Lancaster County

[JasonC]

My next venture will be exploring some of the preserves found within Lancaster County and I was thinking of also checking out a SGL. This will take place mid-November on a Friday so my questions are:
How much blaze orange is necessary to wear when on SGLs and do you think the color spooks wild trout moreso than not wearing bright colors? Second, should I expect better fishing on the nature preserve lands or the SGLs? Thanks for any and all input!

 

[HopBack]

Blaze orange requirements?

Nov-15th to the end of December you are required to wear 250 square inches of blaze orange (orange hat and vest) except on Sundays.


Fishing better in gamelands or preserves?

I don't know that it matters much as there is no fantastic fishing to be had in Lancaster county. That's not to say I don't enjoy fishing for wild brook and brown trout in the county but I certainly wouldn't travel from anywhere to fish any of the streams as destinations. I suppose Philly is close enough.

Pm me if you have any questions!

 

[Swattie87]

I have had some surprisingly good Trout fishing in Lancaster County, at times. Though it’s inconsistent. A year or two later, or before, the same stream in the same relative conditions is a dud. I suspect this illustrates that in general Lancaster County only has water marginally capable of supporting Trout. When conditions are right over the course of a year or two (generally cooler and wetter) this translates into some decent fishing. Both on SGL’s and preserves, depends on the stream and conditions.

As far as the preserves go, make sure to check the individual rules on them on the Conservancy website. Some don’t allowing hunting, so you don’t need to worry about the blaze orange. Some also don’t allow fishing though. Just check for the ones you’re looking into.

On the SGL’s, the rules are quite simple. Since you’ll be fishing on Fridays, it’s what HB quoted. Archery is different, but I’m not too wild personally about fishing in SGL’s (other than on Sundays) during rifle season, even if I was head to toe in blaze orange.

 

[Mike]

Recommend that you look into Fishing (upper part) and Tucquan Cks for starters. Both support attractive biomasses of Browns. There are other populations in some preserves that also support Browns, but biomasses are a bit lower...still attractive, but a bit lower. One sampled this year supported a Class B equivalent biomass, for example.