Fishing Creek Pennsylvania Fly Fishing Report – 04/16/24
The stream is still flowing well above a normal level with stained water. Give it some time to drop and clear. Good Midge, Hendricksons, Quill Gordon, Blue Quills, Little Black Caddis, Little Brown Stoneflies and BWO hatches are taking place. Scuds and aquatic worms are also working. Email us at (sales@perfectflystore.com) with the dates you will be fishing and we will send you a list of our fly recommendations. We can get flies and gear to you within two to three business days from the time you place your order via Priority Mail. We will also gladly ship directly to your destination so your flies and gear will be there when you arrive. If you provide a budget for flies, we will select them to match the budget and get them to you on time for your trip. Your can also call us at 800-594-4726 and we will help you decide what flies and gear to use. All orders are shipped free in the U.S. If under a $100 order requiring Priority mail is a charge of only $8.10. Orders over a $100 are shipped free via Priority Mail.
We also have custom Perfect Fly selections in 3 different price ranges for this stream that come with or without fly boxes. They make excellent gifts. Click Here To Order or Call us at 800 594 4726 or email us at sales@perfectflystore.com.
Type of Stream
Spring Creek
Species
Brown Trout (Wild)
Brook Trout (Wild)
Size
Medium
Location
Central Pennsylvania
Nearest Towns
Mackeyville
Lamar
Season
Mid April through February
Access:
Fair to Good
Non-Resident License
State of Pennsylvania
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Stream Flow Data:
Real Time USGS Data
Seasons:
Trout can be caught just about any day of the season.
Spring:
The most popular time of the year for fly Fishing Creek is during the spring hatches.
Summer:
Summer may find the water low, but it remain cool in the most sections.
Fall:
This may be the best time to fish the creek because the crowds don’t exist and the brown trout spawn in the Fall.
Winter:
Trout can be taken on midge imitations during the Winter.
Recommended Tackle & Gear
Fly Line:
4, 5 or 6 weight
Leaders:
Dry fly: 9 to 12 ft., 5 or 6X Nymphing:
71/2 ft., 3 or 4X, Streamers 0-2X
Tippets:
Dry fly: 5 or 6X, Nymphing: 3 or 4X,
Streamer 0-2X
Best Fly Rods:
Perfect Fly Supreme Four, Superb Five
or Ultimate Six
Fly Reels:
For 4/5/6 fly line
Fly Floatants and Misc Items:
Floatants, KISS Strike Indicators
Tools & Accessories:
Nippers, forceps, retractors, etc.
Options For Selecting Flies:
1. Email us (sales@perfectflystore.com)
with the dates you will be fishing this
stream and we will send you a list of our fly suggestions. Please allow up to 24 hours for a response.
2. Call us 800-594-4726 and we will
help you decide which flies you need.
3. Email us (sales@perfectflystore.com)
with a budget for flies and we will select them to match the budget and get them to you in time for your fly fishing trip.
All orders are shipped free in the
U. S. Orders over $100 are shipped via
Priority Mail.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
Fly Fishing Fishing Creek Pennsylvania
Fishing Creek is one of Pennsylvania’s best trout streams. Fishing Creek is the name of several trout streams in Pennsylvania but in the eyes of many anglers, there is only one Fishing Creek. It is the one in Chilton County near Interstate 80 less than an hour from State College. Many call it the finest trout stream in Pennsylvania. It has an excellent population of wild brown and brook trout.
Fly fishing Fishing Creek isn’t always easy, especially when it is introduced to someone new to the area. Fishing Creek twist around and at one point it is headed back in the opposite direction that it ran for miles. Another even stranger thing about it is the fact that during the summer, it runs underground in two different places along its length and then reappears. That isn’t at all bad. In fact it is good because the stream reemerges with cool water. The entire stream stays cool even during the hottest days of the summer. The “Narrows” part of Fishing Creek may look like any freestone stream (not a spring creek) in the East but if you will notice, it always has a low layer of fog over it.
