Muddy Creek, York Co., 3/8/2009

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Fished the upper half of the special regs. Today. Caught two nice browns on Olive Buggers. Lost a few on other patterns. Saw some large caddis 14 or so. Also some BWO. One guy at the top had luck with a rainbow that I think I had hooked earlier we showed our picture of our catch to each other and I left.

 

[Maurice]

Leaky,

Those were likely stoneflies. They are all over the rocks in the shallow riffles edges of the stream. Over the past few days I was there twice and fished the upper area as well, as far down as the big bend. (3/4 mile). We caught lots of fish both days, On Friday it was a streamer day and on Saturday we found that streamers were not as productive and had to go with realy small nymphs. Dry flies only produced a few hits so we didn't pursue that long. Nor did we see more than a few rises. Once we found fish we found lots of them in the same area on Friday. Going back to those same areas Saturday proved to be frustrating because they were not bunched up like the day before until we realized they had moved into the shallower water and camped behind rocks. there were still some in the deeper areas but many had dispursed.

Although it was float stocked well the low water seems to cause the fish to seek each other and deeper water. That s pretty normal. But they seem to be spreading out again.

We also caught several larger fish that had been stocked inthe fall by our chapter. So that was a good sign that they held over the winter. They were very healthy looking too so they must have been eating. The lighter colored browns that looked clean were from that stocking compared to the new stockies which were a pasty, milky yellow green with rounded fins. The new stockies were heavy though.

Water temps on Friday was 44 at noon

On Saturday it was 45 at 1:00pm but rose to almost 50 by 5:00pm.


One thing that I observed was a number of fish, half dozen or so) had talon marks or heron spikes but were not dead obviously. And more disturbing was that about another half dozen had been poorly handled when removing the hook. Their mouths were ripped loose and hanging. As if they'd been caught using spinners and treble hooks. Although I am sure they were not.

I counted 13 cars on Saturday. But there was plenty of room to fish. I ran into only 4 people at the upper end which accounted for the other three cars there.

I'll add that over the two days we caught over a half dozen rainbows too that had held over from winter. Some in areas that I was pretty surprised to find them. Although they may have moved since the "new kids moved in".

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

My report was kind of short because I posted it with my phone. I had some real finicky strikes today and missed a lot of takes because the trout were biting light today. Both browns that I hooked I did so in fast water. I stuck with it and had a few more hits with the Olive bugger but I was traveling light today and only had one Olive bugger. I lost it right before I got to one of my favorite spots. Maurice, I did notice what you said about the fish being being in different locations because I arrived at a certain hole where I usually see them stacked up and there were none. Only a big brown upstream of it in a fast run. I spent an afternoon at one spot last fall hooking rainbows without having to move for a half hour or so, landing several and losing a hefty one. Most of the fish I saw today were in about a foot to a foot and a half of pocket water if you know what I'm sayin' and they were kind of picky. Not sure on the stoneflies, saw some lighter colored small mothy lookin, but I thought they were caddis also saw a black one almost grabbed it. It had long tent like wings. Definately saw some BWO's and a few no see ums. I gave up on playin the "game", and took the easy way out strippin' my bugger in the fastest water. However, I did get broke off on a stonefly that I tied this winter, maybe I should've used the rest of them up.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

Over all it was a nice day though saw a few people, here are some pics. The one brown I landed had marks or scars on either side. The two that I landed were average 12-13 inches. So far this year I've snapped off any fish 2 or 3 inches larger than that, but I've been using 6x and 7x a lot too. I'm still waiting for a really big one this year although I have caught some nice smaller wild trout that were equally satisfying ot catching a really big one.

I like the purty ones

 

[pool_spooker]

Thanks for the report gentlemen, very interesting.
I saw a red tail covering every inch of water, back and forth until he got a little close to me then he flew over the ridge.
I do know that in Montana, daytime fish are so spooky of prey that too many flase casts over a pool can limit your luck. Fish are very low during the day.
All this activity, prey, bows, natives, holdovers, just great. Only says one thing about the area.

JLW, when you say special regs, do you mean the C&R around piney, kennedy Bruce roads?

Now when I say I fished the lower section, I mean I only fished the two pools right above the bottom wire, I mean bottom. Im nursing a bad back from a winter hiking fall in WV.So I only hung out for an hour or so.
The only thing I caught was a bush behind me. : )
But then again, i'm a bit rusty.
Thanks for the report gentlemen. Good reading.

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

The special regs. (CARFFO) is 1.6 miles long just upstream of where you were is a decent stretch where you can find trout against the far bank under the pines. This stretch is relatively flat and I like to cast a dry or nymph just below the occasional large boulder or two where there is relatively deeper water than to either side. I swear that section reminds me of a miniturized version of a spot I fished on the West Branch Delaware River off of route 17 how the water slopes gradually into deeper water under pine trees. Only Muddy is much smaller and shallower.

 

[bushwacker]

A couple of years ago i was fishing the hemlocks area at the FFO section of muddy. The rainbows were nailing nymphs. I guess I was catching so many fish that I caught the eye of a blue heron. The thing flew down and landed ten feet from me....kept starring every time I landed a fish. After a while it moved even closer, about 4' away and would squak each time I caught a fish. I think it was looking for a handout. I see ospreys and bald eagles there alot too. Hey jakesleekywaders...no insult intended here but your avatar makes you look a little like Larry the cable guy. :lol:

 

[JakesLeakyWaders]

"GIT ERRR DUUNNN!"

THAT'S A FUNNY STORY, ESPECIALLY HOW DIFFICULT IT IS FOR ME TO GET WITHIN 30 OR 40 FEET OF THEM TO TAKE A PICTURE. I SAW TWO EAGLES THERE TOGETHER LAST FALL. THEY PROBABLY ARE THEM ONES FROM DOWN ALONG THE SUSKY.