Segloch Run

[Frank23]

Thinking about doing some exploring soon and have my eye on segloch run as its listed as a class A stream. Does anybody know about access to this creek? Any private land you gotta get permission from? Looks to me like you can access the creek from Hopeland Rd off 322 in Lancaster County.

 

[Swattie87]

There's some posted land on the bottom end of the stream and it is posted on both sides of Hopeland Rd. as I recall. Safer bet is to go up into the State Game Lands off of Seglock Rd.

Keep your expectations modest...it doesn't really fish like a Class A. Expect tight casting quarters, low, clear water and small, spooky fish.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Yup. Tough freestoner to fish. I'd access it from the SGL on Segloch Rd, as Swatttie said, and wait till we get some rain and its overcast haha!

 

[Frank23]

Thanks for the advice. Didnt notice segloch rd on the map i looked at but im seeing it now. Sounds like a good trip for the 2-3wt

 

[FiveWeight]

Frank23 wrote:
Thanks for the advice. Didnt notice segloch rd on the map i looked at but im seeing it now. Sounds like a good trip for the 2-3wt

Head south on 501 just past the Lanc/Leb line, Camp Mac, Pretzel Hut. Turn left on Fox Rd at the old Spring Lake swimming pool. Run that all the way back to the bottom of the hill where the hard top splits to the left. Keep going straight on the dirt. Bottom of the next hiil is the Seg Loch. Turn right and follow it for about a mile or so. Find a place to park and fish it back upstream. It's tight and shallow. Good luck. 30 years ago I used to fish it all the time. It ain't what it used to be. But, it is what it is. Hammer the up side of 322 would be the better deal. Just say'n.

 

[wgmiller]

Just stay off Hammer Creek or you'll run into Bigfoot!

 

[Swattie87]

wgmiller wrote:
Just stay off Hammer Creek or you'll run into Bigfoot!

If you do run into one on Hammer, just remember…garlic is to vampires as Creek Chubs are to Bigfoots…ours anyway!

 

[The_Sasquatch]

So many freaking chubs in that stream....at least they don't seem to rise to dries.

If you're going to make the treck to Northern Lanc for fishing, I too would recommend Hammer. Anywhere upstream of Speedwell Forge Rd is good. Right now you have the truck chasers out there, but if you walk upstream, you quickly lose all that silliness.

I talked to a few of them over the past week. One guy was a spinner guy w/ UL gear. I chatted w/ him. I asked if he had any luck. He said he caught a few natives but nothing big. I told him that was alright, the natives were what I was after! I asked if he caught any brownies, as this was my first day on the stream this year and I was interested in the brown population. He said, "I Don't think so. Just native rainbows..."

Saturday I fished one of the tribs. I walked down tot he Pumping Station Rd hole just to look around. One guy was out with his family. Nice kids, having fun catchin' stocked bows and suckers on worms. I had to laugh, every time one of the kids caught one, the daughters w/ him would go CRAZY! I talked to the dad a bit. He said his daughter caught one small brookie. He didn't understand why the state would stock such small fish. I explained to him that the state only stocks rainbows, so if he caught a brookie, it was a native, stream born trout. He had no idea the stream could support a native population. He thought it warmed up too much in the summer. Nice guy. Seemed to really be interested in native fish and cared that they could actually thrive in that creek.

 

[Wmass]

I used to fish both Segloch and Hammer when I lived in the area. Depending on the time of year and recent rainfall they both can be fun. Hammer has a bit more casting room compared to Segloch if I remember correctly. I caught alot of brookies in both streams, some really pretty ones. On Segloch I do remember the deeper pools were very few and far between and fish were ultra spooky. There is also a little tributary that dumps into Hammer and it holds fish when there have been rains, but I think the fish tend to move down into Hammer during the drier months.

 

[Mike]

It has been my experience that anglers have nearly always underrated the fish population based on their catches, but electrofishing has told a different story. This is why you can't tell what and what isn't a Class A population with a "whippy-stick."

 

[salmonoid]

Mike wrote:
It has been my experience that anglers have nearly always underrated the fish population based on their catches, but electrofishing has told a different story. This is why you can't tell what and what isn't a Class A population with a "whippy-stick."

