Post by dpiscator on Jun 30, 2009 9:59:25 GMT -4
Thinly veiled as a family vacation.... I got to do some serious fishing.
Lancaster County is a great place to wet a line. It also boasts some great fishing B&T and fly shops. You have a multitude of warmwater and coldwater streams to fish. The Susquehanna River (Mainstem) is the western and southern boundary of Lancaster County. The river here is mainly shallow riffles north of PA Rte 30 towards Harrisburg. Once hitting Columbia and Wrightsville is slows into a tepid long run which is impounded by the Safe Harbor Dam.
I apoligize for the lack of pics of the Suskie. i only had my cell phone camera and it was packed in a waterproof pouch since I kayaked the Mainstem from Shank's Mare, PA to about 1/4 mile from the Safe Harbor Dam. (I got back on the kayak "horse" so to speak after my 'yak tipping incident of last week) Then my batteries died on my cell phone. Some of my pics are blurry... again Sorry... it's a el cheapo cell phone camera!
On the way to the Suskie...
I didn't catch a single fish while fishing the mainstem. After talking to anglers along the way, this is normal! Oh I'm so spoiled on the NB with all the great smallies. Most of the anglers were amazed that I would come down to the mainstem when the NB is so productive.
The kayaking was fun and I saw so many sailboats and other jetboats on the water. A guide service had at least 4 jetboats on the water. They were yellow jetboats and they stayed far away from the "pleasure" boaters and kayakers. Rumor has it that this guide service used to "wake" other kayak fisherman near the dam. Does anyone have any truth to add to that rumor?
On the way back from Shank's Mare I stopped at the Susquehanna Valley Tackle Shop on Landis Ave in Lancaster City. It's a relatively small store but as you can see from the pics it's packed wall to wall with all sorts of tackle, rods, baits, and lures. If they don't have what you need... then you don't need it.
I asked the shop owner where the "JJ's Jigs" where kept. He had never heard of them. I educated him on the good merits of JJ's Jigs and he asked for some info and a business card. Maybe the good anglers of Lancaster County will be able to fish with a JJ's Jig soon? When I asked him what was the most popular selling bait in his store... his answer was this:
Yep, Power Bait! I have never seen so many different types of power bait in one store. I believe he carried every product in stock that Berkely made (except for the pink worms) He was out of those. I guess they are as popular in Lancaster as they are up here in the Twin Tiers.
My next stop was The Evening Rise Fly Shop on the Fruitville Pike. One of my most favorite fly shops. I stop here every year and drop a bundle of cash. They have products here that I can't find anywhere else.
They now carry the ultra-tweedy and costly $$$$ high end House of Hardy reels and Grey's Rods. House of Hardy recently constructed a distribution center in Lititz, PA (about 5 miles) from this shop. The Evening Rise is the flagship fly shop for Hardy now. I did go tour the Hardy Factory in Lititz. A stellar factory with casting ponds. However, due to "manufacturing trade issues" no cell phones or cameras were allowed in the factory or retail store. If you ever want to see extreme tweediness in flyfishing... House of Hardy is the brand of snobbery. The cheapest Hardy fly rod at the store was $799.00. OMG!
The Evening Rise has an excellent fly materials section. This pic is only one wall of stuff. There was 2 more rooms filled to the gills with materials.
After dropping a month's salary (that I had been saving for 1 year) I walked out with 4 bags of materials AND a wealth of info on where to flyfish. It's amazing how loose the lips of the store owner was about giving up good places to fish when you grease him up with a bankroll of $20's and $50's. Now I had the info to find my trouty goodness and scads of smallies to fish for.
First, was to drive about 12 miles west of Lancaster on PA Route 23 towards Marietta, PA. I found the Donegal Creek Flyfishing C&R project water. The weather was 90 degrees that day and I wanted to fish in some shade. Donegal Creek is a Limestone Creek that stays cold year round. It's canopied, cool, and has that chalky look to it.
Notice in the background the wire strung up and the barbed wire circled around the stretched wire. I have never seen that on a stream before. Evidently the farmer has had some problems with anglers screwing around with his cows. The Evening Rise shop owner advised me of this stated that the farmer has had quite the vet bill getting large streamer flies out of his cows ears in the past. The PFBC told him to "safeguard" his property and his livestock. Kinda extreme measures.. but it works. I saw insulators on the wire and wondered if it was an electric fence. I didn't test out my theory and decided a downstream approach would be better for me.
