Alnitak
Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2014
- Messages
- 314
I grew up in Kutztown and spent a lot of time in the Oley area with friends. For years I crossed the Manatawny every day, but back then I wasn't interested in trout fishing. Fast forward 25 years and after living out of state for the last 20 years, my wife and I moved back to where she grew up, in Lancaster County. My brother-in-law and nephews had gotten into fly fishing while I was away and they got me out back in December and I was hooked. Seven more fly rods later and months of nymphing behind me, it was time to get out on a spring day and hope for a hatch. I've enjoyed finding new places to fish; one of the streams I knew I wanted to fish was the Manatawny. With lots of bugs, odds were good that something would be hatching.
I asked a few friends to join me, and in the end only one of them made it. We left a little later in the morning than originally planned as the forecast was for cold temperatures. We arrived at our chosen spot at about 10am and there were already a bunch of guys out on the stream--although all of them but one were spin or bait casting. It was cold--about 45F--and nothing was hatching, so we went to the nymphs. Knowing it had been recently stocked, we also put on some stocker-bait: I went with a pink San Juan and my friend tied on an egg imitation. I hooked into a trout pretty quickly but lost in the rocks--the bottom on Manatawny is surprisingly rocky for a stream that flows through a lot of agricultural land. My friend lost one too then hooked a nice stocked brown.
We worked downstream slowly over the next two hours without getting much action. However, the temperatures were rising and we knew others had been fishing the same pools, so the trout were likely spooked. Around noon we got into an area that others had not fished as heavily and in the first deep run I pulled out a nice stocked rainbow that was about 15" long. Not long after that I lost a bigger one, and my friend landed one in the same size range.
We moved into a wooded area and he pulled two very pretty wild browns out of a hole. The wild browns on the Manatawny look a little different than the ones I'm used to seeing in Lancaster and York counties, with more spots that are also darker, but they still have the typical dark spot behind the eye. Both of his fish were in the 8-9" range.
The sun came out and the temperature started to rise right around 1pm, just as I came to a deep run that ended in a long deep pool. The runs had been good no doubt in part to the fact that the bait fishermen avoid them. Sure enough, I quickly pulled in two very nice stocked rainbows, both about 14" long. One of them appeared to be holdover as the fins and scales were in great condition and it was brightly colored relative to the recent stocked fish we were catching. My friend joined me and promptly pulled out a beautiful holdover brown trout and a nice rainbow.
I moved to the back of the pool and switched up to a generic Baetis emerger pattern as the bugs were starting to hatch in profusion now the temperature had risen to about 60F. That was the ticket, and I hooked into a very nice holdover brown. He gave a great fight and after I tired him--and hurt my sore elbow doing so--I brought him to the net. He was 16.5" and looked great--fat and healthy. My friend switched as well and landed another holdover brown--that's the one in the video link.
We spent almost two hours working that hole and combined for seven or eight fish. Moving downstream to a long run I saw several trout starting to rise. There were stoneflies, caddis, midges and some red quills hatching, so tied on some dry flies and gave it a shot. Within a few minutes we both had a brown trout on. Mine was a very nice 14" holdover brown, and his was a slightly smaller recent stocked brown. Unfortunately my fish popped out of my hand before I could get a photo--it was my first trout on a dry fly. What a blast! Unfortunately we had wife deadlines to meet, so we had to run just as it was getting good. Definitely a stream I'll go to again!
http://vimeo.com/92366073
Jeff
I asked a few friends to join me, and in the end only one of them made it. We left a little later in the morning than originally planned as the forecast was for cold temperatures. We arrived at our chosen spot at about 10am and there were already a bunch of guys out on the stream--although all of them but one were spin or bait casting. It was cold--about 45F--and nothing was hatching, so we went to the nymphs. Knowing it had been recently stocked, we also put on some stocker-bait: I went with a pink San Juan and my friend tied on an egg imitation. I hooked into a trout pretty quickly but lost in the rocks--the bottom on Manatawny is surprisingly rocky for a stream that flows through a lot of agricultural land. My friend lost one too then hooked a nice stocked brown.
We worked downstream slowly over the next two hours without getting much action. However, the temperatures were rising and we knew others had been fishing the same pools, so the trout were likely spooked. Around noon we got into an area that others had not fished as heavily and in the first deep run I pulled out a nice stocked rainbow that was about 15" long. Not long after that I lost a bigger one, and my friend landed one in the same size range.
We moved into a wooded area and he pulled two very pretty wild browns out of a hole. The wild browns on the Manatawny look a little different than the ones I'm used to seeing in Lancaster and York counties, with more spots that are also darker, but they still have the typical dark spot behind the eye. Both of his fish were in the 8-9" range.
The sun came out and the temperature started to rise right around 1pm, just as I came to a deep run that ended in a long deep pool. The runs had been good no doubt in part to the fact that the bait fishermen avoid them. Sure enough, I quickly pulled in two very nice stocked rainbows, both about 14" long. One of them appeared to be holdover as the fins and scales were in great condition and it was brightly colored relative to the recent stocked fish we were catching. My friend joined me and promptly pulled out a beautiful holdover brown trout and a nice rainbow.
I moved to the back of the pool and switched up to a generic Baetis emerger pattern as the bugs were starting to hatch in profusion now the temperature had risen to about 60F. That was the ticket, and I hooked into a very nice holdover brown. He gave a great fight and after I tired him--and hurt my sore elbow doing so--I brought him to the net. He was 16.5" and looked great--fat and healthy. My friend switched as well and landed another holdover brown--that's the one in the video link.
We spent almost two hours working that hole and combined for seven or eight fish. Moving downstream to a long run I saw several trout starting to rise. There were stoneflies, caddis, midges and some red quills hatching, so tied on some dry flies and gave it a shot. Within a few minutes we both had a brown trout on. Mine was a very nice 14" holdover brown, and his was a slightly smaller recent stocked brown. Unfortunately my fish popped out of my hand before I could get a photo--it was my first trout on a dry fly. What a blast! Unfortunately we had wife deadlines to meet, so we had to run just as it was getting good. Definitely a stream I'll go to again!
http://vimeo.com/92366073
Jeff
