Fly Fishing Central Pennsylvania's Spring Creek in Late July

Two weeks ago, my fiancee and I spent a few days camping in central Pennsylvania. While we were ostensibly there to work on wedding stuff, I still found some time to fly fish. We first tried Penns Creek. Despite the cool water temperature, the trout were quiet. It had rained earlier in the day, and I think that the thunder/downpour had put the trout down for the evening. Instead, I caught a few smallmouth bass on a big black marabou streamer. We stopped and photographed some Indian Pipe - a parasitic white plant devoid of chlorophyll - on our hike along the river. It was the first time Jackie and I had encountered this strange flower.

The next night we drove to the Fisherman's Paradise section of Spring Creek. I caught 11 fish - 9 wild rainbows and 2 wild brown. All of the fish fell for either a terrestrial or a shrimp pattern (4 on an inch worm, 4 on a pink shrimp, 2 on a ladybug (!), and 1 on an ant). It was a pleasant central Pennsylvania night, and the fish were willing. I'm convinced there's nothing better. Our time at Spring Creek was marred, however, by one annoying fly fisherman. While I thought fly fishing was known as the "quiet sport," a know-it-all angler spent nearly twenty minutes watching my every move. He kept telling me where to cast, what I was doing wrong, and how to land fish. At first I was polite, and answered his questions. Then as time went by, he became more and more annoying. After I landed a fish, he said "Now you can go back to Hoboken and tell everyone you caught a fish." His condescension and his patronizing attitude were extremely aggravating. I don't know if this guy was trying to impress his friend and young son, but just because my car has a New Jersey license plate doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. Oh, and I don't live in fucking Hoboken.

I got my revenge, though, by catching four fish in a row while this guy struggled to catch one. To which my new friend responded by asking, "Are you still using that terrestrial pattern?" Of course I was - it's summer in the northeast, what else would I use?

Image #1 - Indian pipe
Image #2 - 15 inch wild brown
Image #3 - My first fish caught on a ladybug pattern! It can be done.

Overall Total: 121

River Breakdown:

Teetertown Brook - 18 (18 Wild Brook)
Spring Creek - 16 (13 Wild Rainbow, 3 Wild Brown)
Raritan River, South Branch - 12 (8 Stocked Rainbow, 3 Stocked Brown, 1 Wild Brown)
Marshalls Creek - 8 (8 Wild Brook)
Swift River - 6 (3 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Brook)
Elk Creek - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Elk River - 5 (3 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Penns Creek - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Stony Brook - 4 (4 Stocked Rainbow)
Paulinskill River - 4 (2 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Rainbow)
Rockaway Creek - 4 (4 Wild Brown)
Bushkill Creek - 3 (2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Brown)
Clear Fork of the Mohican River - 3 (3 Stocked Brown Trout)
Fishing Creek - 3 (3 Wild Brown)
Lost Cove Creek - 3 (2 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brook)
Old Town Run - 3 (2 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Yellow Breeches Creek - 3 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Brodhead Creek - 2 (1 Stocked Brown, 1 Wild Brown)
Hickory Run - 2 (2 Wild Brook)
Little Brook - 2 (2 Wild Brook)
Roaring Run - 2 (2 Wild Brook)
Big Gunpowder Falls River - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Little Glade Creek - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Mill Creek - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Mud Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Poplar Run - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Schooley's Mountain Brook - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
Trout Brook - 1 (1 Wild Brook)
White Deer Creek - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)


Species Breakdown:

Brook Trout - 44
Wild - 38
Stocked - 6

Brown Trout - 39
Wild - 25
Stocked - 14

Rainbow Trout - 38
Stocked - 23
Wild - 15


Wild Trout - 78
Stocked Trout - 43


Trout 15+ Inches: 11


Fly Breakdown:
Olive Wooly Bugger, size 14 - 23 (22 Wild Brook, 1 Wild Brown)
Bead-head Pheasant Tail Nymph, size 14 - 10 (8 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown)
Green Weenie, size 14 - 8 (4 Wild Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown, 2 Wild Brown)
Green Weenie, size 12 - 6 (3 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Brook)
San Juan Worm, size 12 - 6 (3 Stocked Brown, 2 Stocked Rainbow, 1 Stocked Brook)
Tan Caddis, size 14 - 5 (5 Wild Brown)
Pink Shrimp, size 14 - 4 (4 Wild Rainbow)
Sulphur dun, size 16 - 4 (2 Wild Rainbow, 1 Wild Brook, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Bead-head Copper John Nymph, size 16 - 3 (3 Wild Brook)
Black Caddis, size 14 - 3 (2 Wild Brown, 1 Stocked Brown)
Gummy Stonefly, size 14 - 3 (2 Wild Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Bead-head Black Stonefly Nymph, size 10 - 2 (1 Stocked Brown, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Brown Stonefly nymph, size 10 - 2 (1 Stocked Brook, 1 Stocked Rainbow)
Ladybug, size 16 - 2 (2 Wild Rainbow)
Wet Ant, size 14 - 2 (1 Stocked Brown, 1 Wild Rainbow)
Bead-head Green Weenie, size 14 - 1 (1 Stocked Brook)
Bead-head Hare's Ear Nymph, size 14 - 1 (1 Stocked Rainbow)
Brown Wooly Bugger, size 14 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Blue Quill, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Blue Winged Olive, size 18 - 1 (1 Wild Rainbow)
Golden Stonefly, size 8 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Light Cahill, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)
Scud, size 16 - 1 (1 Wild Rainbow)
Sulphur dun, size 14 - 1 (1 Wild Brown)


Angling Breakdown:

Fly Fishing Rod - 92 (26 Wild Brook, 18 Stocked Rainbow, 17 Wild Brown, 15 Wild Rainbow, 12 Stocked Brown, 4 Stocked Brook)
Spinning Rod - 29 (12 Wild Brook, 8 Wild Brown, 5 Stocked Rainbow, 2 Stocked Brook, 2 Stocked Brown)


State Breakdown:
Pennsylvania - 52
New Jersey - 48
North Carolina - 9
Massachusetts - 6
Ohio - 3
Virginia - 2
Maryland - 1