Yellow Breeches, Cumberland Co. 12/19/10

[Letort]

The fish certainly are not hanging out in the flats above the bridge like they used to. But I have had some luck win the faster water, right out of the spillway.

The habitat around the bridge certainly seems to have degraded recently, with shallower water and less overhead cover.

 

[j_man]

Interesting though after all those bushes and what got cut down the run changed.

 

[DaveS]

Although I've not been there in the last few years, I'll add what i can to this disscussion. When I fisrt fished the Breeches, maybe '83 or '84 I remember there being a small Dam just above the bridge, that created a plunge pool that was deep enough that you could not see every fish in it. Can anyone else confirm what my memory is telling me? I don't have any pictures that far back... One of my mentors had said go to the Breeches and fish a deer hair beetle. I got to the run, put on the perscribed fly and actually never made it as far as the Breeches proper!

The last time I was there 3-4 years ago there were people everwhere. I remember one or two fishermen standing IN the run, casting with Guides at there side pointing out the fish.

Has anyone every studied the impact of wading in such small waterways? It just seems to be a place were getting much more than your boot soles wet is over kill. Maybe I'll have to take a drive out there one day and see for myself. Seems too later for baseline data but I might as well try😉

 

[Fishidiot]

DaveS,
When you refer to a "dam just above the bridge" are you referring to the footbridge over the Run? There are several dams and bridges in or near the special reg sections of Yellow Breeches.

The Run hasn't changed appreciably. There is a very small dam - really just a large lip - at the footbridge on the Run that backs the water in front of it up to a depth of maybe a 20" or so. It was there in the 80s and is still there. There have always been large numbers of anglers who wade in the middle of the Run. I've always attributed this to out of state anglers, many of whom learned to FF out West or on bigger waterways. This is a stocked fishery so I don't think this wading has had any effect on trout populations. The fish have mostly disappeared in the last couple years or so. Fishing pressure, not surprisingly, has also dropped off with the disappearance of the trout.

 

[DaveS]

Fishidiot,
Yea, sorry I wasn't very clear. Pretty much right in front of where the pavillion is now, @ the parking lot on Boiling Spring Run. There was a wall to the right, A path down to the stream, I thought a small jack dam, and then the pool immediately above the foot bridge that you described. Jeeze I guess it's been so long now, I can't even trust my memory. But I could swear that the pool was pretty deep right there. If nothing else I hope I'm right about all the fish I caught!

Also my question regarding wading was in relation to boimass. I know a local stocked stream which is very heavily fished. Large cases caddis are common along it in early spring, yet by late April they seem to have vanished. I believe these are"Great Brown Autumn Sedges" (Pycnopsyche), and so should be present throughout summer. Maybe they just get kicked loose and all end up in deep water? I dunno, but lots of wading anglers; could it have an impact? Sorry this is getting pretty far off topic.

 

[JZEE]

To me it's simple, they are'nt stocking as many fish. The same goes for the main-stem down below. If you think that they are, you have'nt fished it enough lately, or, never fished it enough in the past.

The crowds are'nt as pervasive as before, with no complaint. Still there are fish and it is a nice lazy stream. It never made my list as a must destination, but it's some-what close and I've always had a nice feel for her.

It's funny how places like it will always reside and stay near and dear to your heart.....