Tulpehocken Cr. 3/17/16, Berks Co.

DrNymph

DrNymph

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May 3, 2014
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Time: 8am-1pm
Weather: Overcast with sporadic showers
Air temp: mid 40's to mid 50's
Water temp: mid 40's
Flow: 220's
Water color: Green tinged, about 2 ft visibility

Started the day at water works section. Midge hatch was thick. Fished double nymph rig with zebra up top and frenchie on point. Faster water produced 4 quick 10 inch rainbows on sz 20 black zebras fished slow and deep. Slower water by the parking section yielded a hook up with a heavy trout, but broke off, again on the zebra.

Swapped out the frenchie for another zebra and moved downstream to bridge to nowhere section.

Again fished slow and deep and immediately hooked up with my largest Tully rainbow, an 18" right before the bridge in the soft water behind the large submerged rocks. Above was unproductive despite gridding out the water and nymphing very meticulously with multiple weight changes.

Moved below the bridge and hooked up with 2 more rainbows in the soft pockets in the fast water.

All in all a great day catching hold overs. I really had to work hard for them but it completely paid off. Only saw two other anglers. Only a few more weeks of solitude!

All fish had nice fat little bellies.

I tried uploading photos but it didn't work...
 
Oh didn't know it was recently stocked. Doesn't feel as special now...........
 
What would be everybody's go to fly to start with on the Tully? I might head over tomorrow to try out my waders. I'd love to bring some fish to hand this time of year.
 
Where are you guys getting the idea that they were fresh stockies? The Tully DH is not to be stocked until next week. Colorful, plump RT caught in the RT 222 bridge area would most likely be holdovers from last spring or RT stocked in that section last fall. The fall stocked adult RT grow rapidly, get quite plump,,and become very colorful by some point in spring if not before.
 
Mike,

That's what I thought. Those fish were in classic holding spots (unlike stupid stockies), strong and very colorful...and I was pretty sure the Tully wasn't going to be stocked until later.

 
From another thread"......
As evidenced by this year, preseason stockings now and in the future have been pushed back on the Tully DH area based on a review of the historical March flows, which often are not very accommodating to anglers. Had that been solely used as guidance, then there would not have been any stocking in March as I recall. The timing of this year's stocking represents a compromise, with the hope that flow will be a little lower than usual. Stocking closer to the time when most anglers can actually fish the stream results in more fish available to those anglers.
 
If the previous guys were being helpful they would probably let you know it was stocked by someone other than PFBC, like TCO or the local TU chapter or both. You still had a good day!
 
My guess would be the 4 10 inch rainbows would be the fingerings that TCO stocked last fall. I believe they are a strain that is more tolerant to warmer temperatures. At least that is the hope. Cudos to them for taking the initiative on that, why the state has not looked into this baffles the mind.

Opie
 
Reeder,
You are correct; they are just harder to find in the catch simply because they are so outnumbered by the fresh stockies. However, to make it easier, the PFBC has been stocking only browns in the lower section, Section 07 (Rebers Bridge to the Covered Bridge) during the spring since about 2010. Check the stocking schedule to verify this. Not only are the species stocked different between fall and spring, but the fall stocking reduces the spring stocking by an equivalent number (in all fall stocked waters), so the reduced number of brown trout stocked makes it even easier to find the fall stocked trout that have survived in the lower section.

Notes: 1) Section 6 is not fall stocked with adult trout, so it receives the normal spring allocation of browns and rainbows.

2) disclaimer...There are occasional times when the hatcheries are short on a particular species and are allowed to substitute another species for the species that was requested. Off-hand I am not aware of that occurring on the Tully; nevertheless, my comments above refer to the species requested by the AFM and typically the species that are received.

 
Mike wrote:
Reeder,
You are correct; they are just harder to find in the catch simply because they are so outnumbered by the fresh stockies. However, to make it easier, the PFBC has been stocking only browns in the lower section, Section 07 (Rebers Bridge to the Covered Bridge) during the spring since about 2010. Check the stocking schedule to verify this. Not only are the species stocked different between fall and spring, but the fall stocking reduces the spring stocking by an equivalent number (in all fall stocked waters), so the reduced number of brown trout stocked makes it even easier to find the fall stocked trout that have survived in the lower section.

Notes: 1) Section 6 is not fall stocked with adult trout, so it receives the normal spring allocation of browns and rainbows.

2) disclaimer...There are occasional times when the hatcheries are short on a particular species and are allowed to substitute another species for the species that was requested. Off-hand I am not aware of that occurring on the Tully; nevertheless, my comments above refer to the species requested by the AFM and typically the species that are received.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
Although I'm not a Tully regular, I'm sure I'm not alone in being pleased that the PFBC is willing to partner with TCO and other local folks to continue to experiment with stocking protocols. Good to hear - and it sounds like the current plan is working nicely and producing some very nice trout.
 
Dave,
If by nice trout you are referring to the 10 inchers that the op mentioned in the upper section of the DH Area...yes, that would be good growth for fall fingerlings, logically assuming that was their origin, and similar to what the growth of some PFBC fingerlings were when it was stocking fall fingerlings. If you were referring to the larger trout that the op referred to in the lower portion of the DH Area, logically they were either holdovers or trout from the fall, 2015 adult trout stocking program.
 
A few here and there are chasing midge emergers. But nothing to get too excited about yet.
 
I saw tan colored caddies in flight in substantial numbers in the woods along the Schuylkill River in Port Clinton, Schuylkill Co today so I would assume that there would be activity on other streams as well. Water temps have shot up. The Jordan was 55 deg F in Whitehall/Allentown yesterday. The Tully is usually a few degrees colder at this time of the year, however.
 
Last week I saw a few caddis at the Tully. Lots of midges. I didn't see any caddis today, but I did see a few stoneflies.
 
Tully is 52F today. good trout temp imho.

and I hooked and lost a big bow (18-20") in December which I reported on here, Mike at the time did confirm it was a fall stockie but it was lying in the deep part of a fast tailout, so even then it was acting like a bow should.

the water works section fishes well in higher water - above 400cfs. its a great place to swing wets and even in October I saw fish rising there, even though it hadn't been stocked since the Spring.

easy wading there too - nice flat gravel. I have tried at 250cfs and got nothing.

fish move.
 
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