Mud snails in Lackawanna River

[Nymph-wristed]

I think we have identified the fisherman who is source of the Mud Snails...

That is funny. For the record, that is not a river where I wear felt boots, so it's not me!

I agree with many of the points above: it is a destination crick, there are stockies where they probably should not be, and many dudes make a day or weekend out of fishing there and that famous place to the east of there. Kind of hard to narrow down the culprit. Glad the shop is posting signs. Saw no such signs in the special regs section on my last visit in mid-October

 

[dryflyguy]

I fished it in Archbald, behind A&G outfitters, Greenridge, and Sweeneys.
Saw just the one sign at Sweeneys.

I'm one of the "dudes" who stops there on the way up and back from the D.
Always wore different waders and boots on the way back from D because of didymo there

Unfortunately, not knowing of the mud snails until last month, I've worn same waders on D, that I wore in Lacky on way up. Last time was in June

Now I know
And main reason I started this thread, so that hopefully others will be informed now too

 

[Nymph-wristed]

I fished it in Archbald, behind A&G outfitters, Greenridge, and Sweeneys.
Saw just the one sign at Sweeneys.

I'm one of the "dudes" who stops there on the way up and back from the D.
Always wore different waders and boots on the way back from D because of didymo there

Unfortunately, not knowing of the mud snails until last month, I've worn same waders on D, that I wore in Lacky on way up. Last time was in June

Now I know
And main reason I started this thread, so that hopefully others will be informed now too

No aspersions meant to be cast on a dude. Appreciate you posting

 

[dryflyguy]

No aspersions meant to be cast on a dude. Appreciate you posting

I liked it actually
Been called a lot worse.....

 

[krayfish2]

That's interesting. I have never caught a stocked brook trout in the Lackawanna but I'm sure they are in there.

I'm guessing you'd have to be there within 48 hours of stocking because most are eaten by superior fish or are dumb enough to jump into the streamside vegetation. I'm guessing that if you stick around another 40-50 years, you can watch them become the next "carrier pigeon".

 

[Mike]

I'm guessing you'd have to be there within 48 hours of stocking because most are eaten by superior fish or are dumb enough to jump into the streamside vegetation. I'm guessing that if you stick around another 40-50 years, you can watch them become the next "carrier pigeon".

Yes, as a group, stocked ST don’t last very long in creeks, either due to harvest, residency problems, water temps, habitat preferences, or high natural mortalities. Statistically, preseason stocked ST and BT showed the same degree of residency within the first twenty days after stocking while RT were significantly better. In round numbers average was around 50% for ST and BT, but 90% for RT.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

I'm guessing you'd have to be there within 48 hours of stocking because most are eaten by superior fish or are dumb enough to jump into the streamside vegetation. I'm guessing that if you stick around another 40-50 years, you can watch them become the next "carrier pigeon".

So another words, they end up just like the wild brown trout in the Lackawanna that are around the 10 inch range.

Lackawanna brown trout are highly piscivorous due to the environ of that particular river. You can see it the electro shocking data and it has been well discussed amongst angler circles that fish that river often.

It's one reason why it has a good number of larger specimens.

 

[krayfish2]

Yep, there's no participation trophies in the river. Eat or be eaten. Maybe water quality will improve some day and it will have more than 2 semi fishable hatches.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

Yep, there's no participation trophies in the river. Eat or be eaten. Maybe water quality will improve some day and it will have more than 2 semi fishable hatches.

Well in all honesty, unless things have changed as it's been over 10 years, I thought it had more than two.

They just aren't predictable but Caddis, Midges, March Browns, Stoneflies, Sulphurs, Craneflies, BWO, and Pink Cahill's can all easily be fishable to readily rising fish.
And I'm sure I'm missing some.

But yes, because of their unreliable nature, the fish are cannibalistic.

I don't expect the river to ever fully clean up, especially given it's geographic location to humans and it's disturbances.

If it ever did, the fish also might get smaller on the average.
One of the reasons it has so many larger fish, is it's disturbed nature.

 

[dryflyguy]

In my limited experience there, caddis seems to be the best and most reliable hatch.
Have done pretty well with BWO's and terrestrials too

Saw a few sulphers in May, but not enough to catch anything on
Was told by another FFer that I missed the bulk of it.
But even at its best, it's still rather sparse

 

[krayfish2]

Decent BWO and acceptable caddis are the only 2 hatches I'm familiar with. Below the filtration plant, there's a TP and corn nugget hatch occasionally 😁

 

[sixfootfenwick]

In my limited experience there, caddis seems to be the best and most reliable hatch.
Have done pretty well with BWO's and terrestrials too

Saw a few sulphers in May, but not enough to catch anything on
Was told by another FFer that I missed the bulk of it.
But even at its best, it's still rather sparse

Oh that is a shame if true, I've had days on the Lackawanna the sulphur was so thick that I'm surprised I could catch any on an imitation.

I remember one day they seemed to wash down in waves. I wasn't sure why I couldn't catch any of the rising fish I saw, until I tied on a larger Pink Cahill, which was also hatching but in smaller numbers.

 

[Nympho]

2 years ago most of the streambed went dry during the summer drought and the bugs never recovered. Before that there was epic grannom and sulphur hatches.