The water was a cool 58.9 degrees even at high noon when the outside temp was 90-92 degrees. It was almost a little cold to wet wade and my feet got a little numb. The limestone water is always this light chocolate milk stain. I though a streamer fly was in order. I sneaked my way downstream and found another set of concentrina wire over the creek. So I only could fish in about 150 yards of the creek. I put on a JJ's Thomas Minnow with a split shot and work a chest deep hole. Due to the stain in the water I could see any trout and wondered if I needed to find a different section of the creek to fish. Just as I brought the streamer back to me to reel it up a large rainbow flew up from the bottom and grabbed my Thomas Minnow. The fight was on. After about 45 seconds of head shakes and 3 jumps in the air, I had the 'bow up to me. I pulled him out of the water and grabbed my cell cam.... the bow shook it's head again and CRAP... released!
I worked my way downstream past the barbed wire accross the stream and fished under the Rte 23 bridge. There was massive weedbeds in the middle of the creek so I switched to a weighted cress bug and sent it down the current. On one drift 3 browns attacked it at seperate times. I missed the strike all 3 times. (I was taken back by the aggressiveness of these trout and shocked that I had 3 hits in a row!) But it was a fleeting drift and I think I scared whatever browns where hiding out. After the initial strikes I couldn't get any other trout to hit my offerings. I did stir up some silt on the drift to regain my footing and the water was stained a lot more. It was a very slow run under the bridge and it took 10 minutes for the silt to go away. Noticing that I either had to find an alternate wading path through chest deep water, traverse the barbed wire again, or climb out the bermed roadbank to get to my Jeep... I opted not to fish anymore (cuz really it was a huge pain in the butt to wade this creek) Speaking of butt's.... At my hotel there was a lot of Butt's!
(Had to take that pic. Too funny to pass up!)
Next on my piscatorial adventure I decided to test the limits of my 5 wgt fly rod and try and catch some 5 pound carp. I found them on a town pond along Route 72 in Manhiem, PA. Greedy greedy carp!!!! Look at them come up to me begging for bread crumbs! Yes they would take a fly... just about anything you could put on the tippet. Hmmm, where they tame enough to take a bare hook?
I could hook them with a bare hook! I could drag them to the shore... but I could NOT lift them out of the water and my tippet would snap off!! After snapping my tippet (didn't have a net with me) about 6 times on some hefty carp... I grew frustrated and packed it in. Next time I'll bring an 8 wgt and some stiff treble hooks!
Greedy, greedy carp! But damn they were HUGE!!!! Not very sporting since they were pretty tame and I'm assuming hand-fed most of the time.
A few blocks from the Inn I was staying at I found another spring creek. Mill Stream. A limestone creek (95% of the streams in Lancaster County are Limestoners). However this one meandered through a lot of farmland and was warmer than the rest at 68.5 degrees.
I noticed that most of the stream bottom was little freshwater mussel shells. A good sign that this creek was healthy and fertile.
I also saw a lot of panfish redds along the banks. They looked like little bomb craters and usually a small panfish was within each crater guarding the eggs. They were the brightest most colorful panfish I'd ever had the joy of catching.
I finally found a nice deep hole and figured that if there were panfish about... and the creek was healthy and fertile.
I thought Smallies would be living here! I put on a JJ's wooly bugger and on my first cast... BAM! Smallie #1
About 9 to 11" inches and it put up quite the fight!
I caught 7 more smallies in this hole from 6" to a whopping 14 inches! Not bad for a creek that was only 20 feet wide. I don't think this creek got any fishing pressure in the area I waded. There was NO litter, no path's, and no one around. I had about 250 yards of creek in either direction to myself. Cows and horses from the Amish farmlands would walk to the bank and stare at me. I would "moo" to the cows and they would answer me back!
My last stop was Chique's Creek, another beautiful limestoner between Manhiem, PA and Lebanon, PA on Route 72. A cool 56 degrees and crystal clear, but ever so small skinny water to fish. Fishing was tough since it was another 90 degree day. I opted to fish small dry flies into the brush covered canopy along the stream banks.
This time I had a fishing buddy with me. My son Joel. He was ever the trooper and he carried my flybox and net. He is a very important fishing "helper". He was very excited to come with Daddy. He even tried his hand on the fly rod. For 3 years old.... he can cast! Not well, of course... but he tried!!!
This brushy riffle and run produced three 6" brown trout all on a #20 griffith gnat doped up to float high on it's hackles.
My "Bubby" had a hard day helping Daddy flyfish. He fell asleep in his booth while we ate at the Waffle House.
If anyone ever wants specific info on any of these waters I've fished please PM me and I'll give you specific details of "how to's", driving directions, and where to stay, eat, shop, etc. Lancaster is an excellent vacation spot for the whole family and definately for fishing!!!!!!
