Valley Creek, Chester Co, 10/25/13

[tuberider251]

]first time posting..... Fished Valley Creek today from the falls up well into little Valley.....Water was very low and clear got out on the water by 7 am but didn't land my first brownie till 11:15am after that seemed like green weenies were the go to ( after trying numerous nymph patterns under an indicator) fished till 4:30 pm after landing 4 nicely colored brownies (nothing over 10 inches). wind at times made casting difficult....idk what else more to say like I said first time posting all together and from what I've read so far you guys shouldn't have too much trouble critiquing this report....looking for advice for what i should include in future posting of stream reports since I fish many of the S.E Delco streams and rivers.

 

[Fishidiot]

Tube,
You'll note that, when writing a report in this particular forum, we ask that you include the date and county in the title line as can be seen in the other reports below. It's not a big deal, I had to have it explained to me when I wrote my first report too (it helps with search function).
I added the county - when did you fish?
With regards to what info you should include in a report: just some basic information that can include weather/water conditions, hatches seen (or not seen), maybe what flies produced or some other basic information that would be of use to someone planning to visit that waterway. You don't have to be overly specific and describe exactly where you fished or exactly what fly worked - just general stuff. You can decide how specific you care to be.
Keep in mind that reports that describe poor or slow fishing are welcome and can be just as useful as reports where many fish were caught.
Thanks,
Dave

 

[tuberider251]

Thanks Dave, Fished 10/25/13, Valley Forge PA....not much more than the occasional trout sucking down what i thought to be an occasional BWO or midget pattern but i wasn't able to connect with anything on the dries...Weather this morning was brisk in the upper 30's to low 40's by noon fish activity increased as well as the temperature. Often i found my self fishing on my knees to keep from spooking the fish, patience was the name of the game today. I first heard about this site in late Sept. from a guy on valley who told me to check it out... I'm no expert but from what I've been told and experienced as far as valley creek goes if nothing else seems to work go to the weenie!

 

[salmonoid]

Someone on Valley spotburned PAFF! ;-)

 

[tuberider251]

Yea kinda thought valley creek was like fight club...

 

[David]

Welcome tuberider... good report. Thanks

 

[camdogrs]

Fished here on 10/27 from about 9am till 12pm with a buddy of mine. I tried every combo of stim/nymph and hopper/dropper to not success. I had alot of action on a white streamer but need to go back with smaller hook sizes. Fish were small and short hitting the back of the streamer. Tried trimming up the tails but still did not help.

 

[Midge22]

i fished valley creek last thursday (10-24-13) and did very well. a piece of advise, fish very very light patterns. do not drag bottom with the nymphs, and do not wade. i dont fish over a size 18 there, and almost no weight (minus a 2.0 tungsten bead anchor and a brass beaded dropper). but the indicator isnt helping you out either. the creek is very low, so if you cant cast above the spot you want to fish, you are more than likely spooking them before your flies get to the fish

 

[NickR]

Find feeding or rising fish and cast. They are likely eating midges. I don't spend a lot of time with search patterns at this time of the year since it is getting colder and the fish become less active. During the warmest part of the day you can typically find risers and those are the fish that are willing to play. Like the others have said light tippets and flies are essential.

 

[jdaddy]

salmonoid wrote:
Someone on Valley spotburned PAFF! ;-)

LOLOLOL. I needed that today.

 

[jackstrawphilly]

Hi everyone,
Fished Valley Creek yesterday, it was cold, water was low, but the fish were rising! Mostly between 10 AM and noon. Never found what they were eating, but they were taking BWOs off the top, and zebra midges dropped about a foot off a parachute Adams. Never got any action on the Adams.
All were between six and 12 inches. Look very healthy as usual.

There are not many deep holes above the park, where do you guys think the big ones go when the water is low?

 

[Fredrick]

tuberider251 wrote:
Yea kinda thought valley creek was like fight club...

The first rule is your not supposed to talk about it :-o

 

[Bosshog]

Fished VC yesterday. Water was higher then normal with the snow melt, still great clarity, and a much better flow.

Fish were hungry. Caught 3 fish in the 7-10 inch range, and a bunch of small 3-4 inch fish. All on Nymphs.

Spoke to others who were catching them up to on midges.

 

[jbomb]

Fished VC yesterday (12/28/13). Had some luck with a #20 BWO.

I also found an empty worm container immediately above the TP bridge. Looks like it came from Woolford Sales in West Chester... the label reads "12 Canadian Nitecrawlers."

 

[albud1962]

As far as I know Spin fishing is allowed on Valley Creek. Slob left his worm container which is common with spin fishermen unfortunately.

 

[DMT]

albud1962 wrote:
As far as I know Spin fishing is allowed on Valley Creek. Slob left his worm container which is common with spin fishermen unfortunately.

I'm a little confused, though. What are all of these slob spin fishermen you're running into using worm containers for? To hold their panther martins and rooster tails? Sorry for all the questions. I just thought that if we're being divisive and elitist, we might as well be accurate.

There are more hares ears and thingamabobbers (as well as the mono they were attached to) in the trees in VF park than any fly shop I've ever been in.

 

[pcray1231]

Bait is allowed to be used on the vast majority of Valley Creek, including the area immediately above the turnpike bridge, where it was reported to have been found.

It is all-tackle C&R, bait is allowed. The national park has restrictions on bait, but that's only within the park, and the TP bridge is the upper boundary of the park.

 

[albud1962]

 

[jbomb]

I didn't realize bait was permitted outside the park. I thought the posted signs stated C&R Artificial Lures Only. I'll have to re-read them outside the park.

 

[Mike]

Yes, and the irony of the no bait (at least certain types of bait as I recall) in the park is that Valley Creek is where we first heard of rusty crayfish, an invasive, being present in the Schuylkill River basin. I did not learn of rusties being there until long after the no bait rule was enacted. FYI: Now rusties are up the Schuylkill at least as far as South Pottstown.

But I can top that. Three years ago while doing a trout population survey on Saucon Ck in Hellertown we found that an angler, I presume, had decided to dump his or her bait bucket of rusty crayfish in Saucon Creek next to a spring. There were numerous dead rusties on the stream bottom, possibly because of temperature shock and possibly because they were already dead or in bad shape in the bait bucket. It is unknown, however, whether any survived. If they did, they will most likely form the first population that, to my knowledge, we are aware of in the Lehigh R drainage basin. Most disturbing is that given the number released, there is a possibility that the angler brought them all of the way back (90-100 miles) from the Susquehanna. Here is an example of why the newly proposed reg would require anglers to pinch the heads off of crayfish when they are used for bait.

(Yes, I understand that some kid could have been on a trip, caught a bunch of crayfish, came home and his parents told him or her to get rid of them).