Perelman Park on the Conestoga

[BrianMyers67]

Looking to fish this area once the water gets warm enough to wet wade. What's the Conestoga like in this area as far as water depth , holes etc.?

 

[dc410]

Brian,

Welcome to PAFF. I have fished the Perelman Park area a few times over the past few seasons. It is a nice piece of water to wade with some decent runs. I have caught quite a few smallies and rock bass but I have never caught any of decent size in this stretch. Most of my fishing has been from the park downstream. I still want to check out the stretch of river upstream from the park. Good luck with your WW flyfishing. The Conestoga is a lot of fun.

 

[BrianMyers67]

dc410 , Ever see any carp in the park area?

 

[dc410]

I never saw any carp there while I was fishing but I am sure that there are carp in that area. Flyfishing for carp kind of took priority for me last year, even over Smallmouth fishing. Carpin' is a whole lot of fun on a fly rod but in no way shape or form is it easy. Trying to catch carp on a fly rod will make you a whole lot better fly fisherman on a number of different fronts. I'm still trying to break the ice this year with my first carp of 2014, so far I have just succeeded in spooking them.

 

[BrianMyers67]

Lol I've spooked tons of them . Over the last 4 years or so I've hooked into 14 or 15 and only landed 1 which was at SpeedWell Forge lake (when it was still a lake) . Big difference in the fight between river carp and lake carp. River carp seem to know every possible spot to break off your tippet even if they have to drag you to that spot kicking and screaming.

 

[McSneek]

I fished downstream of the park quite often a couple of summers ago. I never went upstream as it looks rather barren. Never caught a bass over six inches or so in length. Hard to believe there aren't bigger ones in that stretch, especially the hole downstream of the Rt. 23 bridge but I couldn't locate one. A lot of rock bass. Easy access and wading but if you're searching for bigger fish I would try elsewhere. I went elsewhere last year.

 

[BrianMyers67]

It'll still be fun to check out and it's close by for me.

 

[slay12345]

I float the conestoga and often see fish around the park. There are some areas within walking and wading distance upstream a few hundred yards but I've never caught anything big through there. I do see carp along the opposite bank from the park but I'm usually floating by so I'm not sure about the wading conditions to get to them.

 

[BrianMyers67]

That's what I was wondering about , general water depth during a normal summer .

 

[slay12345]

You could probably walk/swim across at the park under normal conditions from what I can tell. You might be up to your neck in some spots though. You can should be able to cross at the upstream riffles but I suggest finding a little kayak or canoe at one of the weekend yard sales and try to comfortably cover more water in that.

 

[Mike]

Perelman Park appears to have limited to no habitat for adult bass. There are areas of much better bass habitat in other areas between Lancaster and Hinkletown/Martindale area. Add to that the very lower stretch of Cocalico Ck.

Conditions appear to worsen below Lancaster, although there are isolated stretches of good bass habitat in places down there. I have found one or two in a couple of hours of searching. However, the good habitat stretches down there are short and the the stream then returns to degraded conditions of gravel, silt, and sand with little bottom structure in the stretches that I have checked. Others probably have much more experience with that stretch than I do.

 

[BrianMyers67]

I tend to find any decent size smallies in small pockets with some areas only having a few very little ones. Most of the 15 to 18" ones I have found are grouped together in the best areas although around Central Park I 've found larger fish to be loners and not grouped together. They do seem to have more water to be able to spread out at Central Park.