Fly Fishing Spring Creek
Spring Creek Overview
Spring Creek is one of the “big four” limestone rivers in Central Pennsylvania. It was once a heavily polluted, overexploited river, but now is probably the best limestoner to hit if you want to land numbers of fish. Spring Creek begins its journey just outside of Boalsburg, Pa, and runs around twenty miles to Milesburg, where it joins Bald Eagle Creek. Spring creek is maintained along its course by numerous spring seeps and a few larger spring fed tributaries, namely Cedar Run, Slab Cabin Run, and the Logan Branch, which all hold good trout populations of their own. This limestone spring influence keeps Spring Creek at stable enough temperatures and flows for it to remain fishable 365 days a year.
Wild brown trout populate the entire length of Spring Creek, and a decent mix of wild and stocked rainbows have made themselves at home in the lower reaches. Some estimates from shocking surveys show that Spring Creek actually has around three thousand fish per mile, which accounting for its volume puts it up there with the densest trout populations in the country. Most of these fish are less than ten inches, with a decent population in the ten to fifteen inch range as well. You may run into a few fish in the sixteen to eighteen inch range, particularly some of the rainbows, but anything larger is rare here. The lower average size is due in part to the high numbers of fish you’ll encounter here, which isn’t the worst trade off!
The fish aren’t terribly hard to catch here, but increased pressure over the last few years has upped the difficulty a bit. Combined with the fact that Spring Creek is under catch and release only regulations for its entire length (though this is now being reexamined), the trout are getting smarter by the day! Spring Creek has four distinct sections: the lower river, Fisherman’s Paradise, Rock Road, and the upper river. Each section fishes just a bit differently and has some unique characteristics.
Lower Spring Creek
Lower Spring Creek is the most well defined section of the river. It starts at the confluence with Bald Eagle Creek and runs up to the bridge at Tallyrand Park in Bellefonte. The entire section is fishable public water, with relatively easy access.
Lower Spring is the most productive section of the creek. It has the largest water volume and most stable temperatures as a result of a massive spring water influx in Bellefonte. The perfect conditions have made the bug life and trout populations thrive, so you’ll find more and larger fish in this area. You’ll also come across more rainbows in this stretch, probably close to a 60/40 wild brown to rainbow mix depending on the season. Some are wild, but most are fingerling and regular stocked fish that come from Bald Eagle Creek.
The lower river fishes best around 225cfs on the Milesburg USGS gauge, but is decently fishable anywhere from 75 to 400cfs if it’s not muddy. At preferred flows it averages somewhere around three feet deep off the bank with the best holes around five or six feet. Spring Creek as a whole is not difficult to wade, but the rocks can be slick and some parts of the lower river can be pushy at higher flows. Shorter anglers or those with mobility issues to get around should use caution, but it’s mostly a shallow, sandy bottom, so falling in here isn’t as dangerous as on some other rivers.
There are a number of good access points along lower spring. The main areas are the large parking lots at the confluence in Milesburg, the McCoy Dam access, the sewage plant access, and Tallyrand park in Bellefonte, all of which are located along Pleasantview Boulevard. There are a number of other small pulloffs along this section as well, most of which are used primarily as fishing accesses.
Lower Spring tends to have more pronounced features than the upper river, characterized by larger and more defined runs and seams. There has been a lot of stream restoration work along the river here that makes for obvious holding water as well, mainly around the Milesburg and McCoy Dam access sites. The fish in the lower river also like to tuck up in some of the shallow bank water under the low hanging foliage and downed trees, especially in the summer. The water types and average fish size make Lower Spring perfect nymphing water, but they will also react well to a streamer in higher water, and there will be plenty of rising fish in the flatter sections and glides when the bugs are flying.
Lower Spring Creek has some of better hatches on the river these days. In January and February you can come across fish eating midges in the slowest water. It gets excellent grannom and tan caddis hatches in March-May, decent blue winged olives in the same timeframe, an excellent sulphur hatch in mid May-mid June, and a great trico hatch in late July through early September. Blind fishing a size sixteen ant or beetle near the bank will also raise quite a few fish from June through mid September. When talking about bugs on Spring Creek, you can’t forget to mention the massive amount of sow bugs and scuds that call the streambed vegetation home. These crustaceans make up a majority of the trout’s diet more days of the year than not.
One last thing to note is that Lower Spring Creek sees a large numbers of kayakers and pleasure floaters in the summer. With the stream being fairly narrow and shallow, they will likely have to float through the area you’re fishing. Luckily, but mid June the fish become used to it, and it won’t affect the fishing much. Anglers have even been known to catch fish from right underneath kayaks as they float by!
