How is Lititz Run doing?

[JeffP]

I stopped by Lititz Run today. It was a nice warm day and I figured I could move a fish or 2. I fished the lower Hess Meadow and the habitat looked awesome. I bet I haven't seen fish the last 8-10 times I've been there. I used to see pretty many but only at a few places. I don't think I have ever caught a regular size trout. Most fish have been 17-20 but very few. I thought the summer might have been rough but I remember 1999 the last bad drought and when we got some rain and a couple cool days I saw a lot of fish. Any thoughts? Do they only eat trout pellets? I've heard some guys talk about a trike hatch. Granted I only get there a couple times a year, but the stream is a total mystery to me. I am surprised how well the stream restoration has held up. I remember working in that meadow in the early days with TU.

 

[e-setter]

I fished it Thanksgiving morning and the only fish that I saw was a dead one. The water level was quite low. That was the first time that I fished it in the last 13 years since moving to York county. So, I can't compare that outing to anything recent. Maybe it was just a slow morning, but it didn't really look all that inspiring.

 

[nomad_archer]

I fished the C&R section a bunch this summer starting sometime in mid June. Once I figured out how to catch the fish I didn't really have a bad day. Some were slow but for the most part there were plenty of fairly well educated fish. The C&R section always had a few guys fishing it. I fished it 7 times between July 7th and and 10/1. I took August and September off because of a new baby.

Some of the interesting facts from that time period.

My outings were 2-3 hours long and usually early morning.
I caught fish every time out. Catch total ranged from 1 - 14 fish. With most being in the 5-8 range.
Low water temp was 61* on 7/7
High water temp was 64* on 7/22

I don't have average lengths but every fish was either average or above average. I did notice there are lots of fish in that section of water. I did well on various nymphs. When the water was high streamers worked well. The water did get very low when I drove by in august, September and a little into October.

I have read old posts where other guys aren't very fond of that water but for me I really enjoy fishing it. That water taught me how to nymph as I took up FF'ing this past summer. I fished this section a lot because it is 15 minutes or so from home and stayed cool enough to fish through the dog days of summer.

I haven't fished it much since October as I have been doing a little exploring. But with little to compare the stream with in a FFing context, I thought it fished pretty well for me this summer.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

They only stock the C&R stretch for the "Trout on the Run" tournament in the Spring. That's it. So if you have a low, hot summer as we did, you're not going to find many fish through those sections in the Fall.

 

[Swattie87]

As my brother says...it's "The Titz."

 

[nomad_archer]

The_Sasquatch wrote:
They only stock the C&R stretch for the "Trout on the Run" tournament in the Spring. That's it. So if you have a low, hot summer as we did, you're not going to find many fish through those sections in the Fall.

Depends on what is considered "lots of fish" I caught fish in June and July. I also didn't have problems catching fish in early to mid October. I saw plenty more than I caught. I haven't fished there since October but I assume there are still plenty of fish still in there. I have just been attempting to explore other water or I would still be fishing there. It has always fished decent for me considering it gets hammered with pressure.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Which section are you fishing? The conservancy or the lower C&R area?

 

[nomad_archer]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
Which section are you fishing? The conservancy or the lower C&R area?

Lower C&R up to where the spring comes in.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I advise all readers to either avoid Lititz run in the C&R area in the summer or to at least take a temp like nomad did. Lititz runs temperature profile shows that if the air temp reaches 80 degrees for any length of time (2-3 days) the water temp reaches 70+.
That said the conservancy property stays considerably cooler in those months.

It does have a pretty good trico hatch in August but is usually unfishable due to temps. It does have fish but not like years past. They only stock it for the tournament and have pretty much stopped feeding the fish. It still has some impressive fish if you can fool them.

 

[wgmiller]

Get a badge and fish the Conservancy - that's where the fish are these days. Long gone are the days of battleships in the C & R stretch of LR, for a number of different reasons.