On any given day, any of our beats at HomeWaters have the ability to outfish each other. As a guide that spends just shy of 200 days a year on all of our water, I’ve experienced some of my best days on each and any one of our beats.

Which beats fish best depend on a multitude of variables such as daily water conditions, weather, time of year, and even the anglers. In Pennsylvania, an angler can expect any piece of water to fish well with nymphs just about any time of year. For the purposes of this blog post, let’s talk about which beats are best suited for Dry Fly Fishing during the spring months (March-June).

Spruce Creek- Spruce Creek presents the opportunities to see rising fish just about any day during the spring months. Dry fly fishing can take place on any of the beats on Spruce Creek, depending on the variables of conditions mentioned earlier. However, in my experience, Long Stretch, Six Springs, and Colerain tend to consistently fish the best with dry flies in the spring when there are bugs hatching.

Yellow Creek: Forge Bottom- Forge Bottom on Yellow Creek offers arguably the best dry fly fishing at the Club. Forge Bottom consistently produces hatches, and the water type on both beats is very conducive for rising fish. If you are a serious dry fly fisherman and have not experienced Sulphurs or Green Drakes on Yellow Creek in the spring, you are missing out.

Penns Creek: Spring Farm- Our water on Penns Creek is not necessarily what comes to mind first when thinking about dry fly fishing and hatches. However, there are several pools on each of the Spring Farm beats that there are fish rising in nearly every day of the year. In these pools it seems there are almost always a few bugs around and fish looking to the surface. If you’ve fished me with on Spring Farm, you likely know what pools I’m talking about. If you love Penns Creek and you haven’t focused on dries at Spring Farm, let’s do it.

Our beats at the club are all on great stretches of water to fish. I am glad that I have the ability to guide on each and every one of them in the course of the year. If you don’t fish all of the beats we have to offer, you should. Depending on conditions, they are all optimal pieces of water to fish. When thinking about dry fly fishing in the Spring, think Spruce Creek, Forge Bottom on Yellow Creek, and Spring Farm on Penns Creek.

If you are due for a day of fishing at HomeWaters, give Joel a call to get your trip on the books!