Tulpehocken - Berks County - April 18

wbranch

wbranch

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Even though I was aware the Tully has only been running about 125 cfs for well over a week I drove up this morning. I arrived at Rebers Bridge at 8:15 and was in the water by 8:30. I was very surprised for as low as the stream is it is by no means clear. There is visibility to the bottom in about a foot of water but after that nothing but blackness. The color is like an opaque green. I saw lots of #20 - #24 midges in the air and on the water. I fished various nymphs and midge larvae from #14 - #22 and never felt a bump. I fished until 9:45, got bored and left. One fellow was in the little riffle above the bridge and I saw him catch a little trout and I did see two little surface blips.

Drove down to the Paper Mill and stood on the bank for ten minutes and never saw a rise and the two guys nymphing the riffle below the Paper Mill Pool didn't touch a fish. Maybe they are there and I just didn't wait long enough for the water to warm up.
 
The last 3 Saturday's have not been good for me either on the Tully. Nobody seems to be catching fish. Yesterday I was in the same area just down from the bridge. I saw a few rises in the 4 hrs I was there, I fished midges and caddis larvae and nothing. I had better lack during November, December than I am having now. I did see 2 mink and a bunch of herons though. ????
 
is the reservoir turning over right now ? - i know my local lake is, i noticed yesterday that the visibility was almost zero.

that could explain the crap in the water ?
 
Perhaps you should try the "bait area" below. Less fish are stocked there, but anglers are having success. On a personal note, I fly fish there more than I do in the DH Area and despite what some anglers tout about " the experience," I primarily enjoy catching fish. Give it a try.
 
Yeah Mike you might be right about the lake turning over. At times there is kind of a funky smell coming from the water.
 
Mike wrote;

Perhaps you should try the "bait area" below. Less fish are stocked there, but anglers are having success.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip. Does that harvest water start downstream below the red covered bridge? How far down stream do you think trout reside?
 
I'm thinking that the majority of the stocked trout were pushed downstream when the dam operators blew out the creek within a very short time (minutes) after it was carefully float stocked. In that scenario the fish likely did not have time to settle in. Apparently there is NO coordination between the dam operators and the PAFBC. If that is the case then we've lost thousands of dollars in stocked fish from a prime Delayed Harvest stream. That is a sad use of a valued resource. When the caddis get started we will know better what happened.
 
Foxtrapper wrote;

I'm thinking that the majority of the stocked trout were pushed downstream when the dam operators blew out the creek within a very short time (minutes) after it was carefully float stocked.
Click to expand...

That is a very good hypothesis of why it appears angling success has been way off the mark for a stream that is usually very productive. Also as another poster commented the harvest area of the stream has been fishing quite well.

I do remember the flow was quite normal and then all of a sudden it went up to 2000 cfs and stayed at that level for a significant period of time. Long enough to dislodge freshly stocked trout down to perhaps the Schuylkill River!

I was able to review the USGS chart for the period March 09 - 12. On March 09 the flow was 150 cfs, then there was an increase to 250 cfs, then for some reason a drop back to 150 cfs, then a vertical climb to 1000 cfs, followed by the increase to 2000 cfs by March 12. It stayed at the 2000 cfs level for about 5 1/2 days.

It is a waste of license holders money to not have communication between PFBC and whomever manages the Blue March water releases.
 
I would not be too quick to jump to that sole hypothesis. Check the usgs gauge's water temp readings for the past three weeks. They are just now getting close to the range where Browns really turn on.

Below Rebers Bridge down to the covered bridge has been stocked preseason with purely Browns for a number of years, primarily so anglers could identify and appreciate the growth, color and plumpness of the previous fall's fall-stocked RT that had held over, which were ranging from 13-15 inches by June. This began in 2009 after fingerling stocking was terminated following the final fingerling trial.

 
Mike- I hope you are right. If what you say is true I wonder what the difference is between the fish turning on in the general regs area and not in the special regs? Same fish in same creek.
 
It's been stated that the fishing is better below the regs area than in the regs area.

