Conodoguinet Creek [Mechanicsburg]

[LanguageArtsGrade]

Hello all,

I have yet to catch any sort of fish on spinning reel / rod or fly gear in the past month or so. I have been fishing the Yellow Breeches a lot lately as a beginner to fly fishing. However, I live right next to the conodoguinet and had massive success fishing it in the summer months and early fall. Now that it is December, I am wondering if any fallfish, sunfish, or bass that were previously in there stay in there over the winter. I know that the bass typically move into the Susquehanna river this time of year but do any other fish stick around? Is it worth fishing the creek? What would you guys throw in there (for both spin and fly)?

Thank you in advance!

 

[Swattie87]

The fish are still there. Just not in the same
places you were finding them in the Summer. In Summer the WW species you mention as being common in the Connie are working shade lines or are in the heaviest current you can find usually.

In Winter, look for deep slack eddies adjacent to current breaks. Whether spin or fly fishing you want your offering on the bottom, fished super slow. If you can just get a streamer or jig to dead drift like a nymph that’s ideal. If you need to impart movement, use the rod tip to make small twitches, stripping the fly is too much movement in Winter in my experience. The hits are subtle. You’ll generally just feel some weight. Most of the time it will be a rock or log or other snag, but once in a while it will be a fish.

 

[LanguageArtsGrade]

The fish are still there. Just not in the same
places you were finding them in the Summer. In Summer the WW species you mention as being common in the Connie are working shade lines or are in the heaviest current you can find usually.

In Winter, look for deep slack eddies adjacent to current breaks. Whether spin or fly fishing you want your offering on the bottom, fished super slow. If you can just get a streamer or jig to dead drift like a nymph that’s ideal. If you need to impart movement, use the rod tip to make small twitches, stripping the fly is too much movement in Winter in my experience. The hits are subtle. You’ll generally just feel some weight. Most of the time it will be a rock or log or other snag, but once in a while it will be a fish.

Thank you for the reply. I figured they would be in the deeper areas. I will try and fish it soon. As for fly gear, I got a 5WT and some wooly buggers that I was planning on using. My plan was to also add a BB splitshot and just let it move with the current. I heard peacock body wooly buggers are good. I assume in the color of black.

 

[Swattie87]

Thank you for the reply. I figured they would be in the deeper areas. I will try and fish it soon. As for fly gear, I got a 5WT and some wooly buggers that I was planning on using. My plan was to also add a BB splitshot and just let it move with the current. I heard peacock body wooly buggers are good. I assume in the color of black.

Yeah. I like dark colored streamers for WW fishing in colder weather. In the middle of Summer in clear water I’ll usually switch to white or chartreuse, or some combination of the two.

Don’t be afraid to add more than one split shot if need be. Won’t be fun to cast as you add more shot, but in Winter, you need it. Doesn’t matter if you can cast the whole way across the creek, if your fly just floats above where all the fish are.

For this kind of fishing, if you want to catch fish, you need to deal with the snags and be prepared to lose some flies.

 

[LanguageArtsGrade]

Yeah. I like dark colored streamers for WW fishing in colder weather. In the middle of Summer in clear water I’ll usually switch to white or chartreuse, or some combination of the two.

Don’t be afraid to add more than one split shot if need be. Won’t be fun to cast as you add more shot, but in Winter, you need it. Doesn’t matter if you can cast the whole way across the creek, if your fly just floats above where all the fish are.

For this kind of fishing, if you want to catch fish, you need to deal with the snags and be prepared to lose some flies.

Sounds good, thank you for the info. When I add a splitshot, are splitshots that I use on spin gear ok to use on fly gear? Or are there different brands and types for fly fishing?

 

[Swattie87]

Sounds good, thank you for the info. When I add a splitshot, are splitshots that I use on spin gear ok to use on fly gear? Or are there different brands and types for fly fishing?

There are. But it’s just all marketing. The FF specific ones are more expensive simply because there’s a perception fly anglers will pay more for something if it’s FFing specific. And that’s probably at least partially true.

I just buy and use the same stuff you’d use spin fishing. Like $4 for a 100 pack. It’s no different. Yeah, if you get super into the finer details of nymphing to where you’re constantly changing and fine tuning weights, you can get a greater variety of the smaller sizes perhaps in shot marketed specifically to FFers. But I never got bit by that bug and only carry size BB, and am fine with that. My experience is 1-3 BB sized is where you end up most of the time to get to the bottom. With two being the most common amount of weight I add. FWIW.

