Spring Creek, Center County 11/22/13

DaveKile

DaveKile

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Up for a long weekend at PSU and had time for mid-day trip on Spring Creek in the Canyon. Plenty of small game hunters were actively hunting in the area.

Weather was 47 degrees and overcast with a little fog and drizzle. The water was pretty low and very clear. Fish easily spooked.

The trout are still spawning and needed to be very careful before fishing. I did see a few redds and took a lot more time to check out a section of water before attempting to fish. In previous years during this time I have seen plenty of active redds in the Paradise for example.

Spent a good amount of time with walt's worms and bead heads, had only a little marginal luck. Decide to switch it up to some dry flies once I saw few rises and a couple #20 BWO looking flies started happening. Had my best luck with a #20 griff nat against the bank and found a few nice size brown trout.

Was angling for a shot of one of the fish I caught and dropped my camera phone straight into the stream. Thank goodness I had just purchased an OtterBox three days ago and it saved my bacon. Couldn't find the phone on the bottom of the stream for a couple minutes, but pulled it out safe and dry after a quick panic attack.

Fun day photo before the big drop.



 
I dropped my last cell phone in a Centre County freestoner.

It's good to hear Spring is fishing well. My buddy and I may hit that creek tomorrow if the weather isn't too unbearable.
 
Never take anything on the water that can't get wet-- old Pennsylvania saying from an old Pennsylvanian.
 
I was on the stream Friday afternoon (2-6PM) as well and found the conditions to be exactly as Dave described - low, clear, a few risers, and overall spooky fish. I saw a nice amount of redds, many of them still active, with many pairs of fish spotted. I parked by the hatchery bridge, and fished up through the Paradise and I'm pretty sure where I stopped was outside the FFO area, although I'm not 100% sure, as this was my first time on this section of the creek. I ended up taking all three of my fish on a olive conehead wooly bugger, and they also all came from about the same 20-yard section of stream. The first came on an upstream cast and retrieve; the last two came on a downstream swing.

For those unfamiliar with what redds look like, here is a shot of a stream section with multiple redds. They are the light colored areas in the stream bed.

From Spring Creek 11-22-2013

First fish (Skunk Breaker):

From Spring Creek 11-22-2013

Second fish - I really liked the coloration on this fish:
From Spring Creek 11-22-2013

From Spring Creek 11-22-2013

From Spring Creek 11-22-2013

Third fish - about 14":
From Spring Creek 11-22-2013

I did nod hellos to three or four people - I dunno if one of them was you or not, Dave, although I suspect you may have been upstream of me.

I also threw a few mice as it got dark, but only had one half-hearted strike. The fish seemed to think it was much colder than it actually was at night, and were just hunkered down on the bottom, for the most part.

In an allergy-induced fog, I dunked my phone this spring, not more than a week after I bought it. I retrieved it and thought all was lost - the camera lens fogged up immediately, and I couldn't get the phone to shutdown using the touchscreen interface or any buttons. I eventually yanked the battery and left it dry for a day or so. The USB port was flaky for a bit and for a few months after, if I used the phone in damp weather, it would stop writing to the SD card and switch over to the internal flash. However, I'm still using it today and all ill effects of the baptism have disappeared.

Pat - we deployed the Casio Commando to our field force at my previous job. They were good phones from a ruggedized standpoint, but they are running an ancient version of AndroidOS (2.3.3, if I recall correctly), and I felt like the touchscreen responsiveness was a bit off and they had a slower processor in them. I can't get (intentional) underwater shots from my phone, but my camera is my phone anymore. The Samsung Galaxy Active S4 is probably the most current phone that has some degree of protection for the elements built into it, but I have read at least one review by a guy who intentionally dunked it in his pool for testing, and it died an immediate death.
 
Salmonoid,

There's a new Commando out, which is the one I got. Came out this summer. For the new version, it's the same name as the old, cept they added "4G LTE" to the end of the name.

It's still not gonna set the world on fire regarding internal specs. It was a little outdated when it came out, and that was 6 months ago. But Verizon's coverage map just makes it hard to leave, and this is the only truly rugged smartphone they have, really.

Processor: 1.5 Ghz dual core
Android: 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Screen: Inimpressive specs for a modern smartphone, but looks fine to me.
Battery: Unimpressive, but I get 2 days of light use, or 1 day of heavy use. You can buy an upgraded battery directly from Casio, which I haven't.

Comes with it's share of Verizon bloatware, but the Casio apps are pretty cool (likely similar to the old commando, I'd assume).
 
Very nice Browns salmonoid. You always seem to find the ones with the most massive rudders! Bit of a kype on that second one too it looks like.

I dunked my camera (cheapo Sanyo) last Fall. Dried it in rice for a few days and it worked. Had intermittent condensation issues for about a month after, but it's been fine since. I still don't carry it in any protective device or bag. At $50, it's disposable if it gets dunked and doesn't come back to life. If I were to spend more on the next one I'd think about some kind of protection probably.
 
Salmonoid

Nice fish and sorry we missed each other. I was upstream from you from about 11 to 3.

This was a photo from November 2010. Dave Weaver and I were at the Paradise and saw a good number of fish spawning and on redds.

 
I fished Spring Creek the day before on the 21st. I saw quite a few active redds. I stopped and watched several. It was funny watching the smaller browns(8 to 10 inchers) lying in wait just for the chance to charge in a grab a snack of fresh trout eggs before being chased away by the occupants. I did see a man and woman fishing together with spinning tackle but no one else on the stream. I ended up catching an even dozen browns including a very colorful 18 inch male. Fly of the day, you guessed it, egg patterns. Good day on the stream. At least I did'nt fall in this time. LOL
 
Salmonoid, good picture of redds. Not too hard to avoid, even if you aren't sure.
 
Egg patterns are money at this time of year, any conditions any day. Glad you caught some nice fish.
 
I hear Spring has confirmed NZ mud snails.? What precautions do you use with your gear? I hear hot water over 115 degrees or some combination of bleech and water should do it?

Boss
 
They are always spawning later in Spring Ck and Logan Branch, but from having been out on freestone creeks sampling for the past two weeks, I can tell you that the Brooks and browns were finished on those streams. This may be a function of location in the state, but in my view it is probably more related to limestone vs freestone water temps.
 
Mike, I feel as you do. It's a matter of limestoner vs. freestoner.

Years ago I noticed that spawning on Slate and Cedar Runs was about over by the beginning of November. I've seen the lingering spawner on Spring Creek as late as around Christmas.
 
In response to the question about cleaning your gear:

-Freeze the gear for a minimum of 6 hours.

-Soak the gear in hot water (120*-140*F) for 5 minutes.

-Soak the gear for 5 minutes in a 1:1 mixture of Formula 409 and water. You have to soak it as spraying won't work. Be sure to rinse the gear after soaking it.

All info was from the signs posted along the stream.
 
409 may not work on New Zealand Mud Snails:

http://www.stopans.org/Formula_409.htm

"The Formula 409© used by the CDFG researchers was a special degreaser formula that is not what is typically available. "

Freeze gear 6 hours to be sure.
 
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