Donegal Spring Creek; Lancaster County, March 27

wbranch

Well-known member
Joined
May 26, 2009
Messages
2,615
City
York
Yesterday afternoon warmed up nicely so I drove over to the lower end of DSC. Plenty of flow! Now I remembered why it has been at least six years since my last trip there. The edges of the stream are totally silt laden. I was aware of the silt issue and as soon as I placed my wading staff in the water it was swallowed up by over 12" of mud. I was pretty much trapped almost to my knees in sucking mud. If there had not been a tree close by I would of not been able to get a purchase on anything to pull myself out. After that incident I fished from the bank.

Caught two very fat 11" rainbows on a pink sucker spawn. I wanted to fish from the other side of the creek (opposite the road) but the water was deep where I was able to access the stream at all and where it wasn't very deep the banks were just too steep for an old man to negotiate. I'd bet there are a bunch of fish there. It was stocked on March 03. I was the only person within eyesight.
 
The dumbegal is like the Letort.... try to never step foot in the water.
 
I would never go back. Kind of risky with my gimpy leg.
 
A possible alternative that is relatively close to your home is the SBr Codorus special reg area ...trout stocked fishery open to year around fishing. It also supports a low density population of wild BT and has pretty good habitat, especially due to the habitat work that has been done throughout its length and beyond. It is wider than Donegal as well.

Additionally, as a general comment, the stream keeps getting cooler and the wild trout population keeps expanding downstream slowly but surely over time.

You will need to investigate the stream-side walking and wading situations to determine whether they match your requirements. Black ant imitations work great there.
 
Mike,

Thanks for the info on So Branch Codorus. I have no idea where this streamis or where the all year section starts and ends. I'll have to do some research on the PFBC web site and Google Earth.
 
Back
Top