Spruce Creek (10/17/2012)

October 17th, 2012 I visited Spruce Creek for the first time in about three weeks and had a great time hooking into a few good rainbow trout.  It was a beautiful day and the wind was extremely calm which allowed for a tangle free nymphing day.  A few days earlier, I went to another stream and the wind was blowing hard and it seemed like every other cast I was hooking into fallen leaves that were getting swept down the stream.  I can only imagine the difficulty that the fish were having seeing any type of aquatic insect to feed on.  Both days produced a nice tan caddis hatch but the only time that I saw fish feeding on top was on Spruce Creek where there was minimal debris in the water.    

Below are a few photographs posted from my recent trip to Spruce Creek!  I hooked into a much larger rainbow that took me under two branches and snapped me off.  Life will go on!

Enjoy!

Spruce Creek (08/25 - 08/27)

This past week I spent several nights fishing Spruce Creek.  The temperatures weren't extremely warm so Jeff Scipione and I decided we would go and check out the big fish that lurk in Spruce Creek.  We did very well fishing inch-worms, stoneflies and slumpbusters once the sun went down.  It was a lot of fun and we caught several fish near or around the 20 inch mark.  Two of the fish that I hooked into the first night were ones that I will be going back for because I didn't get a chance to land them.  One was a huge rainbow that I've caught once before on a pheasant tail earlier this year and the other was a massive brown that I've never seen before.  Needless to say it lies at the top of my most wanted fish to hook into!!

The craziest thing was, right before the rain shower and thunderstorm the trout went into a feeding frenzy.  It was like a switch went on, unfortunately we didn't get to fish it through because we had to get out of the water once the storm rolled in.  I'm sure the fish continued to feed voraciously, but we didn't want to get struck by lightning!

Enjoy some of the pictures that we've compiled over the last few adventures on the public section of Spruce Creek!

Huge Spruce Creek Brown Trout!

My older brother Brett shows us that fly fishing is in the genetics. Here he is with a gigantic 27" brown trout caught on Spruce Creek this past week. He caught this slab on a green weenie of all flies. The Hoover - Michelotti hook-up at it's finest (The Hoover family has a patent pending on the green weenie trying to legally change the name to the Hoover weenie.) Brett taught me much of what I now know about fly fishing, when I was first starting out, now I teach him a thing or two every time we fish. All kidding aside this fish is an absolute monster. I appreciate you sharing it with us, I do definitely miss trout fishing. 

Destination: State College, PA Spruce Creek

Bob Kalantari hoists a torpedo sized rainbow!

Destination Part 3 is all about Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania.  When you think about Spruce Creek, you immediately think of Wayne Harpster, Jimmy Carter and all of the famous people who frequent its banks in hopes of catching a massive trout.  We don't have the luxury of spending thousands of dollars to fish any of the private sections of Spruce Creek, so we are "stuck" fishing the public water.


My favorite time to fish this area is when the temperatures aren't too warm and when the flow is normal to above average. The higher flow will allow this section to hold some of the bigger fish.  That being said I love fishing it throughout the fall, winter and spring months prior to the dog days of the summer when I give the fish a rest due to the intense heat.  


One of the things that amaze me every time I hook into a gigantic fish there is that so many times the fish lay underwater completely hidden to the naked eye.  Some of these monsters barely have there backs covered in the water they're hiding in.  


I have had the opportunity to fish here a lot and each new trip I take to Spruce Creek I often am reminded about specific fish at different sections of the stream.  Sometimes I find myself wondering if one of the huge fish and I will get to meet again.  A story that I often tell first time fisherman that go to Spruce Creek was originally told to me by my father and occurred while he was a graduate student at Penn State.  He was fishing a section of the stream when he was greeted by a female mallard and its nine ducklings.  This was nothing new and he took in the small, newly hatched ducklings as they were approaching the area he was fishing.  Next thing he knew, an carnivorous trout exploded above the waters surface and the ducklings had no idea what just happened.  After the crime scene calmed, my father was shocked! What just happened in front of him?? He recounted the ducklings and noticed that there was now only eight ducklings...  To this day I recreate what that scene would've looked like and I often wonder what that toad of a brown trout would've looked like out of the water.  


