Pickering Creek, Chester County PA, 5-18-09

[Giventoflyfish]

jayL wrote:


I would be amazed if French Creek had a decent population of wild fish. It has some holdovers, but not many.

It is sourced by a top release dam in a warmwater lake, and has a few dams along it. The FFO stretch of french creek has those regs due to a landowner agreement.

I've never really fished pickering much, so no info there.

Jay, I tend to agree with you on French Creek. I fished it a lot in recent times because it's close by. I have not seen many trout beyond mid-summer. Just the one off hold overs.

I'm confused on Pickering though. Are people saying there still are trout in there? I would have expected everyone to have taken them out by now. Maybe I'll do a stream walkthrough to check.

 

[jayL]

Giventoflyfish wrote:
I'm confused on Pickering though. Are people saying there still are trout in there? I would have expected everyone to have taken them out by now. Maybe I'll do a stream walkthrough to check.

Even on the most heavily pressured streams, I would be absolutely shocked if harvest were the reason for a lack of trout.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Its been a good summer for trout. I wouldnt be surprised f a few fish are still in Pickering.

 

[troutbert]

jayL wrote:

Giventoflyfish wrote:
I'm confused on Pickering though. Are people saying there still are trout in there? I would have expected everyone to have taken them out by now. Maybe I'll do a stream walkthrough to check.

Even on the most heavily pressured streams, I would be absolutely shocked if harvest were the reason for a lack of trout.

Why would you be shocked? What's your theory?

 

[chuckytown]

I am still catch and releasing trout from the Pickering. I have been catching 10-14" tiger trout, a 7 inch wild brown, a couple of other browns. The water's clear. The trout are cautious, but there. This was yesterday above the Pickering road bridge, below the Merlin Road bridge.

I caught some rainbows several weeks ago at the lower Pickering Road bridge, and saw more. I asked permission to get access to parts of the stream I used to play in as a kid. The DHALO section was active as recently as two weeks ago.

As far as being close to Philly, this morning I caught 6-7 stock rainbows and browns in the pools below the Ridley Creek FFO section, one was only 5-6" long rainbow. Odd. Plus, I can still catch trout in Chester Creek, and I saw some larger trout in the DHALO section of West Valley Creek. This season's been exceptional to trout fishing.

 

[Raven456]

I hit Pickering a few weeks ago to get a break from the arduous tactics of Valley ( both 2 miles from my home), and I can confirm that there are fish that remain in the SR area. I caught a nice 12" rainbow and lost another fish. I was only there for 45 minutes or so but I was a litlle surprised. Pickering gets hammered from all angles. I'm sure those fish that remain will endure a tough test this week in regards to temp.

 

[jayL]

troutbert wrote:

jayL wrote:

Giventoflyfish wrote:
I'm confused on Pickering though. Are people saying there still are trout in there? I would have expected everyone to have taken them out by now. Maybe I'll do a stream walkthrough to check.

Even on the most heavily pressured streams, I would be absolutely shocked if harvest were the reason for a lack of trout.

Why would you be shocked? What's your theory?

My theory is that harvest is unable to completely wipe out a population of fish in a stream like pickering.

Given the results posted by others, and the fact that my claim seems to err on the conservative side, I'd say I don't have the burden of proof when contested with opposing theories.

It looks to me like all it takes is a cooler than average/high flow year to keep a few fish around, despite the meat hunters.

As a wild guess, I'd probably also say that a stream like pickering has seen higher than average pressure from harvest in a year like this, yet the fish are still there.

Note that I am not claiming that there wouldn't be MORE fish without harvest before you put words in my mouth yet again.

 

[PSUFishMenace]

As far as being close to Philly, this morning I caught 6-7 stock rainbows and browns in the pools below the Ridley Creek FFO section, one was only 5-6" long rainbow. Odd.

I heard or read somewhere that Dismal Run, trib to Ridley, has some kind of hatchery or possibly wild trout? The state lists it as having wild trout. I think it enters Ridley pretty far up from where you were but that's my only possible reason for the little guy. I have never fished Ridley so I can't say there couldn't be wild trout anywhere in it. Have never heard of any there though, I always thought it got too warm in summer.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I dont think he put words in your mouth jay, i think he was just asking you why you felt the way you do.

Note: I totally agree with you. It is unlikely that harvest would eliminate a STOCKED trout population of fish. I would think that if the fish disappear, given pickering's temps, it would be due to summer temps.

