Tulpehocken Crk, Berks County, 6-29-14

krayfish2

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Met PhilC on the Tully late yesterday for some evening fishing. I read TCO report and was shocked / encouraged with a water temp of 57 which seemed very low for this time of year.

When we arrived, I took the temp and it was 67....not 57. Good flow level around 200cfs, clarity was a tad milky which is pretty standard for that stream.

Overcast with a few peaks of sun and air temp in around 80-82. Fished from 5pm - 9:30pm. Not much in the way of hatches until right at dark. A few caddis, midges, moths, etc. We saw fish launching themselves out of the water trying to eat dragon flies. Pretty cool.

We took 3 browns and one bow. The rainbow looked quite healthy, slender, good color and fins. Might have been 14" range. The browns we took were FAT...real chunky. Good color and beat up fins. I think they were 2 around 16" and one around 17" which is much bigger average than I can remember on that stream. Usually catch dink browns and the bows are bigger. We also caught several panfish.

We spotted a couple ofl bushes that were dropping berries and the carp were posted up under them feeding away. Right at dark, moth and skeeter swarms. Almost choking clouds of midges and micro caddis or other junk that I didn't bother to identify. Not a bad evening but it's getting borderline too warm to fish. The trico crowds will be there all summer playing the fish to death in 75 degree water temps and using 9x. It's a shame the cold water pool in the lake isn't bigger or there were more cold feeders in the upper mile or two.
 
The USGS site has stopped showing the temps there for some reason. Too bad, though the anglers you mentioned likely wouldn't check beforehand.
 
Van_Cleaver wrote:
The USGS site has stopped showing the temps there for some reason. Too bad, though the anglers you mentioned likely wouldn't check beforehand.


Huh, just noticed that. Hopefully it will be back.
 
Sounds like the USGS temp gauge has been malfunctioning. I was amazed that it had been showing 50s all late spring and up till when they took it off line a week or 2 ago. Yet the temps I was getting with a dial thingie were more like 60s.

 
The army corp website is showing the water temperature at 51.4 now, updated at 8 oclock this morning. Is this wrong as well? Anyone know if this pulls a reading from the dam itself?

I forgot to take a temperature reading when I fished on Saturday because I assumed this was right. When I assume I make an *** out of U and ME .


http://www.nap-wc.usace.army.mil/nap/schupub.html
 
It's definitely in the upper 60's. With the heat wave, it will be mid 70's if it hasn't gotten there only. Only safe spot is at the paper mill

Unknown factor.......they usually hold some cold water back for the first heat wave. It only lasts 10 -14 days max.
 
Just called dam and they are starting to run bottom release now. 65% mid lake 35% bottom release. Doubt the temp is on the 50's. Guy said it should be similar to the weekend. 66-67 release temp. Goal is for 68 degree outflows or less.
 
It's been a while since I hit the Tully. But FWIW, the way it used to work there is that the water temp would shoot up to the upper 60's in spring, earlier than most streams. But then it'd stay there for a very long time. Till on some years, late summer, they'd run out of cool water.

So it's incorrect to say that a warm spell will warm the water. It's a tailwater, and they adjust for that. A warm spell often won't immediately affect water temps, but a lot of them will make that fateful day in August come a bit earlier.
 
Pat,
I understand how a tailwater works and I spoke to the river keeper today. If there is zero cool water left....yes, the temps will skyrocket. The dam operator said they've just started tapping the cool water. the release will try to be tween 64 & 68 until the cold water is gone. They don't have a huge reserve so it won't last long

Feel free to review USGS temperature data for the last 5 years. You'll see the release reaches 70-75 on a pretty regular basis July and August. Why? The cold water pool is depleted. If it's 74 at the release point, what do you think it is when it reached Cacoosing? Might be 75-77. Catching trout in water that warm will likely kill them
 
They usually run out of cool water between July 22 and August 4 based on years of my having observed the situation there. I used to say between July 22 and 28, but in the past few years they have stretched the cool water into very early August on occasion.
 
Fished it yesterday in the AM, temps in high 60's flows 200. Sunny day.

Caddis hatch and BWOs in the AM. Got one on a tan caddis dry and hooked 6 more landed 4 fat browns 15"-17" range high sticking in fast water with pheasant tail variations and caddis pupa. Caught a 15" smallie too on a DEEP nymph by papermill.

Fell into the water...and decided it was time to go.
 
I need to fish this god awful stream again it been along time
 
Fished the tully two or three times a week for four years while attending Albright College, I loved this stream and it really is a fun place. Im surprised there werent any tricos...usually they were around now through mid-August unless my memory is not serving me well. I named my springer spaniel "Tully"....although shes never had a chance to hunt pheasant at Blue-Marsh LOL. Anyway, Im gonna have to take a ride there, its been awhile.
 
I'm curious........Are the Tricos over on the Tully? Admittedly I didn't get there at dawn yesterday like in prior years. But in the past I'd see some dun activity for about an hour in the very early morning then I'd have good spinner action until about 10:30 when the spinners would wane and the rising fish would pretty much quit.

Yesterday I got to Rebers Bridge at 8:30 and was first surprised to see only one car parked at the Paper Mill and no anglers at Rebers Bridge. That was kind of a heads up that maybe there were no fish. I waded from Rebers Bridge all the way down to the Paper Mill Pool and never saw a single Trico and saw only three rises by 11:00.
I was the only angler on that entire mile of water. Nice day, not hot and a nice leisurely walk down river. Surprisingly I saw very few carp. Maybe less than half a dozen. I saw three trout. What's up? Was this a poor Trico year or don't the Tricos last more than a couple of weeks on the Tully? I won't be going back any time soon.
 
WB,

Even with the cooler weather we've been having, the cool water pool at BM has been depleted and the temps are up on the Tully.

 

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Thanks for the info. I could tell just by putting my hands in the water it was warm. I'd just driven an hour and was not about to turn around and go home.

In your opinion are the Tricos done on the Tully for this season?
 
wbranch wrote:
Thanks for the info. I could tell just by putting my hands in the water it was warm. I'd just driven an hour and was not about to turn around and go home.

In your opinion are the Tricos done on the Tully for this season?

No, the bugs with continue to fall and there will be some fish on them, the problem is the water is too warm, for [d]me[/d] the trout. I will not fish until the water temps drop back into the 60's.
 
Agreed the water was warm but since I didn't catch any I surely didn't stress those trout. I may have stressed a bit but that's normal. I still don't have my car back from the hail storm damage. I took it into the body shop (well my wife did as I was in MT) on July 06. I think it will be done next Tuesday. If so I'm going up to the WB as the flows are great and the water temperature is so cold that one needs to wear fleece pants under the waders.
 
Wbranch,
See my comment in no. 10 above. It is pretty risky to drive very far to fish the Tully at this time of year as water temps are unreliable. It is more probable that the water will be warm than cool. The Tully is no Codorus. Temps can stay fairly warm well into October.
 
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