Spruce Creek is known as the trout stream of Presidents. Dwight D Eisenhauer and Jimmy Carter wetted flies in this small creek and reportedly both had exceptionally good luck. It costs big money to fish there if you are not the president of the United States. However, fly fishing the George W. Harvey “Experimental Fisheries Area”, a half mile of public land on Spruce creek, is hardly for royalty or Presidential powers. In fact, the overgrown banks and thick brier patches will have you on your knees and genuflecting like a knave!
What is meant by experimental fisheries area? Your guess is as good as mine. I figure that it has something to do with the land belonging to Penn State, and the great fishing being due to the local chapter of Trout Unlimited. The PA Boat and Fish Commission is responsible for the special regulations which are catch and release. Cooperation, it seems, is what is experimental.
Spruce Creek is the largest tributary of the Little Juniata River. With some of the best Brown Trout fishing in America right around the corner on the Little Juniata River (affectionately known as the “Little J”), why would anyone in their right mind, limit themselves to a mere half mile of public fishing on Spruce Creek? Big, beautiful, born in the wild, Rainbow Trout is why!
All trout born in the wild have great colors and natural beauty seemingly drawn from the waters they live in. I can’t say that I have a favorite species; bottom line is that I love diversity! Brook trout are shockingly easy to catch on a fly; big Browns are notoriously wary and selective. Smack in the middle are the trout that hit the hardest, jump the highest, and well, they just look great in a sun lit photo!
Rainbow trout are not plentiful in western Pa. You will catch them, pale reflections of the species, on or around opening day of the season, in many streams such as nearby Chest Creek and Little Clearfield Creek. “Put and catch” fishing is what we call it. The PA boat and fish commission stocks significant numbers of Rainbows in order to provide a great opening day experience. They are fairly easy to catch and they put up a pretty good fight. The kids love ‘em. Decent eating. Serious fisherman stay away from opening day which is a circus in PA.
Aside from the opening day crowd, Rainbow trout are hardly in the vocabulary of your everyday fly fisherman who frequents the Little Juniata, Fishing Creek, Spring Creek, or Penns Creek. Those creeks are chock full of brown trout. In Pennsylvania, the fly fishing elites look down their noses at Rainbow Trout. I once caught a really nice Rainbow in a deep pool on the little J upstream from Spruce Creek and I was taunted by a few regulars around me for catching one of “Donny Beaver’s pets”. This was a derisive reference to the millionaire who has polarized fly fishing in Western Pa with his private water projects and his stocked, trophy trout. He basically owns the local, high end fly fishing market in this area in addition to a large company located in Tipton PA.
Spruce Creek is all about private water. There used to be a few generous landowners who allowed fly fishing on their property, but today the creek is off limits to anyone who doesn’t pay up. Almost all of the fishing on Spruce Creek is done with a guide pointing out where the big fish are lurking. They tie on the flies, net the fish for you, and snap the photo too! The guests barely have to cast, it is so easy. But they do tip well I am told.
Back when I first moved to Pennsylvania, there was a section of the creek that was owned by a dentist. He allowed people to fish there via a special permit that he awarded to a few close friends. He had local neighbor named John monitor the pressure on the creek and keep the pathways to the bank mowed and cleared of fallen branches. John was not all there though, and was irascible and difficult to deal with. He often insulted the fly fishing guests to the property; we were definitely not welcome as far as John was concerned. When he died, the Dentist rolled up the red carpet and the creek was closed to the public for good. It was a shame because the water that flowed through this section of the creek was perfect and it was not unusual to get a four to five pound fish on the line. Of course we crushed our barbs and the fish were always returned to the water.
There are big fish throughout Spruce Creek, both browns and Rainbows. It’s the result of private stocking, catch and release fishing, and a great food supply. For a relatively small body of water, this creek will surprise you with its active hatches and the amount of visible feeding going on. The minnows are everywhere which explains why fishing a streamer on this Presidential trout stream with legendary hatches is surprisingly effective. I have had great luck with terrestrials on this creek too, even while trout were obviously feeding much lower. Big fish are big eaters.
