# anyone fish state college PA for trout?



## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

I might get a day or so in the area later this week. I found TCO fly shop and will probably stop in to get flies and advice.

I was thinking of fishing Big fishing creek, or penns creek. Spring creek looks a bit too small on map, but I really haven't seen any of them.
Does anyone have any stories from summers near State College for trout?

Thank you in advance and I will post a report.
Rickerd


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## ckfowler (Jul 14, 2008)

rickerd said:


> I might get a day or so in the area later this week. I found TCO fly shop and will probably stop in to get flies and advice.
> 
> I was thinking of fishing Big fishing creek, or penns creek. Spring creek looks a bit too small on map, but I really haven't seen any of them.
> Does anyone have any stories from summers near State College for trout?
> ...


Penns creek but I thought that was mostly private property. My brother used to live that way and worked with a guy.


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## ckfowler (Jul 14, 2008)

ckfowler said:


> Penns creek but I thought that was mostly private property. My brother used to live that way and worked with a guy.


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## AWGunS (Dec 10, 2010)

Plenty of areas to fish and not tread on private property


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## fishinnick (Feb 19, 2011)

Hope I'm not too late and you're already out there, but...

Big Fishing Creek- Beautiful stream with lots of trout, but it has a reputation for being very tough. Fortunately I've always managed a couple fish there in the handful of times I've fished it but I never racked 'em up either. It's a limestone spring influenced creek with a mountain freestone stream feel. The most popular, and probably the best area is in what's called the "narrows." 

Penns- A little bigger water. Best section this time of year would be from Coburn(where Elk Creek comes in and cools the stream) on down through Poe Paddy state park. Be careful with water temps though.....I've read that Penns has been getting warm in some spots especially farther downstream closer to Cherry Run

Spring- Definitely not too small unless you wander upstream of State College. There's fish all throughout but the best and more popular areas are from say the Benner Springs area on down to the mouth. Lots of water. Been reading temps have been getting a little warm here as well with the very hot and dry weather, but you should be ok. If it's too low and on the warm side upstream of Bellefonte, try downstream. Bigger water and that area is usually cooler this time of year because of a large spring in Bellefonte. 

Spring Creek is more of a numbers stream. Easier than Penns and BFC, but those creeks have larger fish on average.

The guys at TCO will point you in the right direction, and also Flyfisher's Paradise. Another good shop. Plenty of public access. Good luck!!!


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## rickerd (Jul 16, 2008)

Thank you all. My trip started later than I thought on Thursday. With 3 traffic jams trying to get out of Ohio, I decided to hit Neshannock for the night instead of maybe get 30 mins on Spring which I had never fished. Neshannock was a bit warm. Saw some fish rising and shared water with another long timer. He had one take on a hopper under the trees behind the fly shop. I was trying an ant, beetle, a couple small dries with no luck. We could see some of the fish were 4-5 pounds but not interested in our offerings. He finished an hour before sunset and decided to let me into the water he was fishing. His name was Mark and he coached me until dark. I did get one fish to take and briefly had a pull but he shook it off immediately. It was a size 18 black stone dry tied with CDC wing that I had tied for March black stones on Rockwell Springs. Oh well.

Then I drive to Clearfield for some sleep. Get up at 5:20 to head to Spring creek. I couldn't get into any fly stores while they were open, so I went with what I had. I spoke to Ed at Flyfisherman's Paradise and he gave me some advice. I fished the Paradise waters of Spring. Beautiful water but surprised no wading allowed. So I pulled out my Eagle Claw 3-4 wt a friend gave to me. A word for my Eagle Claw rod. It performed very well. I found it to be accurate, nice little roll casts worked too. I really could not ask for more. The rod has caught fish at Apple creek before, but there was less casting room here at Spring Creek. On stream by 6:15 and saw a few rising fish. Kept using small dries trying to find out what a Trico fly is. Turns out I didn't really have any, but after 45 mins, I did land a pretty 13 inch brown from between a rock and shore on a size 18 caddis emerger. Took a few casts but when I hit the spot, the fish took the fly and went airial a few times. Got him to the net and released him quickly. There were some bigger fish feeding under trees below me. Went down there 50 yds or so and ran into another fisherperson. Asked if I was crowding him, and he said not at all go get em. He was still 25 yds downstream of me. So I fished that run and couldn't really get the cast to bang the bank because of the brush behind me. I added a brown caddis nymph as a dropper and shortly caught an 11 inch rainbow. Then added a 10 inch rock bass for good measure. The gentleman next to me said he has fished that water for 50 years and never saw a rock bass. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to risk the health of the fish. The water felt low 60s. I had a great time on a cloudy morning. By 8:45 all rises ceased and I had to pick up my daughter at 9:30 anyway. So I walked up to next parking area and spent 15 mins. talking to a couple other locals. All really nice people willing to help me out. Even gave me a couple Trico dries and zebra midges for next trip. I will definitely go again someday. A great 2 hours on some new water.

