A nice day on Big Spring

[JimKennedy]

Nothing big, but this past Monday (March 14) proved to be a productive one on Big Spring Creek. Being an early season weekday and a rainy one at that, the creek was far from crowded. For the first time in my life, the upper section known as the ditch was devoid of anglers. It's a place I've never caught a trout (or even a chub), but the prospect of having it to myself was too much to resist. I started with a black and yellow streamer and had several follows, but none particularly serious (no fish got closer than about two feet to the fly). Switched over to a bead-head rubber band grub, size 10, suspended about 18 inches under a cork beetle. Magic. Nice rainbow on the second or third cast. Missed several then picked up a brook about 8 inches about halfway up. Also missed another nice rainbow (saw the beetle twitch, set hook, saw flash, felt tug, game over).

Went down to the next parking area and switched back and forth between streamer and grub rig. Much less action, but did pick up a small rainbow.

As good a day (about 5 hours of fishing) as I've ever had on Big Spring.

I'd like to express my deep appreciation to the group that has been restoring the lower part of Big Spring. When I was a kid and into my teens, I fished Big Spring with my dad. This was back in the 1970s and early 1980s, and by that time, pretty much all the fish in the fly zone were confined to the ditch area and that massive hatchery gave made the whole stream smell like the south end of a sewage treatment plant. The lower end was 100 yards wide and six inches deep, all mud. I'd written it off years ago, but a friend had heard about the restoration and I reluctantly agreed to return about three years ago. Had a good day with streamers and have returned a few times. It is slowly becoming one of my favorite trout streams.

Thanks to those who have put the effort into the restoration. It also has restored my hope for the future of trout fishing in these parts.

 

[3wt7X]

Nice write up and pictures!!! Big Spring is a special place for sure and having the ditch to yourself can be both fun and frustrating. I've had some fun up there with size 24 cdc midge variations along with smaller pupa droppers. Long leaders and drifts are the key, but all my bigger fish have come on streamers up there in the ditch area. The fishermen traffic has been nuts, since the stream improvements went in and the magazine article was written, but slowing down and resting the water you are fishing, usually results in good things.

 

[riverdance]

Glad you had a nice time on Big Spring run Jim. I live nearby so I frequently stop by to fish a couple hours and yes 1 on 1 with the ditch is a rare treat. Try some of the lower parking areas as well. A week after this winters big snow I was fishing this stretch and heard a whoop from an angler downstream from me close to the parking lot. He was dancing like Nuryev with his rod held high pirouette to the leff an arabesque to the right and all the while shout for his colleague downstream. I walked down and and he held up a 23 inch rainbow that he had taken on a 22 zebra midge.