Codorus Crk, York County 4/16/09

Stevie-B

Stevie-B

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Oct 25, 2006
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414
Fished Codorus from 5:30 till 7:30 and I was really surprised at how low the water was. It was the lowest that I've seen even with the rain that we had. The gates on the dam must be closed. I fished from the sawmill down to what I call the backyard pool.

Anyway, there were a ton of midges flying around and the occasional mayfly. I couldn't catch any for identificaiton. Turns out, I don't think it would of helped my catch rate. Two spin fisherman had already pouned the water in front of me ( and behind me). As they marched up and down the stream bank I struck up a conversation and they mentioned that the farmer who owns the fields at the top end of the project water just posted his property and ran these two guys off. From what I could tell I don't think these guys helped the situation.

I did manage to catch one brown on a scud and miss two more on an adams before a third spin fisherman walked up on me. There were no consistant risers that I saw, just the occasional one here and there.
 
Stevie, I was over there yesterday too. I also saw the posters--don't know what prompted that. They were not there last week. I did not see one rise in the time I was there. Water temp was 60F when I left. The water was much lower last week.
 
Fritz,

From what I could gather, the farmer was upset about trash and people trampling his crops. I actually saw the farmer putting the signs up last night.
 
Do you mean the farm that the RR Tressle crosses the creek. I saw no trespass signs about a mile upstream on what I thought was Codorus state park property which I can't understand, but not right above the sawmill.
 
Jake,

Yes, the farm with the RR trussel. I don't know if you can access the stream from the other side except for walking upstream.
 
He owns both sides of the crik. From what I heard from Fritz, he was putting the signs inthe field not blocking access upstream. I'd fish upstream until I saw no fishing signs. Posted signs in York County are for the disrespectful fishermen. No fishing means not fishing...posted means no hunting or crapping in my back yard. Its a way of life around here.

Lots of times in these remote areas or at dead end roads the landowners on the road who dont own the property will try to discourage the unsavory types by posting signs. Its tough to keep up with but so far in my experience I've never been run out of a place that was listed as an ATW or even an attached section that had posted signs.

Here is the way I look at it.....If a landowner who lives near or on a crik doesn't want fishermen there he will put up no fishing signs. Or Keep out signs. Psoted signs are mainly for hunting and seem benign to me as a fisherman. Its a culture around here.
 
Some of the mayflies that I saw were Hendricksons. This is the first I've fished the Codorus at this time of year in maybe four years. At that time there were not many Hendricksons at all--they appear (to me) that they are making a comeback.
 
I was on the Codorus yesterday for the first time since September (injured my knee and couldn't fish). The water is ridiculously low considering all the rain we've had.
My fishing partner caught 1 nice brown on a little red sedge dry fly. Other than that, I hooked up with one small fish on a BHHE nymph and that was it.
There were a few hendricksons coming off along with some smaller March Browns but not enough to get a rise going. I flipped a few rocks and was happy to see tons of mayfly larvae and case caddis.
It's sad to hear that the farmer posted the land above the railroad bridge. That area is prime big fish territory. I'll send a message to the Codorus Creek TU Chapter, but I doubt they'll do anything about it. They won't even return emails about membership.
 
Codorus TU spoke to this landowner in person on 4/18. I was one of the chapter members present. This landowner is a good guy...very reasonable...and was willing to talk to us at length about his concerns.

He posted because he, like all landowners, has his limit on how much crap he could put up with. Last week, some genious got in his face and tried to start something with him over nothing, and he decided he'd had enough. He's had the usual assortment of problems many landowners share: cars blocking fields, crop damage, vandalism (tree stand destroyed) and attitude from visitors on his land. From what I heard from him, I may have made the same choice he did. Of course, this stuff isn't caused by the folks like those of us on this board. Unfortunately, everyone pays for the actions of a few morons.

Fortunately, we were able to offer the landowner some alternatives to address his problems. He was very receptive and willing to consider them. He knows there are mostly good sportsmen out there who respect the creek and his property.

