Etown fishing

mayfly418 said:
I will be staying in Etown for two weeks, where should I fly fish and how has the conditions been? Thank you.
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Is "Etown" Elizabethtown? If so, I have nothing to offer you. That area isn't flooded with wild trout water, so my advice is check the stocking schedule and pick a stockie area accordingly, head to the Cumberland County limestoner region, or go bass fishing/pond/lake fishing.
 
Donegal Creek has a FFO section. Donegal is a degraded limestoner, which suffers from agricultural runoff and sediment, and dewatering due to development. At one point, it was surveyed and found to have a Class A population of wild browns, and then that population dwindled. It has been several years since I wet a line there, so I can't speak to what the stocked or wild population might be like or the conditions of the stream.

Cumberland Valley limestoners are less than an hour away. There are also some wild trout streams in Lancaster County but it depends on how far you want to travel and how big or small the stream types you like to fish are.
 
I live in E-town. I drive to fish for trout. I fished Donegal a lot 25 years ago. I had more time to fish then. Now, I go to the CV or Central PA for cold water fish.
 
Conoy and Conewago Creeks are stocked. Middletown Reservoir is stocked and not far. For warmwater you are close to the Swatara and the Susquehanna. If you want to drive a bit the Quittapahilla in Annville, Lebanon Co. and Manada Creek in Dauphin Co. are DHALO.
 
mayfly418 said:
I drove to Donegal creek. It looks nice. I plan on fishing there today. Any suggestions on patterns to use? BTW, such a beautiful area.
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Not sure. I've never fished Donegal, but I'm imagining any generic type files should work. Parachute Adams, Frenchies, sulphurs, scuds, etc
 
It's been years since I've fished it in May but there used to be good sulphur hatches.
 
Little Chiques Creek: Another relatively near-by stocked trout stream section is at and east or NE of Mount Joy, just down the road from E-town. It’s a farm stream, but enters a park in Mt Joy. Here are the stocked section limits…..
Upper Limit: UNT 0.65-MILE UPSTREAM MT JOY ROAD. Lat & Long: 40.12247528,-76.50099150
Lower Limit: SR230, Lat & Long: 40.10892930,-76.49021347

It received two PFBc stockings, but it may also still be stocked by a cooperative nursery operated by a sportsman’s club. If so, they most likely stock it in the park if nowhere else.

I’m surprised that nobody mentioned that you are very close to some of the best smallmouth bass fishing in Pa…the Susquehanna River. Perhaps it’s too high right now. Locals on here could answer that question if you become interested.
 
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I didn't mention the Susquehanna because it was still too high for wade fishing the last time I checked.
 
It's still over 5' at Harrisburg. You could probably fish from the rocks at Falmouth but it's high for wading.
 
As others have said, Lancaster isn’t the best location for fishing because of how much farming run off there is and how it has destroyed once good streams.

On top of what others have suggested, if you want to do some warm water fishing, fishing on the Susquehanna is a great option but check flows and before attempting to wade, bank fishing can be found. Swatara Creek is an other bass/pan fish option that is close as well.
 
If you think Donegal has declined, come out to Cumberland County and fish the big three (Letort, Big Spring, and Falling Spring) - then try to console yourself with some “lesser known” creeks like Trindle, Cedar, and Armstrong - there will be plenty of lessons learned about aquifer damage, no till farming, dewatering, urban sprawl, and road runoff by simply showing up - I dun growed up here, know all the secret spots, and don’t fish any of them anymore … just sayin’ - photo of Trindle for effect - there is a large shopping hub less than 150 yards to the right of this seemingly pristine spring creek - and the fishing is spotty with a few transient wild Browns - you may want to pick up the littered bait containers that will surely be found along this run …
IMG_4878.jpeg
 