But WHY would that be the case? Better holding water (structure, pools, cover) for trout? Or some other reason?

 
foxtrapper1972 wrote:
Mike- I hope you are right. If what you say is true I wonder what the difference is between the fish turning on in the general regs area and not in the special regs? Same fish in same creek.
Click to expand...


Just a guess, but the lake is likely in the middle of the spring turnover. Reports are the water is off-color and has a odor to it.

The further away from the dam the clearer and cleaner it becomes. Also Plum and Cacoosing flow into the Tully with clean water.

We will know more about the trout population when the water clears, warms a bit and the bugs begin to hatch.

In addition to the fall stocking of adult rainbows by the FBC, rainbow fingerlings were stocked by TCO/TU in the fall. Those fish should be in the SR area along with the spring stocked adult brown trout. If things are right, there should be a whole lotta fish in the Tully this spring.
 
But WHY would that be the case? Better holding water (structure, pools, cover) for trout? Or some other reason?
Click to expand...

Yes (better holding water). I haven't been fishing the Tully in a few years, but when I was fishing it regularly, I did better early in the lower sections. Often my pre-season go to was to park at Gring's Mill and fish downstream. Not many understood that it is "ATW open year round" down there, a few even threatened to call the warden, lol... Then on opening day you see them all lined up shoulder to shoulder, and half of them releasing their catch. Like, umm, yeah, you coulda done that yesterday, you know?

I remember after fingerling stockings, it was hard not to catch the little guys down there. It was like Erie with smolts. If you targeted them 50+ was not hard to achieve (which tells you something about where the fingerlings stocked upstream are going). Generally you had to use bigger stuff just to keep them off the hook.

Anyway, for the first few weeks of the season, I'd generally avoid the Tully altogether, and later in spring when the hatches would start I'd generally stick to the special regs areas as the lower areas, while still retaining fish, had been hit pretty hard by then.
 
plus rebers bridge, paper mill rd etc get hammered pretty hard from what i've seen, AND that is the section in all the guide books.

most guide books have very few words for anything below the Red Bridge.

 
There are three sections of excellent habitat in the "bait area." In total, these add up to more excellent habitat length than you will find in the entire DH Area. As you may know, I am a habitat guy and not a reg guy when it comes to most trout fisheries in Pa.

Early in the season the trout may hit a bit better down there because the water may be a degree or two warmer depending on how far down you go to fish.

Based on my angler counts comparing the two areas, there are generally more anglers down there in comparison to the Rebers to covered bridge area, but it does not seem as crowded by a long shot because you can spread out in the good habitat. Anglers crowd in the DH area because good habitat stretches are short.

It is great under high flows because it is like fishing a river with good habitat. It does not become a featureless flume under high flows as it does elsewhere. It maintains good habitat characteristics under high flows, although like most streams it has its limits.
 
Looking at satellite photos, it looks like there are some man-made structures that might be contributing to the good habitat in the lower end.

 
Yes, there is a dam and it's slow pool between two of the good habitat stretches. There is also a dam just up from the mouth which has a long, shallow pool above it . I do not consider the pools above the dams to be good habitat, but trout reside in the very upper ends of each.
 
Mike, do you think it would improve conditions if these dams were removed, either totally, or with some kind of partial breaching or notching?

It's interesting that these dams are still there, while so many others are being removed.

How are the decisions made about which ones are removed and which stay?

 
Not making a good/bad judgement, but removing the dams on the Tully would alter the species structure considerably on account of connecting it with the Skuke.
 
Removal of the one near the mouth was very close to occurring in the past and now it appears that there may be some movement in that direction again since there is a safety issue and most water is flowing around rather than over the dam under certain flows. Time will tell.

I don't foresee Grings Mill Dam ever being removed in that there is a roadway over the top of the dam that connects one part of the park with the other. A rock ramp fishway might work there though as fish nearly jump over the dam already through ascending a rough piece of bedrock at the west end of the dam.

Dam removals sometimes are planned and proceed in an orderly manner, but many removals are opportunistic.
 
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