Valley Creek, Chester Co., 3/19/18

[DoctorWater15]

Fished Valley Creek from 10 AM to 5 PM. It was a bright and sunny day, with air temperature starting at 44 and making its way up to 51 degrees F. I fished from the Knox Quarters bridge upstream to the Mill Creek bridge.

Water was 49 degrees F, flowing at 29 CFS (average for this time of year is about 30 CFS, but has been around 20 CFS for most of 2017), and turbidity was 2.3 FNU (average, meaning gin clear).

There was minimal visible bug activity, but I did see a few small fish making splashy rises to what I'm assuming were midges.

I caught 12 fish (and missed at least twice as many bites!) with the largest fish being probably about 8 inches, with the majority being in the 3-6 inch range. Fish were caught on a size 18 beadhead black zebra midge and on a size 18 beadhead gray WD-40. Most fish were holed up in the deeper pools and riffles.

Interestingly, there seem to be some new riffles, runs, and pieces of structure following some of the recent major rain storms we had earlier this year. I ran into about 6 or 7 other anglers today as well, most of whom were trying to get out before the bad weather moves in!

 

[mcarney99]

Good report. That places changes constantly. A few new holes have developed in the last year and are deepening with each storm. Won’t be long until a few bigger fish find them and make them home. It’s nice being familiar with a creek and how each run fishes and flows but it’s also cool having to relearn a place a couple times a year.

 

[tjsingle]

Had a similar day on 3/11/18. A lot of smaller fish 4”-8” range, biggest one being 14” to end the day. Went 10 for 14 or 15. Valley is a fun place, seems to be either feast or famine lately

 

[sroach]

Was out there today as well. Lots of fish rising to BWO’s and I saw a lot of midges in the air.

Caught 2 on a black Ant. Was a nice few hours on the stream.

 

[salmo]

I fished Valley on March 19 also. I fished several spots upstream from the park. In the early morning the air temperature was 37 and the water temperature 42. I caught no fish from 7:30 until 10:00. I saw some midge activity but no risers. After a short break I moved farther downstream. The air temperature was in the 40s and the water temperature increased to 44. I started to take fish in nymphs. The first fish on a size 20 black bead head zebra midge. I then switched to a dry dropper rig with a 16 parachute BWO with a size 14 Sexy Bead Head Walt’s Worm about 18 inches below the dry. Surprisingly I took six more on the Worm. I saw several fish rising and switched to a size 18 thorax Adams and took 3 more. Upon switching back to the midge pattern I took one last small trout.

Most of the fish were under 5 inches. The three largest fish were taken on the dry fly. Considering the fact that I hardly ever catch trout on nymphs it was a very successful day. I quit around 3 pm and only ran into 2 other fishermen the whole day.