fly fishing in lancaster, pa and nearby question

[gfig19]

howdy,

i'm from lancaster too, brand new fly fisherman.

i have fly fished in hammer creek(caught one and about 3 ft to go he escaped, worse feeling, i was using some cheap nymph i bought at kmart)
also fished octoraro(both sides with better quality flies, woolly buggers) no luck there. but had a nice convo with a few amish

caught plenty of trout with spinning reel especially in big elk creek down in southern chester co.. and in trout run near pequea

anywhere else worth going in lancaster? and what kind of fly usually is most successful this time of year in our creeks, some books said use adams others said use woolly or worms even?

i'm planning on going fly fishing again this upcoming saturday cant wait!!!

 

[FiveWeight]

Welcome to the site.

There are a lot of smaller creeks in Lancaster county that are good to fly on. The Seglock Creek up in Clay Twp is a nice one when it has a good amount of water. I also fish the northern end of Hammer. From Speedwell down below Carpenter Rd, and above the Dam north of the old pumping station. The water is much colder north of the dam. Speedwell is like a huge solar panel. If that dam was a bottom release, Hammer for a short distance would be a lot better. I also fish the Conestoga down stream of the Stoltzfus quarry dam. That dam is pretty much an impenetrable structure. There is a lot of water to fish but not necessarily trout water. Walleye, Redeye. Crappy, Panfish, Carp.... Don't ever snub your nose at Carp. They will give an amazing fight on a fly rod or any rod for that matter. I had one on a 5Wt back a few years ago up at Snavely's Mill that took every bit of an hour to get to the bank. Ugly as sin but, what a fight. The Hammer, once the water level starts to drop and warm up, well it's going to start looking like it dead water. Fish it while it's up and running cool. Good luck and again, welcome to the site.

 

[osprey]

Used to live in Elizabethtown, check out Donegal Springs creek and Chiques sp? when i lived there, 20 some years ago Segloch used to have native brookies in the upper reaches don't know if it still does Cocalico (might be lebanon county) another goody. GOOD LUCK

 

[gfig19]

yea i really like hammer creek in the summer too, because the small mouth bass love to be caught. i'll have to try it on the fly this year!

i knew hammer had a northern part to it but i didn't know the water was much cooler, makes sense though. clay is a lot like trout run down by pequea, really good to fish for trout when its cool and the water level is high. I went today but it was waaay too hot and the trout went bye bye. i did manage to catch a few blue gills.

never really have fished northwest lancaster. i haver heard donegal area is very good and tu has been working to keep some of those creeks there fly fish only.

last time i was in conestoga i didnt catch anything, maybe a few sunnies. i have caught fish there before though. especially in mill creek near county park. plenty of carp there, when i was in my teens many times have those bad boys snapped my line! good ol' days.

do you mostly use nymphs, or drys at hammer(for trout)?

 

[FiveWeight]

Osprey, Good deal on native brookies in the Segloch. I didn't catch any the last time I fished it but back in the late 70's I caught um all the time in there. That is a real nice little creek.

Gfig19, as far as using drys or nymphs on the Hammer. It's one of thoes deals where it's the fly of the day thing.... What ever works. As far a what you would call a hatch..... Well it kinda happens and then again it don't. I use a lot of attractors. When things get along in the season I start to use a lot of terrestials/Hmm, spelling on that don't look right..... Small mouth will be the order of the day before too long. Big huge Hoppers! Works darn near all the time. Lightning bugs, Hornets, Crickets. That type of thing. Check out my account info and get my email, drop a line or two and maybe we can get together.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

The Northern End of Hammer Creek is a wonderful fishery. Many hatches....BWO's, Yellow Sallys, Sulphur, March Browns and more caddis than you can shake a leg at. Small stimulators with some flash will take brookies on top. They also stock the upper end of Hammer Creek. Some very nice wild fish in that stream.

Lots of decent streams in Lancaster County for wild trout. I recommend downloading the Natural Reproduction List on the PFBC website. There are more streams in Lancaster not on that list that hold wild trout. Just got to find them ;-)

 

[gfig19]

man this is gotta be the best fly fishing site, so much good info and you guys are great. full of good knowledge. thanks for sharing so much.

just got that orvis deal for 9.95 with 20 flies, i couldn't pass it!

i'll have to email you guys and see if i see any of you out there fishing.

i have caught wild brookies at trout run, at first i though i had caught a chubbie, and then when he was out the water in my hands i saw the how amazing looking the fish really are. but most of all looking foward on catching them on the fly!

that's my theme song the rest of the way, "catch em on the fly"
:-D

 

[osprey]

If my memory serves me right Segloch is a trib of Hammer creek above Speedwell.

 

[AmishOutlaw]

Segloch meets Middle Creek at 322 and Clay Rd. And yes, it still has native brookies.

 

[philfisher]

Hi guys - I've been reading this thread and decided to take a day and explore Segloch and Hammer Creek. Thanks for the advice! I had a wonderful day, caught five or six wild brookies and missed at least that many. This was my first experience with wild brook trout and I've got to say, they are like little jewels.

 

[treecaster1]

Also a Lancaster resident looking for new spots. This is the first Ive heard of segloch and I am itching to go but I cant find any info on the place. Is there any information of how to fish it and what hatches????