 

[Kgregor12]

Yeah. I like dark colored streamers for WW fishing in colder weather. In the middle of Summer in clear water I’ll usually switch to white or chartreuse, or some combination of the two.

Don’t be afraid to add more than one split shot if need be. Won’t be fun to cast as you add more shot, but in Winter, you need it. Doesn’t matter if you can cast the whole way across the creek, if your fly just floats above where all the fish are.

For this kind of fishing, if you want to catch fish, you need to deal with the snags and be prepared to lose some flies.

Hence my recent thread “snag-less streamer challenge” I have known this undeniable truth for a long time. Fear of losing streamers has prevented many anglers from catching in the cold.

Mountain Tarpon are my favorite fish in the connie

 

[LanguageArtsGrade]

There are. But it’s just all marketing. The FF specific ones are more expensive simply because there’s a perception fly anglers will pay more for something if it’s FFing specific. And that’s probably at least partially true.

I just buy and use the same stuff you’d use spin fishing. Like $4 for a 100 pack. It’s no different. Yeah, if you get super into the finer details of nymphing to where you’re constantly changing and fine tuning weights, you can get a greater variety of the smaller sizes perhaps in shot marketed specifically to FFers. But I never got bit by that bug and only carry size BB, and am fine with that. My experience is 1-3 BB sized is where you end up most of the time to get to the bottom. With two being the most common amount of weight I add. FWIW.

I see. Fair enough. I will just stick with the regular split shots then. I think I will target the fall fish in the connie and see how it goes with a black wooly bugger. My plan is to cast where I think its deeper and let it float down. I normally get snagged on grass, weeds, etc over there but its worth a try either way. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[LanguageArtsGrade]

Hence my recent thread “snag-less streamer challenge” I have known this undeniable truth for a long time. Fear of losing streamers has prevented many anglers from catching in the cold.

Mountain Tarpon are my favorite fish in the connie

Are the Mountain Tarpon referring to the Fall fish? I have caught a few small ones during the summer. Looking to target these guys this weekend with a black wooly bugger in the deeper sections.

 

[Broodstock]

Hence my recent thread “snag-less streamer challenge” I have known this undeniable truth for a long time. Fear of losing streamers has prevented many anglers from catching in the cold.

Mountain Tarpon are my favorite fish in the connie

Jig hooks or inverting beads, a loop of mono as a weed guard if you really want it. I find that most snags in rock are just the fly getting stuck in a specific geometry of crevice, and no fly with weight will be free from this. Usually with the right approach and feel, these become un-snagged easily. Move upstream, or cast slack into the line and pop it. Change the angle, etc. To me, it is more about the drift, leading the fly, the action, and knowing the depth and tippet/sighter length and line angle to make sure you are in the zone.

If you are hooked into wood, well, that is a different story.

I keep most of my winter flies very simple so I am less worried about decorating the stream bed with them.

You can also drop shot in the winter which works well. I tie the shot on with 6x and its 12" below my bottom fly, usually an egg - tied with 5x or 4x. Never lost an egg, but break off a lot of shot.

 

[Kgregor12]

Are the Mountain Tarpon referring to the Fall fish? I have caught a few small ones during the summer. Looking to target these guys this weekend with a black wooly bugger in the deeper sections.

Yup!

Fallfish: Little Tarpon of the Commonwealth

Looking for a Virginia fish that fights like a tarpon? Look for a fallfish! They are best caught with ultra-light fly fishing tackle

dwr.virginia.gov

 

[Kgregor12]

@LanguageArtsGrade another recommendation on the connie and streams like it is to not overlook the species that are available at night during the winter. Don’t wade in deep or fish a hole your not super familiar with but you might try picking one deep pool your extremely familiar with and fishing shallow to deep with a lightly weighted black size 6-4 wooly bugger on a tight line or if water slow enough traditional line. What you will find is even when the air temp is in the 30’s the rover comes alive with rock bass you will seldom catch in the day time. You can often get summer panfish fly rod numbers in the dead of winter and you have a great shot at big fallfish which HEAVILY hunt big prey items nocturnally as well as brown trout in some places.