Spruce Creek

Got a chance to fish Spruce Creek this past week and of course jumped at it, have not been there for 20 years and had such a good time trying to fool the resident browns. A friend of mine that I meet while doing dog training ask me to go with him on the trip that was sponsored by his pension fund managers, heck my guys don't sponsor this for us! We found the correct final location after driving thru the valley and commenting on how beautiful all the farms look and how well the land was managed. Found the turn off and the cabin location, to call it a cabin is a total disservice, it is a jewel, our guide was ready and waiting, our host arrived as we were dressing. After getting to know everyone we were given a lesson in the length of the property and where to begin and where to stop, this is all very private land in the valley and the only public area is the George Harvey Penn State area down stream. I did not start but choose to just walk around a look at the water while the other guys were set up and getting some instructions. I rigged up and decided to start in a small depression along side a big rock, well the rainbow I hooked made very short order of my rig breaking off the bottom fly and bending the top PT hook straight, so much for fine wire hooks. This same thing happened most of the day except for the normal sized browns and rainbows that took the flies and were manageable enough to land! The really big bow's were another story, just big bruts that did not respond the pressure all the while exerting all their force on your equipment. I had to choose my flies as to the realitive hook strength, could not use the same ones I use in Spring and Penn's otherwise pop the hooks were opened up. A #14 Bead Head PT with a #14 rainbow hot spot scud tied on a Tiemco 2457 would do the trick unless the fight lasted too longthen POP.
   Our property owner is the President of the Phila Federal Reserve, a Bucknell grad and avid Penn State football fan who lets TCO host some day trips for this pension fund management business. What fun it was, yes the really big rainbows are stocked and feed on a regular basis but they are fun and no one gets hurt. The only down side to the entire day is mosquitoes- hoards of them everywhere and just loving your blood. With the wet conditions this year the populations have just exploded. We finished just after noon and all of us were tired of landing or fighting fish and bitten up. We went to the Spruce Creek Café for lunch and just to let you know a tray of French fries beat 5 of us, could not finish it.

  I have attached a video of one of the big rainbows that I landed, you can see the shoulders on them. If it does not load I will keep trying to get it to work over the next few days