About 25 miles of Fishing Creek is “Class A” water according to the state of Pennsylvania. That means it has a population of wild trout that does not need any supplemental planting of trout, meaning “stocked trout”. I’m told it has far more than the requirement in much of its class A section. However, there are sections of the stream that are stocked. That only occurs on the lower end of the stream.
Fishing Creek has two major limestone tributary streams that also add cool water to it – Cedar Run and Long Run. These are true limestone spring creeks that look like limestone spring creeks. They are narrow, 15 to 20 wide creeks with a lot of aquatic vegetation. Cedar Run has a good population of wild trout. It also has some fast water sections which adds some diversity of the normal slow moving spring creek. Its water stays in the fifty degree range.
Long Run is complicated {messed up would be a better word because of a State Fish Hatchery located on it. It would be great little stream if it wasn’t for that. I’m certain it makes a fine fish hatchery but it also fouls up the water in Long Run below the hatchery. There are usually a lot of hungry fishermen hanging around the hatchery trying to catch a meal. Of course the trout are used to stock other waters, or at least I think they are. I also think the state would be better off using the money collected from the sale of fishing license to issue “fish n clip” food stamps rather than wasted on a trout stocking program, but Pennsylvania, or any other state operates on the basis of what I think.
Although Fishing Creek is one of the best trout streams in Pennsylvania, it does have some problems. Some of them are just inherent with being a good trout stream. It’s an extremely popular destination, not for just the locals but for others coming to test the fine fishing in central Pennsylvania. To put it bluntly, it can be very crowded at certain times of the season, especially in the “Narrows”.
Although many anglers may not prefer to fishing nymphs and larvae imitations over dry flies, fishing a nymph or larva imitation is usually the best approach to fly fishing Fishing Creek. This is true of most limestone spring creeks. The fish feed far more on the bottom of the stream than the surface. Crustaceans, including sowbugs and scuds are eaten by the trout year round.
This isn’t to say that dry fly fishing isn’t good. It can be very good at times. It is just a hint intended to improve your success. A short, simple, easy way to determine when to fish a dry fly is when you start seeing trout feed on the surface.
If you don’t see surface action, chances are you will be better off fishing below the surface. This is true on any trout stream but especially true on Spring Creek.
Another big key to success fly fishing Spring Creek, is to make sure you stay hidden from the trout. Most of the time the water is gin clear. Stay below the line of sight from their window of vision. Wear clothes and a hat that blends in with the background. This varies with the season. Wearing bright, contrasting clothes makes it much more difficult to stay hidden.
Fly Fishing Guide for Fishing Creek:
The first time we ever fished Fishing Creek was near the end of August several years ago. We fished the “narrows” then after we finally found that section of the stream. I thought it was beautiful and must have a trout behind every rock. Well, it may have but they didn’t want to take my flies and the result was that Angie caught one small brown trout and I didn’t catch a single trout in over three hours of fishing. The water was quite low but still very cool.
There are some deep holes along the pocket water section in the Narrows. It looks much like a freestone, mountain stream in its upper parts, that is if you ignore the cloud of fog lying low over the water or begin to look closely at the water. It is pure spring water and it is slick.
The following day, we went back to the Narrows and I managed to catch three nice brown trout in about three hours of fishing. They were between twelve and fourteen inches long. The action was slow and I had to fish a small Blue-winged Olive nymph imitation to do that. Since then, we have done much better on several trips over the last few years.
I fish Fishing Creek in an upstream direction making a lot of short cast. I don’t use a strike indicator. I just weight the fly a few inches above it with split shot until I get the right amount of weight to keep in near the bottom.
I don’t use the “high stickin” method. That doesn’t work very well in Fishing Creek, especially during the low water times. I simply cast up and across and watch and feel the line to detect the takes.
