Hammer Musings

[JeffP]

I hit up the Hammer at the County Park yesterday and know there was a lot of chat about it last year. I just wanted to share a few observations from my outing from about 11:00 to 2:00.
Supposedly the Lititz Sportsman's Club had just stocked but I saw few stockers and the few guys that were out didn't catch much although I heard one guy say he heard someone caught a bunch under the bridge. I saw a huge amount of stockers in pods. At 2 places where the suckers were there were numerous native brook trout aligned in the shallows happily chasing each other around. They wanted nothing to do with my fly and the couple stockers in the mass of suckers were very active but had little interest in my flies. I did manage to catch about an 8 incher casting to the other side. I later missed a nice native brown about 14 inches at the very upstream end of the park.
Later I hit up a buddies property upstream of the turnpike bridge. I caught about a 13-14 inch native brown. I usually do well on that section but didn't see another fish.The good news was no bass if anyone remembers last years reports. Also, the presence of a number of brookies continues to surprise me. While I was there a guy caught a 10 inches that swallowed his bait and numerous bait fishers reported catching only a couple real little ones. Another guy lamented the fact that the state stocked all the suckers and the other guys I talked to had no idea there were natives. Everybody was really friendly but how little the average angler knows is amazing. There was no evidence of any hatches, but I say a couple mayflies and a fly guy was fishing a dry in the pool above the old mill dam at the pumping station when I stopped.

 

[ryansheehan]

The suckers might be natives but the browns are definitely not.

 

[Mike]

Glad to hear that the ST are still around down by the park. Proximity to the ST trib might be part of the reason.

 

[JeffP]

Do any of the tribs in the park hold rookies? They are tiny!

 

[HopBack]

Those tribs are not small, especially for brookie streams. And yes Mike I have caught brookies and browns in the park section year round. Not in a really fishable number but they are there.

 

[Mike]

I knew they were there in the past, but just wondered if the ST were still there. It has been a while since I last visited that stream. Yes, raw banks, sediment, and all, the unnamed trib not too far upstream from the Speedwell Forge Rd bridge at the lower end of the park supports a ST population.

 

[JeffP]

That is hard to believe! Guess I'll have to take a walk!

 

[sarce]

Most small tributaries to larger streams are much more narrow and shallow near the mouth than is typical for the rest of said tributary. Often if you go upstream to where the gradient picks up and the valley sides close in, you can find nice little plunge pools even on just a trickle of a stream. I'd say this is true of 90% of small streams I fish. Don't judge a tributary by its mouth

 

[HopBack]

Most small tributaries to larger streams are much more narrow and shallow near the mouth than is typical for the rest of said tributary. Often if you go upstream to where the gradient picks up and the valley sides close in, you can find nice little plunge pools even on just a trickle of a stream. I'd say this is true of 90% of small streams I fish. Don't judge a tributary by its mouth

;-) This is certainly true in this situation. Good insight!

 

[riverwhy]

Hopback,
You must be talking about kettle or walnut. I fished the county park trib and saw no fish and little elevation drop. I just checked maps and satelitte images on it. This is a lowland stream starting in farm country. I can scarcely believe this is a native brook trout stream unless there is some limestone which I am almost certain there is not. Even Brown Trout reproduction looks unlikely on this run. Could some brookies from Hammer have been up in there for relatively cooler water in summer when they sampled it?

 

[HopBack]

You would have to ask Mike which one he was reffering to but almost all of hammers tribs hold at least a transient population of ST. They are usually not very productive and I don’t bother to fish them. Hammer creek itself has a modest year long population of ST and even fewer BT.

This is of course just a sampling with my own fly rod. The weed beds and water cress probably hide a lot more fish than I ever see.

I have caught ST in that trib you fished but success is probably totally reliant on conditions. Not worth the effort imho.

 

[Mike]

Yes, it is the county park trib as referenced above. Wild ST have been found at more than one location.

 

[HopBack]

Yes, it is the county park trib as referenced above. Wild ST have been found at more than one location.

As I said, conditions are everything. I once fished an unassesed stream on a mild day one winter. I would have sworn the stream was dead but Mike insisted I try it again in the spring as he believed there to be a healthy population of BT. I did try again and caught the biggest Brook trout I’ve gotten to this date. Furthermore, the stream is close to a class A population.

I wouldn’t write off a stream after 1 outing. There is a thread about upper kettle not producing but everyone knows that stream section is just fine.