Lancaster County is a great place to wet a line. It also boasts some great fishing B&T and fly shops. You have a multitude of warmwater and coldwater streams to fish. The Susquehanna River (Mainstem) is the western and southern boundary of Lancaster County. The river here is mainly shallow riffles north of PA Rte 30 towards Harrisburg. Once hitting Columbia and Wrightsville is slows into a tepid long run which is impounded by the Safe Harbor Dam.
I apoligize for the lack of pics of the Suskie. i only had my cell phone camera and it was packed in a waterproof pouch since I kayaked the Mainstem from Shank's Mare, PA to about 1/4 mile from the Safe Harbor Dam. (I got back on the kayak "horse" so to speak after my 'yak tipping incident of last week) Then my batteries died on my cell phone. Some of my pics are blurry... again Sorry... it's a el cheapo cell phone camera!
On the way to the Suskie...
I didn't catch a single fish while fishing the mainstem. After talking to anglers along the way, this is normal! Oh I'm so spoiled on the NB with all the great smallies. Most of the anglers were amazed that I would come down to the mainstem when the NB is so productive.
The kayaking was fun and I saw so many sailboats and other jetboats on the water. A guide service had at least 4 jetboats on the water. They were yellow jetboats and they stayed far away from the "pleasure" boaters and kayakers. Rumor has it that this guide service used to "wake" other kayak fisherman near the dam. Does anyone have any truth to add to that rumor?
On the way back from Shank's Mare I stopped at the Susquehanna Valley Tackle Shop on Landis Ave in Lancaster City. It's a relatively small store but as you can see from the pics it's packed wall to wall with all sorts of tackle, rods, baits, and lures. If they don't have what you need... then you don't need it.
I asked the shop owner where the "JJ's Jigs" where kept. He had never heard of them. I educated him on the good merits of JJ's Jigs and he asked for some info and a business card. Maybe the good anglers of Lancaster County will be able to fish with a JJ's Jig soon? When I asked him what was the most popular selling bait in his store... his answer was this:
Yep, Power Bait! I have never seen so many different types of power bait in one store. I believe he carried every product in stock that Berkely made (except for the pink worms) He was out of those. I guess they are as popular in Lancaster as they are up here in the Twin Tiers.
My next stop was The Evening Rise Fly Shop on the Fruitville Pike. One of my most favorite fly shops. I stop here every year and drop a bundle of cash. They have products here that I can't find anywhere else.
They now carry the ultra-tweedy and costly $$$$ high end House of Hardy reels and Grey's Rods. House of Hardy recently constructed a distribution center in Lititz, PA (about 5 miles) from this shop. The Evening Rise is the flagship fly shop for Hardy now. I did go tour the Hardy Factory in Lititz. A stellar factory with casting ponds. However, due to "manufacturing trade issues" no cell phones or cameras were allowed in the factory or retail store. If you ever want to see extreme tweediness in flyfishing... House of Hardy is the brand of snobbery. The cheapest Hardy fly rod at the store was $799.00. OMG!
The Evening Rise has an excellent fly materials section. This pic is only one wall of stuff. There was 2 more rooms filled to the gills with materials.
After dropping a month's salary (that I had been saving for 1 year) I walked out with 4 bags of materials AND a wealth of info on where to flyfish. It's amazing how loose the lips of the store owner was about giving up good places to fish when you grease him up with a bankroll of $20's and $50's. Now I had the info to find my trouty goodness and scads of smallies to fish for.
First, was to drive about 12 miles west of Lancaster on PA Route 23 towards Marietta, PA. I found the Donegal Creek Flyfishing C&R project water. The weather was 90 degrees that day and I wanted to fish in some shade. Donegal Creek is a Limestone Creek that stays cold year round. It's canopied, cool, and has that chalky look to it.
Notice in the background the wire strung up and the barbed wire circled around the stretched wire. I have never seen that on a stream before. Evidently the farmer has had some problems with anglers screwing around with his cows. The Evening Rise shop owner advised me of this stated that the farmer has had quite the vet bill getting large streamer flies out of his cows ears in the past. The PFBC told him to "safeguard" his property and his livestock. Kinda extreme measures.. but it works. I saw insulators on the wire and wondered if it was an electric fence. I didn't test out my theory and decided a downstream approach would be better for me.
