Swatara Creek

[Berks]

Was thinking about hitting the Swatara in the Hummelstown area tomorrow. Never fished it before but noticed the gauge at Hershey is reading 736. Can anyone advise if it’s fishable at that level? I’ll be wading. Any other advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[brain]

no it's still chocolate milk, and still a good 6-8 inches above where it should be this time of year.

 

[Berks]

brain,
Thanks for the info. I'll wait for better conditions. Time to figure out a Plan B...

 

[wgmiller]

I see on the radar another storm is blowing through right now. The Swattie seems to be really susceptible to rising waters after thunderstorms. Some creeks seem to weather them better, but the Swattie comes up and muddies quickly!

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah, the Dauphin County water is influenced by a lot of the agricultural land watershed in Lebanon County. When it rains, it gets muddy and takes a few days to clear. The upper watershed, north of Jonestown or so, clears quicker.

As far as flows...300-500 cfs is about ideal on the Hershey gauge for chasing Smallies in the Hummelstown stretch. 700 cfs is about the max I'd try to wade it at...in clear water that is.

 

[brain]

it dumped here pretty good, and that will effect the stretch from valley glenn and points south, if it rained north of me and i think it did the whole creek is done again for at least a week and half to two weeks. it was still rebounding from last weeks storm.

 

[wgmiller]

Swattie87 wrote:
Yeah, the Dauphin County water is influenced by a lot of the agricultural land watershed in Lebanon County. When it rains, it gets muddy and takes a few days to clear. The upper watershed, north of Jonestown or so, clears quicker.

As far as flows...300-500 cfs is about ideal on the Hershey gauge for chasing Smallies in the Hummelstown stretch. 700 cfs is about the max I'd try to wade it at...in clear water that is.

I agree, on all counts. I should have clarified the "lower Swattie"

 

[Berks]

Just checked the Hershey gauge which is at 889 cfs and rising after this evenings rain with more coming later. Looking forward to exploring this stream once things dry out a bit.

 

[Lunker_Bacon]

Berks,

The swatty is my hometown creek that I've logged some serious hours fishing in. I agree with brain and wgmiller that creek fluctuates A LOT and I used to wait about 3 days after a nice long, heavy rain before I waded. It also depends on your point of access because some areas run much thinner than others. There is a lot of swatty to explore, and no matter what you always end up catching at least 1 fallfish

 

[brain]

at the rate things are going, it will be well into summer before it gets to a fishable point.....if that even happens this summer from the looks of things so far.

 

[Berks]

I've been watching the gauge in Hershey, right now reading 5,310cfs. Is it possible the Swatara is flowing at over twice the discharge rate of the Schyulkill River in Philly, 2,200cfs?
Either way, I'm sure it's a muddy mess. Maybe in a week or two if things dry out...

 

[brain]

this what the creek looked like this morning, before the storms rolled through. about a foot or better high yet as there is another step or two, and a landing that should be visible.
it's at least a week from this point, no telling yet what or if the latest round did. it may not have stormed north of me.