anybody ever fish the swatara?

I have never fished the Swatara but have heard good things about it. It's primarily a smallmouth bass river - probably a "numbers" creek rather than a big fish fishery. There are also sunfish, catfish and tiger muskies. I suspect the lower sections have some decent walleyes.
 
it's still a creek, but they're trying to get that changed to river.
walleye can be had up to the hershey dam.
it's neither a numbers nor size fishery. but yet can be both...depending were you go.
it's all a warm water fishery. there are a few cold water creeks that feed it, once in a blue moon browns can be had down and around them.
average temps in the summer are in the upper 70*s to low 80*s.
though early last sunday it was in the mid 60*s.
 
I fish it sometimes, as it's a block away, but it's always been fickle. A local club stocks it up here in the Grove, but only a few if any make it by fall and they're all at the mouths of smaller creeks, like you said. Up this way you catch 20 chubs before you catch a smallie and a few hundred between trout, but the chubs are fat and fight well, so it's worth it. :lol:

Boyer
 
MattBoyer--What do you use for chub? I've caught a couple this summer on midge pupae and a copper john. Is there an actual technique for fishing for chub?
 
I always caught em on green weenies. I'm guessing boyer gets em on the Wild Mountain Cougar though. :-D
 
jayL wrote:
I always caught em on green weenies. I'm guessing boyer gets em on the Wild Mountain Cougar though. :-D
Click to expand...

:-D

Boyer
 
The headwaters were designated a Class A trout stream!
 
I last fished it in Middletown above Rte 230 bridge on 7/5. Caught one four inch bass and about half a dozen fallfish between 8-12 inches on Clouser crayfish and prince nymphs--which is sure more exciting that what I've caught in the Susquehanna river in this area over the last 6 years! I heard it's good for panfish around Hummelstown--in evenings on poppers--will check it out soon.
 
Spring trout season attracts many anglers to Trout Run, the park’s only stocked, cold water trout fishing stream. There are also a few small streams within the park that boast native populations of brook trout. Warm water fish like smallmouth bass and panfish can be caught in the Swatara Creek. Fishing continues to improve because numerous abandoned mine drainage abatement projects, agricultural best management practices and sewage treatment efforts are improving water quality of the Swatara Creek and its tributaries. Irving’s Pond provides opportunities to catch largemouth bass and panfish.
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Sera

Guaranteed ROI
 
Yeah, for trout. Above the gap it's all trout and chubs, though I have never caught any chubs there, then below the gap there is a fairly long section where there's not much of anything because of pollution.
 
I fish the Swatara at least once a week. I've caught many small native trout, even a couple in the 6-7" inch range. It's weird though, I'll hit them hard for a week or two and then they are gone and I won't catch another trout for weeks to a month then they will be back.

I catch rock bass and smallies like a dime a dozen but as said the chubs can be intense. But they are a blast to catch. I caught many chubs on wooly bears. Have fought quite a number of 10"+ chubs. And the occassional sunny as always. I've personally not caught a catfish in it yet, but my fishing buddy has caught a couple in a super deep hole below a bridge.

As well as my most entertaining fly catch yet, an 18-20"ish Tiger Muskie.

This stream, even though not the best for trout, is my favorite place to fish. The action is almost always there! If anyone wants to fish it with me feel free to send me a message!
 
I had a nice day on Swatara about 3-4 months ago. Got tired of chasing half dead stocked trout, so I just headed to Swatara State Park and asked around. Finally found a decent place to park and actually had a otherwise great time, other than there wasn't any natives! Pretty fun fooling around with a hole filled with creek chubs chasing big grasshopper patterns. I know my father used to catch natives around there, so I'd like to visit it again.

Disappointed about the smallmouth action. Only brought a few to hand, and the rest were creek chubs and suckers.

As many of the mentioned I've heard there's some fairly good native brook trout within the park and also Trout Run. Gemiller I'll hit you up, maybe we can share a drift some time..

Talking to some joggers you can't access the park by vehicle? Park outside, and walk in?
 
Sorry I missed this post before I messaged you back to answer some of your questions.

Well, its weird out there these days thanks to the government.

There are places to park "in the park" but not directly on the water anymore. They banned driving "Old State Road" which is the road that runs next to the stream due to teenagers partying back there and whatnot. They only open the road to scenic driving I believe one weekend a month(not positive on that because I don't bother) but there are some small parking lots on the north end of the park that have nice trails straight to the swatara.

Also right on 72 is the main parking at the new bridge. You can't miss it then you just have to make a short hike down the face to the stream.

I am really suprised you had a hard time with smallies, must have been the stretch you were on. The chubs are massively abundant there though, on some stretches it's a game of dodge the chubs to catch anything else. I've had quite a few days where every cast hooked a chub.
 
Here, I'll post some pictures of where I was...
 
DSCN1343.jpg


DSCN1347.jpg


DSCN1339.jpg


That middle picture would be my father, he decided to tap along...
 
Yup I've spent quite a few days fishing that stretch myself, I know exactly where you are. I've done quite a bit of camping(not so much legal lol) on the other side of the stream from the road.

This spot is one of the areas that gets extremely packed randomly on some days though. There are plenty of better areas to fish, this stretch used to be great until the new bridge construction.

From here south quite a ways is dead water but there are few really nice spots further south.

If you go north further into the state park(actually the best bet is to access it from the smaller less used northern parking lot) theres a few really nice spots. It's also in the woods and more fully enclosed with much much better fish habitat.
 
Also, to add some trivia, the iron bridge in the picture you posted used to be over the Little Pine at Waterville.

Boyer
 
One day I will have to go back to the old iron bridge and get a picture, that's a neat site to see also. I have only once dared the walk across it.

It's about 50 feet above the water, it's an old railroad bridge and the ties are almost all gone so its just 2 foot wide beams running across it.

I don't have exact depth knowledge but rumor has it it's at least 40 feet. I know I have seen people jumping from the bridge, but it's not the safest because people have dumped stuff like refrigerators off the bridge. I have seen quite a few nice catties caught here, as well as rock bass in the masses.
 
gemiller wrote:
Well, its weird out there these days thanks to the government.

There are places to park "in the park" but not directly on the water anymore. They banned driving "Old State Road" which is the road that runs next to the stream due to teenagers partying back there and whatnot. They only open the road to scenic driving I believe one weekend a month(not positive on that because I don't bother) but there are some small parking lots on the north end of the park that have nice trails straight to the swatara.
Click to expand...

I just swung down by the north end of old state road yesterday and there is no gate and no signs. Somebody'd have to have a pretty big set to try to fine me for driving a road with no gate nor signs. On that note, it parallels the stream for like 4 miles, although about 2 of those miles are a good bit of bushwacking to get to the water.

Boyer
 
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