Fisherman's Paradise
Fishermans Paradise is the most popular area of Spring Creek, and might be the most well know fly fishing area in Pennsylvania. It begins, unofficially, around the Water Street bridge at the first publicly accessible water above the string of private properties in Bellefonte proper. It extends all the way to the Benner Springs fish hatchery off of Shiloh Road (at least in our opinion it does). There are one or two private sections in this stretch, but the vast majority is public water.
The creek is smaller here, averaging forty feet across, with less water volume and generally shallower depth. As you get further up river it gets a bit smaller, but it’s still around 30 feet wide on average even at the top of the section. It fishes best when the Axemann gauge is around 125cfs, and can still fish well from 60 to 250cfs.
Fisherman’s Paradise is primarily populated by wild brown trout, with just a few rainbows mixed in. The rainbow trout seem to be showing up more often in recent years though, now making up maybe a solid five percent of the fish. They will be just a hair smaller on average than the lower river fish, with less fish in the 16+ range.
Access to Fisherman’s paradise is easy, though to get to some areas you may have to walk a bit. Spring Creek Road follows the entire lower portion of the Paradise, with numerous Fish & Boat Commission parking lots along its length. Spring Creek Road ends at the DCNR Trining Facility & Bellefonte State Fish Hatchery, which houses a large parking lot for the Spring Creek Canyon Trailhead. The next four or so miles of river,
know as the canyon stretch, are only accessible via walking or biking the trail, which gives this area a unique wilderness feel. The trail meets road again at the parking lot just below the Benner Springs Fish Hatchery and the Paradise section ends not much further up, where the hatchery outflow enters the creek. The entire section is catch and release, fly fishing only, with a special no wading regulation from the outflow of the Bellefonte State Fish Hatchery to a few hundred yards up the Spring Creek Canyon Trail.
Fisherman’s Paradise fishes similarly from the bottom to the top, with the main difference being that some areas, like the main parking lots, see significantly higher pressure, and it shows in how the fish act. The water is more riffly than Lower Spring, with more rocks and boulders breaking up the flow, making it a well suited for tight lining and dry dropping light nymphs. There are a number of manmade stone dams and habitat projects in this section that make up a lot of the large scale structure as well, which break the river into more defined pieces.
The Paradise section gets similar hatches to Lower Spring, but has a better blue winged olive hatch and sees fewer caddis and tricos. The sulfur hatch has been somewhat hit or miss over the past few years, but can be excellent if you hit it right. There is slightly more vegetation throughout the creek as well, and a large population of sow bugs and scuds to go along with it.
Rock Road
Rock Road is still a popular section of river, but sees a bit les traffic than the previous two sections, mostly due to the water being slightly smaller above the Benner Spring. The section begins above the Benner Spring Hatchery inflow, and extends up to just below the Route 22 highway bridge. Though many would consider the area from the hatchery inflow to the Rock Road parking lot to be a part of Fisherman’s Paradise, it tends to resemble the portion of creek that follows Rock Road more in both appearance and the way it fishes.
In this section, Spring Creek is only around twenty five to thirty feet across, and fishes best when the Houserville gauge is at 100cfs, and is still fishable from 40 to 175cfs. You’ll find almost entirely wild brown trout in this section, in a similar size range to Fisherman’s Paradise.
The entire section is public water and is easy to access. The lower portion is accessible by parking at the Benner Springs Hatchery and following the Spring Creek Canyon Trail Extension upriver. The trail follows the creek for a bit over a mile until it ends at the Rock Road parking lot and access. Rock Road follows the creek for the rest of this section’s length, and there are numerous pulloffs right on the water where you can hop in.
The Rock Road section looks basically like a smaller Fisherman’s Paradise, with shallower water and a much more frequent riffle/run/pool structure. Even the deepest areas, aside from the old dam pool at the main parking area, are only about four feet deep. It has the same hatches as the paradise, with slightly more caddis. There is even more vegetation through this section as well, so the scuds and sow bugs are an even bigger factor.
Upper Spring Creek
The Upper Spring Creek section encompasses all the water above the Route 22 highway bridge. However in reality, it ends at the Pennsylvania Military Museum, which is the last spot that is really of any interest to the average visiting angler. You can always explore what’s upstream, but the creek gets so small and there’s so much excellent water downriver that there’s no need to unless you have plenty of extra time on your hands.
In the lower end of this section the creek may still reach thirty feet wide, but for the most part it’s between twenty and twenty five. As you move toward the top, it skinnies up a bit, and by the Military Museum access many places are only around fifteen feet wide. This section is almost exclusively brown trout, which are not notably smaller than the fish in the downstream sections. It is fishes best when the Houserville gauge is at 150cfs, and can still be fun to fish anywhere in the 50 to 200cfs range. You can usually find decent water conditions on the higher end of this section (above the confluence with Slab Cabin Run just below Spring Creek Park) at any high flows as long as the water hasn’t been muddied up by a strong rain. Even then, it clears pretty quickly.
