Susquehanna, Conestoga, Pequea Ck water clarity

[Mike]

Just a tip....I was wading in the Susquehanna in York and S Lanc Co yesterday and water clarity was fine for fishing. You could see bottom in 1.5 ft of water. Normal is visibility to the bottom in about 2 to perhaps 3 ft of water. There were plenty of the Hex mayflies around yet. Pequea Ck was equally stained, but the Conestoga River near Millersville was clear. Would have been a great day for the Conestoga.

 

[krayfish2]

Still kind of stained up this way. The other day it looked pretty clear but another shot of dirty water came through. Hoping it might drop but more storms on the radar. Bank full is better than dry I suppose

 

[McSneek]

After last night you can kiss the Conestoga goodbye for awhile.

 

[dc410]

McSneek wrote:
After last night you can kiss the Conestoga goodbye for awhile.

Yeah, just shy of 4 inches of rain in a couple hour period will tend to do that to the Stoga, although it's already down to 365 cfs and it might actually fish ok tomorrow. I've fished it and have done ok with it above 300 over the past few seasons.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I agree with that above statement. Personally I like the stoga just above normal flow but for carp I like it slightly low or normal.

 

[McSneek]

Muddy

 

[Mike]

I was on the Susquehanna yesterday at Falmouth, Lancaster Co and Wrightsville, York Co. The river is stained with visibility being about a foot. About 2- 3 ft of visibility is normal.

 

[Maurice]

I was having a convo with Frederick last night as he paddled near the Wrightsville side between the bridges. His report was the Riv was Muddy and while the white flies were heavy, there was nary a rise to report. Catfish hoovering at dark, he got off the river at 10 with one small catfish to report in over 4 hours of fishing with a kayak.

Not very encouraging...the rivers still dead.

 

[foxtrapper1972]

During the recent enormous mayfly hatch that shut down the 462 bridge I went down to the river on several evenings and saw no risers. The Whitefly hatch has been a bust down there for years. Recently I caught several Smallmouth in a lower Susq. trib. Several had lesions. The problem is not just the river but the fishing in the tribs has declined as well. Some guys will post pics of flyrod caught tiny Smallmouth and Sunfish on this forum and they think that indicates some improvement or "good fishing". The Conestoga smells like a g-damn washing machine anywhere below Lancaster. Pequea is for the most part a treeless ditch for silt and manure to run off farm fields. The fish comm is broke in more ways than one.

 

[Mike]

The Conestoga below Lancaster is problematic, in part because it is difficult to find Habitat that is not degraded. Fair to good habitat only exists from what I have seen over very short stretches. Pequea, on the other hand, improves in a downstream direction. There is some suggestion that fingerling SMB stockings in the Rt 741 to Rt 772 area that were prescribed some years ago may have taken hold, however.

 

[Fishidiot]

Mike wrote:
IThe river is stained with visibility being about a foot.

This is what I saw when I stopped briefly at Wormleysburg late this afternoon.

Still pretty high and tough for FFing, although spin guys along the shore ought to fare better. The lower Susky treated me well last year, but I'll wait for levels to drop some more this summer as I'm mainly a wade fisherman.

 

[Mike]

The river is hardly dead....far from it in the lower river, which is where Wrightsville is located. The lower river for fisheries management purposes is defined as extending from York Haven Dam downstream to Holtwood Dam . Fishing for adult smallmouth twelve inches and over should have already been good to very good based on the past two years of sampling at the three standardized sites (Accomac, Turkey Hill/Long Level, and Safe Harbor/Pequea), and I would expect it to be good again this year. You still can't catch fish upon fish under 12 inches as you could pre-2005, but even those numbers in your catches should be improving somewhat.

 

[Chaz]

Crossed the Main stem and West Branch on Sunday, both are still very much coffee and high at the I 80 bridge.