Another Year I Fished on The First Day of Deer Season

Ok I know this is a dumb thing to do but I had to got to State College and did not want to let that go without getting my hands smelly. Delivered Birthday gifts to our Granddaughter and Son In Law early and decided to look for rising fish even if it was a bit early, so I drove from the top of Spring Creek to the bottom stopping at known locations that usually have some fish up but it was a bit early in the day and still cold, well as soon as I arrived, below the bridge in Milesburg I could see them first one then more, slow steady rising fish and some looked to move a good amount of water. I pulled onto the street and changed into my double layer of capalene long underwear and my waders but I used a bright red jacket on the outside for deer hunter protection even if I was in the limits of Milesburg! You have to get into the stream well downstream and ease your way upstream at the same time looking for rising fish on the road side of the stream, there were 3 on the way up, all fell for a well placed #20 Grif's Gnat, get the float right and they ate, made it to the bottom of the pool below the bridge and spent the next hour and a half catching and then waiting for another rise to show then repeating the same action over and over, some nice fish and some small ones but "no one else around", no gun fire  the only negative was the cold which is made worse because your not moving much, time to wade down stream, some jerk has posted his land where we used to get out and any area near is just to steep or covered with thick brush making it hard to get out, wading upstream is not an option unless you can float! All in all not a bad little fish, this is one that you can count on about every day and it gets better as the day warms up.

Redd count for 2016

Sunday was the annual Spring Creek redd count, yes Sunday in all the wind, snow and cold but the people came out in force. We had coffee donuts and some heat at the picnic pavilion, got our maps and final instructions so off we went, I was paired up with the same partner as last year, a fine fellow from Palymra who is originally from Trevorton and has a cabin on Penns. We have the section that borders the Benner Springs PFC hatchery and this year we decided to start upstream and walk down. The first observation we had was that the water is extremely low and clear, all you had to do is move just a little and the trout blasted out from their holding position, second observation is the there is just so much fallen wood in the stream that the flow has been altered and shifted the main current to different locations not where they were last year, we are not talking about a few trees but a load of them both in the water and falling along the banks, the effects of the Emrald beetle has been dramatic everywhere but here worse than ever, if we get a really big water event I do not want to think what all that wood will do to the bridges! Our over all result this year was a total of 97 clean redds down from our total for 2015 of 160+, this has to be because of the low water conditions, we saw plenty of trout swimming away from us, We need rain badly and there is none is sight. Back at the check in site the same story was told by the other teams, some had counts off as much as 50%, Dr. Bachman said that we might have to revisit some sites in mid December to get a more complete picture of the number of redds in the stream. After some hot dogs, chili and very hot coffee a warm drive home was in order, no fishing after the count this year. Maybe next year we can get some of you guys to help, it is a really great way to learn a stream and have some fun.

I Just Had to Fish

I could not stand it any longer the sweet song of Penns just was getting louder and louder "fish me"!! So last Friday I decided to give it a try all 45 cfs of it, got there about 10:30 AM and walked to the stream with thermos in hand, just looking for any sign of life and low and behold there they were one after another slow easy rising fish from the soft water below the riffles to the mid point on the hole (the bottom of the hole was getting battered by the wind), up and in a good rhythm. Ok had my coffee and pissed a few times then back up to the car, got dressed and only took two boxes of flies with me, my Wheatly midge/Trico and my Olive emerger box, decided to try a #22 Olive emerger pattern, well that was the only fly that I used, it took every trout it floated over IF THE FLOAT WAS GOOD! In an hour I had 10 browns not big maybe 7" to 12" most were in good shape but the larger ones were skinny, did move some larger fish as I tried to either get into a better position or if I floated it over one of them and began to lift it off to cast again they took off like shots. All this time the sun was not on the water, I might have had the same result if I had used a Griffits Gnat but who knows the Olive worked well, slow determined rising fish usually tells me it is a hatching dun. I did not see any evidence of spawing fish nor were any of the landed fish colored up at that time. The water level is a sad site to see, we need rain badly. I think that I could have taken some of the larger guys if I had taken my 7 weight and run a large black streamer thru the pool but I was happy with the results.
  This Sunday the 20th is the annual Spring Creek TU redd count on Spring Creek, the fish are in active spawn now and it will be interesting to see just how the low water conditions will affect the numbers that we will see, it is to be windy and cold, just perfect for walking the stream and counting, followed up with hot coffee and hot dogs in the park!

I don't think so.

Took Drake to Penns on Saturday for a bit of off lease training and a long walk along the stream. As I arrived at Johnson's Pool the sheer lack of water hit me square in the face, this is just not good, yes it might be cool but with the extreme low water the fish are sitting targets for the birds of prey , mink, ducks and anything else that can get to them. We walked over Cherry Run to get to the Blue Rock hole and a fish has to be very little and able to fly in order to swim upstream to spawn, we just better get some rain before the urge to reproduce becomes strong. Blue Rock is a sad looking site as is the tree root hole just below the riffle before the stream hits White Mtn. and makes the turn.
  We then walked up the road to the Fish Comm. Cabin, while there is a little water in the Cabin pool it is moving slow and if you stepped in to get in casting range of the two rising fish you'll send waves to the opposite side putting any rising fish down for good. Best medicine for Penn is just stay away and if you can dance- do a rain dance or pray for rain- we need it badly. The rain will have to be a good one in order to flush the debris from the gravel beds in order to clean them before any fish attempts to spawn.
   Might be best if we tie some flies and get ready for the Winter Midge & Olive hatches that will be here soon, usually October is a good month for both but not so much this year, November & December are typically not great either. We get back to good rising fish in Jan, Feb and March for the Midges and Olives- so get tying or go bird hunting.