The Upper Spring Creek section is probably around forty or fifty percent private water, and accesses are more spread out. Landowners are usually nice enough and may let you fish if you ask permission, but the first real public access from the bottom of the section is at the Spring Creek Park access off of Puddintown Road. This is just above the slab cabin confluence, and you can fish all the way up through the park and to the College Ave bridge, right across from TCO Fly Shop. Above the bridge it gets a bit harder. The creek runs almost entirely through private property through this area, fishing is at the courtesy of the landowners. Err on the side of caution and be respectful if you choose to try and fish this section. The only public part is about a hundred yard section below the Elmwood Street bridge. After Lemont, the creek runs through some posted property and then a large active quarry. The next access is a small parking lot and walking trail near the Cedar Run Confluence, and not far from there is the last access, the Pennsylvania Military Museum. You can fish to the bridge above the museum, and then it’s mostly more private water from there up.
Upper Spring has better hatches than the two middle sections, and being a smaller creek the fish tend to be more surface oriented. Fishing terrestrials in the summer can be great here as well! If fishes similarly to the other sections, but casting is harder with more overhanging brush and trees. The fish here are fat and usually happy to take a fly, but they can get a bit picky, especially during hatch time.
Top Tactics
Spring Creek is a relatively straightforward fishery. The most effective way to fish it overall will be tight line tactics or euronymphing. It allows you to cover all the water types you’ll encounter, especially the bank water and shallow pockets and riffles where these fish like to feed. Indicator nymphing will work as well, but you may find yourself limited to fishing water that sees a lot of pressure, and where the trout may not really be feeding.
Dry dropper or yarn indicators are probably the next best thing, as they still let you cover some of this skinnier water without spooking fish. It does seem like these fish have become wary of bigger foam or plastic indicators just from seeing so many. No matter how you nymph, you’ll do best to keep your rig to two flies. It’s just not enough water to gt away with anything more.
Single dry flies will do well during hatch time, as well as during the summer and into fall. Spring creek fish are not the most reactive to terrestrial fishing, but you’ll always be able to pick up a few.
Streamers certainly aren’t the worst tactic, but the fish are very hot or cold on whether they want to chase. Higher water is the best time to try them, and in muddy water a black bugger is sometimes the only thing that works. You’ll be able to tell pretty quick if the fish are in the mood for a streamer or not here.
Spring Creek has sections that stay cold enough to fish all year, but some areas, especially in the middle sections, may get too warm when the waters low in the summer. Please use caution if and check the temps if you fish here in July and August.
Top Flies
There’s no need to go crazy with flies on Spring Creek- simple is best. You rarely need a nymph larger than a size sixteen or smaller than a twenty, and maybe fourteen to twenty two in dries. If you fish them, keep your streamers under two inches.
- Walts worm, natural squirrel, #14-18, 2.0-3.5mm
- Simple Pheasant Tail, #14-20, 2.0-3.5
- Tag Nymph, black/orange, #16-18, 2.0-3.5
- Zebra Midge, black, #18-20, 2.0-3.0
- Weis’ Penny, #16-18, 2.0-3.0
- Simple Perdigons, olive & black & brown & orange, #16-18, 2.0-3.0
- Eggs, peach & yellow, #14, 2.5-4.0mm
- Squirmy Worms, #14, 2.5-4.0mm
- Dubbing bugger/wooly bugger, olive & black, #10-14, 3.0-4.0mm
- Shuttlecock, pheasant & black & olive, #16-22
- CDC Caddis, tan & black & green, #12-20
- CDC Comparadun, sulfur orange & sulphur yellow & olive & brown, #14-18
- CDC Ant, black & cinnamon, #14-18
- Foam Beetle, black, #14-16
Top Gear
The fish and the water are on the smaller side on Spring Creek, so you can go lighter on the gear. If you’re tight lining, a ten foot two weight is perfect, but longer and heavier rods up to a ten and a half foot three weight will work well. You can fish lighter if that’s your style too. For indicator nymphing a nine or ten foot three or four weight will work well. Any of those rods will work for dries, but a nine foot three or four weight is probably the sweet spot.
Innovative Angling Guide Service
Want some help out there? We offer full and half day guide trips on this and our other world class Pennsylvania waterways. We focus on education, so not only will you catch fish while were out, but you’ll learn the skills to go out the next day and catch more on your own. Give us a call, and we’ll work with you to put together a one of a kind trip to suit your specific needs.