Manada Creek, Dauphin County 01-04-13

J

jdh2550

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Dec 10, 2012
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Caught three fish today on the Manada between Furnace Rd and the Mountain Rd (443?) bridge. The closer I got to Mountain Rd the better the fishing got. Not much activity or many fish at the Furnace Rd area. Air temp was in the mid to high 30's. Water temp was 36 degrees at 2 pm. The water was clear and running at a normal flow rate.

If I had it to do over I would have parked at the upper end and walked down 300 yards and then started fishing upstream.

I fished wooly buggers for hours with no luck. The size 16 Pheasant Tail ( no bead head ) caught all three fish. Two were nice sized. Make sure you get down on the bottom with this fly and you should have good results as well.



http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd53/jdh2550/265515C0-A105-4120-912E-F3D641971063-12435-00001A39545047B5.jpg

http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd53/jdh2550/346EBDAA-FF3A-485B-AE85-4927035DD99B-12435-00001A394E89D3A1.jpg
 
Thanks for the report, JDH. I was at the Manada about 3 weeks ago and caught two where you caught yours. Like you, I didn't see anything the closer I got to Furnace Road... Hmm, except for the hole where the downed tree is located.
 
I think the lower end of the DHALO area gets harvested pretty good. You know, it's too much effort to walk upstream much farther and harvest. I've never really had a lot of luck with buggers on that stream, but nymphs have always produced. Glad to see it's still fishing well. I need to get up there one of these days to wet a line.
 
I fish buggers almost exclusively on the manada. I always catch fish on um. On color in particular. And I also catch a fair amount around furnace road. The best fishing on that stream, especially for the wild ones is not between 443 and furnace i can assure you of that.
 
Beautiful fish. They look like they have been in the stream a long time. Are there any streambred trout on that stream?
 
salmo- There is a few wild browns and some stream bred bows. You gotta know where to look to find them. I catch a few wild browns from the manada every year. I havent fished it in awhile, i only live 10 mins away.
 
Maybe next time I'll try below Furnace Road. I've never fished that
particular area. I've had luck on the Manada with everything from eggs to nymphs. I saw a couple of sculpins in the creek last time, so I'll try a sculpin pattern and see how it goes. Damn, how many "I's" can I have in one paragraph? EGO????!!!!
 
In years past there were fish above 443. Guessing that there may be some natives up there. That stretch will be my next outing.
 
i'd guess the first bow is wild and the second a stocker, looking at the oversized fin, spots and tail.

 
The area below Furnace Rd. is "ATW", so chances are if you find fish, they'll be few and far between. I've never fished down that way but can surmise that it gets cleaned up pretty good during "Trout season".

Manada is a neat stream because it does support a small resident population of streambred browns and bows on what is for all intents and purposes, a freestone stream.

And I should have clarified my comment about the buggers better. I've caught fish on buggers in Manada, but they don't seem to produce for me like they do on other streams.
 
Thanks for clearing up the bugger comment. I've flyfished for over 18 years but could count on one hand how many times I've used a wooly bugger. I have caught fish on them in the past but have preferred the hares ear and pheasant tails on my home streams and have done very well with them. Having confidence in a fly is almost as important as any other fly characteristic in my opinion.

I will try the wooly buggers again on some other streams in the area to see if I can turn my luck with them.
 
Let me know the next time any of you guys go to the manada. I would be happy to provide my "expertise" on that stream. I know every inch from the army base to the swatty.

The rainbows pictures are def not strem bred fish. Holdovers for prolly a year of two. I have caught holdie bows that have fins sharp enough to cut glass, white tipped fins an so on an so forth. The stream bred bows I have caught have been palm size at best, same with the browns. But with the browns if there is small ones the stream is doin good, an if there is small ones there is bigger ones.
 
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