American Shad in Muddy Creek in York County

[TRSanderson]

Hello all,

A buddy and I are looking at doing some hiking/camping/fishing this weekend on the Mason-Dixon Trail right on Muddy Creek. I have never fished it, and my Googling was not all that successful. I have a few questions for anyone willing to answer. 1) Do shad make their way up Muddy Creek this time of year? I'm thinking if so, only to the Brimshire Waterfall right off Paper Mill Rd. 2) Any decent smallmouth action this time of year?

Thanks in advance to anyone who drops their 2 cents on this one.

 

[Bamboozle]

Technically it is illegal to fish for American Shad and Hickory Shad in PA in any tributary to the Susquehanna River.

Muddy Creek IS a tributary to the Susquehanna:

Shad

Shad

www.pa.gov

 

[TRSanderson]

Good call, thank you.

 

[JimKennedy]

It's only a few miles farther. Hit Deer Creek on the western side of the river at Darlington or Octoraro Creek on the eastern side north of Port Deposit for hickories. For the big shad, you should be able to pick up a few on the river below Conowingo.

To the degree that there are shad upriver from Conowingo, it's the result of fish lifts. Years ago, they used to lift them at Conowingo and take them by truck up past the recreation dam at Harrisburg, so they wouldn't have the opportunity to get into Muddy. Not sure if that's still the case, or if they just lift up and over Conowingo these days.

 

[TRSanderson]

It's only a few miles farther. Hit Deer Creek on the western side of the river at Darlington or Octoraro Creek on the eastern side north of Port Deposit for hickories. For the big shad, you should be able to pick up a few on the river below Conowingo.

To the degree that there are shad upriver from Conowingo, it's the result of fish lifts. Years ago, they used to lift them at Conowingo and take them by truck up past the recreation dam at Harrisburg, so they wouldn't have the opportunity to get into Muddy. Not sure if that's still the case, or if they just lift up and over Conowingo these days.

Thanks! I do a fair amount of fishing in the Octoraro Creek already, so I suppose I'll have to go check that out.

 

[Duriensbane]

Last time i was down near the bottom of muddy it was a completely void of fish. All species, the mouth apparently has some chances at musky and SMB's but as you move in, it all but goes away. It is also impossible to wade safely. I tried to this past summer when it was very low and there are sections where the bedrock makes a cut in the creek that is about (at normal flows) 10-12ft deep. Standing on a rock out of the water, the normal waterline was at my neck, and i was about 2in away from floating in my waders when i did manage to find a gravel bar to walk on. I didnt make it up to the waterfall but with nothing biting i gave up and walked the trail back. You might get a shot at some SMB or maybe even a musky this spring if they came in to spawn, but i think the lower part of muddy is more for scenic people then fishermen.

 

[JeffP]

I wonder why that is?

 

[Duriensbane]

thats why i went up it to find out, on the PFBC website, the natural repo of trout stops at the papermill road bridge, i wanted to see if MAYBE there might be some below it, as there is 1 or to UNT's that flow into it with wild pops in it. But throwing streamers (for both trout and smbs), drifting bugs in really fishy areas, and not even seeing one spook, kinda led me to believe that there is something around there thats causing a problem. Maybe one of the UNT's that doesnt have a wild pop in it has some PH issues, but ill never know as i have no intention of going down there again. Unless im in my kayak.