The first time I ever saw anyone fish The Run, or as I've been calling it for 40 years, Boiling Springs Creek, was just about 40 years ago. Back then in the early to mid 1970s, it wasn't particularly heavily fished because where there's now a park and a nice historic site there was pretty much just an overgrown thicket. Plus it was mainly home to wild brook trout and they weren't particularly large. Also, this whole fly-only catch and release thing (or in those days one fish a day 20 inches or longer) was just coming into its own.
In my mind, a major turning point came one fall when a particularly large rainbow ran up out of the big creek and set about spawning in the hole above where the footbridge is today. More and more people started fishing the creek and it kind of evolved into its own destination. There's been plenty of mention that the creek is only a few hundred yards long, but the destination section of the Breeches isn't a whole lot longer, especially if you'd prefer to fish the moving water at the Allenberry rather than the still water behind the dam.
Sure, the Breeches runs for miles and is heavily stocked, but there has never been a time when the number of fish per square inch outside the fly water has rivaled what's in it. The reality is, the Breeches and the creek are the closest thing to a sure bet for those of us who may only have a few hours to cast about.
For a couple of winters, my dad and I had a tradition of hitting Boiling Springs to fish between Christmas and New Years to burn up the last of our licenses. It was cold, but the big trout do come up out of the Breeches.
There were also late June evenings when the lightning bugs were flashing and the trout were leaping out of the clear water to snatch them. It's something to see and that's the only place I've ever seen it.
Anyhow, from the early 1970s to the early 1980s, the creek underwent a transformation from being an overgrown afterthought to having most of the vegetation on furnace side ripped out. At one point, the park area and parking lot on the furnace side had asphalt right up to the old bridge abutment. As for the furnace, far from being the historic site it is today, it was mainly used as a secluded spot where people weren't shy about dropping a load of heat.
It was also in that time period that the Children's Lake - Mill Race waterway was adjusted in such a way that the level of the main creek, as well as the creek alongside the pool, was dramatically increased. The Mill Race once flowed from the upper Breeches at a dam site and added to the water in Children's Lake. This allowed for a substantially larger flow in the creek (and the little raceway beside the swimming pool). It could accommodate more anglers and more fish, but it tended to rip the banks away from the little creek. Also when the Breeches got muddy, it tended to turn the ice clear creek muddy too.
Still, it was a great place to fish because there were so many trout in it.
Even so, I got away from fishing it as the responsibilities of parenthood limited my fishing time. For several years I didn't even buy a PA license. Then about 2006, I returned with my son, who was 6, mainly so he could fish Children's lake.
I was pleasantly surprised to see the nice park on the furnace side, how the furnace had been transformed from toilet to tourist attraction and, most especially, how the lake's shore had been reenforced and the creek's flow was back down to something approximating what was flowing into it -- unfortified by the Breeches.
Anyhow, I've been back many times and I enjoy fishing Boiling Springs Creek as much now as I did when I was in my early teens learning the sport.
As for the poachers, I'll offer that, while a few are jackass adults looking for free meat, most are kids who like fishing as much as we do. I generally let them know there are special regulations that apply and give them a few flies. These days, spinning tackle is allowed, so once they've seen me catch a fish on a fly even thought they can't on Power Bait, they're much more interested in trying a spin-fished fly.
Who knows, a few of them may grow up to be like us.
Possibly I do this because I remember back when I was of that age fishing legally with flies, PA had a Deputy Warden program under which citizen anglers were empowered to write citations and give them to poachers or others who weren't following the fishing laws.
As a kid lucky enough to have a dad who taught him how to catch a fish on a fly, I was often viewed with suspicion by the Deputy Wardens. Hardly a trip went by that I wasn't asked to show my fly to prove it wasn't bait of some kind.
It really was rather humiliating, and I'm glad to see the old Deputy Warden program has been discontinued. In my mind, it's better to try to convert the bait anglers to the ways of fly fishing than it is to try to chase them off.
And as long as there are trout in the run, and the open water is fished out, poachers will find there way to where the fish are.
Anyhow, that's my reflection on the limestoner at Boiling Springs. It's no destination stream, but after a morning of fishing over the wild fish in the Letort or Big Spring and being happy to just get a look or maybe even a tap, being able to catch a few at Boiling Springs is a welcome change of pace.
I guess the main point of my rambling is to say don't be hating on old Boiling Springs Creek. It's a place where a kid can learn, a seasoned angler can enjoy a few hours and expect to have a good shot at catching a few fish and, as I'm finding out these days, a place where an aging man can enjoy an easy fishing trip.
It ain't perfect, but then again, neither was Fisherman's Paradise. Come to think of it, that was pretty much just a bigger version of the run at Boiling Springs.
