Spring Creek 6-9-18 Centre County Pa

[albud1962]

Starting fishing around 3pm. Sporadic Risers to size 18 caddis most of the afternoon. Pegged several small fish on the caddis. Continued to take occasional fish on caddis until 6pm. Then the fish switched and I couldn’t determine what they were rising to. Tried various emergers with no luck. As it was getting darker I finally caught a few on an emerger. No duns on the water until complete darkness. caught 3 in the dark with the last one being a nice 13 incher. Left because my head lamp ran stopped working.

 

[Maurice]

Olives?

 

[nymphingmaniac]

Al,
If its what I've seen on two local streams at dark over the lasts week it could be the very dense midges, or, I think more likely, crane flies of crane-fly like bugs. Try a sparse, thin body and overly long soft gray partridge hackle fly- drowned crane fly. Had some success after dark.

 

[albud1962]

Ugh. I was hoping it wasn’t the midges. Maurice I didn’t see any olives around but there were size 28 white midges coming off.lI think the sulfur’s are wrapping up soon so may be next weekend will be my last shot.

 

[TYoung]

I fished at fisherman's paradise on Thursday. During the evening, there was a small mayfly hatching. It might have been small olives. Right at dark, there was also a sulpher spinner fall. I think the sulpher hatch is coming to an end.

 

[albud1962]

The sulfurs are done, but thanks for about the tip on the midges.
The same behavior was occurring last weekend as the previous. At first I thought it was small caddis, but no luck. I saw the same pesky cream midge on the water and now that the sulfurs were gone it was apparent the fish were keyed on them. I didn't have a small midge pattern but I did have a few female trico flies and they worked like a charm. Missed a bunch but ended up with 5 nice size fish that evening.

 

[wbranch]

While I have lived in York, PA for 30 years I am quite unfamiliar with the mayfly cycles on the streams east of Raystown Lake. From all the posts I have read over the years it seems like there are decent may fly emergences from mid April to about the 3rd week in June. Is that the end of the more common mayflies? What kind of mayflies do you guys look for, and fish, after the end of June?

Any of the other PA streams I fish would only be because the rivers I prefer are either blown out or I have some kind of engagement that precludes me from going away overnight a few days. Where I fish most often I have Ep dorothea from mid May to mid August. Iso's from late May to September, Cornuta from now to who knows when, Various #16 - #22 Baetis all season long, Stenomena (?) Cahills? throughout mid June to mid August but typically sparse and not a fishable emergence.

I guess when the major emergences are over many guys nymph?

 

[albud1962]

Well, this is the best time for me and the name of the game is terrestrials. I catch alot of trout on beetles and ants. Recently i have been trying midges when i see sipping trout and this has been productive too. Someone told me once you can dry fly fish all year if you really wanted to.

 

[dryflyguy]

Sipping trout will usually take terrestrials.
And I give them a shot first, before going to the tiny stuff.

And I have heard that the fish in spring creek rise on warmer days, right through the winter.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

I was on Spring last evening. Fish were popping and splashing everywhere. I saw some small BWO's, pale cream/yellow midges, craneflies and occasional tan caddis. Whatever the fish were keyed on, I did not have it. I emptied out my fly boxes and picked a couple up on each pattern, but I never figured out what got them so riled up. My guess is some sort of emerger.

 

[albud1962]

It was the pale cream midges

 

[wbranch]

My problem with Spring Creek is it is just so far a drive for one day. I live in York, about four miles from I-83, it takes me about 2 hours 15 minutes to get to SC. I don't like driving entirely in the dark. It seems many of the posts I read indicate many times the SC trout start rising around dusk and continue to it is dark. I just can't really stay past 7:30 and I just refuse to stay in a motel up there.

 

[albud1962]

There are several B&B's in the area that are moderately priced.
It takes me about 1 1/2 to get there. To me its worth the late night drive home during the hatch if I don't stay over night.
During the summer the trout are keyed in on terrestrials and you don't have to stay until dark to have some great fishing. Cloudy days are better though. Early spring the olives and midges hatch mid afternoon. Once again, cloudy days are better for these hatches.

 

[dryflyguy]

There's a motel in Bellefonte that's very modestly priced.

Have you considered camping? There are several options for that in the area

 

[wbranch]

dryflyguy wrote;

Have you considered camping? There are several options for that in the area

Hmm, no, if I had a van I could sleep in the back of the van. But all I have is a sleeping bag, no pad, or air mattress. Then there is the issue of having to get up at night to pee. Nicer to be in a room rather than the back of a van. No hot water in the morning to wash up or make coffee. I'm just a big complainer! When I was in my 20's it was the peak of the hippie era and I used to work 2nd shift in Clifton, NJ and after work at midnight I would drive out to Long Island, Port Jefferson to be specific, and just put my down bag on the sand and sleep there until morning and go see my girl friend. I did all kinds of camping along the Madison River, the Big Horn River, Armstrong spring Creek, and YNP for three months every summer from 1968 to 1971.

Now at 75 I still love to trout fish just as much, maybe even more, but I want all the creature comforts one can only get in a motel or your own home.

 

[Acristickid]

^ nice van

 

[Dave_W]

acristickid wrote:
^ nice van

Agree!
Yuh gotta love Wbranch's old time FFing pics.
Fishin in the the sixties. 🙂

 

[rrt]

I'm with WB. I like my creature comforts, too. To me, roughing it when away from home is a nice room in a nice motel. I don't want to sleep on an air mattress in a cold camper, or even worse, a tent!

 

[wbranch]

Dave_W wrote;

Fishin in the the sixties.

I scanned a ton of pictures when I first retired and post one up once in a while. I will never forget buying my first Hardy Lightweight series reel. It was up in Ramsey, NJ at Ramsey Outdoor Store. They were a big camping store but fly fishing was just beginning to take off and they were in on the ground floor of the new era of fly fishing. I'd been aware of the Hardy reels but was unable to afford one. I was a 24 year old kid making about $40 a week.

I used to go to the store and fondly look at that reel and ask the clerk if I could hold it. I finally saved a dollar here and a dollar there and walked in and paid the princely sum of $24.00 for the Hardy LRH and $7.00 for an extra spool.

All my fly tying material was in the round cookie tin and the wooden box I had made in wood shop. Check out the old school Thompson vise. No cam to tighten the jaws, you had to turn that cast iron knob at the rear of the jaws. That was 54 years ago. That is Ernie Sweibert's "Matching The Hatch" on my lap and I was trying to tie a #20 Caenis. At the time the Trico we know today was called a Caenis in some outdoor magazine articles.

These are all vintage Hardy Lightweight series reels. The one without the holes in the spool is the same size as the LRH but there is no external drag knob, there is rope knurling all around the circumference of the spool housing and the reel foot is stepped rather than being a smooth taper. At one time I had at least two of every size from the Flyweight to the Princess and one Zenith.

 

[salmo]

Nice pictures. I still fish my Hardy Marquis and several Scientific Anglers reels made by Hardy. Most of my reels are over 30 years old and still searve this old fisherman. My hair was longer when I first cast a flyline probably in 1975 on the Francis Branch.