wgmiller
Well-known member
This post is going to be a two-part post on the Donegal Creek in Lancaster County.
I was out this past Saturday with my five year-old daughter beneath the bridge on 772. The water was off-color with quite a heavy concentration of leaves on the bottom. As much as I would have loved to fly fish that day, keeping my daughter interested and having fun took precedence, so I slung "meat". :-( I can't believe how much I didn't care for bait fishing! I'm definitely converted to fly fishing...
I landed a nice, fighting 12" brown who gave two nice aerial acrobat shows. Very cool! My daughter loved it and was pretty happy. Other than the nice brown, we caught some creek chubs and she had fun holding them and releasing them into the water. As much as I'd love to get her into fly fishing, at this point letting her enjoy the "fishing experience" is more important than anything.
Back to the stream report. The water level was down pretty good and I did see some fish rising. Couldn't make out what they were hitting, but there was some rising action. The creek was not stocked by the PFBC or Donegal Fish and Conservation this fall, so fishing is somewhat scarce in this section.
To the second part of my post, early this morning there was barn fire at a dairy farm along the Donegal Creek: http://www.wgal.com/news/17871781/detail.html This particular farm isn't far from the horse farm where you typically park to enter the fishing area. The fire department ended up using the creek as a water supply source in addition to a fire hydrant located a mile away. This is a 'necessary evil', but certainly will add insult to injury to the stream's low water level. I took a quick peek on my way home from work this morning and the creek is definitely low. I haven't ventured into the C & R FFO section, but can only image how low that is.
I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone who may be planning on hitting the Donegal that the fishing could be tough for a while. I'm hoping for a lot of snow and a wet spring to recharge the springs that feed this creek. I'll be venturing out to the C & R FFO section sometime this week and will provide a follow-up report. It'll also give me a chance to try out my new 6'3" 3wt! 🙂
I was out this past Saturday with my five year-old daughter beneath the bridge on 772. The water was off-color with quite a heavy concentration of leaves on the bottom. As much as I would have loved to fly fish that day, keeping my daughter interested and having fun took precedence, so I slung "meat". :-( I can't believe how much I didn't care for bait fishing! I'm definitely converted to fly fishing...
I landed a nice, fighting 12" brown who gave two nice aerial acrobat shows. Very cool! My daughter loved it and was pretty happy. Other than the nice brown, we caught some creek chubs and she had fun holding them and releasing them into the water. As much as I'd love to get her into fly fishing, at this point letting her enjoy the "fishing experience" is more important than anything.
Back to the stream report. The water level was down pretty good and I did see some fish rising. Couldn't make out what they were hitting, but there was some rising action. The creek was not stocked by the PFBC or Donegal Fish and Conservation this fall, so fishing is somewhat scarce in this section.
To the second part of my post, early this morning there was barn fire at a dairy farm along the Donegal Creek: http://www.wgal.com/news/17871781/detail.html This particular farm isn't far from the horse farm where you typically park to enter the fishing area. The fire department ended up using the creek as a water supply source in addition to a fire hydrant located a mile away. This is a 'necessary evil', but certainly will add insult to injury to the stream's low water level. I took a quick peek on my way home from work this morning and the creek is definitely low. I haven't ventured into the C & R FFO section, but can only image how low that is.
I just wanted to give a heads up to anyone who may be planning on hitting the Donegal that the fishing could be tough for a while. I'm hoping for a lot of snow and a wet spring to recharge the springs that feed this creek. I'll be venturing out to the C & R FFO section sometime this week and will provide a follow-up report. It'll also give me a chance to try out my new 6'3" 3wt! 🙂
