Tea Creek

jifigz

jifigz

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I am new to fly fishing but have been a fishing addict since I was very young. I am loving this fly fishing thing. Anyways, I went out to Tea Creek today and noticed that some trout were rising. I wasn't doing any good on a PT nymph or a wooly bugger and I didn't really see any insects to examine so I tied on a BWO and started connecting with some fish (first time I have ever caught a fish on a dry fly, and I've only had my rod since a little before X-mas.) My question is, however, is if there are wild rainbows in this stream? Everyone in my local area knows that it is a great wild brown stream, but the nicest fish I was catching were rainbows. They appeared to be wild fish but is it more likely that they are long holdovers from stockings of Kish Creek that have just made their way up into Tea Creek?

Regardless, I am totally addicted to fly fishing and this was only about my third or fourth time out. I managed to catch 7 trout in 2 hours. The 5 browns were all small and 7" or under but the 2 rainbows were much larger with one at 15" and one at 12".
 
The rainbows are strays from Kish; you've accurately assessed that I believe. BWO was also a good choice for a fly.
 
Congrats, sounds like a good day, & welcome aboard.
 
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The rainbows are likely from Kish Creek, and the browns should be wild. I believe the bows may be wild too.
 
The rainbows truly appeared to be wild, stream-bred fish. If you check the Class A stream listing on the PFBC website there are only a handful of streams on there that say that they are Class A for Rainbows. I think that they may be a bit naive, however, and I think that rainbows breed in our streams more than they think.

For example, one time my friend and I were kicking for minnows in a small stream behind his house which he liked to use for bait in the pond across the road for largemouths. This small stream is a tributary of Kish and we were about 4 or 5 miles upstream from where it dumps into Kish. One time when we lifted the net we found a small 2 inch rainbow fingerling in our net. The commission does not stock rainbow fingerlings into Kish to the best of my knowledge. I'm guessing that this small stream or Kish has a reproducing population of rainbows.
 
I believe a local sportsman club may stock fingerlings in Kish, but they would be larger than 2". There may be some limited rainbow reproduction in Kish and its tribs, but probably only on a limited scale.
 
How far up from the mouth were you? I would say that they could def be streambred but its likely they've held over. The times I have been on tea the stream seemed very shallow.
 
You pulled 7 fish from tea creek? That's awesome! I moved to Lewistown last August, and have fished tea creek a couple times, mostly right near Reedsville. I've caught a little brookie from tea creek on a dry fly, but the only time I managed to catch fish other than that was when the water was high and off color - the stream near Reedsville is really shallow and the few pools where fish held were too clear to fish - even a dry fly cast on a 12 foot leader seemed to spook all the fish in the pool.

Where do you fish tea creek? Pretty far upstream of Reedsville? I tried to go upstream a bit but couldn't find an access point. Planning to do a little more exploring this year.
 
I was fishing directly at the mill where the so-called old "duck pond" used to be. Yes, the stream was shallow and clear, but the wild browns in there didn't seem to spook easily at all. Fish were actively feeding about 3 feet in front of me. The fish were actively feeding and seemed to be stacked heavily in the pools. Maybe the overcast weather had something to do with them not spooking easily.
 
Interesting. Like I said I definitely need to explore a little more. I have no idea where the mill or "duck pond" were.
 
jeremymcon wrote:
Interesting. Like I said I definitely need to explore a little more. I have no idea where the mill or "duck pond" were.
Click to expand...

I'd love to show you. Get in touch with me sometime and we will explore together and see what we can come up with. There are some big trout in that stream for its size, but most run on the small side. Another spot that provides access that you may be interested in is off of Woodland road just past Reedsville. There is a pulloff as soon as you turn onto Woodland and the stream is at the bottom of a big, yet easily accessible, bank.

Have you fished Honey Creek at all? It is also a good stream. As is Kish in its Class A section. All of Kish has such great potential to be a gem of a wild brown fishery but they stock the living hell outta it and it gets fished hard. Nobody really bothers the Class A section though because it isn't stocked.
 
I have fished honey creek and done reasonably well. Pretty sure I caught an inch worm "hatch" on honey creek once during the summer. There were inch worms hanging all over the place, and then trout were seriously hitting my green weenie the moment it hit the water.

I believe there are decent brown trout in tea creek - I've seen some, and even caught one about 12 inches or more one day after a rain when the water was high.


I wasnt aware that kish had a class a section... I thought it was all stocked. Also interesting. I will definitely message you sometime. I'm hoping to get out this weekend, actually. Watch your PM's.
 
I don't think that many people know that Kish has a Class A section. I think that that stream could all be Class A and rival other well known streams such as Penns and Spring Creek if it were managed better and farmers in Big Valley were adamant about keeping livestock fenced out and letting vegetation grow up along the stream banks to prevent erosion.

I'll be out on Tea Creek tomorrow or possibly Elk Creek near Coburn given that it isn't ridiculously windy.

Another stream worth a look is Coffee Run. It is a very short spring creek that has a ton of potential...the only problem is is that it lies entirely within people's private property and I don't believe that most of them are too willing to let anglers in. They might be keeping this gem for themselves.
 
I have fished most of coffee run. It's entirely leased by a fishing club so access is nearly impossible. Try knocking on doors late in the winter. That's when club members don't fish and some landowners grant access, sometimes. It's a neat creek if you like spring creeks but IMO with the other streams in the area, not worth the hassle.
 
Cool. Thanks for the info. I have never really fished it. Just a little where it dumps into Kish. I don't see the need to bother about it when we have so many other fantastic streams around.

 
I've driven past coffee run a couple of times, and wondered whether there were any fish in it. At least now I know. Lol. I don't think I'll ever even try to fish it.
 
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