Big Spring Creek, Cumberland County 6/11/14

[Night_Stalker]

Since most of the streams have been churned up by recent storms, I chose to go west to the ever steady Big Spring. I have only fished there a handful of times.

I was rewarded by some of those beautiful wild rainbows being hooked. None landed. DOH!

Went to land the first one and it laughed at me as I clumsily stepped in, reached for my net and continued to chew gum. 16-18"er with amazing color.

The fish that wanted to bite came from 8-12 feet to strike an olive Galloup's Zoo Cougar. One beast looked black an was an easy 20-22"er. I'll be back!

Despite light rain and breezes it was pleasant conditions. I did not check water temps. Overcast with thunder storm cells were nearby.

Rises of small fish from second parking lot down to Nealy Road bridge. Most seemed to be subsurface rises. I only saw a couple sulfurs. Active feeding in current of all sized fish. There was a hatch of tiny black caddis also.

 

[sipe]

I did a guided day on this trip in April...this stream is tough. Mike Heck had me nymph fishing and setting the hook on whether the fish seemed to open their mouths. It was tough. I managed to catch several fish only when Mike clued me in to set the hook. I can't get comfortable on this stream, but Mike is a great resource!

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

That is exactly the way I have landed a ton of big trout from Big Spring. Throw a heavy sculpin way above them, once on the bottom let the current slowly sweep it down with little lifts of the rod tip, once you notice the fish sees it you then try to make it flee and WHAM!

You would be surprised the distance they will come for the fly. It works to your advantage because the splash down won't spook your target fish.

 

[Night_Stalker]

salvelinusfontinalis,

I had hits from hidden fish (under trees and shadowed hiding places) on splat casts. Visible fish on drift/swings.

The Zoo Cougar is unweighted with lots of deer hair and is slightly buoyant. Both rigs I had with me had sink tips...so a lot of rod action was utilized to get around the vegetation. I will plan a little more next time. I have a cartridge reel that I can switch out easily to a floating line.

What was your typical setup? Weight sculpin or neutral? What leader specs?

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

9-10 foot 5 wt, floating line.

I tie it with lead eyes and lead wrapped from there to the tail on a size 6 or 8 hook . Very heavy fly. Around 14 to 15 foot of leader and tippet using 1 to 3x.