Manada Creek (Dauphin Co.) - 24.Dec.19 (delayed post)

[wgmiller]

I made it out to Manada Creek for a few hours prior to Christmas Day. I fished the stretch from 443 up to the lower end of the FtIG site from about noon until 4:30 or so. The water clarity was great and had a good flow for early winter. The temp came in right on 40 degrees. I saw no airborne insect activity and no rises. The bites were hard to come by on a nymphing setup and I eventually switched over to an olive wooly bugger, which produced. Overall, it was a slow day with two fish landed, some others seen, but not a highly productive outing. Regardless, this is still one of my favorite local streams.

 

[Swattie87]

Nice to see a wild (first pic) Brown on Manada. I find I can turn them up pretty regularly on the other FIG stream, but struggle to on Manada. Good stuff.

 

[wgmiller]

Manada is an interesting stream and it seems like it's always changing. Through the years it has given me wild rainbows, wild brook trout, and some WW species, in addition to wild browns. Almost all of the wild fish I have come across have been from above 443, with the rainbows and brookies coming from much further up.

 

[Swattie87]

Funny you mention about the Rainbows. Its neighbor has intermittently produced wild Bows for me too, though the vast majority of the wild fish are Browns. It has a co-op hatchery on it, so I haven’t completely ruled out escapees, but the few little Bows I caught have looked very wild. They don’t raise Browns, and the Browns are quite obviously wild.

 

[6xAdams]

WGM,
Glad to see your post - couldn't find one for this creek more recent than 2001. I'm interested since my daughter and son-in-law moved close to that area last summer and we expect to visit frequently from MD. In late August, my son and I tried it for the first time - since it was close and we had nothing better to do for an hour. We worked from the 443 bridge downstream in what was then very thin water. There was some kind of camping party going on upstream and weren't sure of property boundaries, so we stayed in the DHALO section. It was also too late in the day to explore for holes downstream.
Probably questions for another string but:
- Is this a good place to try Apr-Jun?
- Will I wind up parking anywhere that I get pinched for trespassing?

Regards
- Glenn

 

[wgmiller]

Glenn,

Late August can be tough as it is a freestone stream and its flow is dependent on what happens in the headwaters. Summer flows can definitely get a little skinny and on the warmer side!

I usually park by the sawmill in the area of the bridge on 443. I have spoken with the landowners before and all they requested was that I parked to the side of the cut-thru in order to allow emergency vehicles go get through. Generally speaking, as long as there are no signs prohibiting parking or trespassing, you're fine. The DHALO stretch actually runs 1.8 miles upstream from Furnace Road, so it's a good ways. The area where you saw a camp party taking place is private property, but you can fish the creek right past it. Plenty of fish under that bridge, but they can be tough to get a good position on.

As you mentioned, the creek is DHALO, so it will see a harvest. The creek gets two stockings: one in March and the other in May, so there *should* be plenty of fish if you go between April and June.

The creek is fishable as far upstream as Fort Indiantown Gap property, which is clearly marked.

Good luck!

 

[6xAdams]

Great info, thanks! I'll take a closer look when I'm up to visit my daughter.
Regards