Manatawney Creek, Berks County, 4/28

[blueheron]

I got done at noon and decided to throw the bike in the truck and head to the Lehigh. Luckily my buddy checked the gauge and saw it was blown out and mentioned the Manatawney might be worth a trip.
There were caddis and the occasional mayfly and either large midges or tiny olives present, water is still cold and air temp was mid ‘60’s.
Water was a mix of riffles into slots and a quieter section.
The first rise was the head of a pool, he went for a henryville . I assumed he was a stockie until a local fly fisher walked by and asked if I had caught any wild fish. Then I fooled the only other rising fish I saw, the little one was streamborn. I believe the beast was also, I had thought it was a regular stocked stream, it was a pleasant surprise. No more risers but I got a few swinging wets.

 

[Mike]

The stream has carried a minor wild brown trout population for decades. It is officially designated as a wild trout stream from the headwaters downstream to either Airport Rd or Rt 562 at Earlville. I forget which of those two bridges we selected as the lower limit. We found wild trout almost to the mouth in Pottstown, but not enough of the right age classes and abundances to further extend the wild trout stream designation. I know of only two locations where there are enough wild trout to support a fishery, and the first stretch is only about 200 yds long. The second is perhaps three to four times that length. Almost every trib upstream from Rt 562 to the headwaters supports a wild trout population so there are plenty of sources for the wild trout that are present at a number of locations in the Manatawny at this cool time of the year. Some of the streams have low density but stable populations . Two that I know of have expanding populations. Two or three have Class A populations, including one that has a few wild brook trout mixed in with the dominant brown trout. The Manatawny has a great diversity of hatches all spring and fly fishing is good throughout the spring, tailing off sometime in June at most locations.

 

[blueheron]

Thanks Mike, I was well upstream of 562 and passed alot of harvesters so I really had low expectations. Nothings better than low expectations.
I would rather catch one wild fish than ten stockies.

 

[blueheron]

Forgot my local flora pic.

 

[Mike]

Always liked the wild flowers along the Mannatawny.

Understood regarding wild vs stocked. I recall the first wild brown that I caught from that stream. I was a teenager and I caught it behind the bungalows about a quarter mile upstream from the log cabin inn, now known as the Tiki Bar. It jumped two or three times. At a younger age I caught a wild brown or two from the now Class A stretch of Bieber Ck, trib to Manatawny. Bieber was a stocked stream at the time.

I also used to fish the Little Manatawny as a kid. Never caught a trout, but today an angler would have a pretty good chance of doing so from Furnace Creek confluence to the headwaters.

As for the Manatawny, just before I retired I shifted the stocked species mix from BT & RT to just BT on the upper stocked section, Section 02, so it is possible that the section will hold some stocked fish a bit further into the summer than in the past. That’s the section that goes from Furnace Rn to Rt 73.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

A few years back I caught a couple stream bred Browns in the general area Mike described. Remember being the only one fishing while a band at the bar played "Down by the River." Good memories!

 

[Mike]

My present contact on the Manatawny, an avid fly angler, called yesterday to tell me that the fly fishing and hatches have been great all this past week and the sulphurs are just starting.

 

[blueheron]

I did see some large sulphur nymphs when I checked under a rock on my last trip there. Also chased a pair of herons away.

 

[Mike]

Received word last evening that small wild browns, most likely one-two yr olds, are being caught in much higher numbers than usual this spring as far downstream as Pine Forge. Must have been a good year class or two in the tribs. Even Ironstone Ck’s population has expanded in a downstream direction from west of Boyertown over the past decade and there is a population in one of its tribs...the most likely source(s) of those wild browns being caught in the Pine Forge area. As mentioned above, there are numerous sources upstream from Rt 562. Unless we have a wet summer, the vast majority of these fish will need to move bace into the tribs or die. They may die anyway since their presence suggests excess production from the tribs, which then are probably already at carrying capacity for this or these year class(es). That’s life in the natural world!

 

[blueheron]

Oh sure, just when I was feeling good about my wild trout skills you have to burst my bubble with the overpopulation story. Actually I still feel good about my abilities, hit a great sulphur hatch yesterday on the Lehigh and I was the one with the right fly while the other guys struggled a bit. Thanks for the update Mike.