Practice Waters near State College

[Colweb78]

Hi all,
Just joined the site and wondered if anyone knows of good practice waters near State College?
Im looking for somewhere i can try and improve different casts without:
A) bothering experienced fly fishermen
B) getting snagged on obstructions
C) catching anything!
I just want to improve my techniques before taking a class in Spring and then getting more involved in the intricacies of fly selection etc.

To give some background, i moved here from UK couple years back where i was entirely a sea angler. Here I've been mostly fishing small waters with 4lb line and spinners. From what i hear, this is one of THE places for fly fishing so seems remiss not to try and learn!

Ill be using a 6'6 1960s rod my father in law had lying around and ive put on wf6f line, 4x leader and tippet with a muddler minnow on the end. (Ill be buying proper equipment once i know a bit more about what suits the area best)

Thanks all,
Colin

 

[huntfish]

spring creek in bellefonte is a class A stream right near state college. go there and I'm sure you will run into plenty of guys that would be willing to help. just ask questions. i know there are also a couple of fly fishing shops on college ave down once you get into bellefonte, check them out as well. should give you some good insight

cheers

 

[Colweb78]

Much appreciated, thanks!

 

[gfoledc]

I live in Tyrone but I am on Spring Creek at least 3 days a week. I would help you out if you would like. I will pm you my contact info

 

[Colweb78]

That's be great! Itll be more next spring that ill be activg fly fishing but is love to come watch/ pick your brain if youre there regularly?

 

[Fishidiot]

Colweb78 wrote:
Im looking for somewhere i can try and improve different casts without:
A) bothering experienced fly fishermen
B) getting snagged on obstructions
C) catching anything!
/quote]

Colin,
Welcome to our online community. Based on the above, I'd recommend you stay away from Spring Creek if you are out by yourself - too many other fly fishermen and it is challenging fishing. Instead, what you want to do is go straight to the backyard and practice there (or a nearby open field with mowed grass).

If you want to hit water, go to Whipple Dam state park and fish from shore. You can practice casting on non flowing water and not have to worry about wading or disrupting other fly fishers. You can catch sunfish and maybe some stocked trout at this lake.

 

[Colweb78]

Thanks for the welcome. Whipple sounds good - and close. Just have to wait for school to start back up so i dont feel self-conscious casting badly in front of a crowd of high school kids!
Ive done a bit of garden casting, wanted to get a feel for casting on the water without being a nuisance to others!

 

[lycoflyfisher]

If you want to practice your casts on the water get out and do it, as long as your respectful and don't try fishing 20 ft from someone nobody is going to get mad with you. Most experienced fly fisherman will offer advice to other fisherman on the water especially if they appear to be struggling. The best way to learn flyfishing is to get out on the wate and find out what works for you and what doesn't. I would maybe follow fishidiot's advice and try to find a local pond or lake where you can get experience casting and still catch fish relatively easy.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

gfoledc's offer is a very generous one.

One day spent with him will knock years off the learning curve.

 

[salmonoid]

Fishidiot wrote:

Colweb78 wrote:
Im looking for somewhere i can try and improve different casts without:
A) bothering experienced fly fishermen
B) getting snagged on obstructions
C) catching anything!
/quote]

Colin,
Welcome to our online community. Based on the above, I'd recommend you stay away from Spring Creek if you are out by yourself - too many other fly fishermen and it is challenging fishing. Instead, what you want to do is go straight to the backyard and practice there (or a nearby open field with mowed grass).

If you want to hit water, go to Whipple Dam state park and fish from shore. You can practice casting on non flowing water and not have to worry about wading or disrupting other fly fishers. You can catch sunfish and maybe some stocked trout at this lake.

Good advice from FI, but I wouldn't be afraid of Spring Creek either, as an on the water school, after the backyard. Fished it three days last week and saw a total of one angler the whole time.. If you stay away from Fishermans' Paradise and don't fish during the famous hatches, there is plenty of open water where you can beat the water. You might actually catch something too, so C) shouldn't be an option

 

[LongLineRelease]

Good advice so far. Another option is Sayer's Dam. You can get a large grassy area on the shore to cast from. If you are casting on the grass, consider tying a piece of yarn to the end of the tippet or get an actual sacrificial fly and cut the hoot bend of it. This will give you sometime to practice with.

