Little Valley, and Valley Creek, Chester Co. 8/29/2013

[Van_Cleaver]

Worked called last min, so I ran up to Valley to see if I could catch some stream bred trout. Parked at the ball field (now mostly soccer fields; sign of the times) and fished down into Chesterbrook then went up above where I started. Of course lots of that was walking since there are a lot of flats and trees down, etc. Mostly cloudy, water temp 65-66 and clear. Flow was a little higher than usual for late summer. Little Valley had changed a lot since my last visit; some runs that have been good for thirty years or so had been wiped out from storms and there was a lot of fine gravel piled up here and there. The best run I fished last time was just a mass of downed trees. Rolled a fish on my first cast and continued to miss and spook then down to the main branch. My luck (skill set?) suddenly changed and I got multiple fish out of a couple runs. Also picked a couple fingerlings up in fast riffles. Went back above the ball fields and had two classic great cast, immediate fish on moments. One was the best of the day almost 11'' and sporting fine colors, as were all the trout. Moved probably two dozen fish and landed a little less than half. One of my better days there since I fished maybe four hours or so. Most of the fish were caught on a sunken ant, and I would say there were at least four year classes which was encouraging.

 

[DanVerona]

Hi, nice report. When you say "Sunken Ant" is it just a dry fly you've submerged? Or something else you are doing with the leader/line.

 

[Van_Cleaver]

Honestly I got tired of listing it cause I catch a silly no. of fish with this rig. It was a black no.16 ant fished as a dropper behind a bead head caddis pupa. Tippet was 5X, and 6X. and yes, I caught a couple on the pupa despite the water clarity. My guess is that it still more about your approach than pattern (within reason) on this water.