Spring Creek, Centre County, 6/15

[jayL]

Started my trip west late on Thursday so I didn't get to fish until the morning after I arrived at Bellefonte.

Hit up the FFP fly shop friday morning and got some info on where to fish and what to use. Picked up some gray and olive scuds in return for their information, and headed out to the stream. I was with my dad, a spin fisherman, so we stayed in the all tackle water. Ended up catching 3 decent fish on a size 14 gray scud. Was very tough fishing due to low flows and bright skies...

Spotted three absolute monsters, and had a decent shot at one of them but pulled the fly right out of his mouth somehow. Had to cast from the damn road to get a shot at them.... That was interesting.

Took in a meal and went back out to the paradise section alone that night. Saw a few rises to midges but was unable to get a proper drift without wading so I called it a day. I was tired anyway, and had alot of fishing left to do.

 

[thedude1534]

As an extention to this report, I was at Spring on Saturday, 6/16.....

Started out downstream of the paradise around 1 PM, pretty terrible time of day to start fishing, I know. Had no luck nymphing so tied on a Wulff and immediately got a take, but only one.

At about 4:30 I went up to the paradise and managed several browns there on a #16 black foam beetle, but they would not touch any other fly or terrestrial.

At 7:30 I went to the spillway/discharge section and hooked in with a very large 20"+ brown on a #18 Black Caddis Emerger. This guy had a lot of fight in him, and I was on 7X so was in no mood to put a lot of tension in the line. He ended up running out of the calm spillway section, and downstream about 100 yards past the "Private Property" roped off section. I managed to get him out of there after some time, attempted to land him, and he wouldn't even fit in my 15" net. Once once the ney hit him, I guess he had a little fight left in him and made one last run back into the private property section, and under a log, which immediately snapped my tippet. I was very angry, but I guess I wouldn't have been able to land him without curving his spine like a U in my small net, so it was probably for the best......

I was thinking about getting one of those 24" rubber nets, anyone use these?

 

[thedude1534]

Sorry, I meant to say 100 yards "into" the private property roped off section.

 

[martinlf]

Bought one of the rubber nets this year, a San Juan from Fisknat. Love it. Flies don't get stuck in it, it doesn't smell from fish slime because it doesn't strip slime off and hold it, and it's plenty big, but light as a feather.

 

[bjkaledas]

Wow great story. I love that spill way there in the paradise. I don't know how you managed to get him out of private section there. I am guessing somebody owns that cabin there and rents it out? I wonder why the state hasn't stepped in to open that up there. The water doesn't really look that great there anyways though.

 

[sunra]

Went up to Colburn Friday afternoon. My first trip up there as I am new to fly fishing.
Saturday we fished Spring Creek above the FFP section from early afternoon until after dark. Caught a few average size(from what I am told) browns during the day and a few more betwen sunset and 9:30pm. The sulfurs didn't come off until very late, just after dark, and then the fish were hitting the sulfur dries like crazy, but we had to head back to
Colburn, and we had to get off the stream/out of the park as it was dark.

We saw a Kayak come down the stream around 3pm, and we took that as an opportunity to break for lunch, lol.


What a beautiful area. I can't stop thinking about getting back up to Spring, Penns and all the other water up that way. Suddelnly, the drive from Montgomery County doesn't seem so far! :-D