Falling Springs, Franklin County, 1/30/13

Fishidiot

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Hit FS for a couple hours around mid day. Weather conditions were very warm, probably mid 60s, blustery with light rain and very dark skies. Despite the recent snow melt, water temp was 50 degrees and levels were normal for FS with a slight stain. I figured with the conditions, the bite would be pretty good but fishing was slow. Managed to stick four fish, all small bows, with one on a streamer and the rest on scuds high sticked in runs. No rises or insect activity. Fished until I was driven off the water by a torrential downpour early in the afternoon.
 
Nice report, I need to get down there in the coming weeks. Need my fix of those hellacious waters.
 
FI,
Do the bows in Falling Springs still have that beautiful color like some of them did many, many moons ago? I can remember catching a few real beauties way back before we ever knew about digital cameras, smart phones and all the technology we have today. I still have a few Falling Springs photos in my album that I really cherish that were taken with my Pentax 35 mm. Great memories.
 
dc,
You bet. One of the fish I caught today was a 7" dink but he was just stunning: bright orange dorsal edge and crimson flank and belly with round, brilliant blue parr marks - wish I took a picture. The wild rainbows in the Cumberland Valley are just gorgeous. Sometimes the old, big fish can get a bit pasty but when they are up to about 15" or so, they're really pretty.

Some of those spots you and I fished over a quarter century ago are virtually unchanged.
 
Sounds awesome. I gotta get back out there one of these days. Thanks for jogging my memory about it.
 
Gotta love them little Bows.
 

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Hi, was the report from the delayed harvest section or the other side of the highway? are there wild fish in the delayed harvest section? Last time I fished it was by the funeral home and those fish were darn spooky, and saw some big ones...is there and riffles upsteam of that area? I'd like to get to know that stream better.
 
jkilroy wrote:
are there wild fish in the delayed harvest section? ...is there and riffles upsteam of that area?

Yes, there are wild fish throughout the stream. The DHALO is stocked (although I don't catch many stockies there) while the FFO upstream is not stocked. FS has some riffle areas, more than Letort or Big Spring generally, but it is mainly a "classic" style limestoner - that is to say.... mostly low gradient and weedy.
 
I live relatively close to the FS but rarely fish it. I guess its a bit intimidating. I am mainly a nymph fisherman and generally this stream doesn't suit that. I think the Green Spring, Big Spring, Letort are worse.

With that said I promised myself that I was gonna get out of my comfort zone and learn to fish the Falling Spring since it is so close.
 
Fishidiot wrote:
Hit FS for a couple hours around mid day. Weather conditions were very warm, probably mid 60s, blustery with light rain and very dark skies. Despite the recent snow melt, water temp was 50 degrees and levels were normal for FS with a slight stain. I figured with the conditions, the bite would be pretty good but fishing was slow. Managed to stick four fish, all small bows, with one on a streamer and the rest on scuds high sticked in runs. No rises or insect activity. Fished until I was driven off the water by a torrential downpour early in the afternoon.

I was fishing letort 1/30 and was lucky enough to be back in route to the car before the downpour. I looked like I had just gotten out of the shower. What a water dump!
 
IMO, FSB is one of the hardest streams around to fish. Those fish see you coming from a mile away and if you don't have your "stealth on", it's game over. Very technical stream!

The topwater game would make it more accommodating, without a doubt.
 
Everything is small if you're a Sasquatch. I would say it is comparable in size to the Letort, maybe even a little narrower in places.
 
Those bows are amazing. Haven't been able to stick a brown in FSB yet though.
 
Hey FI. I was diggin' around in my old photo albums. Here is a scanned picture of one of those chunky wild rainbows from way back in the mid 80's out of Falling Springs. I really enjoy looking at my old pictures and remembering the old equipment we used back in the day (old beat up reel and a hand me down Shakespeare fiberglass rod). I was really just learning the basics on how to flyfish at that time and Falling Springs was a real challange but the catches few as they were, were all memorable ones!
 

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I bet that rod would catch fish just as good today as it did back then! The guys who can fish cheap gear and not become a "gear junkie" are the smart ones!
 
Really cool pic dc410! We did indeed have some pretty basic gear back then. 🙂

Please check your PM.
 
basic but quality. thats why people are still buying em on eBay.

me included.
 
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