quittaphilla creek lebanon Co. 5-28-12

[brain]

at the park in annville. i normally hit a few of lesser hit spots in the upper section, which is fished pretty hard.
this afternoon there was some kind of picnic or something, the upper lot was double and triple parked full, with cars parked off the side of the road 4-5 cars back from the lot.
so i walked down stream to almost 934, only saw one other guy and he was right at the lower lot working up.
with the insane humidity i decided trying to walk around in 5mm neoprene chest waders was not going to happen. well with the water temps around 65-67* wet wading was brisk at first but quickly became refreshing.
all in all i only spent about 1.5 hours at the creek. ended up missing a few and long line released a brute that was a foot or better...it made me think the 6' 3wt was a mistake....but i sure do like it.
i have yet this year to land a fish in the park, i can find them, just can't catch them. i can tell you that woolly buggers are a fish magnet there.

 

[dc410]

Was anything hitting the surface?

 

[jkilroy]

Fished the park last thursday and caught 9 landed 8 to include a nice 18 nicely colored brown. That was nice. all on a dry/dropper rig of the dropper.

 

[Shock]

I haven't been on the stream in a few weeks and had the same question as dc410.

Has anyone seen anything hatching?

The Quitty is a great stream but not for hatches. I keep hoping for a Sulphur hatch in the evening when I am on the stream. The closest I have gotten is the Tan Caddis.

I am planning to get out Thursday and do some exploring. I have a vacation day to burn, hope the stream is in good shape after all of the rain.

Thanks for posting,

Shock

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah, I've never seen what I'd call a "hatch" on the Quittie. Not to say they don't happen though. I've seen lots of midges along with the occasional light colored caddis. I bet it has tricos too.

Even in the absence of hatches, I've found that if you can find a rising fish and get a decent cast at it, you can usually catch it, regardless of what they are eating. Ants and small parachute style flies are my usual go to flies for the risers. I tend to do very poorly subsurface on that stream...not sure why as I know some guys fish it very well with nymphs and streamers. Sometimes I'll stop by in the DHALO section and walk along the stream looking for risers...if I don't see any I won't even make a cast sometimes before getting back in the car and going elsewhere.

 

[McSneek]

My Quitty experience is limited to the DHALO section. I have fished it a good bit although not as much the last two years. Have heard there is a sulphur hatch downstream from there but never went looking for it. Encountered a sparse tan caddis hatch once that had several fish up in the big hole right at the main parking area. Despite lack of hatches I have had great success targeting rising fish with a #16 - #20 tan cdc caddis. Also have had a lot of action with a foam beetle from summer in to fall. Even when not seeing rising fish it usually produces if you cast it tight to the banks and under trees.

I would think the stream is off color right now if some of the recent storms went through that area.

 

[brain]

went back out this evening for another hour. water temp was about 68*. i need to double check next time out, i dont think my thermo is correct. creek is running maybe touch higher, but not by much. as for clarity, probably alittle better than the other day.
decided to play around with a dry. turned a nice sized palomeno on a medium sized lite tan caddis but that was about it. probably due to not have a lite tippet, 4lb might have been a little over kill for the the bug.
i need to tie a few of the red ants that worked so well years ago.

 

[Swattie87]

I guess it's possible given the warm runoff from the Tstorms last evening, but during the heat wave last Summer I never took a temp above 67 (in the DHALO section). Assume you thought the water felt colder?

 

[Shock]

I got out yesterday but didn't get on the stream until 4:30 and could only fish until 7:00 so I just hit the park.

I managed to step on and break my Thermometer so I did not get a temp but the water still seems quite cold, maybe low 60's?

I only saw one fish rise and did not see anything airborne so I did some nymphing and caught four. None were holdovers which I base on color and the chunky fish I have caught previously on the Quitty that "had shoulders".

The next time I get out, I am going to take some advice and try fishing a terestrial or caddis with a dropper. I fished several of the areas downsream earlier this year and there is a lot of water to fish away from the park if anyone wants to explore. I may just take a drive down in the evening this weekend to see if there are any Sulphurs further down because I did see them last year in the evening at the gas stations in Palmyra.

If one could figure out how far down the Sulphurs are that might tell us where the Trico's start as well, which would be fun to fish.

Thanks,

Shock

 

[dc410]

I've always heard about the possibility of Tricos on the Quitty but never really spoke to anyone who actually hit em'. My position on the Quitty is that I always considered it a decent terrestrial stream but that has been the extent of my action on top over the past few years.

 

[brain]

i was out yesterday evening as well, on the lower section of the park again. water temp was 66*(my other therno is about 1.5* high) at about 6pm. saw a few "rising", looked and sounded more like bronze backs than trout, very splashy. yet all i saw were some pretty tiny bugs buzzing about. i did see some tan caddis dropping eggs. missed a few on a tan caddis, missed some more on a bugger.
more importantly i saw a small blueguill, i've heard they are in the creek, but never saw any nor caught any.
hoping this rain does not foul the creek up.

 

[Swattie87]

brain - I caught a Green Sunfish in the DHALO stretch last year. I'm sure there's Sunfish in there. From the downstream most bridge on Syner Rd. to the mouth there's a decent Smallie population too. My buddy stalked what he thought was a big Brown for a couple weeks near that bridge a few years ago...finally caught the fish on a spoon at dawn one morning...it was a 17" Smallie.

 

[brain]

the creek is browned out. it will be a few days to a week till it's fishable again.

 

[decieversteve]

For hatches go behind the quarry on 422 . I've seen HUGE sulpher spinner falls there.

 

[Shock]

Steve, thanks for the insight on the sulphur hatch.

I had what I thnk was a Slate Drake Spinner on my kitchen window this morning. I live near the Bowling Alley in Palmyra.

The fly was a size 12 extended body. I would use a stripped peacock quill for the body.

Size and date is what makes me think Isonycea (sp).

Anyone ever see any on the stream?

Shock