Tulpehocken Creek, Berks County, 1/30/2023

[wbranch]

Last year I was present for the first stocking. PFBC was going to stock at all of the meeting points mentioned on the stocking schedule. I was parked at the Paper Mill. After about half an hour I looked up stream and saw a good size rubber raft floating down stream. There was one guy in the front and another in the rear. There were two very good looking float boxes. One in the front and one in the bow. I was able to watch them float stock all; along that flat water above the bridge.

When they got to the riffle at the top of the PM pool they ran out of fish. After at least one half hour the PFBC stocking truck pulled over onto the shoulder and at least a dozen guys were there to help with the stocking. I saw Scott Majors the fellow with the YouTube channel make at least six trips, each with a bucket full of trout, all along the length of the PM pool. A couple other guys took buckets and walked down right in front of me and dumped in fish.

Other guys with waders took many buckets out to the raft and filled the float boxes. I watched until they floated through the PM pool. They put in about four buckets there. They dropped a bucket virtually at every little riffle. Many guys, including me, (truck chaser) started to fish right away. I stayed for an hour and none of the six guys I could see touched a fish.

Over the years everyone a stocking was in progress it was being float stocked. Once just about 50' below the 222 bridge two guys dumped two buckets of Keystone Select fish in the fast and quite deep water. This is a 22" from below the bridge.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

^That's the same pool I claimed my best Tully trout, a 20 inch brown. This was NOV of 2017. I was fishing a Cabela's rod paired with a Hatch 4+. I had so much slack on the water that I should have lost it, but got it in (surprisingly). I tossed my rig rod/reel combo when landing the fish so it was also the day I no longer cared about dinging up my Hatch.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

My last trip was last spring. But it mirrored the last few years. We parked one car at the stilling basin, drove around to Rebers and parked there, planned to fish up through. A lot of good looking water up through there. The old "steps" above Rebers, Palisades, up past the water authority, etc.

I caught like 15 in the first hour right at Rebers, and my buddy caught 10 or 12, but we were amongst 4 or 5 other fishermen vying for position in that small area. Walk back to the bank to tie a knot or something and someone slides right in on ya. Got tired of that, started upstream. Not sure we moved another fish after getting like 100 yards up from the bridge. Didn't see any other guys either, so I expect others had the same experience. That's just been the norm for me on the Tully. Cover water, find a bunch of fish stacked like cordwood in a small area with several guys surrounding them, and very little anywhere else. I probably actually catch more fish, in numbers, than I used to in the days of fingerlings and spread out fish, but it's less enjoyable and feels far more artificial, as a result I don't go nearly as often as I used to. It's still a place to scratch the itch on occasion though.

When we drove back around, my buddy left, and I did wonder down to the "refrigerator hole", an old favorite. There weren't a lot of fish, but I did land a large brown there, which was a treat. One of the keystone fish I presume.

This describes my sentiments on the Tully, though I don't mind walking a bit to hit the infamous sucker pods. I like walking the creek as it's scenic and gives me "Western" creek vibes, even though the water speed can be annoying to wade against at times. At the end of the day the tug is truly the drug and the Tully has fine populations of suckers over 2 feet in length, also trout in excess of 2 feet if anyone cares.

15 trout in an hour sound exceptionally good. I may catch that many trout there in a year, but I go there less than 5 times in a year. Last year I only went there once. I'm not a huge fan of the creek as there are better creeks closer to me. I have a fly fishing friend who claims it is her favorite creek. Not sure why that is. She's a lousy angler and I only saw her catch a trout there once. It's possible, given her track record, that she only caught a trout there once in her entire time fishing there!

 

[wgmiller]

I think most of us have a love/hate relationship with the Tully. it's easy wading, accessible, and offers miles of unposted water. I have to think I'll find myself on the Tully more when I'm older and traversing streams, hiking, and wading becomes more difficult. I get the draw of the Tully. It's a known quantity. Treat it for what it is and you'll never be disappointed! 🙂

 

[wbranch]

I have to think I'll find myself on the Tully more when I'm older and traversing streams, hiking, and wading becomes more difficult. I get the draw of the Tully. It's a known quantity. Treat it for what it is and you'll never be disappointed! 🙂

That is why I started to fish the Tully more often when I hit my mid 70's. I can no longer wade the Delaware or the WB or EB. If I don't have a float partner I'll choose the Tully for it's ease of wading and gentle currents.

 

[McSneek]

I used to fish it a lot because it was close to my work and on my way home. Lots of dry fly action in the spring. When the fingerling stocking program was active the adult rainbows were nice fish and not easy to catch.

If I was up that way more frequently I would still fish it on weekday evenings when there is a little more elbow room. Always enjoyed the Palisades stretch.

 

[Mike]

The true Palisades at its base has the best habitat for about 350 yds in the entire stretch upstream from Rebers Bridge Rd. The stream channel for about 20-35% of its width has bedrock ridges and trenches in between paralleling the stream’s flow. That stretch gets warm though and holds very few trout through summer. It was one of the two fixed electrofishing sampling sites within the Tully DH Area.

 

[McSneek]

The true Palisades at its base has the best habitat for about 350 yds in the entire stretch upstream from Rebers Bridge Rd. The stream channel for about 20-35% of its width has bedrock ridges and trenches in between paralleling the stream’s flow. That stretch gets warm though and holds very few trout through summer. It was one of the two fixed electrofishing sampling sites within the Tully DH Area.

Yes. The bedrock ridges and trenches created depth variation and riffles. Surprised it got warm given the proximity to the dam but then, the Tully is far from a true cold tail water these days.

 

[Mike]

A PFBC Fisheries Management Area 6 summer long, 24 hr per day comparative study of water temps in The Tully using the USGS data at the gauge station in the upper section and a temperature monitoring device that we installed mid-stream a short distance upstream from the confluence of the Cacoosing Ck showed cooler temps at the downstream monitoring site. That was in a hot, low flow summer when storage of colder water is best in the reservoir.

Additionally, historical gauge data showed the Tully temp generally crossing the 68 deg stress initiation temp in the first half of June. This was an example of the reason why I favored shifting the permissible harvest period on DH Areas from June 15 to June 1 or Memorial Day.

With the dam now removed from the Cacoosing I anticipate cooler temps in the Tully below the Cacoosing in the future as well, especially since previous PFBC/ Tully TU habitat work was designed to push cool current (now anticipated colder current since the dam was removed) from Cacoosing out into the main channel of the Tully rather than hugging the shoreline below Cacoosing as it did in the past. We shall see.

 

[Andrwhite610]

I fished the Tully Easter morning for just under 2 hours. Fished just below the 222 bridge. The water is extremely low. I fished some caddis nymph (I think) recommended by someone at TCO. Got some looks and hits but no connection. I switched to a tiny zebra midge and almost immediately hooked up with a stocked brown. Hooked another on the next cast but it came off. I was happy enough with that.

 

[krayfish2]

I remember a while back where they had rainbows that did well in water up to 80°. They were trying to raise money to stock fingerlings of them. Anybody have any more information on that or if it ever happened?

 

[Silent Ocelot]

I was happy enough with that.

What I say when I catch one lone chub from the Tully.

 

[salmo]

I fished the Tully Easter morning for just under 2 hours. Fished just below the 222 bridge. The water is extremely low. I fished some caddis nymph (I think) recommended by someone at TCO. Got some looks and hits but no connection. I switched to a tiny zebra midge and almost immediately hooked up with a stocked brown. Hooked another on the next cast but it came off. I was happy enough with that.

I did best on small (16-18) perdigon nymphs.