If the small parking lot to the public zone is empty, my usual routine is to walk downstream to the wire that sets the lower boundary of the public/private ownership. I work my way upstream from there concentrating on four different sets of opportunities. Each opportunity is unique and worthy of exploration. I have yet to allot myself enough time to get my fill of fishing there in a single serving. That is why I return over and over again and never lose interest in these waters.
First, there are some nice pools with tons of shade and overhang where the rainbows and some small brown trout always seem to be holding. When I say overhang, I want you to think of the largest mass of tangled briar you can think of. A thicket so full of growth that it is impossible to break through. I step over this brush or follow a game trail to the creek. I find beaded headed nymphs, a gold ribbed hares’ ear and muddler minnows work well here. Later in the summer an ant will do the trick.
The fast water riffles, where Spruce Creek squeezes a lot of water through a narrow passageway presents a second kind of opportunity. Here the water can be knee deep and moving quite fast; often the water is flanked by thick growth on the banks. The creek is the only way to move. It’s tough to fish, but a San Juan worm, Zug Bug, and terrestrials area all effective in these waters. You don’t need to cast really; it what the locals call pocket fishing. You swing the tip of the rod around with 10 ft of line and leader and dip your fly in the water.
Spruce Creek splits and splits again in the George Harvey project. It’s confusing and a little daunting at first, but then you realize that you really have almost a mile and a half of water to fish in this half mile stretch! I tend to concentrate and have the best results at the places where the Creek splits, and then where it comes together again. Here you will see rising trout and I have good luck with dry flies and matching the hatch. One of these junctions (I am not saying which) has yielded me a nice rainbow on every visit!
Finally, for the dry fly enthusiast there is one very nice, long pool at the top of the project boundary. It took me two or three trips to George W Harvey parking lot to finally reach this area, but I am glad that I made the half mile trek upstream. Here you will see and experience some interesting sights and fishing and it makes the bushwhacking all worthwhile.
Unlike the little J, this flatwater section on Spruce creek is intimate enough to allow you to actually see what is taking place beneath the surface. The water tends to flow more transparent and the width and depth of Spruce Creek is a fifth of the bigger brown trout waters nearby. It is not nearly as deep as the river that Spruce Creek flows into. However, the food supply in this creek is proportionally much higher, so what you experience is an unprecedented level of feeding within an area suitable for just you and one fly fishing partner. You are surrounded by trout!
It is not uncommon to see and know the difference between the trout that you are stalking. The browns and rainbows are in equal numbers in the this pool, and both feeding aggressively, but what really gets my blood boiling is the flashes of red and the steely look of a large rainbow trout slurping from a slow moving current. They lurk around the bottom of the stream and then race to the surface, like a laser strike, after emerging insect life. The brown trout on the other hand, blend in better and spend more time under and around structure in the water. They are also seem to be more aware of shadows and vibrations. You do not see brown trout until they are on the hook.
The far bank gets the current and the deeper water, so the pool is very easy to approach without alerting the fish. The bottom is obstacle free to navigate, so you are not stumbling around as you pursue these rising trout in hip deep water. However, the George Harvey project gives and it takes away! The far bank is dominated by a large fallen tree which dissects the pool into two and provides an incredible amount of cover for the feeding fish. And on the bank of the only open section of the far pool, you have your typical over abundant Spruce Creek briar patch extending a few feet over the bank. The largest trout that I have caught here have been feeding under that patch or directly downstream from that fallen tree!
So you get my drift. The George W Harvey “Experimental Fisheries Area” is the real deal when it comes to Rainbow trout fishing in Western Pa. I have caught several in the 16” to 18” range. I have heard that bigger rainbows, possibly escaping their private confines upstream, have been caught here, but I have not seen that. The brown trout in this section of Spruce Creek seem to run in the 10” to 12” range so; no wonder that you will pass 20 or so fly fisherman on the Little J, before arriving at the parking lot of the only public fishing on the stream of Presidents, Spruce Creek. It is just around the corner!
Spruce Creek is dominated by the private fishing clubs of the power elite. Fortunately there is a half mile stretch of prime water on this creek that is open to any and all fly fisherman who dare to brave the overgrowth. Hook on a really nice, bulky Rainbow trout and get the camera ready for a gubernatorial photo opportunity! You earned it and it didn’t cost you a single dead president.