 

[lv2nymph]

Heritage-Angler wrote:
gfoledc's offer is a very generous one.

One day spent with him will knock years off the learning curve.

Yes sir, take him up on it...
Welcome aboard, and to fly fishing. You're going to love it. Don't hesitate to ask anything, lots of knowledgeable folks in here.

 

[mario66pens]

Colin, I would be glad to help you out, don't hesitate to send me a pm.

Brian

 

[pcray1231]

I went to PSU and really cut my fly fishing teeth on Spring Creek. I do agree yard casting can be of great help when you don't have the time to get onto a stream. But there's nothing that brings you along quickly like fishing on the stream, over trout. I think the combo of yard casting when you can't get out, and Spring Creek when you can, should be your plan.

1. It's ideal for you because it's 5-10 minutes from town, less if you want to fish the upper sections. Yeah, it's a limestoner and the fish are a little picky, but it's just ridiculously loaded with fish. This means immediate feedback, you can see what's working and what's not, and you always know there are fish where you're fly is. It has some trees and vegetation, as anywhere will, but it's about as easy to fish as it gets. There are even mowed sections.

2. Yes, there are plenty of other anglers. Don't be so self conscious. Who cares what they think? And beginners have every bit as much of a right to the stream as the experts. If I walk any distance there it's real common to see a beginner beating the water to a froth. And my only thought is "good for him".

3. Take some of the members' up on their offers here. It will accelerate your learning curve.

4. There are two good shops in town. Not to disparage TCO, they're certainly knowledgable guys and I have nothing bad to say about them. But FlyFishersParadise was my store when I was there, and the guys there are EXTREMELY helpful to beginners. They helped me a lot.

5. Once you get to a reasonable level of proficiency, don't put on blinders and think Spring Creek is the only game in town. That's a sure way to stall your development. Central PA is a wild trout paradise. A little longer drive, but Penns Creek, Big Fishing Creek, the Little Juniata River, etc. all offer different but still very good experiences. And there are literally 100 smaller, less famous waters in the area as well, ranging from large stocked waters, more limestoners, small freestoners. Fishing different types of water makes you a more rounded fisherman, and better able to adjust to changing seasons and conditions. In the end, that's what this sport is about.

 

[huntfish]

+1 ^

 

[nymphingmaniac]

+10 on number 2 point from Pcray. It saddens me when new people to the sport get the impression that they must yield to others.

see PM

Also, around these parts, 20 ft, especially on Spring Creek may be crowding unless you are fishing a heavy hatch with many on the water. When in doubt ask.

Welcome to PSU

 

[Colweb78]

Thanks all, really appreciate the replies! Ill check out that store and will try to get over that newbie self-consciousness.
I'm in no rush to get my own 'proper' rod/reel until i have a feel for the sport. When i read up, people recommend such a huge variety or lengths/weights etc.
Think ill start building my fly collection, get my knots perfected and, if i catch some nice trout in my beginner stage i'm not going to complain about it

 

[pcray1231]

The huge variety isn't gonna be so huge when you specify a stream. We tend to argue about brookie rods as there are different schools of thought there. But other than that we tend to agree on optimal length/wt combo's for any given scenario.

We merely focus on different scenarios. There are guys that focus on big rivers like the Delaware and Lehigh. To them, Spring Creek is a small stream. There are many others who consider Spring Creek to be a large stream. So when you say "large stream" you get a range of answers because people are picturing different things. Likewise with size of fish and so forth.

But if you say Spring Creek in Centre County, PA, most recommendations are gonna cluster around a 9 ft 5 wt. Plus or minus maybe a foot, plus or minus maybe 1 wt.

As for action (graphite, boo, or glass, fast vs. slow tapers, etc.) that's all personal preference and you should do your best to figure out what you like before investing a lot of money into a rod.

 

[KeithS]

pcray's last post should be a sticky.

 

[skcuf]

What about trying on warm water? I've sinced moved away from State College (I'm looking to go back if anyone wants to hire a PSU grad ) but I think there is a small lake off of 322 that you could probably use to practice casting on the water. Probably catch some sunfish as well.

I think it was Colyer? People who still live there can comment on the fishing legality of this lake as I've never actually been there. I usually look on Google maps for places and this is one I remember.