Tulpehocken Creek, Berks CO, 12/29/10

[sholgate]

Had a friend with cabin fever come up to fish in the winter. First time for him on both the stream and winter fishing. Nice afternoon. We fished from about 240-415pm in the Paper Mill / Cacoosing merge.

Around 330 there was a small squall of midges. The air temp was around 38 and the water was a little less but hardly any ice on the shore or stream. Just about perfect for winter fishing. Fishing pressure, there were four of us within a hundred yards.

Hooked up with 5. One was a sizable brown that got unhooked before I could net him, but did manage 2 'bows at 12" and 14". Only one fish was hooked "deep", the others were in shallower water 18" or less. Nice to get out again.

 

[jdaddy]

Sounds like a lot of folks have been hitting the Tully in the last couple of days. Not bad for an hour and a half in the dead of Winter.

 

[johnnyd]

Hit the Tully again today...4 fish in about 30 minutes over lunch. The flow is good...clarity is pretty good. I was a little downstream of the paper mill. Actually had better luck in the deeper water, which may just be inherent to the spot I was in. The attached pic is of #4. Not a bad lunch.

 

[sholgate]

Thanks Jeff.

I saw you John, at least it may have been you around 130P. I drive a blue pick-up and watched you for a minute.

I went over to Rebers bridge. Pretty slow. I fooled a rainbow and a brown in two hours. A bit slow. What was really strange is that they both took a red and white streamer. I am forever learning. I just started fly fishing 14 years ago and still feel like I have a lot more to learn.

 

[johnnyd]

You and me both. I only really started getting serious about fly fishing about a year and a half ago. I have just finally begun to feel like I know a little about what I'm doing, but every time I'm out, there seems to be something that puts me in my place.
Yeah, that was me in my green corduroy pants...didn't feel like wasting time getting geared up.
I find that spot tends to have a ton of fish in it at all times. In the very early spring, I've actually gotten a few very nice smallies on streamers. The guys at TCO laughed when I told them that, but I had pictures so there.
I'm probably going there on saturday around 11am or so. If that's slow, I may hit up the water works up by the dam. I'll be the guy in the oversized neoprene onesy and mittens...not easy to miss.

 

[FFChineseman]

i was fishing in Tully a few days ago ( the 29th, the air temp was 32 the high) under the Rebers Bridge and a mile upstream. It was so slow. I fished about 4 hours and hooked only one brown. He took the red size 14 san juan worm.

I am thinking to go again tomorrow, what section of Tully you guys think is more productive and what flies work better in Tully since I only fished there once.

thanks a lot!

 

[jeff]

Hit the Upper Tullly yesterday with Troy. Ran into a squall of midges as well. Fish were rising. I love those winter days. Caught 7 between us. Both missed a lot as well. All rainbows. We were wondering if they were wild. They were beautiful fish non bigger than 12 inches most around 8 to 9 inches. They were really silver with limited par markings. Really didn't look like stockies. Anyone?

 

[johnnyd]

FFChineseMan - Hit up the water works...just below the dam at Blue Marsh. You may have fish rising on midges (cream?). If not, use a double dropper setup with a red or black zebra midge below a red or pink san juan worm...should do the trick.

Jeff - The Tully was just stocked a couple of weeks ago with a ton of rainbows. That's probably what they are. I caught the one pictured above in this post yesterday along with 3 more. I think the coloring is due to the cold water as well as possibly the spawn??? Just guessing on that last bit.

 

[jeff]

johnnyd wrote:

Jeff - The Tully was just stocked a couple of weeks ago with a ton of rainbows. That's probably what they are. I caught the one pictured above in this post yesterday along with 3 more. I think the coloring is due to the cold water as well as possibly the spawn??? Just guessing on that last bit.

johnnyd I am talking about the upper tully above the lake not the fly fishing section below Blue Marsh. 🙂

 

[johnnyd]

Oh...missed that part...sorry. I have actually never been there but may try it this weekend. I'll let you know if I catch one of those rainbows.

 

[GreenMan]

jeff, I explored the upper tully a little this summer... I was fishing in one of the approved trout water sections below a small spring and also caught several small rainbows in the 8 to 10 range that I think were wild.. they fought like they were wild and looked wild.. I don't know where you were fishing on the stream, but I think they definitely could have been wild..

 

[sholgate]

Upper Tully wild rainbows ...

I have caught them too, even as far down as Charming Forge. My guess is that they had some escapees from the hatchery and they took hold and now reproduce.

 

[jeff]

Upper Tully wild rainbows ...

I have caught them too, even as far down as Charming Forge. My guess is that they had some escapees from the hatchery and they took hold and now reproduce.


Was well above Charming Forge Sholgate... But below the hatchery. That is a nice stretch of fishing for those little missiles :-D

 

[jeff]

GreenMan wrote:
jeff, I explored the upper tully a little this summer... I was fishing in one of the approved trout water sections below a small spring and also caught several small rainbows in the 8 to 10 range that I think were wild.. they fought like they were wild and looked wild.. I don't know where you were fishing on the stream, but I think they definitely could have been wild..

I think so too GreenMan!

 

[jkilroy]

How's it going Steve? Good to hear your catching fish, we'll have to get together sometime this winter and go fishing. Hopefully this year won't be as bad as last year for me and my schedule.

Caught this fish on the Upper Tully, there are wild bows in there.

 

[sholgate]

Nice picture jkilroy! Yea, we have to fish together again soon.

It would seem the Tully has been a challenge for me in the past, but my past 3 trips this winter has been OK. 2-5 fish each time. (which is good for me in the winter.)

But New Years Days I got a bonus ... I saw an adult bald eagle fly over the paper mill pool at 315PM. Very cool. I have never seen an eagle there before.

 

[Troy]

jkilroy,
The fish we were catching looked nothing like the fish you have pictured. There were no par marks and really no stripe either. The fins were all in perfect condition like a wild fish, they just didn't have the color. They kind of look like the fingerling rainbows they used to stock in the DH section of the Tully. I doubt they were fingerlings because the sizes varied, but I guess they could have came down from the hatchery.

Troy

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

The Upper Tully in certain sections is loaded with wild browns and rainbows. Other sections (like Riley Road) have some wild bows but no wild browns.

This past summer Pennsy Supply had a restoration scheduled to divert the stream bed away from sinkholes the size of football fields. These sinkholes robbed the stream of a tremendous amount of flow. At the very least, it would add more consistent flow year round to the stream.

We are all hoping this will allow more reproduction in downstream areas of the stream. Lets hope. I dont know if the project ever got started. Time to check in.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Heres another bow from the upper Tully. Really is a beautiful fish.

 

[Mike]

Just so everyone is on the same page here, the stocking of the Tulpehocken with "a ton of rainbows" "a couple of weeks ago" was not a PFBC stocking, if it actually occurred just a few weeks ago. There was a fall stocking, but that was more like two months ago.