DHALO Middle Branch White Clay Creek - Chester County 2/26/2023

[tjsingle]

Fished the DHALO Keystone Select portion of Middle Branch White Clay Creek yesterday afternoon from approximately 130PM to Sunset at 545ish PM. The parking lots were jammed with cars, much like the stream was with fisherman. SEPA's DHALO streams along with some other local creeks see A LOT of traffic from Feb to March as they are the only game in town. I can't say I'm really keen on fishing stocked streams often, but its fun sometimes to catch fish who are willing to eat just about anything.

Had no issue catching fish, 12 fish total, all rainbows 12"-16". There's definitely some big fish that were stocked, but they were pretty heavily pressured from what I observed.

Everything was taken on nymphs, fished slow and deep. There were some intermittent rises, but nothing substantial.

I was able to find plenty of open water to fish, despite seeing tons of fisherman. The fish were stocked throughout pretty evenly from what I could tell.

 

[jgish92]

There is a club down there that stocked in December or January as well. It's been getting hammered all winter since we've had good weather.

 

[HopBack]

Thanks for the report. I passed it on to my father. It’s his favorite stream although he mostly fishes outside of the regs area.

 

[Mike]

To expand your horizons in that area, the lower section of the East Branch generally stays cool through June, if not longer.

 

[Frederick V. C.]

Maybe not my fav but I agree with Hopback's dad and Mike. Usually I fish below the regs area and the E. Branch. Both hold plenty of fish and get less pressure from fly fishers.

 

[tjsingle]

I'll have to check it out more, I have only fished the E Branch of WC once. Usually don't fish too many stocked streams but I've moved a little bit closer to area recently.

 

[sarce]

Out of curiosity, anyone ever locate any wild trout in the white clay watershed? Either now or in the past? I grew up fishing the Brandywine and have fished almost all of the tribs of the east and west branches as well. And have found pockets of wild trout here and there which are reflected in PFBCs list. But I never bothered exploring white clay, thinking that area is too warm. Now, I find it rare that an entire watershed in that part of PA is actually too warm for trout, although the impacts of erosion from urban runoff has definitely rendered some areas incapable of supporting wild trout.

 

[Mike]

Wild BT are in the East Branch headwaters and a fish kill yrs ago revealed that fall stocked BT had temporarily reproduced in the Middle Branch. A rumor of reproduction in a branch of the Middle Branch that was investigated didn’t pan out during a survey a few decades ago.

A fly guy once told me that he caught a cutthroat fingerling in the DH Area though. He sent a pic. It was a rosyside dace😊

 

[HopBack]

Out of curiosity, anyone ever locate any wild trout in the white clay watershed? Either now or in the past? I grew up fishing the Brandywine and have fished almost all of the tribs of the east and west branches as well. And have found pockets of wild trout here and there which are reflected in PFBCs list. But I never bothered exploring white clay, thinking that area is too warm. Now, I find it rare that an entire watershed in that part of PA is actually too warm for trout, although the impacts of erosion from urban runoff has definitely rendered some areas incapable of supporting wild trout.

Most of the water that looks like it would hold wild trout is posted and/or not in the STW area. It might be worth knocking on some doors. I have personally never caught a wild trout on the middle and east branches.

 

[sarce]

Wild BT are in the East Branch headwaters and a fish kill yrs ago revealed that fall stocked BT had temporarily reproduced in the Middle Branch. A rumor of reproduction in a branch of the Middle Branch that was investigated didn’t pan out during a survey a few decades ago.

A fly guy once told me that he caught a cutthroat fingerling in the DH Area though. He sent a pic. It was a rosyside dace😊

Interesting, thanks for the info! Hilarious about the "cutthroat" but not the first time folks have mistaken rosysides for small trout. I actually witnessed a fishing partner do that. An experienced angler too...he just wasn't spending more than a second glancing at and unhooking the "little brookies" (it was a brook trout stream).

 

[sarce]

Most of the water that looks like it would hold wild trout is posted and/or not in the STW area. It might be worth knocking on some doors. I have personally never caught a wild trout on the middle and east branches.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm not sure I'll ever get around to it but I'll let you know if I do.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

Wild BT are in the East Branch headwaters and a fish kill yrs ago revealed that fall stocked BT had temporarily reproduced in the Middle Branch. A rumor of reproduction in a branch of the Middle Branch that was investigated didn’t pan out during a survey a few decades ago.

A fly guy once told me that he caught a cutthroat fingerling in the DH Area though. He sent a pic. It was a rosyside dace😊

My friend told me he caught a native brook trout in the Brandywine.

One of the guys at Orvis said a customer told him he caught a 30 inch brown in Valley. He may have even said it was native.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

Only fished WC once, cool creek. This was back when I had under 5 fly rods and a Cabela's rod was in the rotation and even used that very day. I got to witness my friend lose a 16 inch rainbow when the rainbow did a bit of the old head thrashing and decided to take his whole nymph rig. It's a neat creek, I'd totally fish it again. I'd like a bit of overcast when fishing it.

 

[Mike]

My friend told me he caught a native brook trout in the Brandywine.

One of the guys at Orvis said a customer told him he caught a 30 inch brown in Valley. He may have even said it was native.

I was writing about the E Br White Clay, not the E Br Brandywine.

 

[sarce]

My friend told me he caught a native brook trout in the Brandywine.

One of the guys at Orvis said a customer told him he caught a 30 inch brown in Valley. He may have even said it was native.

30 is massive. Depends which Valley, too. West Valley can hold over fish and gets a handful of big stockers so a 30" holdover that was initially stocked at 25" wouldn't shock me there. Also easy to cast doubt on the size if not actually measured but I'm gonna be generous and take the customer's word.

Re: the brookie, they are in several tribs, although they've been declining in the 15ish years I've been familiar with the spots that have or had them. But if it was sizeable, it was most likely a stocked fish. East or west branch makes a difference too. West would be far more likely to produce a stray native. Never happened for me, but there's a stretch with a bunch of brookie tribs a few miles apart where I've long suspected you could find wild brook trout at the right time of year (which would be now).

 

[tjsingle]

30 is massive. Depends which Valley, too. West Valley can hold over fish and gets a handful of big stockers so a 30" holdover that was initially stocked at 25" wouldn't shock me there. Also easy to cast doubt on the size if not actually measured but I'm gonna be generous and take the customer's word.

Re: the brookie, they are in several tribs, although they've been declining in the 15ish years I've been familiar with the spots that have or had them. But if it was sizeable, it was most likely a stocked fish. East or west branch makes a difference too. West would be far more likely to produce a stray native. Never happened for me, but there's a stretch with a bunch of brookie tribs a few miles apart where I've long suspected you could find wild brook trout at the right time of year (which would be now).

I've had my eye on some of those tribs for a while. I live within a short drive of most, might have to try it out!

 

[sarce]

I've had my eye on some of those tribs for a while. I live within a short drive of most, might have to try it out!

Take care of private property. My experience was always they were worthwhile in April and May and not good the rest of the year. I don't know how well (or not) they handled the Hurricane Ida floods. The only population I had a chance to check up on post-flood seemed fine though. I have some optimism that the flood may have flushed out some silt deposits that were building up over the last 10 years. But it could also have created lasting damage. Probably depends on the stream.