Fishermen's paradise

[pete41]

Is there some kind of unwritten rule not to mention the Paradise?I see Spring Creek mentioned a lot but not the paradise.
It gets my vote as the best fly fishing school in the country or was back in the 60s anyway.
You could wink and natural drift and be over fish all day long.The ultimate lesson I learned there was that even in the size 22 fur bodied nymphs color was of utmost importance.Just as Art Flick stated about his schorie[?] there was was a progression from dark grays early in the season to the light tans[I forget the exact color order but it was there].If you had the right colors they would take,wrong and it was tough.
I also learned from Tony,one of the locals,not to read too much into anyone day.One time the jassid was THE fly,so I was telling him how great it was.He told me he had seen that many times before and would tie up the hot fly by the gross and it would be just another fly.I guess we have all seen that,been there etc.
I had a lifetime worth of jassids the next trip-should have listened.lol
Anyway is the paradise still as good as before or has time taken its toll?
thanks

 

[Acristickid]

I can't cast good enough without wading to be as effective as I need to be there. So I don't fish there much. I can say that the port-a-jon was nice and clean at the Paradise when I used it at 4:30am on Thursday. I got tired of trying to sleep in my car at the Flying J off I-80 in Lamar so I did some night scouting.

 

[pete41]

I use to sleep in my van-chevy greenbriar-at the pulloff about 1/2 mile from the entrance.I was waiting to go in when the whistle blew.Loved fishing above the falls where you could sight fish down stream with nymphs.When the target trout would move to one side and open its mouth and you could see the pink or wink,you struck gently.Now I would say what trout?Time has taken its toll-lol
Loved the Paradise.Slept on top of the hill coming out of Penns creek valley many times.Even in the laundermat before I had sense enough to buy a sleeping bag and not just use blankets.

 

[jaybo41]

acristickid wrote:

I can say that the port-a-jon was nice and clean at the Paradise when I used it at 4:30am on Thursday.

Yeah but was it clean when you were done with it :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[dryflyguy]

I have never done well at the paradise in my 20 + years of fishing spring creek. But I have done quite well upstream, by the "rock", and below it all the way thru Milesburg.
Don't really know why, but I just never really saw the fish rising there good, as I do above and below.
And from talking to other fisherman, it's pretty much the same with them.
In his books, charlie meck says that the middle part of the stream - around the paradise - took the brunt of the pollution years ago, and has been the slowest to recover. So, maybe that's the reason

 

[flyfishermanj]

Nothing against the Paradise area, but there are better places on Spring to fish IMHO. My brother and some friends have to fish there everytime we fish Spring. I can do with or without fishing this section, it's not the no wading thing, sometimes it feels like your fishing at a club with the grass being cut up to the bank. Though I will say that the outflow ditch is a great place to take a beginner.
JH

 

[tomgamber]

What I like about the Paradise is when I used to visit my brother in law in State College (before he moved to Virginia) I could just pop in there with just my rod and a box and go at it. No waders no one else in the water. Kids can run around a little. It was a great place to hit for an hour or 2 at most. Not a destination for me but a good quickie.

 

[jayL]

I go because I'm young and it's a place I've heard in legends. I didn't catch a damn thing and there was only one other angler there on a saturday evening in June.

I'll probably return eventually, but I have a lot more of spring creek left to explore.

 

[pete41]

Thats a shame-it must have really gone downhill.When I use to go there,there were no mayfly hatches because of something Penn State did but the midges were thick and the fish fed all day.The Carlisle gang,Shenk,Koch,Fox and the others loved the place.A days fishing good for at least a dozen fish and 50 or more were common.You could always get some of the five pounders to take but hard to land on 8x.
I really liked the club feeling and it was narrow enough to fish it all with our five foot bamboos.Sometimes brought out the six.The regulars mostly did well,visitors would have a tough time and get really upset.Part of the fun was to be oh so blase' landing fish after fish while the drop ins were frustrated.The ones that asked learned.

