Spring Creek, 8/11/2022, Center County

[Sylvaneous]

Spent Thursday and Friday fishing a foam terrestrial and a wet ant dropped behind. Did so 2 weeks ago as well. The last 2 trips were not super successful, especially today. The fish just were not where they have been earlier in the year. Didn't see them and didn't catch them. It's great fishing like this and seeing a trout come up and take the terrestrial, but it was pretty rare. maybe 5 takes over the whole day, moving, casting, moving, casting. Most fish took the surface fly this year, however, today, most fish took the sunken ant. I lost several fish that quickly took and shook the ant.
Syl

 

[dryflyguy]

The last time I fished terrestrials up there - about a year ago now - I didn't do very well either.
Every once in a while, a fish would take one.
But it was a long time between takes.

The Trico fishing wasn't very good during that trip either

 

[troutbert]

Spent Thursday and Friday fishing a foam terrestrial and a wet ant dropped behind. Did so 2 weeks ago as well. The last 2 trips were not super successful, especially today. The fish just were not where they have been earlier in the year. Didn't see them and didn't catch them. It's great fishing like this and seeing a trout come up and take the terrestrial, but it was pretty rare. maybe 5 takes over the whole day, moving, casting, moving, casting. Most fish took the surface fly this year, however, today, most fish took the sunken ant. I lost several fish that quickly took and shook the ant.
Syl

It's the summertime blahs on Spring Creek. It happens every year.

Sometimes there are bugs and trout rising at dusk. But often this happens late, just before dark.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

Syl...I was there on Friday afternoon. I did pick a few off on top on a Japanese Beetle. Where I was, there were fish rising in the shaded areas and tight to cover. I did have a lot of looks and refusals. I really hammered them once I switched to a sunken ant- my tie is very similar to these pictures here: http://wellerfish.me/sunk-ant-12-21-2020/

I like to use a tiny bit of strike putty to help detect strikes, but see no reason why you couldn't go with a traditional dry dropper setup. With Spring, you have to keep in mind how much pressure it receives along with how many times the fish see the same patterns over and over. I'm always experimenting with new patterns to try and stay ahead of the curve there and other popular streams. Sunken beetles are also excellent. The heat, low water, and bluebird sunny days do not help for sure.

 

[bigjohn358]

No signs of Tricos?

 

[Wild_Trouter]

No signs of Tricos?

I didn't see any. The only bugs I saw were sporadic Blue Quills #18 and #20-#22 Cream Midges.

 

[pcray1231]

It's been a while since I fished Trico's on Spring. This was 15 years ago, so things coulda changed, but people said the same thing then.

On your typical late July-August morning. I remember getting on the stream in the dark. Right at dawn as it just gets light enough to see, there'd be sporadic risers to the males still hatching, mostly in tailouts. A few minutes later, daylight now, but sun not really up yet, you'd see the spinner balls over the riffles dancing away in the air. As soon as that sun came fully up they fall in mass and all heck breaks loose. Every fish in the stream rises with reckless abandon for about 15 minutes. By 6:30-7 a.m. it's all over. And then all the fishermen show up, and comment "guess there's no trico's this year". mmmhhmmm. Could fish terrestrials the rest of the day but it was pretty slow, a fish here and there.

As August turns to September-October, things happen later in the morning, and more spread out. A rainy, cloudy morning does the same thing even in August, makes it later and more spread out. I always liked foggy mornings. They dance a long time, and fall suddenly as soon as you can make out the sun through that fog. You get a really intense fall with hot fishing. Sometimes you could even get 2 spinner falls by moving. Hit a spot where the sun burns through early, and as soon as the fishing starts to slow, hussle to find somewhere that the fog is still thick, and they haven't fallen yet.

 

[troutbert]

No signs of Tricos?

He said he was there in the afternoon.

Tricos are a morning hatch.

 

[JGR]

I fished the canyon section on Friday from early morning until about 12:30. I went specifically for the tricos and saw none. Fishing was slow, but there were blue quills hatching for awhile mid-morning and I caught a few browns on a #18 BWO.

I saw no one else fishing the entire time I was there.

 

[salmo]

I fished the canyon section on Friday from early morning until about 12:30. I went specifically for the tricos and saw none. Fishing was slow, but there were blue quills hatching for awhile mid-morning and I caught a few browns on a #18 BWO.

I saw no one else fishing the entire time I was there.

What were the water temps?

 

[JGR]

I didn't take the water temperature, but it was cool. Air temperature was 61 degrees when I arrived before 07:00 and 79 degrees when I left at 12:30. Streamflow was 57 cfs.