Fly Hatches on Yellow Breeches Creek
by
Eugene Macri
Aquatic and Environmental Scientist

Fly hatches on the Yellow Breeches Creek is a bit different than the other limestone streams like the Letort Spring Run, Falling Spring Run, Big Spring Creek and others because those stream sare true spring creeks. We are concentrating on the area below Boiling Springs.  This part of the Yellow Breeches is spring influenced.  The water mixes with the main branch of the Yellow Breeches.

The hatches on the Yellow Breeches have declined in the last 30 years.   You no longer get heavy hatches on entire sections of the stream except for the White Fly, Ephron leukon. The stream has a variety of mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies as well as midges etc. but the hatches are spotty for most of the year. If you happen to be on the stream when they are popping then you may meet with a great amount of success. That's why you should check our fly fishing pod casts on stream conditions on the Yellow Breeches often.

Also realize that the fly hatches on the rest of the Yellow Breeches Creek in open water may come off at different times from the area below Boiling Springs.  This is due to the fact that the temperature of the water in the Yellow Breeches in these other areas may be warmer or colder than the area below Boiling Springs.  The spring outlet from the lake at Boiling Springs has a moderating effect on the Yellow Breeches below.

At the source of the Yellow Breeches the springs coming out of the Huntsdale Hatchery make the upper section a spring creek but just a few miles down stream the Breeches warms up quite a bit in the summer and the trout move out of these areas in the summer time.