My suggestion for now is to obey the signs and fish elsewhere. We will remain in contact with him and make every effort to create a situation where everyone wins. I don't think that all hope is lost here.

Stay tuned, cross your fingers, and thanks for taking interest.
 
Thanks for the update Tom....well done. Keep us posted. I mean informed. :-D
 
CodorusTUTom wrote:

Fortunately, we were able to offer the landowner some alternatives to address his problems. He was very receptive and willing to consider them. He knows there are mostly good sportsmen out there who respect the creek and his property.
Click to expand...


Great work. Posting by landowners for these legitimate reasons is becoming very common all over the State. Can you share some of the “alternatives” or solutions you suggested to solve the problem? Sharing ideas to address this situation would be helpful to many of us facing the same dilemma.

Thanks again for your effort.
 
I was on the Codorus from about 6pm to dark yesterday - 4/19/09 - I saw a few Hendricksons in the air - maybe a half dozen total - heard one rise. Water is still low for this time of year. Another fisherman was coming back from the water I was fishing. I landed one trout, a nice healthy 12" brown on a BHPT. The other fisherman said he caught 3. I could not even get a taker on the way back to my truck on, by fishing a wolly bugger.

It was good to get out...
 
It's been my experience that most "posted" signs are usually specific about what they're posting against. Some "posted" signs still allow for fishing. The signs that you really need to be worried about are the "No Trespassing"/ violators will be prosecuted signs, they usually mean no access for any reason. 😢
 
TUTom,
Keep up the good work - it's sincerely appreciated. We who fish Codorus owe you a debt of gratitude.
 
Thanks Tom for the post. Greatly appreciated.

Guys, please feel free to come to our next TU meeting in May. We (Codorus TU) would love to have some new faces at the meetings. The next meeting will be at the sawmill picnic area on May 13th @ 7:00 pm. Our chapter is really trying to implement some great things to help Codorus remain a wonderful Class A wild brown trout fishery.
 
Is this the area in question? I've only fished the Codorus further downstream (along the pulloff by the railroad tracks).

Good work by CTU in speaking with the landowner. It's unfortunate all of us have to bear the cross for those who can't behave. Hopefully something can be worked out...
 
Love them Microsoft Virtual Earth views, I think I can see one of the buggers that I lost. Yes that is the area. If if you follow that road past the farm, it crosses a bridge. Immediately after the bridge you could park on the right and hike in along the creek before the confluence of the west branch. I was 90 percent certain that this was all state park on the lake side of the stream, partly because of the standard yellow gates the PFBC and other departments use, no posted signs present and from looking at a map of Codorus State Park.

But now there are No tresspassing signs there as well, and they weren't there last year because I specifically remember parking there for that reason. The stream was posted upstream from there.
 
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qn1tnz8kt4fz&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=9659701&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&ss=yp.lake%20marburg~pg.1~sst.0&encType=1

I hope this is the link I wanted. Hope nobody gets rickrolled.

Oooops, sorry, For the map to make any sense with my description below, it requires that you click ( ZOOM OUT ), one time on the current veiw of the area pictured.

Anyway, the area that is newly posted is (top right center), from the tressel upstream I guess? It wasn't posted the other weekend when I was there. The other area that I noticed that is no tresspassing is in the (lower right) of the picture going over the bridge from the direction of the farm and tressel area. As you cross the bridge you used to be able to park on the right, and it wasn't posted. Now there are tresspassing signs at the yellow gate.

Take notice to the dam and discharge tower (lower left)and the outflow channel that flows into a pond and below it a small dam where the creeks converge also a building sits there. Not sure, but isn't the stream off limits from the building up stream to the dam, including the pool/pond area?

Also, the sawmill area is just out of the picture at the top by an inch or two.

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Thanks,

JLW (Jake)
 
Tom, My thanks too for the update on the posted land. And thanks for working with the landowner.
 
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