Spring creek, centre county, 09/30/10

mcwillja

mcwillja

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I made the trip down from NY and fished the paradise on thursday and friday. Thursday was the first time I ever fished spring creek and didn't see another person fishing. The fishing wasn't too bad either. On thursday I fished above the paradise in the rain from 7:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. By 1 p.m. the creek started to turn off color and i was too soaked and cold to keep going. I ended up catching 8 browns and 1 bow using the curly indie technique.

friday I went to Benner Springs and it was chocolate but starting to clear. I had my best day on spring landing 21 fish and hooking close to 30 to 35. When the water started to clear a caddis pupa was the trick. Biggest fish was 18". Lots of fish in the 14-16 inch range. A very good day to say the least.
 
Good report...It looks like Central PA is starting the get pretty good with the fall season upon us!!! Is the 18 incher you caught your new Avitar? That is a good looking fish, but I would hazard a guess that it might be from the Delaware. Happy hunting if you make it out soon!!!
 
I meant to ask this on the forum ages ago, but never got around to it. I suppose I'll throw it in here ...

Does Spring Creek have days where the fish simply turn off? It seems like every time I read a report on SC, there are a dozen+ trout landed, even bigger numbers like above.

I've only fished SC once, back in early July of this year, and both myself and my buddy fished 5 hours without so much as a bump. We also saw about 10-15 other fisherman that day, and never saw a fish on.
 
Spring is so packed that a guy could have just fished through.

Plus a lot of people wade in good fish habitat which spooks the fish. not saying this is what you did.

Also, the fish in spring will hold tight to the banks and by entering the stream will spook.


I'm used a method I call congregating to my advantate on spring. I simply walk through an area that has a shallow riffle at the head. this scares the fish into the riffle for safety. I practice my drifts in the riffle a few times and then wait without moving. The fish start feeding again after a few minutes and I know where and how to cast/control my flies.
 
my advice on spring is ...always fish upstream , when water is low and clear use a dry dropper or a curly , get there early in the AM , wear drab clothing , use a long leader and have fun oh and one other thing , the fish in spring creek are no harder to catch than the trout in any other stream regardless of the BS people try to feed ya !!
 
troutslammer wrote:
my advice on spring is ...always fish upstream , when water is low and clear use a dry dropper or a curly , get there early in the AM , wear drab clothing , use a long leader and have fun oh and one other thing , the fish in spring creek are no harder to catch than the trout in any other stream regardless of the BS people try to feed ya !!
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more. The last part is true as well. It pitches a shutout once in a while, but it's overall a very easy stream IMO.

Mkern makes good points about people spooking the fish in the margins.

It took me a while to realize why I wasn't catching fish in some of the better runs in the stream. Turns out that fish (and some good ones) were scattered throughout the whole stream, as opposed to just the obvious holding water. Always fish your way through the whole stream. Don't just tromp halfway through to fish that good looking far bank. Fish are holding throughout the entire stream, even in the 6 inch deep stuff. Walking through that stuff spooks fish, which then run into the deeper spots, which spooks the whole run.

I fish as far upstream as I can comfortably cast when I first approach a run, and I fish all of the more marginal water that surrounds it. As I inch closer, I begin tight line nymphing the deeper stuff. My best fish taken on that stream have been via sight fishing seemingly marginal flats before I stomped through them to the deeper stuff on the far bank. The rule of thumb for me on spring creek is that there is a fish on every rock that creates a surface disturbance. Fishing the whole stream, bank to bank, is necessary there.

Do yourself a favor and try loudly wading through a shallow riffled flat on that stream (Please do not do it during or after the spawn). You'll see what I mean.
 
greenlander wrote:
Does Spring Creek have days where the fish simply turn off? It seems like every time I read a report on SC, there are a dozen+ trout landed, even bigger numbers like above.
Click to expand...

Strictly speaking, yes, Spring Creek can simply turn off....however, in my experience, it does this much less frequently than Penns or Fishing Creeks. Really, I think all streams with good populations of wild fish, esp brown trout, see this on/off tendency to some degree. I've certainly been skunked there my share of times but have also had many days with dozens of fish caught and I consider it a "numbers" stream. I'd say the day you experienced is certainly not the norm on SC. Don't give up on it.
 
Spring is not as fickle as Penns but I was never in love with Spring, so....

mcwillja, were there any insects hatching while you were there? What were the weather conditions?
 
MKern wrote:
I'm used a method I call congregating to my advantate on spring. I simply walk through an area that has a shallow riffle at the head. this scares the fish into the riffle for safety. I practice my drifts in the riffle a few times and then wait without moving. The fish start feeding again after a few minutes and I know where and how to cast/control my flies.
Click to expand...

:roll:
 
Jack -

On Thursday it rained steady to hard all morning and by 1:00 p.m. it was raining too hard to fish. I saw a few olives on thursday but not much else. My setup for thursday was an orange pregnant scud that I tie with a midge larva dropper fished with the curly method.

friday - I fished Benner and it was pretty blown out, but great for chucking streamers. I moved some big fish early. When the water started to clear but still pretty muddy the fish started to take my caddis dropper that I was fishing behind the streamer, virtually every riffle, run, pool I hooked a fish, it didn't matter. I didn't see many bugs friday but I think small caddis larva and pupa were active below.
 
Thanks. Spring is a wonderful stream to fish with wet flies. I usually use a dry dropper combo as it tends to touch down a little more lightly and does not look so unnatural as to be avoided. I am not a good underwater-fly angler and have trouble with Spring when bugs are not hatching because I am then forced to fish a technique that I do not have refined. Not that my dry fly skills are refined, just that if I am going to hack about, I'd like the reward to be a take on the surface, if possible.
 
I've never fished a dry/dropper on spring but it seems like a perfect stream for that especially when the water is a little low.
 
If I wasn't clear, I did not mean that is my first choice, but if I feel I must nymph, I will usually start out with the combo. I find fish will often take nymphs in thin water on Spring, so a ton of tippet between dry and nymph isn't necessary. I would say that most times with a dry-dropper rig, I have less than 30 inches of tippet below the dry. If I am fishing deeper than that, weight is usually required and then the dry fly does not work so well as an indicator.
 
Ohhhhhhhhh, my mind was racing with all kinds of Erie steelhead fishing references...
 
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