Final results of 2017 Spring Creek Redd Count

Well another redd count season is behind us and the results are down but confusing, best guess is that we were early in our counting, perhaps another week was needed in order to get the trout going but here they are with some sections to note.
Boalesburg downstream to just above the quarry, 13 active redds BUT in 2016 this section had 171 active redds!

Route 26 bridge downstream to Puddintown bridge, 67 active redds and in 2016 this section had 30 redds BUT - NZ mudsnails were found in this section! Be careful and allow your wading gear to dry well between fishing sessions or have two pair in the ready to rest one and allow the snail fry to die in the air and absence of moisture.

The bridge on Rockview property down stream to the bridge above the PFC pistol range had 181 active redds and in 2016 it had 184 redds, a good solid number each year.

The Rout 550 bridge downstream to the Distillary bridge had 39 active redds and in 2016 it had 119 redds, some of this area is very hard to see but still the numbers are down.

   Overall the number have fallen in the past years,
2015 had 1945 redds
2016 had 1597 redds
2017 had 1236 redds
   A drop of 348 from 2016 to 2017 and a drop of 361 from 2016 to 2017, I hope this trend does not continue but I think we need to go back to are old date to do our survey even if it hurts us in the cold, just more hot coffee and chili to keep us warm in the process.

2017 Spring Creek Redd Count

It was another cold one at the start but warmed up to 43 by 11:00 AM, we stated at the blue bridge at "The Rock" on Rock Road and worked our way down stream to the bridge at Benner Spring's Hatchery, water conditions were better that 2016 with more water and good color. We did not see any redds till about 30-80 yards down stream because of the slow deep nature of this section just below the Fish Comm. concrete dam, we started to see redds as soon as we got to the sections that had 6" to 12" of water and moderate to fast flows, the key is having small gravel for them to work with. this year for some reason most of the redds were on the hatchery side of the stream, we would go good distances without seeing any on the "new path side", When we got to certain areas we would find multiple redds but found only "1" that had a female on it, not sure if our section was post sawn or just getting started- BUT we saw no trout around the redds except that "1". Our total count was "107", a bit more than 2016 and less that 2015 but again there were long sections that were devoid of any redds and the years before we had them in these sections but to be fair the water was up! When we returned to the Spring Creek Park to turn in our results we found that ours was one of the highest numbers reported that day and some teams found "0" redds, a sure sign that the survey was too early in some of the sections, it is true that not all trout are active spawning at the same time but they at least are in the same time frame, I would look for a flurry of activity this week or the next and some of the guys plan on going out again to conduct a resurvey. I did check in on the one really big bed just off Rock Road and it had a few small males darting around the redd but no big female.
   As soon as I get the final results I will post them for you but know Spring Creek is doing well. There is a new parking area just above the "Rock" parking area just up the road to the airport and a really good walking path down along the stream to the Benner Springs bridge but be aware it is a steep last few 100 yards walking back to your car!

 

Redd Count this Sunday

Our annual Spring Creek redd count is this Sunday starting at 9 AM an lasting as long as it takes for the teams to finish walking and counting redds both active and non active sites. I have always been amazed at some of the sizes of fish we have seen both on the redds (females) and some of the males seen alongside the redds. I remember one site that has if there is water has always had one very large female and male active on it and a bunch of small males just darting around the edges, what a site to see, it is alongside the road not more that 20 yards from it! I will You Tube some of the sites in order for folks to see them and if we are lucky maybe even some of the really big guys. I will check Penns on my home in the afternoon. Hey the chili is good and hot as is the coffee, 9 AM at Spring Creek Park in Houserville, within site of the PSU stadium. We can use the help but this is a very good chance to get a good look at the stream and see just how many Brown trout there are.

The flush is here but a bit early

OK I know we needed a bit of moisture but gees, I measured 3.2" in my back yard rain gauge this morning and Penns is running 4600 cfs at the recording station in Penns Creek. We all know that our brown and brook trout need a flush to remove leaves and debries that have collected on or near good spawning gravel but not quite this much. The weather is to turn colder and that will bring down the water temps to a more desirable level to get the fish going. Our annual trout red survey on Spring Creek is Nove 12 and in past years this has been a good time to observe them and get a good count on the number of redds but it also gives us an idea if they are still on the redds or if they are over when we are there. Last year we saw a lot of empty redds but a good number of them, we are very careful to not spook them and try to stay out of the water as much as we can. In Penns it is pretty hard to get a good count of the number of redds but if you take a walk below Coburn and really get up on high ground you'll be able to spot a few and get a sense of just how big some of these guys are. Big Fishing Creek is another ideal stream to spot spawning fish BUT these guys are really spooky! I have seen some really big fish here, some that are New Zealand size. As with any of these guys please don't fish for them because we need every one of their offspring to grow up and become and adult for us to enjoy. Years ago we did fish for some of them and found that normally you can catch the males that hang around the edges of the redds but not the main pair, you will be amazed at how big some of the females are.
  As a side note it is a great time if you can to remove some debris or stone that might be blocking streams like Cherry Run or Panther Run in order for the fish to ascend them to spawn.

