Valley Creek Surprise 7-14-13

[Fly-n-Lion]

Decided to fish Valley Creek at dusk last night. Was chucking a big black bunny & marabou streamer with my 1wt.

Hoping to hook up with a few wild browns but got surprised by an aggressive attack from a largemouth bass!

Been fishing Valley for a year and a half now,,, first time I have hooked up a bass in the park!! Anyone else ever see a bass in Valley??

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[DanVerona]

Nice fish! Must have been fun on a 1WT!

 

[InTheMend]

Must have run up from the Skuk, I have never seen anything in Valley besides browns, suckers, and chubs

 

[Fly-n-Lion]

Could be. Caught it all the up by the covered bridge... Must have jumped up the dam??

 

[gfen]

Fly-n-Lion wrote:
Was chucking a big black bunny & marabou streamer with my 1wt.

Please explain the how and why of this entirely baffling feat.

I mean, unless its all relative, and by big you mean "size 12."

 

[NickR]

You use a 1 weight rod to chuck giant streamers? Hmmmm....

 

[SBecker]

What you don't?

 

[Swattie87]

That's a really good looking LM and had to be a blast to catch. Stream LM's are reasonably rare in PA (but do occur) and are usually the result of escaping an impoundment somewhere in the watershed as a younster. Possible it could have run up from the Skuke in really high water I guess, but more likely an escapee from a farm pond somewhere in Valley's watershed.

I think it's cool how they take on a more slender, streamlined shape when in moving water...they also tend to be more vibrantly colored (like this fish) in my experience.

 

[Fly-n-Lion]

By "big" I mean " as compared to the #22s and #24s I usually cast with my 1wt, the #12 streamer is big.

With lots of water moving since the rain for the past few days, I thought the streamer would be a good choice at dusk.

As for the bass, I just had never even seen one in Valley before last night.

Just curious to know how typical that is as the summer moves on. Hoping that it is not detrimental to the trout population?..

 

[Swattie87]

It's not typical to see LM in a stream like Valley...that fish is a rogue. I wouldn't worry about the Trout in Valley...being eaten by Bass anyway.

Stream LM are most often found in my experience in PA in the immediate downstream areas of impoundments on WW streams. You'll find them for a few hundred yards below the dam mixed in with Smallies and then they fade out to all Smallies as you get further downstream of the dam. I attribute this to fry or fingerlings getting washed down the spillway. LM are much more adverse to current than SM, although they seem to do ok in the big spillway pools at the bottom of dams.

 

[Fishidiot]

Swattie87 wrote:
I wouldn't worry about the Trout in Valley...being eaten by Bass anyway.

Agree.
Not a problem. Most PA trout streams, in my experience, have low order and seasonal populations of warm water fishes and some streams that tend to warm more (ie are consistently in the mid to upper 60s in summer) can sometimes have many bass, usually smallmouths by mid summer. However, spotty groups of LM bass are not unusual as well (although the one in your pic is large). Pickerel are there too - again, usually widespread but rarely numerous. The migration of WW fishes into trout streams is less common on the colder limestoners but you'll see bass, sunnies, and pickerel in them too.

 

[englishprof]

I've posted this before. The browns dominate that stream like no other creek in the State. They should be in no fear of that bass. And, given its size, the bass should not be in too much fear either. I'm sure it came from a farm pond during one of the floods. If it came as a little guy, it would not have escaped a brown.

I probably fish Valley more than anyone (you won't see me though) and have never caught anything but trout until this year. No chubs, no suckers, no fallfish, no nothing. It's really kind of amazing. A couple of months ago, I statrted catching bluegills and only in one spot. Maybe a dozen over a few outings. Last month or so.....no bluegills. Wonder what happened to them?

By the way, very nice bass!!!!!

 

[foxfire]

Gorgeous Bass. Are WE sure thats not a Spotted Bass?!?!?!? Check out how the mouth does not extend past the eye.....

 

[geebee]

nice bass, but won't it be living off Juvie brownies and eggs ?

i would have chucked on the bank, me.

 

[englishprof]

Okay, I'll say it. Those browns have virtually no predators and could probably use a few for the long term health of the fishery. Over the last five years, I think I've seen four or five herons and one mink. That poor bass poses absolutley no threat to those trout. I guess I'm some sort of a hypocrte, because, if they allowed any kind of harvest, I still wouldn't keep any.

 

[salmonoid]

englishprof wrote:
Okay, I'll say it. Those browns have virtually no predators and could probably use a few for the long term health of the fishery. Over the last five years, I think I've seen four or five herons and one mink. That poor bass poses absolutley no threat to those trout. I guess I'm some sort of a hypocrte, because, if they allowed any kind of harvest, I still wouldn't keep any.

If you've seen four or five, there's probably ten times that many that frequent the stream. To say that herons are "virtually no predators" is a bit of a misnomer for the fish eaters that they are.. And if you've seen one mink, then there are likely more that you don't see and if there's one think I remember from my Thornton Burgess books I read as a kid is that Billy the Mink likes trout.

The obvious predator in a brown trout stream is....the brown trout..

So I wouldn't say that the stream is devoid of predators; however, I believe you are correct that this little bass won't put much of a hurtin' on the brownies. Heck, fisherpeople probably kill more biomass (by overplaying or deep hooking) than this little guy will ever eat.

 

[Swattie87]

geebee wrote:
i would have chucked on the bank, me.

I'm glad you didn't catch it then. That's seriously one of the nicest, prettiest, and unique fish I've seen posted on here in a long while. Had I caught it, that fish would probably make my top 10 most memorable fish I've caught, given where it came from.

I don't fish Valley enough to know for sure, but do the C&R regs apply to Trout only or is it no keep for all species as well due to the chemical issues? If it's the latter, banking a Bass would be illegal.

 

[geebee]

Swattie87 wrote:

geebee wrote:
i would have chucked on the bank, me.

I'm glad you didn't catch it then. That's seriously one of the nicest, prettiest, and unique fish I've seen posted on here in a long while. Had I caught it, that fish would probably make my top 10 most memorable fish I've caught, given where it came from.

i wouldn't have done it happily - its just what they tell you to do in Maine & NH....as far i know the problem is not just a 'few' predators - yes they thin the fingerlings and you get a few years of trophy trout as a result, but once they start breeding and the trophies die off you're left with much reduced biomass.

they've cut landlock salmon numbers in some coldwater rivers by 50%, and if they can survive and thrive in northern Maine then i'd think they are a threat to a flatland spring creek...

 

[NickR]

There have been random BASS in VC for as long as I can remember. They have very little impact on the trout which is apparent because VC has well above biomass required to make it a Class A. The biggest threats to Valley are fishing pressure and development.

 

[shakey]

nice catch! i have caught bass in valley,but only downstream of the falls,near the skuke