring your dries, but CV trout are bottom feeders and you can go for days without seeing a rise on BS or Letort. It can be frustrating for folks who like the dry fly game.

 

[jordan7982]

Will keep that in mind Dave. Thanks for the advice.

 

[JimKennedy]

Many of my best fishing days have been in the rain.

 

[wgmiller]

JimKennedy wrote:
Many of my best fishing days have been in the rain.

Yup! The fish really let their guard down when the raindrops start falling. While bluebird skies are nice for taking pictures, they are rarely synonymous with amazing fishing. Overcast skies, snow, rain, etc.; the worse the weather, the better the fishing!

 

[marcq]

Fish sculpin for bigger fish.