Letort, 2/18/12, Cumberland Cnty

T

tomitrout

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Jun 9, 2010
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Had a new stick to break in, 7'6" Schliske 4wt. Hoped for more Olive like weather, but who can disagree with almost 50 degrees and breezy sunshine in the middle of February? Saw a handful of olives on the water along with some fluttering stoneflies here and there. Was on the water from 1-3ish in the afternoon, not ideal, but good enough. Saw about 4 or 5 rises total, picked up one youngster against the far bank w/ a black Elk and CDC caddis, #16, and hooked into another on the same after seeing a rise down below me. Was a long distance release on that one after he dove into the channel and I couldn't work him up & out of the weeds. At least I kept the skunk at bay. New rod handled the breeze surprisingly well for a 4wt, I think it's a keeper.
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Beauty!
(And the fish looks nice too.)

It's been a great winter on Letort. 🙂
 
well, instead of starting a second report, may as well amend this one. Went back on Sunday the 19th, hoping for more hospitable Olive weather. Weather was 'better', a bit chillier and not nearly as breezy. Sunlight was subdued at times thru the high clouds, though not the ideal gray overcast I was hoping for, too bad the weatherman was right this time around.

Got on the water around noonish, saw a couple other fellas in the one meadow and stopped to say hi, figure out where they'd been so as not to fish over already harassed trouts, then mosied on downstream. Action was slow to start, then finally around 1ish I saw a rise and began to see a sporadic few BWO's on the water. The hatch never really got going, but there was enough bug activity to interest the fishes. Just as I was figuring on dealing with a skunk I had a healthy chase and take on a skated black CDC & Elk caddis that had worked the day before. A healthy 13"er was a nice way to get things rolling.

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Released him and spotted another decent fish calmly lying on the bottom. Switched from the dry to a scud and got no interest while noticing a smaller fish rising up above me. Nipped off the scud a tied on a bwo nymph on a hunch, got a decent drift right away and saw the brown twitch...fish on! We had a nice tussle in the tight quarters and eventually brought this nice 15"er to the net.

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Released him and then took a snapshot as he sulked under a log.
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The action kinda slowed from there, fished thru until about 3 and brought an even half dozen to hand in total, missing about the same fishing little bwo dries. After the 15"er, my focus tailed off a bit...

Yep, the Letort certainly is fishing well right now, but then again, when doesn't it?

WBranch, the reel is a little JA Forbes prototype I picked up off eBay.
 
I was on the Letort Sunday afternoon too. I think there were only 4 of us on the stream yesterday so you must have been the other solo guy. Sorry I didn't stop by to say hello but you looked occupied.... I did OK - landing 4 nice fish and missing about the same more. I fished only the BWO dry.

I have a question about the first meadow below the bridge at the quary entrance I'm hoping someone can explain. There are signs that read "Danger, stay off the sandbags" (or something like that). Are they asking us to stay out of the whole meadow or just off the sandbags? I certainly support the bank restoration being attempted and didn't risk it but was wondering...

 
tomi - nice reports there. Your Forbes reel looks a lot like a Forbes Magnesium I have, which is incredibly light.

Glad to hear you saw black or brown stone flies. It is that time of the year, especially with the warm winter and the abundant sunshine. The skitterring trick works well during the ovipositing. Wonder if a closer pattern match than a repurposed caddis would have done better?

tl
les
 
SulphurKing wrote:
I have a question about the first meadow below the bridge at the quary entrance I'm hoping someone can explain. There are signs that read "Danger, stay off the sandbags" (or something like that). Are they asking us to stay out of the whole meadow or just off the sandbags?
Click to expand...

SK,
That meadow has a sinkhole problem. Cumberland Valley TU put up the signs and, I agree, it's a bit confusing (there are already older sandbags there from previous repairs). At this point, I'd recommend you avoid the entire meadow and stay on the path. It's not a safe area. We're hoping to have the sinkhole reapirs complete in the next few months. After that, the signs may come down(?). It's been an unstable area for years.
 
Thanks for the explanation. I was less concerned for my own safety but worried that by walking through the area I might reverse some of the hard work done by great people (TU) who are attempting to make our fishing experience on the Letort even more perfect.

Thanks again.
 
You might want to rethink your own safety in that area. About 18 months ago I found two sinkholes and the worst one I immediately sunk to my hips and proceeded to slowly sink up to my armpits and never felt any bottom. I had to toss the rod and grab onto the weeds to stop myself from sinking and finally I managed to pull myself out. Not a pleasant experience.
 
GreenWeenie wrote:
You might want to rethink your own safety in that area. About 18 months ago I found two sinkholes and the worst one I immediately sunk to my hips and proceeded to slowly sink up to my armpits and never felt any bottom. I had to toss the rod and grab onto the weeds to stop myself from sinking and finally I managed to pull myself out. Not a pleasant experience.
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Agreed! Same thing happened to me a few hundred yards below the sink hole meadow. There's a trail that comes down from the house at the end of Houser Lane that will take you right to the hole, about 15 feet before you get to the creek. Be careful!

Boyer
 
I always carry a wading staff when fishing upper Letort so as to probe soft areas in the meadows. There are many soft spring seeps right off the trail. You really have to watch your step up there and I've lost a hip boot or two to soft spots but what you're describing sounds much more dangerous and indicative of a potential catastrophic sinkhole.

GW and Boyer: Please check your PM.
 
Matt,

I think I know the spot you found, found it myself a couple summers ago when the weeds were tall and couldn't see the footing. I'd categorize it more as a spring proper than a sinkhole in that particular spot. This time of year you can see where it begins at the rail trail and runs down to the stream based upon weed growth. There are a couple of seeps in that area that work their way from the old Houser barn area down into the stream. Bit different animals than the sinkhole meadow where water was/is flowing from out of the stream channel and off into holes in the meadow.
 
tomitrout wrote:
Matt,

I think I know the spot you found, found it myself a couple summers ago when the weeds were tall and couldn't see the footing. I'd categorize it more as a spring proper than a sinkhole in that particular spot. This time of year you can see where it begins at the rail trail and runs down to the stream based upon weed growth. There are a couple of seeps in that area that work their way from the old Houser barn area down into the stream. Bit different animals than the sinkhole meadow where water was/is flowing from out of the stream channel and off into holes in the meadow.
Click to expand...

^This is pretty accurate.

Boyer
 
I went in up to my hip and up over the knee a couple times that afternoon. I just kind of assumed that was par for the Letort course. I had never thought that going in up to the armpits would be a possibility. That must have been scary. I'd probably have to hose down my waders inside and out...

If you've fished the stream even just once you probably know the risks but perhaps it would make sense for the keepers of the Letort to put up a sign at the parking areas warning people. As I said in a previous post, there is a danger to the fisherman but I would imagine that it is also damaging to the plants, banks, etc. A bunch of holes caused by fisherman legs/bodies can't be helping the issue. Maybe a warning would help keep people vigilant so they stay safe and help preserve the banks?
 
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