Hammer Creek, Lancaster County 1/28/2023

[Fish Sticks]

Doesn't the trib at Camp Shand flow into and out of a pond? Notice that there is also a pond (newly excavated?) South of the Pine Acres Campground. It looks like that one also has an inflow and outflow. It is also very open to the sun. My guess is that this one feeds Shearers or is near the source of the one that flows through Camp Shand. Then Look to your east at the HUGE area that has been deforested for that plot of land that contains perennial branch that feeds Walnut after it crosses 322. Bet it ran year-round until all the trees were cut and that large pond was created. You can see a fountain in the middle of it. Notice all the scorched grassy areas. Then look to the pond built at the headwaters of Walnut off Walnut Springs Road! I really think the ponds are the worst problems for these streams.
Sorry, I have not had any luck getting my snipping tool to work with google maps.

Someone built a pond on walnut recently? I knew about the timber sale

 

[riverwhy]

Someone built a pond on walnut recently? I knew about the timber sale

Didn't you mention that there was a small one by Walnut Spring Road in an earlier post? It is not visible from the satellite images.
However, there is a large one behind the fields visible from 322 where the house sits close to the road. That one looks like it feeds an upper part of the Shearer's watershed as it flows south under 322. I think I conflated the two. Sorry. Wish I could post the satellite images.

 

[Fish Sticks]

Didn't you mention that there was a small one by Walnut Spring Road in an earlier post? It is not visible from the satellite images.
However, there is a large one behind the fields visible from 322 where the house sits close to the road. That one looks like it feeds an upper part of the Shearer's watershed as it flows south under 322. I think I conflated the two. Sorry. Wish I could post the satellite images.

Oh yea theres a decent sized pond i just wanted to make sure that someone didn’t just make one right recently because if they did DEP needs to know lol. Those things in cold water ecosystems usually some sort of grandfathered in F***ery

 

[JeffP]

Oh yea theres a decent sized pond i just wanted to make sure that someone didn’t just make one right recently because if they did DEP needs to know lol. Those things in cold water ecosystems usually some sort of grandfathered in F***ery

If you have ever looked at the Segloch/Furnace Run Watershed write-up from 2004, there are a number of ponds impacting them. Do ponds right next to a creek without overflow pipes have an impact? I'm guessing they do as its usually in a wetland area.

 

[pcray1231]

I haven't fished Walnut in about a year. But a year ago it still had a decent brookie population. I wouldn't say super strong by any stretch, and I'm not sure that it ever was. But it had brookies in the steeper section there, and at least 1 small brown up on top near the power line, which surprised me, as I'd never caught browns up there.

 

[sarce]

I haven't fished Walnut in about a year. But a year ago it still had a decent brookie population. I wouldn't say super strong by any stretch, and I'm not sure that it ever was. But it had brookies in the steeper section there, and at least 1 small brown up on top near the power line, which surprised me, as I'd never caught browns up there.

Anything over 4"? My grandparents used to live nearby. My one time going up Walnut mirrors the other comments. Hardly anything. I caught 3 fingerling brookies. There was no holding water. This was probably 7-8 years ago.

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah I got one nice one about 8". Couple in that 4-7" range.

Best holding water is in a pretty short stretch there.

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah I got one nice one about 8". Couple in that 4-7" range.

Best holding water is in a pretty short stretch there.

Yeah. There’s a couple decent holes down low near the mouth, then the rest is in a relatively short (like 200 yard) steep stretch well above the split of the branches. The rest is pretty blah. And it’s all full of sand.