If you need any other reason to pursue Spruce Creek, below are a few pictures that document some of the fish who in the past have been fooled by a fly.      

Snowy rainbow caught on a frigid winter day.

Brian caught this on a #16 prince nymph.

Spruce Creek Update (7/2/2012)

Spuce Creek fished very well yesterday morning with a variety of options to choose from to have a successful morning on the stream. I started the morning out using an assortment of terrestrial pattern (ants, beetles, stimulators, etc) and did very well. Then I went down under to catch fish using caddis pupa, scuds, and green weenies.

The trico spinner fall was fun to mess around with but did not result in any significant fish in comparison to what can be caught while fishing sub-surface. If you get some free time, fish Spruce Creek and once you finish there head down the road to fish the Little Juniata!

Below is a sample of pictures from our morning on Spruce Creek. The first picture is of Leigh Elling who caught her first fish on a fly on Spring Creek this past weekend!

Great fish Leigh!

Weekly Fishing Report

I may not live there anymore but I still have contacts to let me know what's going on in those rivers in central PA. Most important news that everyone should take note of. The green drakes are starting! Seriously, this is traditionally a hatch that happens around memorial day weekend or even the first week of June, and it's starting now. I don't know what to tell you other than tie some green drake nymphs and some adults and seriously pay close attention because any day now it could break into full bore and you will miss it. Things to think about when fishing the "shad" hatch:

1. You don't have to fish only green drakes, sulphurs, march browns, caddisflies will all work leading up to and through the hatch. 

2. Fish subsurface before and during the green drakes. 80% of fish feeding happens subsurface drake nymphs and other traditional nymphs will work well when everyone else is struggling to match the 8 million flies on the surface

3. Fish the coffin fly, just before it gets black dark tie on a coffin fly and fish that instead of your drake I have always had more luck with the coffin fly plus it's white so you can see if with the shine of the moon. 

Now for whats going on, on the rest rivers in our area!


Spring Creek


Water levels are elevated and flowing at 235cfs and normally the flows are 124cfs.  The good thing about Spring Creek is that the water levels drop quickly in comparison to the other local streams.  The dry fly fishing has remained great (prior to the rainfall) with sulphurs, cahills, crane flies, and tan caddis.


Hatches-
Sulphur size 14 - 18
Light Cahill size 12 - 16
Tan Caddis size 14 - 16
Crane Flies size 16 - 20


Hot Fly-
Orange Sulphur Sparkle Dun size 14
Yellow Parachute Sulphur size 14
Pheasant Tail size 14 - 18

Fishing Creek

The rain has pushed up the water levels a decent amount and it's probably a little high and off color. Think about giving it a day or two and head out there looking for fish feeding on sulphurs and in a week or two the drakes will be there as well!

Hatches-

Sulphurs size 14 - 16

Tan Caddis size 14

Black Midges size 24

Some stoneflies lingering around too. 

Hot Fly- 

Sulphur Sparkle Dun size 14

Penns Creek

Penns Creek has near perfect conditions for throwing streamers through the day and hitting some big fish on dries through the evening bite. Of course the drakes are starting but the sulphurs are still in full swing. I would focus on that with a side of slump busters because they always catch fish on Penns when the water is up and off color. 

Hatches-

Sulphurs size 14 - 16

Tan and green caddis size 14

Orange craneflies size 16

March Browns size 10

Hot Fly-

Green Drake Nymph size 10


Little Juniata/Spruce Creek




The Little Juniata and Spruce Creek have not received the amount of rain compared to the other Central Pennsylvania Streams and it has continued to drop close to normal levels.  If you have time go and fish go to the Little Juniata.  




Hatches-
Sulphur size 14 - 16
Gray Fox size 12 - 14
Light Cahill size 12 - 14
Crane Fly size 16 - 20


Hot Fly-

Orange Sulphur Comparadun/Sparkle Dun size 14

Yellow Parachute Sulphur size 14

Pheasant Tail size 14 - 18