Troubles on Spirng Creek (euro nymphing)

[colt824]

I fished Spring Creek on August 22d first time. Visited three different spots, Fisherman's Paradise, Spring Creek Rd below Walking Bridge at The Distillery, and rapids below Sunnyside Paddle Park at Bellefonte. Had a good day with plenty of brown trout, and a tandem Green weenie+Cress Bug made my day. 90% of the fish were caught on one of them.

Nice! so i always here guys mention walts is all you need is that really applicable on a stream like spring (how'd you do at fishermans paradise?)

 

[kbobb]

This guy got a few at the paradise using euro tactics - maybe try it his way?

 

[tomgamber]

then why is this section so over glorified?

It's accessible and to jeep noobies out of the good water. 😉

 

[troutbert]

then why is this section so over glorified?

"Fishermans Paradise" sounds more appealing than "next to the sewage plant."

 

[dryflyguy]

There’s a group of older guys that hang out there during the spring season.
And it’s quite user friendly for them - picnic tables to sit on, toilets nearby. No wading allowed or required to fish it.
So, there’s that......

 

[Nocktavius]

colt824 said:
then why is this section so over glorified

Honestly we could say the same thing about most of Spring. I fish central a ton…but I fish Spring at most once or twice a year- generally when the other rivers are blown out or when the BWO’s are hatching in late February while the rest of the region is still frozen solid . More than half of the good hatches there were wiped out by pollution- which continues to only get worse with all the urban sprawl in the area, there’s 2000 fish per mile and 1998 of them are under 10”, and the whole thing is basically just TCO’s dumping ground for bad presentations (hey internet! It’s me George 🤪)


It’s cooling off now, go hit the big water in the area- it’ll pay dividends, I’d bet money on it

 

[colt824]

This guy got a few at the paradise using euro tactics - maybe try it his way?

thi

this video haunts me ive watched this time and time again and can't see what he is doing differently compared to me lol.

 

[colt824]

colt824 said:
then why is this section so over glorified

Honestly we could say the same thing about most of Spring. I fish central a ton…but I fish Spring at most once or twice a year- generally when the other rivers are blown out or when the BWO’s are hatching in late February while the rest of the region is still frozen solid . More than half of the good hatches there were wiped out by pollution- which continues to only get worse with all the urban sprawl in the area, there’s 2000 fish per mile and 1998 of them are under 10”, and the whole thing is basically just TCO’s dumping ground for bad presentations (hey internet! It’s me George 🤪)


It’s cooling off now, go hit the big water in the area- it’ll pay dividends, I’d bet money on it

George Daniels!!!!!

 

[colt824]

It's accessible and to jeep noobies out of the good water. 😉

where the good water at tho? 🤐🤐🤐

 

[tomgamber]

where the good water at tho? 🤐🤐🤐

Pick a direction and walk. Lots of really good water.

 

[colt824]

Pick a direction and walk. Lots of really good water.

what if a slide you a 20?

 

[dudemanspecial]

what if a slide you a 20?

As I posted above, if you are nymph fishing, any riffle or run that is 2-3 foot deep is going to hold fish. Think moving water that is broken enough on the surface that you can't easily see the bottom, calf to hip deep.

Ill PM you my venmo 🤣

 

[troutbert]

what if a slide you a 20?

$20 an hour? Sure, I'll give you a thorough tour of Spring Creek.

 

[Nocktavius]

George Daniels!!!!!

Different George

 

[dryflyguy]

where the good water at tho? 🤐🤐🤐

Really, any place on spring creek - besides the paradise - is good
You can't go wrong

 

[Mikey2006]

2 words…Green weenie

If you’re having trouble it’s probably bc either you’re focusing on the wrong water type (hit the fast stuff) or your rig isn’t totally dialed in. For this time of year I like the total of my beads to add up to around 3.5-4 mm if I’m fishing a tandem rig, that means smaller bugs and potentially using a split shot above your point. Focus on making sure you’ve got good contact especially at the beginning of the drift (so recovering quickly after your tuck cast) by lifting your rod to bring in the slack immediately simultaneously with when the downshift happens. And don’t be afraid to let them get below you and swing, I catch a lot of fish that way too.

Ultimately though, with the nighttime temps forecast this week, I’d give spring a pass and go fish one of the bigger limestoners in the area (Penns, LJ) where you should be able to find more of the appropriate water type for very productive euro. And the fish should be less pressured too since they (hopefully) haven’t been targeted in a few months. Get out early in the morning if you can for best results- the first time I hit dawn patrol on one of those creeks I was shocked at just how many more fish I caught in that first hour or two.

I would second the part about hitting the little J. I’ve been doing really really well the past week or so during this recent stretch of colder weather euro nymphing the riffles and pocket water. It seems every fish in the river is stacked up in them right now. I look for the fastest current I can find which is usually less than two foot deep and cast right up into it. The great part about faster water that I’ve noticed is that the strikes are way more pronounced, it’s almost impossible to have a take go undetected. Size 14 greenie weenie and size 16-18 pheasant tails

 

[Letort]

I tend to run anywhere from a 2.4 2.8 is this too big still?

I wasn’t referring to the bead size, but rather the hook size. If a sz 14 isn’t producing, drop to a 16-18, etc. Especially on pressured water.

In terms of bead size for euro, you want to see the current moving it and feel the heaviest fly (if fishing 2 fly rig) and ticking along the bottom of the stream bed. Can’t be too heavy for the current, or it will settle to the bottom and park itself and if it’s too light, it won’t sink to the feeding zone.

 

[JeffK]

Met Josh Miller at the NJ fly tying symposium last fall and he claimed the junior team won because they were fishing a little higher off the bottom than the ticking off the bottom, where all the other teams using standard approach. Tried it at Salmon R and it made a huge difference.

Also, I used to fish Lehigh Valley limestoners a lot and the West Branch this year and going smaller this time of year with low clear water often goes down as small as a 22. I used to start with 16 scuds and 18 pheasant tails and go down from there. Would use 14 sunken ants because common carpenter ants are about that size but usually followed it by something tiny. Stocked fish most often hit the ant, wild browns usually hit the tiny fly.

 

[Kms]

$20 an hour? Sure, I'll give you a thorough tour of Spring Creek.

I’d take that deal!

 

[colt824]

Met Josh Miller at the NJ fly tying symposium last fall and he claimed the junior team won because they were fishing a little higher off the bottom than the ticking off the bottom, where all the other teams using standard approach. Tried it at Salmon R and it made a huge difference.

Also, I used to fish Lehigh Valley limestoners a lot and the West Branch this year and going smaller this time of year with low clear water often goes down as small as a 22. I used to start with 16 scuds and 18 pheasant tails and go down from there. Would use 14 sunken ants because common carpenter ants are about that size but usually followed it by something tiny. Stocked fish most often hit the ant, wild browns usually hit the tiny fly.

yes most put euro nymphing-ticking bottom I have no room to talk as spring fools me everytime but majority of my fish are on 2.4 bead that never sees the bottom so im not guessing on bites