Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014 - 7

Spring Creek

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When the water is thin, it's best to approach trout with some
long stretches and high-sticking.

through moderately thick woods. And, sometimes it feels
like a stream in the high country, because it passes beneath
towering limestone cliffs with gnarled trees and bright
flowers leaching from eons of hardened seafloor sediment.
What Spring Creek is never, or only in a few small
places, is deep. Nor is it a fat stream. The distance between
the banks is strangely uniform, 40 to 50 feet across, except
where squeezed by man. I think of Spring Creek as being
comfortable in its tight pants and not stretching its stitches.
Also, it has a uniformly low gradient.
But, you don't have to take my word for it, at least for
numbers of trout.
"Spring Creek has one of the highest densities in
the state," said Jason Detar, Pennsylvania Fish & Boat
Commission (PFBC) Area 3 Fisheries Biologist. "It has an
outstanding biomass."
Something else Spring Creek rarely is, is alone. Drawing
folks from across the state, and further, it's a popular stream.
If there's a time that Spring Creek is less fished, it's before
the growing season gets a firm grasp in March and early
April. Warm Februarys are lightly fished too. Spring Creek
certainly attracts dry fly anglers in the hatch season, but it
sees fewer pre-hatch masters.
It's this early-season fishing on Spring Creek that interests
me. Getting to the stream just after St. Patrick's Day with
registered guides Andy Wagner and Jim "The Fish Detective"
Spade, we were fortunate to witness one of the least seen
high points of the year.
In the shallows, pods of suckers were chasing each other
around the rocks. The water was barely over their backs.
Their tails whisked the surface, silver sides flashing in the
morning light.
Later, they would perform a withering, twisting dance
when females dropped their eggs.
"Unfortunately, they're only making and marking their
territories now," said Wagner as we stood on the banks. "In a
few days, they'll be readily spawning. This is when the trout
will be right behind them."
When the water is thin, as Spring Creek can be after a
snowless winter, I've found it's best to approach these trout
PFBC website: www.fishandboat.com

with stretchy gymnastics and high-sticking. Sitting on the bank
with my camera, I focused on Spade as he probed small pieces
of dark water in the center of the stream and along the banks.
Spade worked with his fly rod and body to drift light nymphs
into Spring Creek's holes. As the day warmed, he rolled up his
long sleeves and slid the suspenders of his waders down his
shoulder. It was the kind of brief weather you love to encounter
on Spring Creek in the early season. His best Brown Trout,
coming from one dark pocket, was large enough to drape over
his hand. Its broad tail was almost as big as his hand. When
Spade worked along the cement walls built around a bridge,

Learn at the chute

The chute below the Benner Spring State Fish Hatchery
can serve a practical purpose as well. It's a great place to
learn how to "see" trout. For those with untrained eyes, the
narrow passage is a place to learn how trout appear in a
stream-their shadows, wavy motions and ability to hide in
plain sight.
When trout are feeding, you can watch how they open
their mouths, a spoon of white suddenly appears, and you
can study how they take bugs off the surface and the rings
they leave behind. No matter how many trout I've seen, I
enjoy spending time at the chute taking a refresher course in
the things that trout do.

Out of the shadows, a large Brown Trout fins around the
spillway at the Benner Spring State Fish Hatchery. The "chute" is
a great place to study fish.
Pennsylvania Angler & Boater * March/April 2014

7
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Pennsylvania Angler & Boater - March/April 2014

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