Big Spring Creek, Cumberland County, 9-14-09

[Streamer]

Big Spring has big fish.

I saw over 5-6 20 inch rainbows when I last visited the area.

All in different sections. 1 large pool, and once when I spooked one hiding.

 

[sundrunk]

Fishidiot wrote:
VTPA,
I'm not sure about future insect activity. My personal memory of BSC goes back about 25 years or so but I never knew the stream before the advent of the fish hatchery in the early 70s. Old timers I know around here don't tell a lot of stories about hatches on BSC from the good ole days. In my experience, it has always been a sub surface game on BSC. I did have a good day in the ditch earlier this year when some little brown stones were coming off and that section can usually be counted on to reveal at least a couple fish, usually small, sipping midges off the top - but for hard core dry fly guys, I don't recommend a long trip to fish BSC. Really, the Cumberland Valley traditionally just doesn't see the kind of hatch activity one can expect up at Penns, Little J et al. Letort is a bit better for hatches than BSC and Falling Springs is a bit better than Letort but I don't consider any of 'em prime hatch waters, although terrestrials can produce good dry fly fishing. The rock rolling I have done on BSC this year does reveal some caddis and mayfly nymphs but they are miniscule in numbers compared to crustaceans. Sow bugs (cress bugs) are by far the most numerous, outnumbering scuds about 10 to 1 in the middle FFO area. Again, things may change as water quality continues to evolve but I doubt BSC will ever be a destination for dry fly enthusiasts.

fishidiot,

Don't take our word on it..

Theodore Gordon wrote in the April 6, 1907 issue of Forest and Stream:

" I wish that it was possible to revisit all our old haunts during the best portion of the season. There are many streams in Pennsylvania which I have not fished for many years. Some of these are ideal from the dry fly fishers point of view, particularly the limestone streams which are formed by great springs which gush from the rocks in large volume...In June I have seen the water covered with the dimples made by rising trout as far as my view extended. This was in the evening after the sun was off the water, in Big Spring, a large Spring which flows through Newville, Pennsylvania"