Middle Creek Browns

[Fish Sticks]

Here I was so excited about finding wild browns on Middle!

Haha you still can be from a fishing perspective. I offer the conservation community/ fisheries science perspective. But i enjoy catching em too, enjoy hooking them no less my friend. I was night fishing the breeches 3 days ago and had a blast don’t let it take away from tour fishing experience, theres a difference between enjoying them on the end if the rod and furthering their invasion. They are a blast to fish for

Here I was so excited about finding wild browns on Middle!

you never said what you caught em on. I was interested. Didnt expect middle creek in its current state to have many hatches

 

[JeffP]

Iv'e caught the most on buggers but it has a nice sulfur hatch, bwos, craneflies, and caddis. I posted about some white fly hatch in the fall that brought up rising trout. It was like late September so it wasn't the white fly. I checked for it this year a couple times last fall and didn't see any.

 

[JeffP]

I was going to do my Lancaster County Conservation District water testing on Middle but I'm doing it first on Hammer at the County Park. I will probably add Middle once school is out.

 

[Fish Sticks]

Iv'e caught the most on buggers but it has a nice sulfur hatch, bwos, craneflies, and caddis. I posted about some white fly hatch in the fall that brought up rising trout. It was like late September so it wasn't the white fly. I checked for it this year a couple times last fall and didn't see any.

Oh wow i always thought middle creek was highly embedded/silty thats awesome that it still has some good macro invertebrate life.

 

[JeffP]

Here are some springs that hit it in the lower section from Clay Road, There are more. There is only 1 area that is kind of eroded south of 322. It's not perfect but plenty of deep water with nice riffles mixed in. Banks on both sides are good with major stone probably from farmers, but some is probably natural. Other places it runs against stone outcroppings. A big one comes right into the creek at Limerock Road. The Segloch/Furnace runs in a bit north of #2.

 

[JeffP]

Missed the one at Rock Road.

 

[Fish Sticks]

I was going to do my Lancaster County Conservation District water testing on Middle but I'm doing it first on Hammer at the County Park. I will probably add Middle once school is out.

Missed the one at Rock Road.

Wow thats some nice groundwater input, wonder if there are slimmy or mottled sculpin populations in there or rosyside dace or any other cool native fish species. Would be interested to see what surveys turn up. If I remember correctly i think there was a recent legacy sediment removal project somewhere in that area by landstudies?

 

[JeffP]

I did post about this project on Legacy Sediments Project. You said something about me showing you the project. I thought you meant the Hammer one but I know now that's not the one you are talking about. It is right at the bridge on Brunnerville Road and you can easily see it. Some good places just downstream. I'm not an expert but it looks like a total waste of money.

 

[JeffP]

The second picture of springs is the upstream side of the bridge where the project was done.

 

[Fish Sticks]

I did post about this project on Legacy Sediments Project. You said something about me showing you the project. I thought you meant the Hammer one but I know now that's not the one you are talking about. It is right at the bridge on Brunnerville Road and you can easily see it. Some good places just downstream. I'm not an expert but it looks like a total waste of money.

I will have to go see the project, not that i can tell you it is not functioning correctly or otherwise. I jist want to see what it looks like. Restoration is mind numbingly complicated and I haven’t read any restoration literature.

I will say your really going for function over form with those projects. We are usually so used to seeing habitat features for large adult fish be the focus of traditional projects that some legacy sediment removal projects can look a bit barren.
Again i can’t tell you if this one was constructed correctly or not i am just parroting what i have heard from fluvial geomorphologists. Its supoosed to be more conducive to young if the year with the multiple anastomosing channels and create a diversity of habitat not seen in traditional projects geared towards creating bit adult fish. The huge benefit of those typw of projects is the hydrology/groundwater optimization. Spring water that flows out of the fracture patterns in the valley walls nonlinger has to upwell when it hits legacy sediment like 50 yards from the creek and function as a perched sprint heating up in the sunlight before flowing into the stream. Post restoration it flows into the gravel basal layer right underneath the historic wetland soils. Also this allows for increased geound water recharge zones. The above is a big over simplification there are more benefits than that as far as ground water.
That being said any restoration technique can be done right/wrong or applied to right/wrong stream reach and thats why a good practitioner is worth their weight in gold.

 

[JeffP]

I'll see if I can get a picture. For one it's too small. It also looks like a traditional "throw a bunch of rocks at an eroded bank."

 

[JeffP]

bump

 

[JeffP]

The photos are at the top. It was easier to just bump this thread.