JG63 said:
If you think Donegal has declined, come out to Cumberland County and fish the big three (Letort, Big Spring, and Falling Spring) - then try to console yourself with some “lesser known” creeks like Trindle, Cedar, and Armstrong - there will be plenty of lessons learned about aquifer damage, no till farming, dewatering, urban sprawl, and road runoff by simply showing up - I dun growed up here, know all the secret spots, and don’t fish any of them anymore … just sayin’ - photo of Trindle for effect - there is a large shopping hub less than 150 yards to the right of this seemingly pristine spring creek - and the fishing is spotty with a few transient wild Browns - you may want to pick up the littered bait containers that will surely be found along this run …View attachment 1641251112
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Which Armstrong are you referring to? There
Is one in Dauphin County. I hear you on how terrible we have treated these watersheds. I fished Cedar once about 30 years ago and Trundle a handful of times. Caught one on Cedar near a gas station somewhere. A number of small rainbows on Trindle. Buddy hooked something very large at the lowest pool on Trindle that broke him off. Last time at Trindle the water had a weird smell, tons of trash, and I caught nothing. Never returned.
What impact do you think no till farming had on these watersheds?
 
JG63 said:
If you think Donegal has declined, come out to Cumberland County and fish the big three (Letort, Big Spring, and Falling Spring) - then try to console yourself with some “lesser known” creeks like Trindle, Cedar, and Armstrong - there will be plenty of lessons learned about aquifer damage, no till farming, dewatering, urban sprawl, and road runoff by simply showing up - I dun growed up here, know all the secret spots, and don’t fish any of them anymore … just sayin’ - photo of Trindle for effect - there is a large shopping hub less than 150 yards to the right of this seemingly pristine spring creek - and the fishing is spotty with a few transient wild Browns - you may want to pick up the littered bait containers that will surely be found along this run …View attachment 1641251112
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I fish Trindle and Hogestown once or twice a year, mostly because I want them to be good and maybe it will bring the streams good karma if someone keeps fishing them. Both are such beautiful streams that keep getting strangled by development.

I don’t think Hogestown has a chance with all of the development on the old Hempt Farms property, basically cuts the stream in half and it’s going to be an asphalt and concrete jungle runoff stream with temps way to high to hold what few trout remain.
 
riverwhy said:
Which Armstrong are you referring to? There
Is one in Dauphin County. I hear you on how terrible we have treated these watersheds. I fished Cedar once about 30 years ago and Trundle a handful of times. Caught one on Cedar near a gas station somewhere. A number of small rainbows 7on Trindled. Buddy hooked something very large at the lowest pool on Trindle that broke him off. Last time at Trindle the water had a weird smell, tons of trash, and I caught nothing. Never returned.
What impact do you think no till farming had on these watersheds?
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Sorry - I meant Alexander Spring Run west of Carlisle - not the Armstrong near Halifax 😬All the chemicals have leached into the aquifer and now are over fertilizing the streams - Big Spring is a good example elodea and watercress are to be expected - but the algae and algae blooms are horrendous in the ditch section - it absolutely didn’t happen like that 40 years ago - even with the sewage effluent from
Olddominionsmoke said:
I fish Trindle and Hogestown once or twice a year, mostly because I want them to be good and maybe it will bring the streams good karma if someone keeps fishing them. Both are such beautiful streams that keep getting strangled by development.

I don’t think Hogestown has a chance with all of the development on the old Hempt Farms property, basically cuts the stream in half and it’s going to be an asphalt and concrete jungle runoff stream with temps way to high to hold what few trout remain.
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Yes HTR is doomed - flow is WAY down and Hempts land provided hundreds of acres of aquifer collection - now the warehouses, Fry Comm, Costco, and the subsequent development will starve the flow of rainwater while adding more wells to an already stressed aquifer - can’t fight city hall on this one - urban sprawl has claimed vast amounts of agricultural acreage over the last 50 years - something that has happened in similar Limestone/karst regions in Lancaster, Centre, Lebanon, Huntington, Blair, and now Bedford counties - at least I have some good memories of fishing these once wild creeks
 
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