East Branch Brandywine DHALO - Chester County, PA 3/25/2023

[tjsingle]

Fished for roughly 2 hours in the rain this past Saturday. It was nice to get out on some water super close to home, after recently moving to the area. I've fished the E. Branch several times in the past, but never really made a point to fish it.

Water temps: 48F
Flow: ~120CFS, rising.
Clarity: Mostly clear

Decided to venture out for a quick trip to the DHALO section, I didn't have any company until the rain passed around 2-230PM. Once the rain stopped the fisherman poured in, I saw a few.

Fished generic nymphs in deep runs and riffles, landed 7 and lost a few others. At first I was only catching browns, but I was super surprised to see a flash of orange when I was hooked into one of the fish. It ended up being a brook trout that I presume got mixed in somehow with one of the state stockings, super cool surprise.

Here's a picture of the brookie:


Nice mix of brook/brown/rainbow trout!

 

[DaveKile]

I've been making walks on the trail there with my dog over the last week. Seems pretty busy most days. A nice find hooking up on the brookie.

 

[tjsingle]

I've been making walks on the trail there with my dog over the last week. Seems pretty busy most days. A nice find hooking up on the brookie.

For sure. Once the season opens, the pressure will spread out I bet.

 

[HopBack]

Both branches of the Brandywine in general get pounded. The best time to fish that stream is May to June. Hardly anyone fishes it and the trout are well spread out at that point. Nice bwo and caddis hatches. I think that’s about it though.

 

[jgish92]

Both branches also get poached like crazy.

 

[Frederick V. C.]

Both streams are a trickle right now for this time of year. Praying for rain!

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Both streams are a trickle right now for this time of year. Praying for rain!

Pretty spot around Dorlan Mill. I have not been there in a couple years. I poked around Pickering DHALO yesterday for similar reasons as the OP it seems, just to get out for a bit. Plenty of fish in there and caddis but also very low. That low water impact is even greater as these creeks have seemed to spread out wide following the storms over the last few years. Old honey holes are now not holes, and instead there are huge sandy holes and scoured out spots chest deep. Just wondering if that is true of EB and even West Valley?