Which fortunately, we havent seen yet 🙂

 

[jayL]

salvelinusfontinalis wrote:
I dont think he put words in your mouth jay, i think he was just asking you why you felt the way you do.

I don't think he did either. I was referring to past discussions.

 

[mute]

It is quite true. Harvesting does not wipe out trout in pickering. Last year i was talking to a couple guys who said when there was stream improvement being done to the stream, a huge log was moved and out scurried a couple 20+ inch trout. Also noting that today i went out and walked a couple sections of the stream and spotted a 3 fish pod, a 2 fish pod, a 4 fish pod, and a 9 fish pod, all in different sections excluding the dhalo waters. Most fish were 8-10 inches while a few 5-7 and a couple 12-14.

 

[chuckytown]

Rookie wrote:

As far as being close to Philly, this morning I caught 6-7 stock rainbows and browns in the pools below the Ridley Creek FFO section, one was only 5-6" long rainbow. Odd.

I heard or read somewhere that Dismal Run, trib to Ridley, has some kind of hatchery or possibly wild trout? The state lists it as having wild trout. I think it enters Ridley pretty far up from where you were but that's my only possible reason for the little guy. I have never fished Ridley so I can't say there couldn't be wild trout anywhere in it. Have never heard of any there though, I always thought it got too warm in summer.

Ridley Creek itself has has major impoundments on almost every tributary, with the exception of Barren Run. It drains fields, large developments and commercial areas several highways, and then goes into the state park. Barren and Dismal enter at the lower end of the park, in the C&R FFO section. I fished below the confluence today. With the stress the trout population goes through, browns would have a tough time establishing a population. Barren run didn't look that swell today before it rained, but I'll check it out, because I live nearby. Can rainbows reproduce there? I dunno.



On another note, there's no way people can fish out every hole in the Pickering - there are too many of them on private property or otherwise hard to reach/fish areas. I know there are stretches I wish I had access to - long, deep holes. Its by far my favorite creek, because from Rt 113 to the YMCA, you can find fish in a variety of conditions and settings.

 

[troutbert]

🙂

 

[PSUFishMenace]

Have not heard of Barren run and I don't live in that area nor have I fished there so i dunno either.

"Ridley Creek itself has has major impoundments on almost every tributary, with the exception of Barren Run. It drains fields, large developments and commercial areas several highways, and then goes into the state park."

So wild trout are very unlikely then. In that case, I agree, a stocked rainbow that size is pretty odd.

Maybe Mike can help you out there

 

[Raven456]

There is a small hatchery on Barren Rd that is operated by the Delco Manning Chapter of TU that sits on Dismal Run. Ridley's stocking is supplemented by this TU chapter throughout the year. I have never heard of wild trout in Ridley but know that there are a bunch of holdovers of considerable size.

 

[mute]

Stopped by for a couple minutes. Picked up one and missed a few others.

Water seemd pretty cool, especially in the current where they were holding. Not much bug activity besides a big cicada falling in and a few sunnies pecking at it

 

[Raven456]

Mute,
I have to say that the fish pictured is probobly one of the prettiest fish I have seen come out of Pickering, especially this late. I hope he (or she) makes through the tough late summer and is living in one of the nice deep pools so he can holdover. There are some really nice fish there, but I've seen some of those "nuclear" fish the PFBC puts in as well. You know, the ones you don't want to even touch. Nice pic.

 

[mute]

Thanks, i hope they do too. Im pretty sure they will, the water was looking good. As long as it keeps raining should be great. Im not sure if thats the prettiest fish that ive caught that came out of pickering. Maybe the prettiest brookie. But i would believe other fish ive landed had amazing looks to them. All the fish on this page here came out of pickering.

http://sepafishing.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=23&g2_page=2

 

[riverwhy]

mute wrote:
It is quite true. Harvesting does not wipe out trout in pickering. Last year i was talking to a couple guys who said when there was stream improvement being done to the stream, a huge log was moved and out scurried a couple 20+ inch trout. Also noting that today i went out and walked a couple sections of the stream and spotted a 3 fish pod, a 2 fish pod, a 4 fish pod, and a 9 fish pod, all in different sections excluding the dhalo waters. Most fish were 8-10 inches while a few 5-7 and a couple 12-14.

Why are they moving a log that 2 20+ inch trout are lying under?

 

[Raven456]

I assume that it was blow down and causing flow restrictions. Mute...