Hope to get more trout soon,
Rickerd


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## tmorris (Feb 23, 2014)

rickerd said:


> Thank you all. My trip started later than I thought on Thursday. With 3 traffic jams trying to get out of Ohio, I decided to hit Neshannock for the night instead of maybe get 30 mins on Spring which I had never fished. Neshannock was a bit warm. Saw some fish rising and shared water with another long timer. He had one take on a hopper under the trees behind the fly shop. I was trying an ant, beetle, a couple small dries with no luck. We could see some of the fish were 4-5 pounds but not interested in our offerings. He finished an hour before sunset and decided to let me into the water he was fishing. His name was Mark and he coached me until dark. I did get one fish to take and briefly had a pull but he shook it off immediately. It was a size 18 black stone dry tied with CDC wing that I had tied for March black stones on Rockwell Springs. Oh well.
> 
> Then I drive to Clearfield for some sleep. Get up at 5:20 to head to Spring creek. I couldn't get into any fly stores while they were open, so I went with what I had. I spoke to Ed at Flyfisherman's Paradise and he gave me some advice. I fished the Paradise waters of Spring. Beautiful water but surprised no wading allowed. So I pulled out my Eagle Claw 3-4 wt a friend gave to me. A word for my Eagle Claw rod. It performed very well. I found it to be accurate, nice little roll casts worked too. I really could not ask for more. The rod has caught fish at Apple creek before, but there was less casting room here at Spring Creek. On stream by 6:15 and saw a few rising fish. Kept using small dries trying to find out what a Trico fly is. Turns out I didn't really have any, but after 45 mins, I did land a pretty 13 inch brown from between a rock and shore on a size 18 caddis emerger. Took a few casts but when I hit the spot, the fish took the fly and went airial a few times. Got him to the net and released him quickly. There were some bigger fish feeding under trees below me. Went down there 50 yds or so and ran into another fisherperson. Asked if I was crowding him, and he said not at all go get em. He was still 25 yds downstream of me. So I fished that run and couldn't really get the cast to bang the bank because of the brush behind me. I added a brown caddis nymph as a dropper and shortly caught an 11 inch rainbow. Then added a 10 inch rock bass for good measure. The gentleman next to me said he has fished that water for 50 years and never saw a rock bass. I didn't take any photos because I didn't want to risk the health of the fish. The water felt low 60s. I had a great time on a cloudy morning. By 8:45 all rises ceased and I had to pick up my daughter at 9:30 anyway. So I walked up to next parking area and spent 15 mins. talking to a couple other locals. All really nice people willing to help me out. Even gave me a couple Trico dries and zebra midges for next trip. I will definitely go again someday. A great 2 hours on some new water.
> 
> ...


Try walking downstream from Paradise about a mile. You can park on the winding, narrow road. I prefer this stretch to Paradise. Also, I really like the Benner area at Spring Creek.


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

great report

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## fishing pole (May 2, 2004)

Nice report. That water can be a bit tricky. Spring creek is much more forgiving than the others in that area (Fishing, Penns, Elk, Spruce). The trico hatch is a blast but the darn things are so small that it's sometimes hard to keep an eyeball on them and you're just setting hooks on vicinity rises. I have had luck with bigger fish on streamers stripped through deep riffles and heads of pools. If you fish nymphs and such you'll get a lot more action but typical PA fish (10 +/- inches). I also have fished a hopper/dro[[er and done well. It's a great place to fish and I have spent countless weekends up there in the past (have not fished it in the past 3 years or so). Keep at it. You got my blood pumping again for PA trout although I prefer to fish smallies on the fly on some local waters.


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

fishing pole said:


> Nice report. That water can be a bit tricky. Spring creek is much more forgiving than the others in that area (Fishing, Penns, Elk, Spruce). The trico hatch is a blast but the darn things are so small that it's sometimes hard to keep an eyeball on them and you're just setting hooks on vicinity rises. I have had luck with bigger fish on streamers stripped through deep riffles and heads of pools. If you fish nymphs and such you'll get a lot more action but typical PA fish (10 +/- inches). I also have fished a hopper/dro[[er and done well. It's a great place to fish and I have spent countless weekends up there in the past (have not fished it in the past 3 years or so). Keep at it. You got my blood pumping again for PA trout although I prefer to fish smallies on the fly on some local waters.


I've never tried it, but would it work using a second larger dry fly as an indicator? A few weeks ago I fished a tiny beatle and couldn't follow it very far and as you said kept setting the hook on nearby rises. Later I thought maybe I should have used it with a yarn indicator.

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## fishing pole (May 2, 2004)

Any dry fly will work as long as it is buoyant enough to act as an indicator for the dropper. Foam flies work best. When fishing smallies I often use a popper as my indicator and tie off a streamer to trail


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## ejsell (May 3, 2012)

fishing pole said:


> Any dry fly will work as long as it is buoyant enough to act as an indicator for the dropper. Foam flies work best. When fishing smallies I often use a popper as my indicator and tie off a streamer to trail


Sorry, I should have been clearer. I meant specifically when trico fishing or using other very small dry flies. I've gotten enough hits over the last couple of years on my thingamabobbers that I've pretty much switched to using a dry fly as indicators for nymphs but will it work also for tiny drys?

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## fishing pole (May 2, 2004)

Yeah, you could definitely put an indicator dry so you know the vicinity of your smaller dry. When the tricos are coming off hard i usually just use the small dry and then I just set the hook on anything in the vicinity of my cast. I also have some trico patterns that have high visibility poly on them and make it much easier to see. If you were to use another fly as an indicator try tying the trico off the hook about 8-10 inches. Since the spinners are what most f the fish are after the drift on those flies has to be drag free or they normally won't take the imitation, especially on Spring or the other limestoners out there. At Neshannock you may get away with it.


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