West Valley Wild Trout?

[PSUFishMenace]

Good morning everyone,

I'm new here and new to flyfishing, although i have spin-fished since I was five, caught my first trout five years ago and now I'm a 100% trout addict. Have always been a smallie addict as well. And now that I think about it, I'm addicted to largemouths, panfish, trash fish- okay I am just addicted to fishing. Since my first time flyfishing on a stream in May, I have caught a handful of trout and smallies. I know I still have much to learn, but so far it hasn't been too tough for me.

I think this is a great site, everyone on here seems very helpful and respectful.

So, I have a question for you chester county guys. Are there any wild trout in West Valley Creek? Most of the trout I have caught there were definitely stockies, it is an ATW after all, but a few I have not been so sure. One year, in the meadow stretch below the mouth of Broad Run, my father and I both caught what appeared to be small wild brookies. They were each 8" long and had similar coloration to the natives in other area streams. That same year, I caught a brown trout, 10" long, that had many brilliant orange spots, I have seen faint orange spots on stockies before but nothing like what this guy had. I dont remember it having any damage on its fins. This was about half a mile upstream from the mouth on the East Branch Brandywine.

Recently i was fishing upstream from the DHALO section and saw a very colorful brookie holding near some tree roots with a group of stocked rainbows and browns. It was no more than 9" long, and had bright red fins which were not obviously damaged.

Dwight Landis' book says for West Valley, "the fishing is primarily for hatchery trout, but local anglers report some reproduction of brown trout."

I have also heard that TU plants eggs in Broad Run? Could explain the small brookies in that area, but idk if that's true or not.
I know that just because they were brookies does not make them wild, but the stocked brookies I have caught there were all over 10". It seems pointless to me to stock an ATW with any trout when they are only 8", because most people who fish these streams keep everything. I have never kept a trout for eating but I imagine there would not be much meat on an 8"?

So what do you guys think? All thoughts and comments are much appreciated.

 

[pete41]

Don't know but love to hear from Chester County[I believe] as I broke in on White Clay-.

 

[jayL]

I have never fished it, so I don't know.

The state does not believe there is natural reproduction: http://www.fish.state.pa.us/trout_repro.pdf

 

[afishinado]

Rookie,

Welcome to the site and welcome to the world of fly-fishing. West Valley has almost entirely stocked fish, but a wild trout is not out of the question, especially near Broad Run, which is listed on the PFBC trout reproductive list (scroll down to Chester County):

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/trout_repro.pdf


Dwight Landis posts on this forum under the name of “Troutbert.” He may have something to add about wild trout streams in the area and "Mike" on this site is the SE Fisheries Biologist for the PFBC and could certainly answer your question.

Again welcome aboard.

 

[PSUFishMenace]

The state does not believe there is natural reproduction

Yeah, I know, but I fish a great chesco native brookie stream and know of a mixed brown/brookie stream that are not on that list and some streams on there I have not even seen a trout in the section they believe has reproduction (namely Beaver Creek). So I don't always believe that list.

 

[jayL]

Rookie wrote:

So I don't always believe that list.

Nor should you. They certainly have missed a bunch.

I was just offering what I had.

 

[PSUFishMenace]

Thanks for the welcome.

Dwight Landis posts on this forum under the name of “Troutbert.”

Wow really? Had no idea! I saw Frank Nale on here as well, have heard a bit about him being one of those spinner guys.

especially near Broad Run, which is listed on the PFBC trout reproductive list

It says trib to Valley Creek, not West Valley, but that could be a mistake I guess, I looked for a broad Run flowing into Valley on the maps and didn't see one.

 

[PSUFishMenace]

Don't know but love to hear from Chester County[I believe] as I broke in on White Clay-.

My first fly rod trout was in West Valley. Was a nice 12" rainbow. Would post the pic if I knew how. :-?

I have not fished White Clay yet but I plan to, looks good!

