Manada creek

I’m sure there’s still some there. There never was a lot of them. I always caught mostly stockies, til I moved on to greener pastures. Been 10+ years since I’ve fished it. More interesting stuff, with less access issues than Manada within an hour’s drive. I’d just rather go elsewhere with my fishing time.
 
The biggest draw to the Manada for me is its close proximity to my son's apartment when we visit him. (He's on Route 39 just south of I-81.) Clarks and others may be better but they're more than 10 minutes away.
It's usually good for a fish or two during a 1-2 hour outing. Unlike my sons, I exclusively use dries so they usually do better than I do. We generally fish from the Furnace Road bridge up about halfway to Rt 443. Directly below 443 there are a few fishable spots but not very many places to park (that aren't posted). Up from 443, the only water I found worth trying is the hole under the fenced off foot bridge to the camp across the creek. The bottom in most places is silty so one needs to be careful to not go knee-deep into the mud. The fishing is generally best before trout season starts up to the end of May. Without spring rain, it gets really low, very quickly. I got four stocker rainbows out of the same hole last spring on a March Brown. There are little wild browns salted throughout that are more eager than the bigger ones. The boy who lives nearby got this one on a Montana nymph last year.

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I would advise against fishing Manada above the section paralleling 443 at the McLean road pull off. First, as others have stated, FTIG owns the area up toward the headwaters and there is no admittance. Second, several years ago The Pagans motorcycle group started leasing the land between the old 4-wheeler bridge (which collapsed several years ago) just above 443 and the FTIG-owned land and I would just as soon not tangle with any of them. They cleared out some of the old shacks and such that used to be there and cleaned it up and built some of their own structures. I don’t know, nor do I want to know, what they are doing there! I found out early on that others are not very welcome there.
I had parked on McLean Rd to fish downstream from there and found a HUGE work party going on further up the road. Cars and trucks were parked on both sides of McLean as far back as I could see and I could hear heavy equipment operating back there. I saw a man in a truck near where I parked and went to see if I could find out what was going on. All he gave me was 1-5 word answers to my questions. I finally asked if anyone would mind if I fished downstream and all he said was ”Some people might not like that.” It was only when I started turning to go back to my car that I noticed the Pagans patch on his sleeve. I figured it was not a definite No to fishing and it is public water so I began to put my waders on. In a very short time another guy came walking up to me and asked what I was doing. I explained what my intentions were and he started some “fishing” small talk. After a couple minutes I must have somehow convinced him that I was harmless and he said “Alright.” and turned around and walked back up the road. I fished that day without any incident and have been back several times since then, always fishing downstream from there. Within the past couple years signs have been posted saying that it is private property and is under video surveillance and no parking is allowed. If I fish there now I park at the spot by the rickety bridge going to the cabin across Manada and fish upstream stopping before getting to McLean. The Fish Commission stocking truck doesn’t even turn onto McLean anymore and instead parks on 443 and the fish are bucketed in for float stocking.
 
I haven't run into any bikers. One of the times I had an evening fish downstream of the 443 bridge, I heard a pretty loud party going on. I worked with one of the Pagans several years ago here in MD. Maybe I'll drop his name. Last I heard, he bought a cottage on the Juniata or Little J somewhere.
 
Truth be told, I never found the water up that far very attractive anyway. It seemed to be largely flat, featureless water that just served as a chute for floodwaters to gain a head of steam.
 
wgmiller said:
Truth be told, I never found the water up that far very attractive anyway. It seemed to be largely flat, featureless water that just served as a chute for floodwaters to gain a head of steam.
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Agreed. The big hole upstream/downstream/under the footbridge had a few fish in it, but we quickly grew tired of picking up party trash so we could wade into a knee-deep-muck-bottom creek. We generally stick to downstream of the Rt 443 bridge. Again, we find the Manada as adequate for a quick outing that's a 10-minute drive away.
 
Never had any encounters with bikers there, but I did once have two black bear cubs and their mama sow amble across 443 30 yards from me as I was halfway out of my waders at dusk after a nice evening hatch. Far as I could see, none of the three bears did it in the woods, but I definitely said it in the woods.

