Codorus Creek is a Class A wild
trout fishery located in York County, Pennsylvania. The
creek used to be stocked with hatchery fish for
put-and-take (catch and keep) but the wild trout population
established itself to a point where the stream was
reclassified as Class A by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission with a substantial portion of the stream placed
in the Trophy Trout Program. The stream is
very tight with lots of bushes and low overhead tree
limbs waiting to snag your fly. This is short rod
country and lengths of 8-feet or shorter are needed. The
stream is wadable and not very deep but wear thermals
and heavy socks under your waders because water
temperture is cold, even during the peak of summer. Some
sections of creek bottom are covered with thick, sticky
mud so watch where you wade. There are also patches of
Poison Ivy and thorny vines to avoid.
EQUIPMENT: Short 3 or 4 weight rods with
floating lines. You don't need any rod over eight feet long
for this creek. The water is very cold but mostly shallow
so you might want wear heavy socks under your waders.
DIRECTIONS: I-95 towards Baltimore to 795
Towson to Exit 9B Hanover Pike (30) into Pennsylvania. The
road becomes Baltimore Pike (94). Exit Grandview Road, turn
right on Blooming grove Road (216) and left on Hoff Road.
Codorus State Park and Lake Marburg will be on your right
as you travel down Hoff Road. Codorus Creek runs along a
CSX rail line and parts of Park Road, Porters Road, Hayrick
Road and Thomas Drive. Look for the small yellow signs that
indicate fishing areas and parking. Please respect all
property owners and don't trash the stream.
August 3, 2007
It was a bad idea.
A heavy thunderstorm blew into York County, Pa., late in
the afternoon as Jin and I were fishing a very narrow and
brushy section of Codorus Creek. You could hear the thunder
closing in fast and small drops of rain were falling so I
figured I'd just get one more drift in with the size 16
pheasant tail before stringing up the rod and taking cover.
But a tough brown trout had other ideas and took off
downstream as the rain came pouring down.
This section of the Codorus was very tight, with heavy
overhead tree cover just over your head and steep, muddy
banks. The section I was fishing was very narrow and if I
extended my arm I could almost touch the other side of the
creek with my 8-foot 3 weight. What made this such a sweet
spot was a deep run that was about 12 feet long and about
four feet deep.
So I fought the fish as the storm blew in and lightning
flashed overhead. I finally got the fish close, but had to
step out into an open spot in the tree canopy to get my rod
high and behind me which meant I was now standing in the
open with an 8-foot graphite lighting rod in the air in the
middle of a thunderstorm. I grabbed the fish, released it
and got out of the water to find Jin.
We had some great fishing July 21 on the Codorus so Jin and
I decided to try it again. We were on the water at 8:30am
and hiked downstream a bit before getting in to fish. Water
temperature was 49 degrees. We started dry fly fishing and
I got a fish on my second cast but the action was sporadic.
We'd get a fish here and there as we worked upstream so I
switched to nymphing while Jin stayed with a dry fly.
I used a size 16 emerger for awhile then used a pheasant
tail with little luck so I decided to try a size 16 Montana
Mud Snake. That was the key. In seven casts I had five
fish. Jin continued to fish on the surface and pulled in a
very nice trout on a beetle and another later when he
nymphed using a size 16 pheasant tail with hackle. We
caught lots of smaller fish but the big ones were really
nice and measured over 15 inches.
In the afternoon we decided to fish further upstream and
that's where we found ourselves in the middle of a heavy
thunderstorm. Rain came down in huge drops, lighting,
thunder and wind. The creek was starting to rise so we
called it a day and got out of there. When we drove through
the town we saw damage--lots of downed trees, lawn
furniture on the road, high water at an intersection, a
couple of chimney caps in the gutter.
July 21, 2007
Hmmmm. Mow the grass. Or go fishing. Stain the deck. Or go
fishing. Do laundry. Or go fishing. It was such a beautiful
weekend that it would be a crime to do anything else except
go fishing. So I went fishing with Jin. I always blame him
for dragging me away from other stuff to go fishing, but my
wife is on to that excuse. Anyway, the temperature was in
the low 80's and humidity was not an issue so on Jin's
suggestion we took a drive into Pennsylvania to fish
Codorus Creek.
The Codorus is a small tailwater trout stream located in
York County, Pennsylvania. It used to be put and take
fishing but a wild brown trout population developed to
where the stream was reclassified as a Class A wild trout
stream and a good part of its water was placed in the
state's trophy trout program.
After driving along some narrow country roads we arrived
streamside and took a short hike along a cornfield to reach
a short stretch of the creek. The water is very narrow and
overgrown on both sides. There are lots of thorn bushes and
poison ivy and the banks in most areas are a vertical drop
to the water. The footing in the creek goes from gravel to
soft, sticky muck that will suck your boots off. One
certain way to find a safe spot to put in is to carefully
look for the worn paths that lead to small holes in the
cover that other fishermen have used.
We picked up (or at least Jin did) a good number of fish in
the morning on dry flies. Size 16 or 18 was the key. It
really didn't matter what you used, they were hitting
everything that floated. I muffed five fish in a row on my
first seven casts. I sucked. Jin was working the creek
about 50 yards downstream from me and I arrived at his spot
just in time to see him land a 12-inch brown. We caught a
fish or two more but the surface bite stopped just after
noon so we broke for lunch before resuming fishing in the
afternoon.
Jin switched to nymphing some of the deeper runs while I
stuck to dry flies. Jin killed them on the nymph while I
picked up one or two on the dry. After I switched to
nymphing my numbers also picked up.
We fished
several spots along the Codorus, looking for little parking
areas, entering the water to quickly fish some spots before
moving on. In all it was a good day to fish and we probably
caught 20-plus trout, with Jin picking up the lion's share
of the catch.
