Spring Creek, Centre County, 8/1/24

[wgmiller]

With the sweltering summer we've been having I decided to give trout fishing a break for a few months. Needing to "scratch the itch", I headed to the State College area from Lancaster County for a few days of R & R. I did some fishing, caught a Spikes game, and finally paid a visit to Penn's Cave.

Stream report:
Time fished: 07:00-12:00
Areas fished: various areas upstream of 99 to Lemont
Air temp: humid, with temps maxing out around 90
Water temp: 60 on the button
Insect/surface activity: none seen during my time fishing
Water flow/clarity: 41 CFS and clear (storms that evening sent the gauge up to over 300 CFS)

I tightlined a #18 copper tung bead Walt's worm on the point with a sunken ant on the tag. Most of the fish were taken on the Walt's, but a few took the sunken ant. I caught quite a few YOY wild rainbows, which was refreshing. I don't fish many streams with wild rainbows, so it's always a nice change of pace to find some. The wild browns were present, as usual.

YOY rainbow

The biggest wild rainbow of the outing

Storms wreaked havoc with the Spikes game, as it started late and was called after a few innings.Medlar Field is a beautiful ballpark that I'll return to again for either a PSU or Spikes game.

 

[CLSports]

No Tricos?

 

[wgmiller]

No Tricos?

I don’t recall seeing any clusters above the riffs. Then again, I wasn’t really looking for them.

 

[DaveKile]

Thanks for the report. Great that you could got out.

 

[salmo]

Rainbows spawning in Spring Creek !?

 

[wgmiller]

Rainbows spawning in Spring Creek !?

You bet!

 

[salmo]

So, is this a good thing? Brookies and browns spawn in the late fall-early winter and rainbows spawn in the spring.

 

[Cougarbaby]

I caught small rainbows in the Benner spring section of the creek a couple weeks ago 5 inch range

 

[jifigz]

Rainbows spawning in Spring Creek !?

They've been there for many years at this point. If you fish upstream on Spring like around Spring Creek Park, your chances of catching a wild bow are damn near 100% as long as you're catching fish. About a decade ago, I began catching them a lot in Spring Creek Park area. Dennis Charney at FFP didn't believe me back then.....

I perceive rainbows being there as an okay thing.

 

[Cougarbaby]

Sounds like a success story to me love it

 

[wgmiller]

They've been there for many years at this point. If you fish upstream on Spring like around Spring Creek Park, your chances of catching a wild bow are damn near 100% as long as you're catching fish. About a decade ago, I began catching them a lot in Spring Creek Park area. Dennis Charney at FFP didn't believe me back then.....

I perceive rainbows being there as an okay thing.

That's 100% accurate. Hard to believe they can make it in there with all the summertime human activity (wading, building rock dams, runoff, etc.), but they do. Personally speaking, I don't have a problem with them, as they seem to co-exist well with the wild browns. There are so few places in PA that have wild rainbows that finding a place that has them is a nice change of pace. At this point in time the native brook trout that once called Spring Creek home are a thing of the past, so enjoying the wild fish it gives us is still a treat.

 

[Cougarbaby]

Last year on Little J I caught a wild rainbow,brown and Brookie on the same day would love to do that more often

 

[Wild_Trouter]

That's 100% accurate. Hard to believe they can make it in there with all the summertime human activity (wading, building rock dams, runoff, etc.), but they do. Personally speaking, I don't have a problem with them, as they seem to co-exist well with the wild browns. There are so few places in PA that have wild rainbows that finding a place that has them is a nice change of pace. At this point in time the native brook trout that once called Spring Creek home are a thing of the past, so enjoying the wild fish it gives us is still a treat.

Been saying this for years and some on here still don't believe. In my experience, they are concentrated in certain areas, and one can reliably catch a few each outing. I used to think the fish I caught were just wanderers from some of Spring's tribs, but consistently catching them in multiple year classes is kinda telling. I don't have a problem with a mixed wild trout pop on Spring. Personally, I like the diversity. I'm curious to see what effect the removal of the dams will do to the bow population in the future.

 

[wgmiller]

I don't have a problem with a mixed wild trout pop on Spring. Personally, I like the diversity.

Couldn't agree more. It does make me wonder what it is about that stretch that rainbows find attractive for reproducing and calling home. There is no doubt in my mind wild rainbows exist and have for a number of years now.

 

[troutbert]

Couldn't agree more. It does make me wonder what it is about that stretch that rainbows find attractive for reproducing and calling home. There is no doubt in my mind wild rainbows exist and have for a number of years now.

I don't think that there is anything special about that stretch that favors rainbows. Instead it has to do with the location where a private party introduced the wild strain rainbows. They have been spreading out from there, and probably will continue to do so.

 

[Mike]

I don't think that there is anything special about that stretch that favors rainbows. Instead it has to do with the location where a private party introduced the wild strain rainbows. They have been spreading out from there, and probably will continue to do so.

Not that I would be surprised if they expanded their longitudinal range in Spring Ck, but there could be something about the present stretch that allows for reproduction and survival of young RT that doesn’t exist elsewhere on the stream. This was the case in a relatively short portion of the Codorus Creek special reg area for about a decade and then for some unknown reason the very substantial RT reproduction stopped, the sizable population in that short segment disappeared, and we were not finding any wild RT or maybe one or two individuals after that within a fixed location survey site that included (by chance) a portion of the RT reproduction reach.

 

[wgmiller]

Not that I would be surprised if they expanded their longitudinal range in Spring Ck, but there could be something about the present stretch that allows for reproduction and survival of young RT that doesn’t exist elsewhere on the stream. This was the case in a relatively short portion of the Codorus Creek special reg area for about a decade and then for some unknown reason the very substantial RT reproduction stopped, the sizable population in that short segment disappeared, and we were not finding any wild RT or maybe one or two individuals after that within a fixed location survey site that included (by chance) a portion of the RT reproduction reach.

This kind of reverts back to some of the discussion that has taken place about wild rainbows being a bit fleeting. Unlike once wild browns are established, it seems as though wild rainbows don't seem to sink their roots as deeply when it comes to natural reproduction.

 

[Dave_W]

Perhaps a similar situation to the upper Letort back in the 80s - good population of wild RT for a few years and then they disappeared.

There seems to be more RTs in lower Spring Creek these days as well, perhaps from downstream fingerling stockings(?) and one can wonder if these populations may mix and establish - maybe already have?

Anyway, I agree it's nice to see some wild RTs.

 

[dudemanspecial]

I have caught quite a few wild bows in spring, always below paradise and they are always little dinks. Would love to catch a wild bow as big as a few pictured above.

 

[Wild_Trouter]

I have caught quite a few wild bows in spring, always below paradise and they are always little dinks. Would love to catch a wild bow as big as a few pictured above.

This was from above Houserville. I have other pics with bows ranging from 4"-22" caught here and Lemont. Few other spots but that's all you're getting out of me 😉