Having finally grown tired of real world responsibilities (like work) and the endless verbal traffic jams over the financial bail out crisis, I decided to blow off both and spend a lovely mid-week autumnal day on one of my favorite little spring creeks in the Cumberland Valley, our very own Big Spring Creek. The air temp. was 48F that chilly morning but it would eventually warm up to 68F after the sun broke through the clouds and fog. The Big Spring itself was cranking out fertile limestone water at it's ever consistent 36 CFS and 52F.
West Side SpringThe morning started off cloudy, overcast and cool and I entertained myself with daydreams of trout rising to hatches of fall baetis or, at the very least, pulling some fish off of the numerous weed beds by swinging streamers along their edges as I threw a cinder block on the gas pedal and jammed it out I-78/81 to the Newville Exit. T'was not to be on this day, well not quite exactly anyway. I arrived to find a few repatriated October caddis hatching along with a smattering of tan caddis and the ubiquitous midges that I simply ignored as usual.
Big Spring is one of Pennsylvania's finest geological phenomenon and is composed of two individual sources that emerge less than 50 yards from each other through fissures in the rock strata at the base of a small but moderately steep hill. The west side spring has greater volume but also has infrequent spikes of turbidity from a local brick quarry. Mostly after large rain events or other subterranean disturbances.
East Side SpringThe east spring is smaller in volume but runs consistently clear year around. Both spring heads are believed to receive their nutrient rich charge of water from cracks, fissures and conduits in the Karst topography at the base of South Mountain. The first 30-40 yards or so downstream of the springs are designated nursery waters and closed to fishing.
Big Spring RoadMy dreams of trout rising to baetis mayflies evaporated shortly after I pulled into the parking lot by the old McCracken Mill dam in the headwaters as the sun broke through the clouds and fog. I didn't think swinging streamers would be very productive under the bright sun so I knotted on a heavily weighted size #16 orange shrimp pattern and headed downstream to work the faster riffles, pockets and undercut banks.
Local ColorAlong the upper creek.
"Want good fishing? Obey the Law"
The Barrel FactoryThe former Barrel Factory sits on property that is owned by the PFBC. It's presently undergoing restoration by the Big Spring Watershed Association who have recently acquired a 25 year lease on the building from the current owners. The eventual goal is to turn the restored building into a local museum and educational center for the watershed. The PFBC also own 5 public access sites on the stream above Newville.
Wild Big Spring Rainbow & DuckweedWelp, for the rest of the morning I worked hard under a brilliant blue sky and I stayed with that shrimp pattern because I had confidence in it but I only hooked one fish, a wild rainbow, and it was a hot fish that cartwheeled and somersaulted all over the pool. One of my best ever on Big Spring.
After perhaps another hour of fruitlessly dredging the bottom I started to see the handwriting on the wall. The sun was now high in the sky and the day was warming up fast. I decided to enjoy a protracted lunch break by eating a big sandwich and then taking a walk through the nearby meadow and toss a few live hoppers out into the current to see what happens. Well, lo and behold, a few fish actually came up and nailed those god forsaken hoppers. Reminded me of my formative years chumming live hoppers in Vince's Meadow on the Letort Spring Run and then immediately following that up by then tossing those stupid trout a well placed artificial Letort hopper -the kind with a hook in it. Akin to shooting fish in a barrel it was. That was my proudest moment on the Letort in a long and distinguished angling career. I even wrote Vince Marinaro a letter once about my hopper-chumming experience but he rebuffed & scolded me for my foolhardiness and sent me on my way while claiming he had already done it and that I stole his idea. God I admired that man!
I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but it didn't take long for me to get the message and I hurried back to the car where I frantically searched by travel bag for my terrestrial box. I know it's loaded with hoppers too from a recent trip to Montana. What the flip, it's nowhere to be found? Maybe I have a few laying around in the Richardson's? Nada. I only had two of Craig Mathew's #14 black foam indicator beetles tucked away in there just waiting for their moment in the sun. They'll just have to do today.
I rebuilt my leader down to dry fly proportions (12' - 6X) that terminated with one of those black foam beetles and headed back upstream where there were a few fish I had spotted earlier that wanted absolutely nothing to do with my orange shrimp pattern. The results were heart stopping - too good to be true I remember thinking at the time. In the gin clear water you could see the fish coming from 2-3 feet away before they inhaled that beetle with uncharacteristic reckless abandon. Pretty much the same way I inhale pizza with all the fixin's on a Friday night. Another five fish, all rainbows & brookies, from 10"-14" seemingly came out of nowhere to nail that simple piece of craft store foam, peacock and deerhair. If memory serves me correct, and in this case I think it does, It was my best day ever on Big Spring Creek.
On a side note: And an important one at that. Major stream improvement work has begun on the middle section of the stream on the site of the former Piper Mill . The old concrete abutments that were in two separate locations along the stream and once part of the old privately operated Green Springs Trout Company fish hatchery have been removed and the banks regraded. The most upstream one of the concrete structures was later used as a fish barrier by the PFBC in their attempt to keep the original wild strain of Big Spring brook trout separate from the browns & rainbows downstream. And we all know how that worked out :^)
This is just Phase I of a planned habitat improvement project being done under the auspices of Cumberland Valley Trout Unlimited, Big Spring Watershed Association and the PFBC. Yes, that PFBC. The same ones who denied the fact that their mega-hatchery's illegal effluent was the cause of the excessive biological oxygen demand and, consequently, the low dissolved oxygen levels in the spawning beds and water column. Then they stubbornly refused to curtail the poison effluent until threatened with legal action. Hopefully, they're just running out to get coffee for the guys who are doing the real work here.
Anywhoo, lets hope the coalition of parties ultimately have the kind of success that's similar in scope to what Montana's Department of FWP achieved on the Brewery Flats section of their own
Big Spring Creek over in Lewistown, Mt.
Brewery Flats Restoration
The North Fork of the Flathead River
Big Spring Creek - Newville, Pa.
Springfield
Keck's Dam
Big Oak Flats
Downstream of Nealy Road
Parting Shot: Laughlin's Mill - Newville, Pa.