I'd agree that angler catch rates are a poor indicator of a stream population. However, you can confirm that a stream is a Class A with a "whippy-stick" if you catch enough fish. What you cannot do is confirm that a stream is NOT a Class A, because you have no idea how many fish you miss.

 

[Mike]

Theoretically yes, but in practice highly unlikely. A single pass up the stream, fishing the way anglers typically fish, would not do it. It would also require a determination of the length and average width of the stretch fished, as well as the weights of the fish caught. You could make the effort to prove a point, but that's not the way people fish.

 

[osprey]

I used to live in Elizabethtown and Segloch was such a great find. Like most wild/native brookie streams the trout were small , but so purdy. It's been a couple years since i've fished there , is it still holding on? Between development and farming practices i'm just wondering. If you don't want to answer i understand.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Osprey, it's holding. A lot of it runs through state game land, so the beauty is still there. Sure you have the occassional tire (or uh...broken toilet?) as it runs along Seglock Rd, but its still a gem for Northern Lancaster as far a beauty goes. If you ever make it back to Lancaster, we should fish it.

 

[Swattie87]

I agree that you can’t accurately determine the biomass in a stream with a fishing rod. That said, IMO, there are two different types of Class A’s…there are the very high “biomass bomb” type streams that are obvious Class A’s…there’s seemingly fish everywhere, even when they’re fishing relatively poorly and you’re not catching a ton of them. I’ve probably fished about a dozen (although there are surely many more) of these kinds of streams across the state…most are limestoners, but there are a couple small freestoners that fit in here too.

Then there are most of the other Class A’s on the list, which includes nearly all of the small freestoners…and Segloch…they’re probably pretty good, but they can still fish pretty poorly most of the time. On those types of streams, it’s hard to tell a low Class A, from a B or a C. How they fish is much more a function of conditions and the structure of the stream, than the actual biomass of fish in the stream. A steeper, plunge pool C will fish way better than a low gradient, low A in poor conditions…low, clear water for instance – which on small freestoners is often the norm. On a low Class A, a good day may turn up 20 or 30 fish or more, but a bad day may be a skunk and you’ll swear there’s no fish in the stream.

In any case, the one thing I’ve noticed with Segloch, which seems to be a common trend, is that there are seemingly more and more Browns and less Brookies. The Browns seem to be showing up further upstream as well. If it were resurveyed today (and was found to still be a Class A), I’d expect to see it relisted as a Brown/Brook mix.

 

[gfig19]

The_Sasquatch wrote:
So many freaking chubs in that stream....at least they don't seem to rise to dries."

Sasquatch,

I've been there the past few Sundays in the late evenings. I've seen so many chubs.... I thought I was in the Lil' Conestoga. Schools of them just swimming around. I walked up through the trail, to the line point before going into private land....I threw in an olive green beaded woolly bugger by the "tree log pool" and chubs kept taking it. I finally caught one rainbow and missed two bigger ones. They were rising just 20yds further and I was able to roll cast it, but the current was a bit strong to keep the fly down long enough. Fun nonetheless, going again and see if I can catch the trout I missed.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Yes I find that when I fish sub-surface, I catch a lot of chubs. When dry fly season comes around (it's here now!), put a caddis on and enjoy the ride!

 

[gfig19]

yea I'm going to practice my dry fly skills at lititz run first and then come up to hammer. i also don't have my 7'6 rod anymore(looking to buy new one) so dry fly fishing the hammer with my smb 8'6 it's going to be tough. may need to get some floatant too.

 

[Chaz]

Mike wrote:
It has been my experience that anglers have nearly always underrated the fish population based on their catches, but electrofishing has told a different story. This is why you can't tell what and what isn't a Class A population with a "whippy-stick."

I remember in '03 when you did the last survey of the WB Perkiomen how many fish were found and I said, "Wow, that's a lot more then the 6 or 7 browns I usually catch there," this after shocking over 700 trout in the 300m section.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

How often do you survey streams, Mike? I would be curious to see how the ration of browns to brookies has changed on Segloch since the last survey. I catch about 50/50 now.