Codorus Creek, York Co., 4/20/17

[dc410]

I was driving past the Codorus Creek this afternoon and decided to swing in and give it an hour. It's been several years since I even fished it so it was long overdue. It was in the low 70's and very bright and sunny. Certainly not optimal conditions for targeting the Codorus' wild brownies. I didn't take a water temperature but the flow was decent with that typical slightly murky, green Codorus color.

I started out with a dry/dropper rig just to see if I could locate any fish. CDC & Elk with a small unweighted green weenie dropped off the bend. I fished over a lot a great looking spots over the first half hour without as much as a look even on the trout candy dropper. I'm a firm believer in that if I fish over good looking water like this for 30 minutes without a look I need to change it up. I first thought about nymphing, then decided to go with soft hackle wet fly. I tied on a size 12 Pheasant Tail soft hackle (one of my favorite "go to" wet flies). I started casting upstream fishing the wet on a dead drift with no results for about 10 minutes. So I added a small shot about 12" in front of the fly and started to cast on a hard angle downstream. A small brownie hammered it as soon as it hit the water. Over the next 20 minutes I caught four wild brownies and missed several others using this same technique in the faster runs. I am always amazed when I get to switching up using different fishing techniques until one finally clicks and then you continue to just hammer fish using that exact technique. I guess the moral of my story is, don't get stuck in a rut.

All of the fish were small wild brownies in the 6-8" range. Pretty little fish that all looked very healthy and were very scrappy. I'm glad I decided to stop for a short time today to explore this short section of the Codorus.

 

[STONEMAN]

Not to hijack the thread but plus one on the rut/fishing technique comment. I was swinging soft hackles Wednesday and came to a slower run that I knew I should switch to heavy nymphs. After swinging through with no luck, I mustered up enough energy to walk back up,stream and switch out my rig. I was rewarded with several nice fish.

 

[Mike]

A friend and I fished it Wednesday evening for 50 minutes before dark. He used a black wet fly under a small bobber with his spinning gear and 8 lb line. He landed a 12 inch wild Brown from probably the most heavily fished 50 yd stretch of the stream. As for me, I chose to cover some ground and used spinners, landing three wild Browns from Codorus that ranged from 9.5 to 10.5 inches. So much for selective fish. There were the beginnings of a sulphur hatch and a light cranefly hatch occurring to which a few fish were rising in a couple of spots. Water is low for Codorus since Marburg is in a filling mode after last year's limited rainfall.

 

[Millsertime]

Isn't it taboo to say "sulphur" in April?

 

[Mike]

It might be taboo to say it, but not to fish it. One needs to be adaptive to conditions that present themselves on a stream.

 

[pete41]

How much is due to changing tactics and how much to the fish going on feed ?
Many of us felt we made the right move when it was the dinner bell ringing.
As an ardent nite fisherman I found that keeping with the favorites even when nothing was happening suddenly it would be very hot action for a while,then cool down again as often as not...
John Alden Knights[?] sun/lunar not as loony as many thought--who can say...lol

 

[JackM]

Once again, Pete is correct.

 

[JackM]

Mike wrote:
It might be taboo to say it, but not to fish it. One needs to be adaptive to conditions that present themselves on a stream.

Did you have a fly rod in your quiver? I would have adapted with just one knot and a new fly.

 

[dc410]

pete41 wrote:
How much is due to changing tactics and how much to the fish going on feed ?
Many of us felt we made the right move when it was the dinner bell ringing.

Very valid point. However, I feel that both of these variables could have a big impact on getting into fish under a certain set of circumstances.

The possible start of some sulphur activity on Wednesday evening as reported by Mike could have a lot to do with the PT soft hackle being keyed on Thursday afternoon in the faster water.