Tulpehocken vs. Manatawny

Wildbrowntrout

Wildbrowntrout

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Joined
Aug 10, 2013
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248
Location
Berks/Tioga County
Which stream do you prefer? I've heard a lot about the Tully being overrated and it's not as good as it seems to be. Although, I have heard it is very good as long as you know what you are doing. So far I haven't heard anything bad about the Manny. Seems like a bigger panfish and smallmouth population too. I''ve fished the Tully a few times and never had much luck, but never tried the Manny. What's everybody's personal preference based on ease of access, fish population, catch rates etc.?
 
I do fairly well on the Tully. The fish get educated real quick though so 25 and 30 fish days become 10 and 15 fish days and you really have to work to get that.
Fished it yesterday with mostly midges and the take was so quick and light it was unreal. I lost or missed way more than I landed. What made it even harder was the water is low and you could see the strike at times, but before I could react it was too late. But I do love the Tully lot of good memories there. As for the Manatawny I can not speak I've never fished it, but I do hope to soon.

Opie
 
I fish the Manatawny fairly regularly around the Pine Forge area. I've never had a problem with access, find a pull off and start wading. Above rt. 562 will be better for trout and access is good up there as well. There is some decent smallmouth action later on. I've landed a couple 18inchers over the years but that's not the norm. Have your crayfish patterns handy, those rusty crawdads are everywhere.
 
Thanks guys, usually my main target would be trout, but once it gets toward summer and I can wet wade, it's nice to have some WW species to target. I know the Tully has some nice carp, but smallies are probably my main target in the summer. Might have to take a trip out there to give it a shot.
 
IMHO Matatawny Creek is the better of the 2 based solely on habitat.
 
That is also true with respect to macroinvertebrate diversity and, as I have been told, the resulting variety of nearly season-long hatches.
Fly fishermen like the stream in certain stretches.
 
Mannatawny creek is the best creek is SE PA
 
I wouldn't go that far.
 
My experience is that the Manatawny is better, but also requires more knowledge, especially regarding where to fish it.

Frankly, I never found the Tully all that difficult. It too is a slow stream with a lot of poor water and but a few decent holding spots. But those holding spots are much better publicized and a few minutes of googling will put you right on fish. Once found, they aren't really all that picky.
 
I have had some success fishing the Tully away from the usual hotspots - rebers bridge, red bridge, paper mill rd etc.

the Tully like any other river fishes different in different flows - the slow spots in higher water can fish quite well with a long rod and a team of wet caddis, similarly the hot spots in low water can be dead as can the areas around the deflectors and J hook dams.



 
The manatawny has the potential to be a very good trout fishery if it was designated as catch and release or delayed harvest, in my opinion.... There's a lot of catch and keep fishing there in the early season
 
I had always thought that the Tully holdover trout would be super picky because of all of the fly fishing pressure it receives. Sure the manny gets fished hard, but after the first few weeks, it dies off after a while... I've heard. I just thought that the trout wouldn't be used to seeing the same flies, as they would on the tully, in the manatawny. Hoping to get out sometime later in the month to see.
 
Holdover trout? In the Tully?
 
Chaz, the commission stocked brown trout this year on the 4th of April, (or so the schedule says), and does not stock them again the rest of the year, (dam to rebers), you can still find browns in that section all year, prior to next year's stocking. I'm going off of what happened last year, and hoping they will do the same this year.
 
Yes Chaz, contrary to what some with alterior motives would like you to believe the Tully does holdover trout. I fish it regularly during the winter, holdover are not uncommon.
 
Opie,
What is your species ratio of the holdovers that you catch in winter OR percent Browns and percent Rainbows?
 
I would say of the top of my head 70/30 rainbows. Probably has more to do with where I happen to be fishing at the time. I do tend to fish more above Reber's in winter so that may be the reason why rainbows come out ahead.
 
I think part of the question is how you define holdover...

The stream is stocked in the fall. Those fish are certainly present all winter and into the spring. If you call a holdover a fish that was stocked last fall, then absolutely, it has tons of them.

On the other hand, many define a holdover as a fish that has survived a summer. i.e. if you were fishing now, these would be last SPRING's stockings. It certainly has a few, especially around the mouth of Cacoosing, but not nearly as many.
 
I'm basing it off of the second definition. Especially now with the German strain trout that can take higher temps. Plus the TU website claims there is...
 
I can't verify the Tully was one of them. Maybe Mike can.

But do know that on many SE streams, where the website says they only stock rainbows in the fall, they put in a number of browns last fall. I think it had something to do with a temporary oversupply of browns or something.

I also don't know what private stockings have been putting in lately.

Anyway, not saying that's the case here, just worth mentioning. It's been a while since I was a Tully regular. I do remember catching plenty of browns in the winter around Cacoosing, but a number of them were wild, and others were legitimate holdovers but that's due to a strong cold water influence right there that does indeed hold them over.
 
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