The water was a cool 58.9 degrees even at high noon when the outside temp was 90-92 degrees. It was almost a little cold to wet wade and my feet got a little numb. The limestone water is always this light chocolate milk stain. I though a streamer fly was in order. I sneaked my way downstream and found another set of concentrina wire over the creek. So I only could fish in about 150 yards of the creek. I put on a JJ's Thomas Minnow with a split shot and work a chest deep hole. Due to the stain in the water I could see any trout and wondered if I needed to find a different section of the creek to fish. Just as I brought the streamer back to me to reel it up a large rainbow flew up from the bottom and grabbed my Thomas Minnow. The fight was on. After about 45 seconds of head shakes and 3 jumps in the air, I had the 'bow up to me. I pulled him out of the water and grabbed my cell cam.... the bow shook it's head again and CRAP... released!
I worked my way downstream past the barbed wire accross the stream and fished under the Rte 23 bridge. There was massive weedbeds in the middle of the creek so I switched to a weighted cress bug and sent it down the current. On one drift 3 browns attacked it at seperate times. I missed the strike all 3 times. (I was taken back by the aggressiveness of these trout and shocked that I had 3 hits in a row!) But it was a fleeting drift and I think I scared whatever browns where hiding out. After the initial strikes I couldn't get any other trout to hit my offerings. I did stir up some silt on the drift to regain my footing and the water was stained a lot more. It was a very slow run under the bridge and it took 10 minutes for the silt to go away. Noticing that I either had to find an alternate wading path through chest deep water, traverse the barbed wire again, or climb out the bermed roadbank to get to my Jeep... I opted not to fish anymore (cuz really it was a huge pain in the butt to wade this creek) Speaking of butt's.... At my hotel there was a lot of Butt's!
(Had to take that pic. Too funny to pass up!)
Next on my piscatorial adventure I decided to test the limits of my 5 wgt fly rod and try and catch some 5 pound carp. I found them on a town pond along Route 72 in Manhiem, PA. Greedy greedy carp!!!! Look at them come up to me begging for bread crumbs! Yes they would take a fly... just about anything you could put on the tippet. Hmmm, where they tame enough to take a bare hook?
I could hook them with a bare hook! I could drag them to the shore... but I could NOT lift them out of the water and my tippet would snap off!! After snapping my tippet (didn't have a net with me) about 6 times on some hefty carp... I grew frustrated and packed it in. Next time I'll bring an 8 wgt and some stiff treble hooks!
Greedy, greedy carp! But damn they were HUGE!!!! Not very sporting since they were pretty tame and I'm assuming hand-fed most of the time.
A few blocks from the Inn I was staying at I found another spring creek. Mill Stream. A limestone creek (95% of the streams in Lancaster County are Limestoners). However this one meandered through a lot of farmland and was warmer than the rest at 68.5 degrees.
I noticed that most of the stream bottom was little freshwater mussel shells. A good sign that this creek was healthy and fertile.
I also saw a lot of panfish redds along the banks. They looked like little bomb craters and usually a small panfish was within each crater guarding the eggs. They were the brightest most colorful panfish I'd ever had the joy of catching.
I finally found a nice deep hole and figured that if there were panfish about... and the creek was healthy and fertile.
I thought Smallies would be living here! I put on a JJ's wooly bugger and on my first cast... BAM! Smallie #1
About 9 to 11" inches and it put up quite the fight!
I caught 7 more smallies in this hole from 6" to a whopping 14 inches! Not bad for a creek that was only 20 feet wide. I don't think this creek got any fishing pressure in the area I waded. There was NO litter, no path's, and no one around. I had about 250 yards of creek in either direction to myself. Cows and horses from the Amish farmlands would walk to the bank and stare at me. I would "moo" to the cows and they would answer me back!
My last stop was Chique's Creek, another beautiful limestoner between Manhiem, PA and Lebanon, PA on Route 72. A cool 56 degrees and crystal clear, but ever so small skinny water to fish. Fishing was tough since it was another 90 degree day. I opted to fish small dry flies into the brush covered canopy along the stream banks.
This time I had a fishing buddy with me. My son Joel. He was ever the trooper and he carried my flybox and net. He is a very important fishing "helper". He was very excited to come with Daddy. He even tried his hand on the fly rod. For 3 years old.... he can cast! Not well, of course... but he tried!!!
This brushy riffle and run produced three 6" brown trout all on a #20 griffith gnat doped up to float high on it's hackles.
My "Bubby" had a hard day helping Daddy flyfish. He fell asleep in his booth while we ate at the Waffle House.
If anyone ever wants specific info on any of these waters I've fished please PM me and I'll give you specific details of "how to's", driving directions, and where to stay, eat, shop, etc. Lancaster is an excellent vacation spot for the whole family and definately for fishing!!!!!!