Darby Crek, Del Co. 5/2/2014

[Van_Cleaver]

Slipped out to the creek after morning errands, arriving around noon. The area I was fishing is usually heavily pressured (mostly bait guys) and has lots of parking. Mostly sunny with a light breeze; air temps in the sixties maybe hit 70 at times. Water was clear and low and I forgot to drop in the thermometer though according to the trout it was ideal; my guess would be upper fifties. Very little bug life; a few tan caddis and gray crane flies and almost no risers. I fished my usual May combo; beadhead caddis pupa and an ant dropper; 5x and 6x respectively. There were a ton of trout still in the water and I moved about 4 dozen in four hours. My hook up percentage was a little lower than usual but there were so many takes it just didn't matter. Many of the fish were in knee deep (or less riffles) and on multiple occasions I made cast into shallow runs without high hopes and ended up missing trout. The best fish was 14'', though I ended up foul hooking a beautiful brown of 15", which I managed to release none the worse for the wear. Was getting ready to go and went into a maddening stretch of fish missing (six or seven straight) capped by a nice brown swimming into some submerged cotton cord. Lost him and my dropper, but decided to refish some shallow riffles. Good decision, other than I stayed to long at the fair, after I went six for six on my next takes. All in all it was a heck of an afternoon on suburban stockers, and I never had to deal with another angler once I cleared the parking areas. Now if it would only rain....

 

[Mike]

With a catch rate like that you must have been in the Darby DH or C&R Area. Couldn't be a regular stocked trout section (sarcasm). Nice going.

 

[Fishidiot]

I can't speak for Delaware County, but the stocked ATWs in my neck of the woods have plenty of fish and few fishermen to be seen.

While a staunch fan of special reg trout fishing sections...I'll readily admit that folks who only fish reg water are missing out on some nice fishing with plenty of fish and often less pressure.
This report is not atypical for this time of year.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

The fishing wasn't all that unusual for DE Co. or Chester Co. for that matter, other than my less than stellar hook up rate. The fish were by and large healthy, and many had been hooked and released before. Btw, I sent a fly fishing buddy over there today and he caught some several fat trout, and reported lots of worm dunkers as well. He also noted missing a lot of fish, and the spin guys doing little catching. Mike, I fished fished down through the dam removal site last week and the stream looks so much better. If we weren't having such a bad water year, it would be even better. The high bank appeared to be stable and I found some pods of fish though I confess I didn't have time to fish it as thoroughly as I should have. I live less than ten min from the FFO on Ridley and haven't fished it in a few years though I enjoy fishing the open water there. Despite supporting special regs, the last several years find me fishing them less and less, though that is partially a function of me not getting on many real road trips. Darby, Chester, and Ridley are all still fishing well despite the lack of rain fall.

 

[afishinado]

Fishidiot wrote:
I can't speak for Delaware County, but the stocked ATWs in my neck of the woods have plenty of fish and few fishermen to be seen.

While a staunch fan of special reg trout fishing sections...I'll readily admit that folks who only fish reg water are missing out on some nice fishing with plenty of fish and often less pressure.
This report is not atypical for this time of year.

^ no doubt. This time of year the stocked fish have spread out a bit and fishing an open water stream (ATW) can yield quite a few trout. Also, the stocked fish begin to feed on natural forage and also rise to feed on surface insects. It's a great time to fly-fish for trout right now, especially in the more urban streams that don't hold trout for most of the year. Best of all, most of the crowds have thinned out.

 

[DrNymph]

where you fishing?