6/14/14 Valley Creek Chester co.

I haven't been there since March, so I got nothing for this year.

Last year, on a tip from a friend, one evening I ran into what I took as sulphers (dorothea). Size 16-18, 3 tails, whitish yellow bodies, solid (non-speckled) wings, late May. Wasn't many but there were a few, and the fish did feed on them. Well above the park.

I stayed for a spinner fall which did not really occur.

Yeah, the size 20ish bugs are probably baetids, not sulphers.
 
Def sulphurs on Valley, but you have to hit it perfectly and right at the edge of darkness.
 
buzz wrote:
+1 on valley sulfurs counted a whole 11 one evening but its a start
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Actually it's the end. There used to be a decent sulpher hatch, but it has progressively gotten worse and has all but disappeared. Sure you may still see a few here and there, but it definitely isn't a hatch worth searching out.
 
Hurricane Floyd imo is the storm that took them out. I could be wrong, but that storm crushed that stream. In the early 90s every riffle in mid-to-late-may had spinners bobbing at the right time of day. Now, there still might be a handful around, but nothing to write home about. But I don't really fish the stream much any more - so my first hand knowledge is lacking.
 
As long as the downstream watersheds have them, there is always hope.
 
vcregular wrote:
Hurricane Floyd imo is the storm that took them out. I could be wrong, but that storm crushed that stream. In the early 90s every riffle in mid-to-late-may had spinners bobbing at the right time of day. Now, there still might be a handful around, but nothing to write home about. But I don't really fish the stream much any more - so my first hand knowledge is lacking.
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Yup. In late May thru early June I used to hit the stream after work, in the evening, to fish over a really strong hatch of sulphurs 'til dark. Sulphurs, for all intent and purposes are gone from the stream. I haven't seen any at all in the last 5 or 6 years, but if guys even see a few here and there, there is some hope they may return to become a fishable hatch.
 
Looking back over my old logs. Boy that was some sulphur hatch. Likewise, the huge clouds of tricos that used to hover over the stream in Bethlehem are a fraction of what they were. I know we say things bounce back but has anyone seen flies bounce back?
 
Sure, look at the lehigh. Thing was dead years ago, now there are killer hatches, and great fishing imo. However, when you get literally a half dozen dump trucks worth of silt dumped into a stream after each gully washer, the insects have an uphill battle. It is a shame, but it is the truth.
 
I know we say things bounce back but has anyone seen flies bounce back?
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YES!!! Lehigh is an example. If I'm not mistaken the hatches on the LJR have been seriously hurt at times in the past. Even on Spring Creek, there's been plenty of reports of March Browns in the lower reaches, a legacy hatch that had disappeared from the stream.
 
The sulphurs I have encountered on valley have been well above chesterbrook...timing lime everyone said is key...its never been a prolific hatch but they are still there...if we can get a full year without a sewer line break we might start seeing them down in the park again...but that's asking a lot

 
Showing my age but it was prolific in yesteryear. The number of fish there is still prolific. Stopped in yesterday at dawn. unfortunately in my haste at 5:10AM I grabbed the trico box.
 
Fished it this am. Saw a few risers as I hiked and watched, so I chucked some Beetles and ants ... not a look. Was getting frustrated so I went to a zebra midge and that was the ticket .... Best day for me eva on VC … 4 to hand and a decent amt of other takes.

Still amazed @ how many fish are there and how many I spook when I’m forced to walk in the stream.:lol: Ended the day with a stop @ the Plymouth meeting Orvis to pick up a few things and ended shooting the shinola with afish … thanks 4 ur help today!
 
Fished VC yesterday AM for the 1st time in Aug. Have had some success their this summer but usually after some rain. Didn’t take temp but it felt mid 50’s and all I know is that the H2O level was very low.

Fished from the white bridge down into the park. Saw a fish or two rise but no real bug activity up top. Was weird but this was the 1st time I fished VC and didn't see many fish :-o

From the bridge ->->->->-> dam H20 was very slow so I’m sure I spooked’em all. Threw out a bunch of different terrestrial patterns but no action. Water picked up from dam down into the park and I switched over to zebra’s and Walts Worm … few takes but took my skunking like a man considering they we my patterns.
 
Prof ... was it me or why was this the 1st time it seems like a saw so few fish on the creek?
 
Stags,

You wrote "fished from the white bridge down into the park". If you mean you were literally fishing "downstream", then you won't see fish and sure as hell won't catch any. They are there in numbers, though I never fish in the "Park". I absolutely believe you must fish upstream on Valley unless the water is high and, even then, I never fish in a downstream direction. I'll send a PM later today.
 
englishprof wrote:
Stags,

You wrote "fished from the white bridge down into the park". If you mean you were literally fishing "downstream", then you won't see fish and sure as hell won't catch any. They are there in numbers, though I never fish in the "Park". I absolutely believe you must fish upstream on Valley unless the water is high and, even then, I never fish in a downstream direction. I'll send a PM later today.
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Prof, any chance you think you can get this across to this person 'cause we sure know we never got it across to the other one! :roll:
 
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