The first couple of weeks of the New Year have brought less than favorable weather conditions for spending time outdoors. We’ve had multiple days of below freezing temperatures, sub-zero wind chills, and almost every body of water in Pennsylvania is frozen solid. Even some of the spring creeks have been seeing ice on the edges of their banks. Against my better judgment, I have ventured out in search for trout three times since the end of December.
Read moreIced Over On Clarks Creek
It was a miserable weather weekend on the East Coast. Saturday was a steady mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain, and good day to stay inside and tie flies. Sunday morning it was raining but by lunch time it had stopped. I decided to head up to Clarks Creek in Dauphin County to drift some nymphs. As I turned onto Rt. 325, I was disappointed to see that the creek appeared to be iced over. When I arrived at the middle parking lot in the fly fishing only section, there were no other cars in the lot. I rigged up my 5wt and headed down the path to the water. When I arrived creekside, sure enough, a majority of Clarks Creek was iced over. There was riffle water to the left that was open but the creek was low. I knew this was going to be a tough couple hours of fly fishing. I tied on a #18 Pheasant Tail nymph with a #20 Midge Pupa nymph tied off the hook. I walked upstream and fished the open riffle water I could find. After an hour of jumping from one area of open water to the next, I hadn’t had any hits and didn’t see a fish.
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