Water is up a little

OK was out on Thursday and did see a small increase in the flow on Penns but "0" on Fishing Creek! Wanted to see if the olives would make an appearance but decided to fish a tandem nymph  rig. My set up was a large Oct. caddis pupa (orange body with a black & purple collar and a rather large black tung. bead with a size #18 bead head PT about 8" above (just in case the olives were moving), did ok but not the best- all smaller fish. Went back to the car and took out the 7 weight switch rod and set it up with a large black tandem streamer, fished this for about 45 min's and got a few follows but no takes, I downsized to a smaller bright single hook streamer and began to take some fish, they took hard and no short strikes like before, no idea why other than they seem not to be in the prespawn mood yet. The section of Penns just below Coburn has plenty of wood in the stream and I found them to be near or tight against it. The entire day I only saw but a few rises and no Oct. caddis fluttering around like you normally see in late fall but to be fair the weather was not great, caddis like sun and olives love crap- but no olives either. I used a varation of a steelhead spey single streamer fly tied on a 25 mm. shank with plenty of flash (gold and copper), the main hook is a Gama. hook and they are really sharp.
  Just got word on some really neat hooks priced a $10.00 per a box of 50 from; www.fiireholeoutdoors.com they are called "Firesticks" some really neat types and really sharp and barbless, give them a try. Tried a few and wow "sharp"
  We just might be in the midst of a weather change and may get some rain at regular intervals, if so I would expect to see some real good prespawn activity in the browns in the next few weeks. Spring Creek TU has their annual redd counting event on Nov 12, meeting at Spring Creek Park in Houserville between 9 and 10:00 AM hot food and coffee will be available to warm you up before and after the event, we can always use help!

A Must Read

If you get "The Drake" via mail or by the internet you might have already read this short article by Monte Burke titled Junior's Water, if not go to www.drakemag.com and read it. I tend not to be political here and in real life not really radical in my views, except for the environmental issues. This outlines the total hypocrisy of our new president and the views of his son, I do give Jr. some credit, he fishes in public water and stays in his own cabin and not private clubs. Make no mistake our environmental protections are under attack but the result will not be any more business or jobs, and in the end Donald will say "hey I gave you everything you wanted and you failed, all the while our rivers and streams will be filled with crap like they were years ago, thank heavens we have lived in the time frame we have, maybe not the best but at least we have had good water and good land management to be proud of. Makes me want George Bush back again, at least he made sense.
  Now I love the PA Boat and Fish Commission's latest temper tantrum, if you don't give us a raise in license fees we will close hatcheries and decrease stocking, this is just an attempt to make the neck snappers call their local rep's and complain that they will have no trout to catch, why not make some really tough decisions to shrink the offices and not the people who do the work. Maybe selling the hatcheries and buying the trout from them would lower the costs by a huge number. They would pay for fish and not the employees health and retirement costs. I heard this from Sherwin and that boy makes perfect sense when it comes to money. Our State Fish and Game departments care about keeping their jobs and not that much about the resource, hell maybe they will sell a special permit to catch carp or shoot sparrows.
  In any rate just go fishing and listen to the birds, who cares if you catch anything just enjoy being out doors, it may all be gone before you know it, If you doubt me just look around and count the number of dead or dying trees and the absence of honeybees, just saying!

Check it out

I was at the Dam below Sunbury just above the PA Fish Comm's boat launch taking my lab for a walk and low and behold I found "carp" digging in the bottom looking for food! The dam is undergoing a full bag replacement on the Sunbury side and they have it removed and have a wall build above it and the #2 bag is also inflated so there is no water coming down the East side near the bank, very slack water is there and if the wind is not blowing you can see the carp just looking for food, a good target for a nymph or a crayfish pattern, go now and check it out before the water gets too cold for them to fool around.
  We went back Saturday to pick up some drift wood and found them again but the wind was really blowing and there were a lot of guys with spinning tackle trying to catch bass and walleyes, so I just looked at the carp and did not want to attract attention to them. Best time would be thru the week so the pressure is less.
  A good carp pattern that looks like a crayfish with dumbbell eyes is just the ticket BUT remember there are snags here so take it a little bit light with your tippet in order to break it off if your stuck on the bottom.