Manada always yields a few stockers for me plus the occasional panfish and chubs, but my last trip to the DHALO a group of guys with buckets and bait came down as I was leaving, also at nightfall. Since I was alone and startled them as they came down under the bridge, which I was fishing upstream of, I did not stick around to discuss the intricacies of special regs.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
Agreed. The big hole upstream/downstream/under the footbridge had a few fish in it, but we quickly grew tired of picking up party trash so we could wade into a knee-deep-muck-bottom creek. We generally stick to downstream of the Rt 443 bridge. Again, we find the Manada as adequate for a quick outing that's a 10-minute drive away.
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Just to clarify, we're talking about further upstream of the big washed out footbridge. There is a lot of flat, dead water above the footbridge, but also plenty of areas where fish can hold. The area in the red rectangle is the section I believe that is being referenced about where the bikers may be. Correct me if I'm wrong. The red X represents the cabin across from the footbridge.

Manada.jpg
 
wgmiller said:
Just to clarify, we're talking about further upstream of the big washed out footbridge. There is a lot of flat, dead water above the footbridge, but also plenty of areas where fish can hold. The area in the red rectangle is the section I believe that is being referenced about where the bikers may be. Correct me if I'm wrong. The red X represents the cabin across from the footbridge.

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You're correct. We never fished in the red box. I recall McLean Road being a narrow gravel track with no parking, but I may be thinking of a random driveway nearby. It's been about 5 years since we attempted to check that far upstream.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
You're correct. We never fished in the red box. I recall McLean Road being a narrow gravel track with no parking, but I may be thinking of a random driveway nearby. It's been about 5 years since we attempted to check that far upstream.
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Yeah, it gets really "weird" up in that area. Sometimes you'll see FtIG vehicles moving in and out of the base. The small tribs on the left truly are just that.
 
I am happy to report that the rumors of Manada's demise are greatly exaggerated! 😂

I made it out today and fished from roughly 08:30-12:30 in the stretch from Furnace Road all the way up to McLean Rd. Water temp was 42 and crystal clear, a few midges in the air, and a mix of clouds and sun. Hands down some of the biggest wild browns I've ever caught on Manada. I fished an orange #14 Eggstacy egg on the point with a #20 red zebra midge as the dropper. Most fish came on the egg. The takes were soft, so the tightline really paid off!

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The future!
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
WGM, was this photo taken between the gated foot bridge and McClean Rd? That stretch doesn't look familiar to me since we tend to stay pretty close to Furnace Road.
Nice fishes by the way... You'll probably see my son wandering by as the weather warms up.
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It was not. It's between 443 and Furnace Rd. Don't be afraid to venture upstream from Furnace Rd. There is a lot of water to explore in that stretch. I'm not sure when the next time I'll get to Manada will be. It does fish better when the water warms though, as the pocket water becomes more active. Hard to beat a dry dropper through that water!
 
wgmiller said:
It was not. It's between 443 and Furnace Rd. Don't be afraid to venture upstream from Furnace Rd. There is a lot of water to explore in that stretch. I'm not sure when the next time I'll get to Manada will be. It does fish better when the water warms though, as the pocket water becomes more active. Hard to beat a dry dropper through that water!
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Got it. I typically go in at Furnace Road and go no farther upstream than the flat next to the bench somebody stuck in the woods. My boys will go all the way to 443 but they wander more than I do. I'll check it out. this spring.
 
6xAdams(Jones) said:
Got it. I typically go in at Furnace Road and go no farther upstream than the flat next to the bench somebody stuck in the woods. My boys will go all the way to 443 but they wander more than I do. I'll check it out. this spring.
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I think that bench is a memorial for a guy who was very involved with the betterment of manada creek, I had a very nice older gentleman tell me about it, l think he mentioned the guy came up with the wooly bugger design, might be wrong on the fly
 
Jemoca75! said:
I think that bench is a memorial for a guy who was very involved with the betterment of manada creek, I had a very nice older gentleman tell me about it, l think he mentioned the guy came up with the wooly bugger design, might be wrong on the fly
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That's nice to know about the bench. I had to use Google to see who invented the wooly bugger - Russell Blessing's name is consistently mentioned. I know it's a popular bug when my boys are fishing there. The bench is on the side of the creek which I'm told is private property and supposedly, trespassing is strongly enforced. I only take my chances walking on the side that's owned by the military. If I'm approached, I figure I can talk them into letting a veteran walk through it.
 
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