 

[PSUFishMenace]

let's try this

 

[Mike]

Broad Run, trib to West Valley Creek (but official name is Valley Creek just like the other near-by Valley Creek), supports a small, wild brown trout pop. I am unaware of brook trout being present in that stream. A small spring that flows into West Valley Creek well upstream may also support some reproduction.

As for the statewide list of streams that support trout reproduction, Beaver Creek upstream from Rt. 30 does, in fact, support reproduction of brown trout, but I would not fish for them there unless conditions have improved in the past decade. The population was very small. We are adding to the list all of the time and this year, in particular, many waters are being surveyed around the state for just that purpose.

 

[PSUFishMenace]

Thanks for that info Mike, that's very interesting. I always thought Valley Creek was the local name and West Valley Creek was the official name, thank you for setting me straight on that . Glad to know that another stream close to me has wild trout, small population or not. I think Broad Run is all Private but I might check it out sometime.

As for Beaver Creek, I fished the "wild trout" section once a few weeks ago and was totally disappointed. Caught nothing but a million fallfish and saw one big smallmouth in Beaver Creek itself. However, a small tributary had a large pool just before it entered Beaver Creek and I saw two definitely wild browns in this pool, one probably almost 12" and the other maybe 8". did not catch either with my spinner. So I quit and then drove along the tributary for a little bit, it was very small, maybe could produce an 8" trout but certainly not a 12". Leads me to believe Beaver Creek in that stretch has thermal problems which forced its few trout into the tributary.

JayL: Thank you for the link!

Thanks for the response everybody!

 

[mrchunk]

Hey Rookie. Welcome. I fish West Valley from time to time. I've caught a handful of wild browns in the SR section as well as upstream of the regs section. The most recent was probably 2 or 3 years ago. They are there, just not in abundance. Sounds like you got one to me.

 

[PaulG]

pete41 wrote:
Don't know but love to hear from Chester County[I believe] as I broke in on White Clay-.

Pete

Last year my wife and I spent 3 days at the Delaware race track and of course I notice white Clay Creek. After coming home I check it out and it the same stream as in Pa. Have you ever fished it in that area, I just wonder what the fishing is like there. If we go down this year, I may take some gear with me!

PaulG

 

[PSUFishMenace]

Hey Rookie. Welcome. I fish West Valley from time to time. I've caught a handful of wild browns in the SR section as well as upstream of the regs section. The most recent was probably 2 or 3 years ago. They are there, just not in abundance. Sounds like you got one to me.

Well its good to hear someone back me up on this :-D

I suppose the brookies could have been small stockies. They can get very colorful after a month or so in that stream.

Again thanks for the response!

 

[PSUFishMenace]

mrchunk,

Do you think this is one?

I am thinking it's just a nice colored stockie, but it had a really cool reddish tint on all of the spots closest to the belly (more so than in the photo), red on the adipose fin and the bottom edge of the tail, and no apparent fin damage.

Caught it about a mile downstream from the SR area, where i was it gets absolutely loaded with stockies in spring.

I am leaning towards colorful stockie since they've been in the stream for quite a while now. I am interested to hear what you think.

 

[jayL]

It's a pretty stockie.

 

[PSUFishMenace]

Man that was quick Jay, thanks!

Caught a similar looking one earlier this year in the E Brandywine upstream from Glenmoore, I was wondering about that one too. Must have been a holdover.

 

[FishOn247]

Both the WB Brandywine and W Valley Creek get very warm in the summer.... I would be very surprised if any stream bred trout exist in these creeks

 

[PSUFishMenace]

WB I agree, W Valley I believe stays cold enough year round, except for maybe in the lower horse farm where there is no shade. There are still plenty of trout in W Valley but it is usually too warm to safely fish for them. today the water was cold, high and off-color from yesterday's storms which helped the fishing a lot.

BTW the brown I caught two years ago that I believe was wild looked much different from the one above.

 

[FishOn247]

W Valley may have cold water coming out of the ground but everytime it rains in the summer super heated water from all of exton pours into the creek giving it a really quick flush of hot water and pollutants.