Tulpehocken, Berks county, 3/25/2011

[Angled]

Water low and clear with temp balmy 53 at start (2pm) and chilly 48 on departure (6pm). Caught double digits, mostly rainbows but a few browns and big suckers. Rainbows were mostly all same (nice) size and looked like clones of each other. Nobody else fishing at start but saw 2 other guys by the end (not crowded at all).

Only been to this stream a few years ago when water was high. I was expecting high water (its big water) and fresh stocked fish so went heavy gear, 6 wt with a weighted streamer. Upon arrival, fish were rising everywhere which I never expected. Further, nothing was visible and fresh stockers just don’t rise like that. I saw something like midge larva but not sure and whatever it was had to be small and not flying in the air. Even though water was clear, surface was pretty cluttered with detritus, alga blobs, white air bubbles, etc so hard to see anything small.

I debated using a dry but stuck with streamer (mainly cause cold hands did not want to re-tie) and started catching fish. Not sure if I was catching same fish as the risers, since maybe there were smart holdovers rising and fresh stockers lurking on bottom. At any rate, I never tried dries cause I caught fish on streamer AND after awhile rises stopped and pretty abruptly actually. I switched to a nymph which caught more fish than the streamer. But once rises ended, then was more hit and miss so a few spots yielded good numbers but there were a lot of stretches with nothing and a few spots with a couple fish (when fish were rising seemed like I had hits everywhere) . I don’t know the stream so ended up covering a lot of water. Some stretches seemed like a vast desert…maybe they would have been better when the rises were going on.

By the end, was getting ice in the guides so the mid-day was best.

 

[jdaddy]

Interesting report.

I fished from 10:00 AM until around 12:00 PM at the Papermill and went to the car to meet up with Fredrick and one of his friends. Between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM I caught 6-8 fish, all browns. Flows were great and around 450 CFS (waterwork gauge) between 10 - 12. Fished a bit with Fred and crew, then went to lunch with wife. Checked USGS while at the restaurant, and noticed it was 7 cfs. Clearly dam work like the day before. Came back and stream was pretty much at a stand still and incredibly low and clear. While I was gone for lunch Fred and his friend managed a few each. We saw a few random rises and some midges, however we also noted quite a few little black stoneflies. That would be my guess as to what the sporadic risers were. Flows were getting back up by the time was left around 3:30 PM.

I experienced the ice guide thing in the morning. I didn't really think it was that cold and was surprised to find the ice in the guides when I was having problems getting my line out after catching a fish.

What section did you fish?

BTW, due to concerns with dam flows/repairs this Spring the stocking of the Tully was cut in half. Hopefully those fish will be allocated to the May stocking.

Edit: All my fish were taken on gammarus style czech nymphs with green or pink hotspots. Like I said, flows were up and visibility was around 2' when I started the day.

 

[tomgamber]

jdaddy wrote:
... gammarus style czech nymphs with green or pink hotspots.

so scuds...?

 

[Angled]

jdaddy,

Not familar with the stream or locations but I think
a) walked up 1/2 mi from Rebers bridgeand found rising fish there
b) After rises stopped, walked way below the bridge to a nice big hole (maybe 1/2 way to papermill) and picked up a few in there incl a big sucker (but nothing long shallower sections in between)
c) went to papermill and got skunk
d) got a couple by highway overpass

Again the time of day may have been more important than location so maybe woulda caught more or got skunked more if I reversed the timing and locations

May be flow patterns played a factor as flow increases trigger frenzy for some fish species (like stripers) and I did do best right after that flow change. It was just pure luck and no planning on my part on the timing.

Did not notice any stoneflies even though been seeing them on my local waters. I am not adept at species ID but do know when bugs are out or not and did not see any bugs.

Original intent was to hit and run the Tully, Bear Cr and/or Ltl Schuykill (maybe even some Class A along the way) just to try some different waters I hardly ever get to. I never made it past the Tully but did manage Cabelas with $20 off coupon, and had dinner at a wonderful place called MacDonalds.

Although cold, was surprised only a few others fishing since heard Tully gets pressure and was Friday afternoon when it seems everyone always takes off. Did see a lot of joggers (some track team), bikers etc.

 

[jdaddy]

tomgamber wrote:

jdaddy wrote:
... gammarus style czech nymphs with green or pink hotspots.

so scuds...?

Yes, exactly, however they tend to be tied quite a bit bigger than when we typically think of scuds. For example these were on 8 and 10 Partridge CZN hooks. I think it was more representative of a caddis pattern, but frankly I think the size and hot spot, along with the weight and sparse materials to get it down low was the key on the Tully.

 

[dave1432]

I fished on saturday from 12:00-2:30 pm at the road to nowhere. Air temp was probably about 40 degrees. When I got out of my car, i saw a huge dead walleye in the water under the overpass. Flow was good, water was a bit stained. Went downstream of the overpass to the long riffle. I stayed in this riffle the whole time i was there. I would see a few sporadic rises here and there. I had managed to get five rainbows, (no browns?), on a dropper rig of a beadhead chartreuse copper john on top and a regular copper colored c. john on the bottom, both size 16. The biggest rainbow was about 16 inches, im thinking it might have been a holdover though because the pink stripe was really deep color and noticable.