Manada Creek (DHALO) - Dauphin County - 13.Nov.14

[wgmiller]

I made it out to Manada Creek DHALO stretch for a few hours. I parked at the lot on 443 and fished downstream to Furnace Road. Temps were in the 40's with overcast skies. No insect activity to be seen (as expected). I hadn't fished the creek in a while, so it was interesting to see how it had changed since my last visit. Manada seems to be notorious for always changing with regards to deadfall, habitat, etc.

The flow was exceptionally low. In fact, as low as I've seen it in the several years I've been fishing it. I saw very few fish and worked the "usual holes" over pretty good with no strikes. I have no doubt there are plenty of fish in the stream, but the low, clear water has them tucked in tight.

"Oh boy, this is gonna be a challenge..."

I had no luck in the lower stretch with the exception of a few fallfish and chubs. After walking back, I fished above 443 to the "bridge hole" and found tough fishing as well. I found a willing rainbow in the big hole who ate my olive bugger. There was remnants of a campfire by the bridge hole along with bait containers, etc. If I were to recommend Manada to someone, I'd tell them to fish it after it rains again. I know this stream holds the "wild trifecta", but conditions are tough!

"Rosey cheeks"

 

[Gorosaurus]

I had no idea Manada harbored wild rainbows. It's my home stream, but it's less Jekyll than Hyde. Glad you got one to hand!

Caught my largest wild fish to date in that same hole. A real chunker brown, about as pellet-shaped as wild fish get

 

[wgmiller]

Gorosaurus wrote:
I had no idea Manada harbored wild rainbows. It's my home stream, but it's less Jekyll than Hyde. Glad you got one to hand!

The wild bows I've found are well above 443. Caught this lil guy back in 2011...

 

[raftman]

Hey... that was on my birthday!

 

[Gorosaurus]

Fascinating! The 2011 catch is definitely a wild.

Manada has been improving since the 2011 floods, in my opinion. It tanked for a while (if not populations, then the stream itself), but I think there are more wild trout now than before that event.

I'm going to have to go through my old albums to see if some of those bows that made me wonder... had reason to make me wonder.

 

[Swattie87]

Manada is one of those little freestoners with cold, decent quality water that gets Bows stocked into it and sometimes intermittent populations of wild Bows show up. There’s a good year where a bunch of Bows holdover and spawn and then you get a couple years with a small number of little wild Bows in the mix. A couple bad years with no successful Bows holding over and the wild Browns outcompete the few wild Bows from the last successful spawn and they disappear. Manada is primarily a wild Brown stream in terms of its wild population. There’s may be some Brookies in the extreme headwaters or tiny tribs, but it’s mainly a Brown stream. I’ve observed the same thing on a neighboring wild Brown freestoner that gets Bows stocked into it as well.

 

[wgmiller]

Great assessment of Manada, Swattie. Wild browns seem to be the bulk of wild fish I find on Manada. And, as you mentioned, the wild bows aren't always there.