Young Womans Creek C&R, Clinton Co, 6-12-22

[Prospector]

Time Fished: 1245pm - 315pm
Weather Conditions: 70 degrees, cloudy some sprinkles
Water Conditions: 54 degrees, crystal Clear, 18 cfs (about half of normal flow)
Insects: none

I’ve fished this stretch 3-4 times. It goes like this….

1 if it has lots of water and there are lots of insects…. It’s on fire
2 if it is low water and lots of insects OR lots of water and few insects….it’s good
3 if it has low water and no insects…..it’s tough

I chose door #3 when I decided to try Young Womans. But my first choice as I headed home from Kettle was First Fork Sinnemahoning and on Saturday it set a new record low of 58 cfs on June 11 compared to the previous record low of 87 cfs set last year. They’ve only been collecting data for 3 years but I think 58 may stand for awhile.

My day on Young Womans started by approaching the creek and sending a nervous hen wood duck into a frenzy. Of course she would splash around a really nice hole and hightail it presumably with her youngsters. I wondered if her ruckus up the creek also impacted my results by chasing trout into hiding spots (maybe but probably not much).

In past years I’ve caught both wild brown and brook here. On this day, in addition to the wild fish, I caught 2 rainbows and lost 2 others. That was very disappointing to find rainbows as the pool boss. I know they have stocked them downstream for years but people stocking must have increased their range.

It was the slowest day I ever had. That could be explained by someone fishing earlier in the morning, since following is not ideal. Most holes yielded no takes.

I ended up with 2 brook, 2 brown and 2 rainbow. In fairness, I lost several brook trout before getting them to hand. That always happens.

I had heard “good reports” about how YWC was fishing but no one speaks in numbers. My experience was still fun but I think I would wait for more water next time.

Pictures of a few residents of Young Woman’s valley

 

[Fish Sticks]

That stream gets pounded with stocked trout like you mentioned despite supporting a very good amount of native brook trout. Clinton and potter= Little to no people+Some of most wild trout to fish for in the state+ oddly some of the most stocking private and state in Pa. I get the same disappointment you referenced. You drive into a completely forested valley looking to take part in a functioning ecosystem with your fly rod and then tou start catching hatchery rubber bricks. YOU’VE BEEN STOCK-BLOCKED.

I wish I was up there for slate drakes one of my favorite hatches.

 

[troutbert]

For some years it was managed as a Class A stream with no stocking by the PFBC. And the club was not supposed to be stocking, though they did stock some in certain places.

Then the club pressured the PFBC to start stocking it again. With help from their state legislator, they won. So, it is stocked now, even though there are wild trout all through it, both browns and brookies.

As you said, it fishes much better when the water is up than when it is low. I fished there with a friend when the flow at the gauge was 72 cfs and that was nearly ideal.

The same is true for freestone wild trout streams in general. Fish them after a good rain.

 

[Swattie87]

FWIW, I was on one of the larger LBYWC tribs yesterday and found it similarly tough going. Low/clear, a few bugs - Yellow Sallies and Cahills, I think, but I found most good pools had a fish sitting in the tailout and one step too close or a sloppy line slap on the water and they shot to the head of the pool spooking everything. Observed good numbers of fish though, mostly Browns. I think the whole YWC watershed, except for the far headwaters is more Browns than Brookies at this point. Also makes for tougher sledding when the conditions aren’t ideal. Brookies are more forgiving than Browns.

 

[Fish Sticks]

FWIW, I was on one of the larger LBYWC tribs yesterday and found it similarly tough going. Low/clear, a few bugs - Yellow Sallies and Cahills, I think, but I found most good pools had a fish sitting in the tailout and one step too close or a sloppy line slap on the water and they shot to the head of the pool spooking everything. Observed good numbers of fish though, mostly Browns. I think the whole YWC watershed, except for the far headwaters is more Browns than Brookies at this point. Also makes for tougher sledding when the conditions aren’t ideal. Brookies are more forgiving than Browns.

From a fishing perspective probably somewhat similar to what occurred on freemans run where high density of wild fish documented but not pushovers so perceived low trout stocks by club so aquaculture to rescue.

I fished RHB YWC 4weeks ago and avoided stocky holes/ brown trout pool boss holes and fished marginal second rate lies where brookies get displaced too like riffles, root clusters with super shallow undercuts, and glides and it fished like a class A brook trout stream from an anecdotal anglers perspective numbers wise.

 

[Sharknado5]

2 springs ago was quite dismayed to see 2 palominos in a large hole in the lower reaches of YWC.