Fishing Creek can be a very difficult stream to fish, especially when the water is low and very clear. I am strictly speaking of wild trout and not referring to the stocked trout areas of the stream. Pressure from a lot of anglers on such a small area of the creek (the Narrows) takes its toll on the ‘catching’ part.
During our best day there, and probably eight hours of actual fishing (one at a time), we managed to catch 15 brown trout. That is easy to determine from our video shot logs. They probably averaged about 12 inches but that is a guess since we didn’t measure any but the very largest. However you want to look at it, that is a good catch of wild brown trout. That occurred on a day that the stream was very crowded. It was during the Hendrickson hatch.
Fishing Creek Hatches and Trout Flies:
Our information on aquatic insects is based on our stream samples of larvae and nymphs, not guess work. We base fly suggestions on imitating the most plentiful and most available insects and other foods at the particular time you are fishing. Unlike the generic fly shop trout flies, we have specific imitations of all the insects in Fishing Creek and in all stages of life that are applicable to fishing. If you want to fish better, more realistic trout flies, have a much higher degree of success, give us a call. We not only will help you with selections, you will learn why, after trying Perfect Flies, 92% of the thousands of our customers will use nothing else. 1-800-594-4726.
Fly fishing Fishing Creek isn’t like fishing most spring creeks. It can fish more like a freestone stream in certain. Fishing Creek has a tremendous population of aquatic insects and crustaceans. It has a high pH level and supports many different species as well as quantities. It is a very fertile stream.
From the first of March through the middle of April you will find some Little Brown or Early Stoneflies hatching. There are hatches of Little Winter Stonflies throughout most of the Winter.
The stream has several Blue-winged Olive species including large numbers of the larger Eastern BWOs. Different species hatch starting around the last week or two of March until near the middle of June. A second round of hatches occur from late August through the middle of October.
From around the first of April and continuing throughout the month, hatches of Blue Quills will occur on Fishing Creek. Almost the same time interval, hatches of Quill Gordons will occur. You will find them in the fast water sections. From about the middle of April, until early in the month of May, Hendrickson hatches take place. This is a great hatch on Fishing Creek.
From about the middle of April until the end of April, Fishing Creek will have a good hatch of Brachcentrus Caddis, or American Grannoms. This is one of the better caddisfly hatches of the year. Cinnamon Caddis are plentiful from the first of June through September. Green Caddis are very plentiful. The stream is full of their larvae, or green rock worms. Great Autumn Brown Caddisflies hatch during September and October.
American March Browns hatch from about the first of May until the first of June. Sulphurs and Eastern Pale Evening mayflies hatch from about the middle of May through the middle of June.
Fishing Creek has several good hatches. The water is full of aquatic insects. There are several species of caddisflies present. I don’t think we have ever found as many large rock worms or free-living caddisfly larvae as we have at Fishing Creek. There appears to be a large population of Little Black/strawberry chimney cased caddis there also. It also has a huge amount of net-spinning caddis, or Cinnamon Caddis present.Light Cahills hatch during the same time interval. From late May until the middle of June, Fishing Creek has a good Eastern Green Drake hatch. From the middle of May through the month of September, you will find hatches of Slate Drakes.
Scuds and Sowbugs are plentiful in Fishing Creek. They are one of the main parts of the trout’s diet in the stream. Imitations of them work year-round. There are also plenty of crayfish. Large brown trout will eat them, so don’t overlook them.
Minnows, baitfish and sculpin are also plentiful. Streamer imitations of them work year-round. These are great flies for a large, trophy brown trout. Fish them in low light situations such as early and late in the day and during heavy clouded conditions.
Terrestrial insects become important during the Summer. Imitations of grass hoppers and crickets, ants and beetles are effective from about the middle of June through the month of September.
We recommend “Perfect Flies”. They have been proven to work on Fishing Creek. Our scuds and sowbugs are especially useful as well as our simi-realistic imitations of all the mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies that exist in the stream. If you haven’t done so already, please give them a try. We are confident you will be back for more. Over seventy-eight percent of our customers have done just that.