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Big Springs Pennsylvania Fishing Report Updated 11/20/24 There are good hatches taking place – Blue-winged olives, Great Autumn Brown Sedge Caddis, Cream Cahills, Cinnamon Sedge Caddis, and Little Sister Caddis and others. Scuds, sowbugs and our terrestrial patterns are also working good.
Perfect Flies are designed and tied to to imitate and behave like the natural foods the trout rely on to survive as much as possible. The more your fly looks like and moves through and on the surface of the water like the real things, the higher your odds of success.
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
Rainbow Trout
Brook Trout (Wild and Stocked)
Size
Medium
Location
Southeast Pennsylvania
Nearest Towns
Newville, Pennsylvania
Season
April 4-Sept. 7 General season
Heritage season: Year-round
Access:
Easy
Special Regulations
“Heritage Trout Angling” Section
extends from 100 feet below source
1.1 miles down to Nearly Road Bridge
Non-Resident License
State of Pennsylvania
Weather
National Weather Service Link
Seasons:
The season is open from April 4 through Sept. 7. The special regulation area is open year-round, catch and release only.
Spring:
Spring is the best time for fly fishing Big Springs due to the hatches that occur.
Summer:
Summer is a great time to fish because the water is always cool.
Winter:
Special Regulation Area, catch and
release only
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.
Copyright 2013 James Marsh
The Southeastern section of the state of Pennsylvania has some beautiful limestone spring creeks that provide some very good trout fishing opportunities. There are many, some popular and some rarely heard of. One of the most famous ones is Big Springs Creek located near the little town of Newville. This is the 5th largest spring in the state of Pennsylvania. The upper part of this stream will give you the shakes. The water is so clear that you can see everything in it unless it is hidden under the grass. What you mostly see are huge trout.
This was a popular brook trout stream during the eighteenth century. It had not only had huge wild brook trout, there were lots of them. The little town had several hotels and was served by the Cumberland Valley Railroad out of Harrisburg. From what I read about it, it was a very popular stream in early American trout fishing.
From 1972 until 2003, it had its own state fish hatchery at the head of the stream. From what I read, the hatchery caused many problems. The effluents from the hatchery destroyed the wild trout population that made the stream famous.
Fly fishing Big Spring Creek is fun knowing they now have 350 pounds of brook trout per acre. Some of the brook trout grow to large sizes. Some have been measured upwards to 20 inches. The state still stocks both rainbow and brown trout in some sections of the stream. The brown trout reproduce to some extent. I might mention that the stream is also fed by some smaller springs downstream of the large one that forms it. This helps keep the water cool for its entire length.
Fly Fishing Guide to Big Springs
Like most spring creeks, Big Springs is not an easy stream to fish. It has lots of large trout but the water is crystal clear and catching trout takes some special techniques that must be executed correctly. You must stay hidden from the trout; you must use very light leaders and tippet and you must make good presentations.
This is one of the finest limestone streams in the United States. Its upper section is full of beautiful, large brook trout. Unlike the brook trout you find in small mountain streams, these grow large and become very selective in what they eat. You want catch these on an attractor fly by the dozens. You probably want catch one that way. This stream challenges anyone. When you can catch trout from its waters, you are able to catch trout anywhere. Unless the trout are hidden under the grass, you can see them. The problem with that is that they can also see you.
It also has a good population of wild rainbow trout. Some of these trout grow over twenty inches long. It also has some large wild brown trout. These trout are also very difficult to catch. You must make excellent presentation, use extremely light leaders and tippets, choose your fly carefully and be able to land large trout on the light tippet. You must be able to fish tiny midge larvae and pupae imitations as well as imitations of scuds and cressbugs on the bottom using light leaders and tippets. The trout can be caught. It isn’t as if it is impossible. It just takes doing everything right. It is a great stream to learn to improve your skill on.
As with most other spring creeks, it is best to actually spot the fish you intend to catch. If you can find one rising, fish it for certain. You should know what the trout is eating and match it with a good imitation. There is not a lot of different kinds of aquatic insects as you will see in our hatch section on another page, so that part is not as difficult as you may think.
Fishing blindly to fish you can’t see is tough. It works sometimes if you can keep the fly right along the grass lines but also keep it from hanging up. It should go without saying that you need a good pair of polarized glasses to cut the glare. If you can’t see the trout, either the water’s surface is disturbed from wind or current or the light situation is completely wrong.
This stream stays a constant temperature at the spring and averages around 48-50 degrees year-round. It had a good population of native brook trout until 1972 when the state decided to open a hatchery. The wild fish population was almost destroyed and the hatchery effluent was proven to have done it. In 1991 it was shut down. The brook trout population came back and it is again one of the finest brook trout streams there are. The insect population also rebounded.
Big Springs 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 the Big Springs 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.
There are not a lot of hatches of aquatic insects on the Big Springs Creek in Pennsylvania. There are only a few mayflies. They consist mostly of Blue-winged Olives, Sulphurs and Tricos.
The Blue-winged Olives hatch in April and most of May and then again in September and part of October. They can be heavy at times and the trout will feed on them selectively.
The Sulphur is probably the most popular hatch that occurs on Big Springs Creek. There were though to not exist for a period of a few years but came back after the hatchery was closed in good numbers. The Sulphurs hatch in April and for most of May.
Tricos is the other mayfly hatch of significance. It takes place in parts of the stream during the months of June through September. Some consider this mayfly the most important of them all because of the length of the hatch and others hate it.
Some caddisflies are also present in Big Springs Creek. They consist mostly of Cinnamon Caddis. They can hatch for a long period of time starting in June and lasting until the middle of September.
There are some other species of caddisflies of little importance. Midges may just be the most important aquatic insect. They hatch off and on throughout the year. You need to know how to fish midge larva, pupa and adults on very light tippet to catch trout when nothing else is hatching.
Scuds and Cressbugs, or Sowbugs as they are called by some anglers, represent the majority of the food for the trout in Big Springs Creek. They are very plentiful. Imitations of these crustaceans is probably the most consistent producer.
As you would expect, imitations of terrestrial insects such as grasshopper, crickets, ants, and beetles become important in the summer. They are usually large enough by mid June to become a factor. They are around the stream until as late as the first of October.
It is a good idea to have Perfect Fly imitations of the three species of mayflies we mentioned in all the stages, Cinnamon Caddis larva, pupa and adults, Perfect Fly scuds and sowbugs, and Perfect Fly hoppers, ants, and beetles. Don’t forget to have plenty of Perfect Fly streamers. You can catch trout early and late in the day on them. These flies will be all that is necessary throughout the season.