Conestoga River (Central Park), Lancaster County - 7/26/12

[elonDO]

Fished section of Conestoga River this morning in Lancaster Central Park. Hit the water at 8am with skies overcast & air temp about 75, River-gage height reading 3.13-ft. Fished my Floating Clouser Minnow the whole time & had a great time from 8am-9:15am when thunderstorm came rolling in. Had 6 smallmouth bass in that time period with (5) in the 12-14 inch range, but one smallie, which was the biggest of the day, measuring about 17-18 inches (see picture below). Biggest was caught in a deep channel between 2 rock ledges & he gave quite a fight. I was forced off the water by the thunderstorm & sat in the car until it passed.

After the storm, I hit section of river below where I fished in the morning. Fishing was much slower & fish much smaller. I managed another (6) smallies from 10:15am-12:30pm, all in the 8-10 inch range. Again all were on top with the Clouser Floating Minnow. Just before I got out of the water saw group of deer wandering into the river. It was a beautiful day on the river, too bad the storm came thru! I'm definitely glad to finally find some smallies close to home! I may try to venture out on the Susquehanna, but I don't know if it's worth it given my success on the Conestoga!

See some of the attached pictures.

This was the big fish of the day.

Average size fish for the day - but I would take this size all day long!

Another average size fish who fell victim to the Clouser Floating Minnow.

Deer in the water just before I got out for the day.

Another picture of the deer in the river.

 

[The_Sasquatch]

Good to hear the big boys are coming out to play finally!

 

[BelAirSteve]

Nice report - my trip got blown out this past weekend with the rain. I need to get up there soon.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

great report! in my limited experience, the conestoga is more a size than numbers game. glad to see u got a little of both!

 

[RonB]

Are most areas of the Conestoga wadeable or should you be in a boat.....

Very nice fish you go there.....

I am fairly new to the York and Lancaster County area and I am looking for some bass fishing waters that for the most part wadeable...

 

[dc410]

Great report and some beautiful fish! The Conestoga has a lot of water to explore. I've been fishing different sections with very mixed results over the past few weeks. Glad to hear you had a good day. Great fun!

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Its also really funny how many deer are in that park. People from Lancaster go to Potter to hunt and there are more deer down here :lol:

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Ron,

The Conestoga is like a very big creek. What is odd about it is you can wade many sections with ease and many sections can be extremely difficult. You might be able to wade just fine for 600 yards or more and then the next 600 yards might be too deep right off the bank. Many of the banks are lined with burn hazel so be very careful.

I say it is best fished by boat but wading it is also very easy. The Conestoga overall is a very shallow river.

 

[RonB]

Thanks very much for the replies on the stream conditions...

Ron