Spring Creek Pennsylvania

General Description:

Located in Centre County in the Northern part of Central Pennsylvania near State College, Spring Creek is a large, limestone spring creek that is a tributary of Bald Eagle Creek. From its sources at Tussey Mountain near Boalsburg, Spring Creek is small averaging less than 15 feet in width and for the most part is posted. From Oak Hall to Houserville the stream is larger and access is more favorable.

From Houserville, through Fisherman Paradise, through Bellefonte and down to the confluence with Bald Eagle Creek at Milesburg, Spring Creek runs past some houses, business, and some woods. This stretch contains some posted areas and an exibit at Bellefonte that is closed to fishing. There are two limestone tributaries including Logan Branch that adds cold water to Spring Creek near Bellefonte, This helps to keep it cooler and more productive in the summer.

It is said that Spring Creek offers more brown per mile than any other stream in the great state of Pennsylvania. The entire stream is “no Kill” catch and release and this ensures that there will be plenty of trout. Sections of Spring Creek are classified as Class A Wild Trout water which is the highest designation the PFBC can give a wild trout stream. The most recent sections listed are from the SR 3010 bridge downstream to Thorton Spring at the SR 0026 bridge and a section from Thorton Spring downstream to a mile or two below the T-376 bridge and also, downstream to the upper limit of Fisherman's Paradise. All in all, there are about 25 miles of Spring Creek designated Class A waters.

However, there is one section that is under Heritage Trout Regulations which means you can only fish with artificial flies. Fishing with spinning and casting equipment is prohibited. That section is one mile long from Fisherman's Partadise Hatchery to near the Stackhouse School Pistol Range..

Fishing Spring Creek:
The trout in Spring Creek have been averaging about 12 to 14 inches with an occasional brown taken that is 20 inches. The larger trout are often found near the hatcheries at Bennar Springs and Fisherman’s Paradise. Possibly, some of these large trout escaped from the hatcheries and into Spring Creek. Being a limestone creek with a good pH, Spring Creek offers good hatches of Blue Winged Olives, Sulphurs and Tricos. Possibly, the fishing pressure has lessened a bit in recent years however; Spring Creek offers some of the best trout fishing that Pennsylvania has.

Spring:
Spring is the best time to fish Spring Creek as the BWOs start to hatch in April followed by the Caddis and the Sulphurs.

Summer:
As with any spring creek, the fishing remains good through the summer since there are cold springs in the creek as well as cold limestone tributaries. The Tricos start to hatch and there are some BWO’ and Blue Quill hatches remaining.

Fall:
Fall is a scenic time to fish the Spring Creek and the terrestrials will produce some of the larger browns. Ants, hoppers and beetles are good choices for Fall and the Midge hatches remain good all year long.