SpringCreeks 0f The Keystone Central Sfafe up theroorsof fy fishing. SOme partS Of the COUntfyconjure The Catskillsis one sucharea,madefamousby notableslikeArt Flick, Roy Steenrod,Hoagy Carmichael,CharlesRitz and Esquiremagazine'sArnold Gingrech.Michigan-with Hemingway,then the 1959formation oflrout Unlimited, and in the 1970sthe dynamic duo of Doug Swisherand Carl Richards-is another. Afly fishing retrospectivewould not be complete, however,if we overlookedPennsylvania's significantcontributions. There is a hollow tucked in the Nittany Mountain range.Sure,there's JoePaternoand PennStatefootball, but there'sa whole lot more aswell. To a fly angler,this part of centralPennsylvaniaoffersthe streams,rivers, hatchesand trout that nurtured the mastersof fly fishing beforeit wasas it is today.Thesepersonalitieshave grown into legends,and are part of the foundation of our sport.Think about it: Vince Marinaro, author of the Modern Dry Fb Code,lived,fished, and wrote there. So did Field and And the late GeorgeHarvey.AndJoe Humphries. Stream'sJimBashline. And Ed Koch. Ernie Schwiebertlived acrossthe boarder in Princeton, NewJersey,but he fished there so often he wasconsideredamong locals to be a resident.Thatk just scratchingthe surface,and if you dig a little deeperyou'll find that the list is seeminglyendless. Residentsknow why centralPennsylvaniais so famous:Spring creela. There are many of them, bubbling out of the ground, running through limestoneto createan aquatichabitat that is nearlyperfect.The riversdont freezewith anchor ice in the winter, they don't overheatin the summer, and they are so cleanthat you'll find abundant mayfly hatches,whereas neighboringstateswith lesscleanwater offer only caddisand stonefies. One reasonto go to central Pennsylvaniais to target a specifichatch that you've never fished before.There are classicmafry hatches,like the early seasonblue quills, quill Gordons, March browns, grey foxes, Hendricksons and red quills. Later on in the seasonyou'll find drakes, light Cahills, sulphers,blue-winged olives, Isonychiasand tricos, too. Sure,youll find the requisitecaddisin black,brown, green,tan, but you ll also find Grannom's,a hatch I've never had the opportuniry to fish. In many Easterntrout streams,terrestrialfishing is more of a prospecting sryle.Here in central Pennsylvanialies the reasonthat Ed Koch wrote a book on terrestrials.In the summeryou'll find ants,flying ants,beetles and hoppers.This year,many anglers(myselfincluded) areinterestedin the once-every-L7-year cicadashatch. Ifyou're looking for a hatch to fish and to schedulea trip around it, itt almost easierto askwhich hatches are NOT common to this area.That list is more manageable. Other anglerspick a body of water they've alwayswanted to fish. You can go about it in a genericway, as in "l've alwayswanted to fish a limestonespring creek."But you can alsoselecta river that hasname recognition, as in "l've alwayswanted to fish Fishing Creek, Spruce
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Creek, Spring Creek, or Penn'sCreek." Tongue-twisters arecommon in centralPennsylvania, so speakslowlywhen you'rereferencing"fishing FishingCreek"or that you want to hit "Spring Creek spring creek." Therearea number of excellentfly shops,guides,and outfitters in the KeystoneState,someof the bestin the country in fact. If you'relooking for an all-encompassing trip, check out LoganO utfi tters(Web: www.loganoutfi tters.corn; Tel.: (877) 768-7688;). \lZith the proximiry of their lodging and their access to both public and managedwater,LoganOutfittersis pretrymuch a one-stopshopwith water access asgood as it gets.They offer a buffet for fly rodders,arrangedlike a Chinesemenu.You can book a completepackageon public or managedwater,stayin one of their housekeepingaccommodations,and hire one of their guides.Or you can stayin their accommodationsand fish with your favorite regional guide on someof the statekbesttrout water.A third choice is to stay in the Logan lodging and fish managedwater on your own. Suchflexibilirymeansyou cancreatea Spartantrip, blow the bank, or find the middle ground-your choice. Logan Outfitters alsoofferstwo streamsidecamps,Coot Hilland PenntCreekLodge.Coot Hillis a ranch-sryle lodge that housesfour anglerssmackdab in the epicenterofsome of the countryt bestfishing.You canfish LoganOutfitters'man-
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agedwater frorn Thursday through Sunday-on the other daysthe water is restedto ensurea qualiry fishingexperience. YellowCreek is only minutes away,and if you fish upstream you'll hit the popularfly-fishing-onlystretch;meanderdownstreamand you'll be in the Logan Outfitters managedwater. Yellow Creek i.sa moderate-sizedspring creek,with riffies, runs,poolsand pockets.As you work your wav downstream you'll passthrough areaschock-a-blockfull of watercress, a testamentto the water'sfertiliry. Meadowsadjoin the sweeping runs and pools,and in Augustthe trout comealivewhen a stiffwind blowshoppersinto the drink. YellowCreekfeatures healthybrook, brown and rainbow trout populations,with naturalreproductionofallspecies, and opportunitiesto catch largenumbersof small- to medium-sizewild trout as well as a wall-hanger.But sincethe fishing is catch-and-release, your wall hanger rvill have to be of the fiberglassvariery. Penn'sCreek Lodge comes by its name honestly.The Victorian home is on PennkCreek,but it'salsonearSpring Creek and the Little Juniataselevenmilesof Tiophy Trout water. [f that'snot enough,Elk and Pine Creeksarejust a short poke away.Bob Hesse,the booking agentfor Logan Outfitters,recallsfishingthe waterduring a FebruaryB\7O hatch. "Intermixed with falling snow flakeswas a bhzzard hatch of olives," he said. "Snow was swirling, bugs were