dc410
Well-known member
I stopped to fish the Conestoga the other afternoon and the flow was decent but the color was still really murky so I opted for plan B and fished a small stream (trib to the 'Stoga) that has become one of my favorite WW streams. Many years ago when I was a kid this stream had the reputation of a "cow crap" creek and as kids we had a lot of fun hanging out around the creek (somehow I managed to survive to tell about it). Over the years I have to say that it appears as though the water quality has improved a lot. I know that there has been a lot of effort on the part of the farmers to fence the creek and allow riparian buffers to develop and it sure seems to be working. A 11-12" smallie is a good one on this stream but it has a very healthy smallmouth population. I caught a good number of smallies, redbreast sunnies and rock bass. All fish were caught on the same fly (a size 4 chartruese/yellow clouser minnow). I used some of the very good information shared lately on this site about fishing structure. As I was focusing on the current seams, depth changes, underwater boulders and shaded areas just about everywhere there should have been a bass - held one. I am always impressed with the way the redbreast sunnies attack a clouser that is sometimes almost half as long as they are. They are fun fish to catch and this creek has some really pretty ones. I saw some YOY smallies hanging out near the banks and I even saw a few white flys popping off ( I never remember seeing any before). All in all, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. I have been fishing this stream fairly regularly over the past three seasons and have never seen another flyfisherman. Get out there and enjoy some WW action, with the weather we are having the summer seems to be quickly slipping away on us.
