Valley Creek, Chester Co., 3/4/18

[mcarney99]

Met up with a buddy and fished Valley Sunday, I usually only fish it weekdays but with the wind I didn’t want to risk a far drive and the frustration of not being able to properly cast. So I stuck close to home this weekend. It was running 40s cfs so I fished streamers most of the day. Started in the park and caught a decent fish first cast. Moved a lot of fish after that but was a couple hours before I landed my second fish. We moved out of the park to another section. Small nymphs put a couple of fish in the net. Bwo and midges hatched throughout the day and even a few caddis but not a single rise. Later in the day I sight fished quite a decent brown for valley. Should be a good spring into the sulphur hatch this year.

 

[timmyt]

Caddis? Seems early but sweet!

 

[mcarney99]

Early but I’ll see one or two on days in March when the other bugs are coming off. Probably the reason you can dry dropper fish a tan caddis year round and get smacked on the caddis.

I don’t know why the pictures won’t stay up using photobucket.

 

[afishinado]

mcarney99 wrote:
Early but I’ll see one or two on days in March when the other bugs are coming off. Probably the reason you can dry dropper fish a tan caddis year round and get smacked on the caddis.

I don’t know why the pictures won’t stay up using photobucket.

Nice report.

Photobucket now does not allow sharing without paying a fee. You may want to try another hosting site to share your photos online.

Some info here.

 

[govtmule]

sulfur hatch?...i wouldnt get too excited...perhaps it got better in the last few years?

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

It has a pretty decent cranefly hatch. A lot of folks seem to confuse them with sulfurs, but they come off earlier than the sulfurs.

 

[ryansheehan]

SurfCowboyXX wrote:
It has a pretty decent cranefly hatch. A lot of folks seem to confuse them with sulfurs, but they come off earlier than the sulfurs.

Really??
"Who are these people???????"

 

[CLSports]

The people that fish Valley.

 

[mcarney99]

Its not consistent throughout the creek but sulphurs come off pretty good in a few stretches last couple of years.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

I can't tell you how many times I used to come across folks, particularly just upstream of the covered bridge (lots of craneflies hatch in the riffles just above the upstream bends), telling me about the early sulfurs during the caddis hatch. "They have the longest tails I've ever seen..."

 

[govtmule]

Hilarious...

 

[Mike]

When some anglers can't distinguish brook trout from brown trout, or a brown trout from a small smallmouth bass, it is not surprising that some would not know a mayfly from a cranefly. To me, that is a much more reasonable and understandable misidentification.

 

[SurfCowboyXX]

I don't think they ever catch one in the air to examine closely, and I have to admit that many years ago, I never knew there was such a thing as a cranefly. Once you capture one and see just how anatomically different they are, it all makes sense.

 

[afishinado]

Back more than a decade ago, I would guess, I looked forward to fishing Valley in the evening after work, to hit the sulpher hatch. This usually happened sometime in May.

I can't say I've seen a good hatch of sulphers on Valley in a long time, yet I keep hearing reports about a decent hatch on the stream. I've never been able to catch up with them, though.

It never occurred to me the sulphurs seen may be the long-legged variety.....😳

 

[vcregular]

Hurricane floyd did in the sulphurs. The stream changed significantly after that event.

 

[TYoung]

I fished a good Sulphur hatch on Valley Creek two years ago.

 

[mcarney99]

explains why more of you are fighting for parking spots on valley to fish midges in February and I practically have the stream to myself the hour before dark during the sulphur hatch early May last few seasons. Hurricane Floyd did its damage but it didn’t wipe out every single sulphur nymph in the damn creek. It’s coming back. And I don’t think many anglers let alone valley browns would confuse a cranefly for a sulphur. Although I do enjoy fishing craneflies as well.

 

[timmyt]

I fished valley regularly from around 2006-2011 when i worked up the road from the stream and i never saw a sulfer hatch and i never saw a nymph in all the rocks i turned over in those years. I always heard they used to be present there so i looked, glad to hear they are coming back though

 

[JohnPowers]

My old logs from the 80’s recall a hatch of Homeric proportions. Unfortuantely a half hour before dark. Egg sacs easily visible. The many rises spoke to the carrying capacity of the creek. Sound like an old fart but it was in the day when the tricks on the Monocacy blotted out the sun. Well.....almost.