Saturday, February 24, 2018

Limestone Trout


Another day another spot on Spring creek. The water was just as high and just as discolored, but Mike and I didn't come to sit in a hotel room. So we fished. And if you know what you are doing, and we both do, you can catch trout in the worst of conditions. The fantastically dense trout population in Spring Creek was definitely in our favor. It didn't take long.


I worked a spring mouth where the water was clearer first. Out of two takes there I hooked one fish. I then changed from two nymphs to a sculpin and one nymph and fished that in a soft seem behind a bridge abutment. The flies fell quickly and I felt extra weight there. I set into the snag and imediately roll cast to knock the fly free. That's when the snag, a mid teens rainbow, jumped and tossed the hook. I continued downstream and missed a handful of very quick grabs on the sculpin. Eventually I got another solid hookup. The sculpin had actually hung up and the fish hit the shrimp and hooked itself. I had to wade out to get him free from the branch.


Macroinvertebrate biomass is one of the largest factors in making Spring Creek such a strong trout fishery. Mike was keen on showing me this by kick seining. Surprisingly, the first seine turned up a sculpin amongst all the sow bugs and baetids.


There were not a whole lot of shrimp, but there were some. There were even fewer cress bugs. There was, however, a ton of sow bugs.



We moved a couple miles downstream after that. I got one the board there pretty quickly with a nice fish on a Vladi Worm.



And, lest you thought the tailing trout were a one time thing...




The fish in the water.

The fish out of the water.
I've noticed a distinct difference in behavior, color, and strength with these brown trout. There's something special about limestone streams. Their temperature and flow stability is fantastic and they have really spectacular biomass. In my mind brown trout were made to live in these types of streams, and even though they are not native it feels like they belong.


Spring water. Crystal clear.


The rest of the afternoon was frustrating. I missed a handful of fish on nymphs doing the Leisenring Lift then caught one on a black sculpin. I felt like w should have been getting far more action than we were though. Perfect drifts with proven flies went untouched. Today, on the other hand, was a real morale booster. But you will all have to wait a day or two for that.

8 comments:

  1. " That's when the snag, a mid teens rainbow, jumped and tossed the hook"
    LOL never pass up a good snag :-)

    Chalk ~=~ Limestone is your thesis then. Makes sense.
    That spring water is something.
    Talked to a friend the other day about him fishing a spring stream in PA with temps that day in the single digits. But no ice in the guides. It was down in a holler and the air was nearly 50!

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    1. It's not my thesis... it's a generally accepted fact. Where chalk and limestone streams differ is clarity. Chalk streams are generally clearer and uncolored, limestone gives the water a blue-green color.

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  2. Very nice trip report.... I gotta fish Spring Creek one of these days.

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    1. I'd certainly say a visit to Spring Creek should be on any Eastern fly fiaher's list.

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  3. Limestone is a great neutralizer in many streams. Pa is fortunate to have this.
    Life sure seems abundant in Spring Creek. I'm sure there will be another visit for more action.
    Tie, fish, write and photo on...

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    1. And many of those parts of PA that don't have it suffer severely!

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  4. Amazing the amount of insect life (plus the sculpin) in that limestone stream. No wonder why the trout do so well there. Congrats on the good action there on Spring Creek.

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    1. I don't want to nitpick but as a biology nerd I have no choice... sow bugs and shrimp aren't insects. Fly fisherman, despite relying on a knowledge of macroinvertebrates, are terrible at identifying and accurately describing the organisms they try to imitate!

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