Middle Branch White Clay Creek, Chester Co., 5/14/17

[DoctorWater15]

Fished the Middle Branch White Clay Creek for the first time from the confluence with the East Branch White Clay Creek up to where London Tract Road crosses the stream. Started at 1000 and ended at 1530. I saw no other anglers at all, which was surprising to me. When I ended the day there were a few anglers fishing the confluence of the Middle Branch and East Branch though. The weather was great, starting the day at about 55 degrees, and ending at 72 degrees. The clouds gave way to sun in the afternoon as well. I did not get a water temperature, but would venture a guess that it was in the 50's. The water was stained brown from the rains yesterday (normal turbidity is 5 FNU, today was 11 FNU), and the stream was flowing at roughly 120 cfs, whereas it was flowing at about 50 cfs before the rain. There were sporadic insects coming off the water becoming heaviest at about 1200 to 1330, with the most noticeable being a sulphur hatch. There were very few rises even though there were insects coming off. I caught 11 fish, and lost about 4-5 more, with numerous other bites and soft takes as well. I had most of my success with a size 10 crystal bugger streamer, stripping in short jerks through the deeper riffles and pools. Additionally, I caught a few on a size 16 BH hare's ear nymph and size 16 BH tan caddis pupa nymph tandem rig, and a size 14 BH green weenie trailed behind the crystal bugger. Most fish were caught above the DHALO section, with about 3-4 caught sporadically in the DHALO stretch. Fish ranged in size from approximately 8-18 inches. The link to the video below shows the highlights, with the biggest fish of the day at the end.

https://youtu.be/l4O-ASwDPZ0

 

[Van_Cleaver]

Thanks for the report! I have caught numerous fish from one of those pools (E. Branch) Might hit it tomorrow as I haven't been yet this season and the flows should be just right for nymphs. Honestly I never fish the special regs area anymore since it makes me sad to see what happened to that section due to sedimentation, etc. Maybe cause I first fished it thirty years ago. A hole that used to be 6' deep is now less than three, for example. There is still plenty of nice water if you are willing to walk though, and the access is great as well.

 

[DoctorWater15]

It was definitely a nice day, and you're right, Van, that the fishing gets better the further up you walk. I'll definitely be back to fish there, but I'll probably start further up next time. Best of luck if you head out there today!

 

[Van_Cleaver]

Too lazy to reset but I fished from 9-3 today starting on the E Branch and then fishing down the Main stem. It was windy off and on, air temp in the sixties, mostly sunny, and the water was 55 (am) and slightly below median flow; which is better than I am used to seeing it. Tan and gray Caddis, and some midges were evident but not enough risers to make me go dry. Fished my pet caddis pupa and a black ant pretty much the whole time and moved a bunch of fish up to 14". Beautiful day to be out despite the wind.

 

[ryansheehan]

Doc,
Nice video, was that last brown on spinning tackle or are you a no fly line guy? Nice fish either way, looks like a nice stream never been there.

 

[DoctorWater15]

Ryan,

The last fish was caught on a 5wt fly rod with floating fly line. I had about a 9 foot 5x leader on with the crystal bugger on the end with a little weight to sink it. The video doesn't pick up the line super well. The fish chased down the streamer on my last strip and inhaled it. I started filming shortly after that and cut off some of the early footage of him taking some line off my reel and trying to hide deep since there wasn't any visible action there. It's definitely worth checking the stream out if you haven't been there!