Fishing creek, clinton county, 5/14/16

evw659

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Made it up to the state college area for a couple nights camping with family, and we headed to fishing creek on saturday.( We also struggled on penns one afternoon, and fished the ljr on the way home in the snow). We fished fishing creek about noon till 5pm or so. We also checked out the Logan branch after.

Weather/water conditions: air temp was about 55-60 or so when we were fishing. Strong front came in during the afternoon with brief heavy showers. Winds were light and variable. flow appeared a little on the low side and was fairly clear, but overall at a pretty nice level for Nymphing or throwing dries. I didn't take a water temp, but it felt like about 52 or so.

Hatches: not much overall. I spotted a few sulphurs coming off and midges but that's about it. I'm sure there was much more hatch activity later in the evening though.

The fishing: overall it was tough. I started out with a couple nymphs, but I found it difficult to get close enough to a lot of the holding water to tight line, so I ended up fishing a dry dropper rig most of the time. I caught about 5 or 6 small native brookies and 1 small brown on a sz 14 dark nymph when it was raining, but that was about it. We moved to another stretch with a lot of great pocket water where I tight lined. I made contact with a lot of fish in this stretch, but the takes were very subtle and quick. In the productive pocket water that is so prevalent on this stream, it seemed like you really needed to have a perfect drift as well as a tight connection to your flies to receive and detect strikes. I found that when I missed one fish in a great run, it was kind of game over, move on to the next run. To me, this is about as technical as it gets when it comes to tight line nymphing. Over about 2/3 of a mile, my brothers landed I think 1 a piece and I got 0. Interesting experience on an absolutely beautiful stream.
 
That stream is just tough. I keep going back though.
 
Not me. I have come a long way on that stream, but nothing comes easy. I think I might have cracked the code, kind of. I wish I fished it more, but when I am in area I usually fish Penns and LJ. Beautiful stream for sure.
 
This was only the 4th or 5th time ive fished there over 5 years, and it was the first time I've had trouble catching nice browns there. I think i just hit it at the right time on the previous occasions. It is certainly an awesome stream.
 
I love that creek but never "slayed them" on it. I did once get lost in the braided section.
 
Yeah, that braided section gets confusing. I know what you mean. Very tight and brushy in there too.

This past weekend I was fishing a stream and I walked into the woods to hit a section upstream and when I emerged from the woods, I was somehow downstream in a section that I just fished. I was freaked out for a moment thinking I just went through some sort of time warp or something.



 


Great place to get humbled.
 
There are some streams that stay with you. They're there when you close your eyes to sleep. When you need to think of happy places as they push you into a MRI. Or when you're just are trying to de-stress at work. Regardless of the fish caught, or not, these waters have a mystic grip on you. Their deep cuts. Steep rocky banks. Cool damp air that always smell of pine and wood decay. And always cold, clear waters that hold stream-bred fish, and your mind. For me, Big Fishing Creek is one such place. I love it there.
 
Just want to clarify, I am by no means saying it is an easy stream to fish. It must just fit my style of fishing. That added to what greenghost said makes it probably my favorite.
 
It's a great fishing stream for sure not my favorites though I like bigger water.
 
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