Figuring out Spring Creek

[salmo]

I’ve been fishing Spring Creek for over 20 years. Early on when I fished exclusively dry flies I did fairly well. Then the skunk bit me. I would fish hard all day and be lucky to land one.
Over the past several years I’ve been moving to dry/dropper and nymphs. My results on Spring did not change … until
During the first week of May I arrived at the Paradise section and met another member. We walked up into the canyon section around 5:30 pm and started to see multiple rises on a regular basis. We each selected a pool and started casting. Lots of refusals but landed two. The next morning I fished just north of Belefonte. I was fishing 10ft 3wt with 18 ft of mono with 3 nymphs. In two hours I landed 4 and missed 2 more that threw the hook.
That was a banner couple of days for me on Spring. All fish caught on flies that I tied.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Satisfying to crack the code anywhere, salmo

I had help from some sharpies, but what I learned about Spring, and granted not something you can do in Paradise, but fish from the middle to both overhanging banks instead of from the bank to the middle of the crick. The other is to fish riffles, even inches of water. All it takes is a nice 6 inch depression with some broken water flowing over it to hide a nicer fish.

 

[salmo]

That’s what I’ve heard. The fish hug the banks and under the bushes.

 

[jifigz]

I've taken the skunk on Spring before. I've also had dynamite, knock out days. I think it's a good stream for terrestrial fishing.....also I think small flies work well on spring. Like a size 20 zebra midge.

 

[Schaefer406]

I've taken the skunk on Spring before. I've also had dynamite, knock out days. I think it's a good stream for terrestrial fishing.....also I think small flies work well on spring. Like a size 20 zebra midge.

I second this. I fished Spring maybe 2x per week when I was at PSU and it can be a moody stream. I found as Jifigz said, that smaller flies seem to work the best. On Spring, depending on the section, fish have tons of bankside cover (lower spring near Milesburg-Bellefonte and upper Spring where it thins out from Fisherman's Paradise upward), so a good tactic mentioned by Nymph-Wristed is fish from the center to the banks. In Middle Spring, more in-stream cover is available such as rocks, felled trees, etc. making a more conventional approach a good option. Another cool thing about Spring is during hatches, due to the fish density, you can see groups of larger fish feeding heavily on emergers in deeper pools, which has led to me pulling 4-5 fish out of a pool during these times since they are stacked up.

 

[salmo]

I suppose that it a lot easier to fish during a heavy hatch than when everything’s quite?

 

[Prospector]

It’s good in rain storm too until the creek muddies.

 

[Schaefer406]

I suppose that it a lot easier to fish during a heavy hatch than when everything’s quite?

Fishing during a solid hatch is definitely very good, but my favorite time to fish Spring is in the fall after a decent rainstorm. I get some solid streamer action and good nymph eats in the higher water. I am not much of a dry fly fisherman so most of my catches on spring are on nymphs/wets and occasionally streamers. My favorite portion of Spring to fish is right up from the mouth in Milesburg due to the higher water volume, but upper spring can surprise you sometimes in the smaller water.