 

[schrec]

I caught my first Spring Creek trout at the PAradise as a student while on a field trip for Joe Humphrey's class in 1979. I caught it on a muscrat nymph Joe actually gave to me. I used to fish the Paradise all the time. I have many good memories there. I also used to go there first when I would travel to Central PA to hit the sulphur hatch. Used to be, you could easily have a 40 or 50 fish day if you hit it at the right time-- roughly the second week in May. When the hatch first started, they would come off during the afternoon through evening. At the same time, green caddis would be around. It was a bonanza. I haven't fished the area during that time of year for a couple of years now, it has become too much of a mecca for too many fishermen for my tastes. But I hear it's not what it used to be anyway. But there was a time when the Paradise was THE place. (Apologies for sounding too much like an old timer.)

rising fish always
schrec

 

[dryflyguy]

The best hatch I ever saw at the paradise was the bread hatch. People used to go up on the bridge that leads to the hatchery, and throw bread to the fish in the deep hole below. Many large fish would appear out of nowhere an start going nuts - almost like the carp do at Pymatuning. When I first started fly fishing in the early '80's, I was there one hot day with one of my buddies. The fishing was really slow and we hadn't caught a thing. Then a family with kids showed up, and started feeding the fish.
I didn't tie flies yet, but my buddy pulled out his vise and some white yarn, and quickly tied up some bread patterns. And we proceded to catch quite a few of the lunkers there on white floating "yarn" flies

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear pete,

I love the Paradise and probably fish it more than the open water sections of Spring Creek.

When I get to Spring Creek and can't find a place to park I just head to the Paradise. I hate getting to Spring Creek at 7:30 AM and feeling like I am in a line at deli so I go where nobody else wants to go.

Like Tom I like the fact that you don't have to get all geared up to go fishing. Some flies and fly rod and you are all set. My dog loves the place too.

For the fellow up the thread who said he doesn't like to go there because he can't wade and doesn't cast well there is no better place to learn how to cast or drift a fly than a place where you can't wade. Please, give it a try.

Regards,
Tim Murphy

 

[jayL]

I can vouch for what Tim's saying. I didn't catch a thing (I didn't have the right size/color midges) but I learned more about my ability to cast than anywhere else. Turns out, I can shoot my four weight pretty far when I really have to. The cross currents were out of hand. It was a great learning experience. I just need to go back when there are a few more fish rising.

 

[Acristickid]

I will give it another try. Hard to drive 3 hours with a mind set to practice -but how else does one improve-. Someone else mentioned, there are so many great places to fish and numerous areas I have not fished, I kinda get drawn in to exploring.

(this is a problem I can now overcome since I got laidoff 2 weeks ago- I might be the only person who is was looking forward to being laid off)

 

[ryanh]

While we are on the subject I was there last weekend. I fished what I guess is the kayak course. There are all of these numbered pvc pipes hanging from wires. Anyhow how is that stretch of the stream? The water is deep and fast. I had trouble fishing it. I imagine that it can hold some big fish. any thoughts?

 

[StudentofTheStream]

I've always had a really good time at fisherman's paradise and have always done pretty well. It definitely causes you to adjust your style of fishing since much of the middle water is hard to fish with a good drift due to the varying currents. I like the challenge and I always enjoy a distant hookup/fight.

As far as the kayak section goes downstream in bellefonte I've only fished it once. It is deep and fast and there are fish but it is really tough casting through all the obstacles that are there. Trees, branches and pvc you can see readily but the thing wire that hold the pvc pipe up claimed more flies from me than I care to mention. A very challenging section especially if you have to dodge kayaks at the same time.

 

[dryflyguy]

Though I've never done well in the paradise, I had a great experience there that I'll never forget.
I was there in March a few years ago to fish - and not really finding - the BWO hatch.
My buddy and I were just getting ready to leave, when a car pulls up to us, and the elderly man in side rolled down the window and asked how we were doing. It was none other that George Harvey himself! We proceeded to have a nice long chat with him about all kinds of fishing subjects. After a while , a fish started to rise a few times directly across from us. My buddy decided to try for him, and took a few casts. After watching him, George told him that his casting wasnt right, and walked over to the stream and gave him a casting lesson.
He still never got the fish to take though, and asked me to try for it. So I went over, and after a few flings with the fly rod, George came over and gave me a casting lesson also. While doing so, he commented that my leader wasn't tied right - it was a George harvey leader,- and that I shouldn't be using such a light rod - it was a 2 weight. Kinda made both of us feel that we still got a lot to learn about fishing, but it was really a special experience.
I've heard since that he is frequently seen at the paradise, and that would be another good reason to go there