stoney creek

[mutzinbaugh]

anyone ever fish the stoney in the fall?

i am thinking about checking this one out soon.

how are the hatches there in the spring? how well is it stocked? are there holdovers? are there any wild trout?

 

[Maurice]

mutzinbaugh wrote:
anyone ever fish the stoney in the fall?

Do you mean Stony Creek in Dauphin/Lebanon County? If so.....

i am thinking about checking this one out soon.

how are the hatches there in the spring?

Not so great but there are midges and a few mayflys and caddis to bring fish to the top. Most fish are stocked trout so they are not they are not real particular.

how well is it stocked?

It gets a stocking inseason (meaning after opening day) usually in May. However a local Co-op nursery stocks it also int he vicinity of Cold Spring Road On the Lebanon side.

are there holdovers?

Some but not many after warm summers.

are there any wild trout?

Some but not many.

All in all its a nice place to spend a day and I am sure during the fall it is even better. There is an old railbed that runs through the valley from Old Forge to Goldmine Road. Over ten miles. About half way is Rattlin Run, a small brookie stream that cools it a bit. SO in the fall I'd look there. Just kinda take the bike up and in and explore, Make a map and record your steps of where you explored and it makes for a nice "fill in the blanks" for future trips.

Good luck.

 

[mutzinbaugh]

good information. thanks maurice.

a retired guy used to tell me how he would go back in there and have the occasional great day. just thought i would see if it is still the same as it was, as he probably has not been back in there for 5-10 years. a lot can change in that amount of time.

 

[Swattie87]

Maurice...PM coming with a pretty specific question.

 

[krayfish]

From my experience, there are wild brookie in the cold spring area. I live 300 yards from the big flat pool above the inn. Most fish I've seen / caught are stockies. The fishing can be good in May & June. Lots of caddis, some march browns, ISO's , sulphurs, cahills, etc. Maybe some of that stuff is coming in off of the susky but I've seen lots of bugs. Even in the dead of summer, it's still surprisingly cool down by the dam. This year may have been an exception and I haven't fished it in 2 years. Too far of a drive.

 

[PhilC]

krayfish wrote:
Too far of a drive.

Haha...you mean too far from Hancock

 

[krayfish]

I'll sit for 30 minutes and watch the other people fish but never get inspired enough to put my waders on. I've waited for traffic to stop and tossed a few long casts out though.

 

[osprey]

Does TU still do the Lime thing in the headwaters? They had what they called a Lime Still and some other devices , like PVC pipe filled with small crushed limestone and capped then laid in fast water where the lime would slowly dissolve and affect the ph level away from being too acidic. It was a pretty big project at the time , involving several TU chapters. It was located way up where i think it drained into a couple watersheds including Stony , just so yinz know we have a Stonycreek out west here TOO.............JUST SAYIN

 

[salvelinus]

Yep, diversion wells are still doing their job.

diversion wells

 

[krayfish]

Osprey,

I'm 99% sure that he asking about the Stony that near "yous" and not the one closer to "yinz". Doc Fritchey chapter of TU still man's the limestone duty for Stony (east).

 

[JasonS]

You can't call it Stony (east) as there is a stoney creek here in SEPA. And I guarantee that our stoney creek is the most ghetto. So we have that going for us.

 

[krayfish]

You have "stoney" and we have "stony". Ours is purdy. Osprey is also saying there's one in yinzerville / stiller country.

 

[osprey]

Our Stoney was polluted by mining to the point it was dead but the TU chapters and many others including Len Lichvar and Lester McNutt developed the passive treatment method now used all over the world , a series of cattail ponds basically. The upper reaches of Stoney west now has wild reproduction and the bottom end holds smallmouth the whole way to the confluence with the Conemaugh at the Point Stadium. Do they still open the road that runs from Dauphin to Lebanon county for sightseeing in the fall?

 

[Swattie87]

osprey wrote:
Do they still open the road that runs from Dauphin to Lebanon county for sightseeing in the fall?

Yes, for one day each Fall. I want to say it was last Sunday.

 

[osprey]

I used to make that drive with the family , i'd always stop one or two places where you could anf fish , the were always far fewer fish in Stoney that time of year than in Clarks or Manada and they all get water from that same summit. There used to be a whole city up in there amazing.

 

[jbomb]

Last time I was out there I saw a rattle snake right along side the rail bed, but that was probably 15 years ago and in the dead of summer. It gives me the "hee-bee-gee-bees" thinking about it. Beautiful area though.