Clarks Creek, Dauphin County, 02/07/09

[HBGMarine]

I fished the FFO section of Clarks for the first time today from about 9am til noon today. The creek is still mostly frozen and I could only find the occasional gap in the ice to fish. It seems like it must have froze solid recently becuase there was actually ice on the bottom of the stream which I've never seen before. I saw 2 trout, one of which was 20+ inches, and had 1 bite on a black wolly bugger with a gold head but lost the fish. It was good to get out and break the cabin fever, I'm definitely looking forward to fishing that stretch this spring! On another note, does anyone know what that stone structure in the picture is?

 

[Squaretail]

The structure is a furnace. I believe from the civil war to make cannonballs and such. Theres one alot like it at the Run at the Breeches only in much better condition.

 

[MattBoyer]

What ST said. There's also one at Manada by the bridge at furnace road.(duh) I had been fishing there for at very least ten years when one day I looked up and saw the furnace. It is pretty grown over with vegetation, but I still can't believe I went that long without seeing it. As far as the ice on the bottom at Clarks, I believe it's what they call anchor ice and they usually get it north of here where it's a bit colder, but this winter has been a beast as far as temps go, at least in this area. From what I understand it happens when the ground around the stream is so cold that the temps of the actual stream bed are affected by the land temps more than the water temp so the water near the bottom freezes when it comes in contact with it. At any rate, welcome to the board!

Boyer

 

[lestrout]

Sorry to hear about anchor ice up there. That can have a bad effect on macroinvertebrates, ie trout food. Hope that doesn't mean hatches this spring will be diminished, at least in the short term.

hp
les

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

That is definately a furnace mostly all of them are pre- civil war era. There's one on the Codorus Creek a mile from the river, the Codorus Furnace.