Valley Creek, Chester Co, 4-21-11

[paparise]

When the wind would die down the trout were rising everywhere. Threw a couple of midges (black and grey) and a tan caddis emerger with no success. A size 20 Griffith's Gnat did the trick. Didn't land him but he took it, fought for a second, jumped and threw the hook. Good enough for me.

 

[ryguyfi]

Gotta love a griffiths gnat. I swear I catch more fish on top on that fly than any other every season. This is the time of year I catch a lot on it too... too bad the water conditions aren't good for dries right now.

 

[Fishidiot]

Hi papa,
Thanks for the report and welcome to the PAFF forums. Here in the stream reports, we respectfully request the Stream, County, and Date fished. Obviously, everyone knows "Valley Creek" but for other waters it helps with search function and differentiates one stream from another with the same name (I added the county to the title).
Thanks,
Dave W

 

[DavidFin]

Fished Valley yesterday, the 22nd. Tough day, not a lot of activity. It was the coldest day of the week, I think. Managed one on a zebra midge in tandem with a copper john leader, then another on a tan caddis emerger when nothing else would draw a rise-- both near the covered bridge in the park. Good fight for a ten inch fish. The water seemed a little off color, but I'm sure after the sprinkle we got last night and will get intermittently today and tomorrow that the stream will muddy up a bit. I did get one strike on a wooly bugger while stripping it in so that may indicate good things to come with this weather.

 

[marcq]

also was there the 22 got one about 7 inches in the fast water on a BH PT Sz 18 missed about 4. i think valley has the nicest looking fish in the state. did more exploring then fishing went all the way up stream to another yellow bridge and dam. is this privet land and is there wild fish above the dam? and also checked out a small feeder stream about 100 yr down stream of the yellow bridge. anyone know the name of it?

 

[skiltonian]

one fish and missed four. thats a good day for valley. you must have put in your time for a day like that🙂 I heard its private up past the next bridge, I have seen the no trepassing signs, and rumor has it that the land owner is crazy and patrols with a gun. probably BS, but why take the chance..... probably not any fish anyway cause all the fish come in from the the Skuke, which BTW is worth fishing for trout. you may not catch many, but they are big. anyhow, back to valley, the fish come from the schylkill and can only get above the first dam in high water, but never got above the next, so i never bothered to head upstream. at least thats what PFBC stated on this site a while back. that feeder stream you mention is little valley. its actually much better fishing than valley, imo, head upstream from the mouth for about 20 minutes and then it gets good. def. worth the time, just keep walking till you find the deeper, wider pools. my biggest wild fish in the SE pa came from there. little valley feeds all the cold water into valley, so generally fishing above there isn't any good. good luck.

 

[marcq]

yea was there like 10 to 4 but i went up little valley seemed like it could be good but only went up about 100 yds and went to check out the bridge. thanks for the info ill check it out next time.

 

[kyle1248]

Before I started fly fishing I used to toss spinners in Valley and caught my largest trout there right below the yellow bridge and damn. I never ventured above there but have done well on little valley in the past as well.

 

[paparise]

I fished it once on a spinner near the mouth of the schuylkill and caught a huge, like 22in, rainbow. Must have been a hold over from when they used to stock it (I understand they used to stock it, I could be wrong). I gill hooked it deep and it and it bled out. I felt terrible about it for like a month. I've seen this happen a lot on a spinner, must be the way they take it.

 

[Fishidiot]

paparise wrote:
(I understand they used to stock it, I could be wrong).

Yes, Valley used to be stocked but this was stopped in 1985 due to contaminents (PCBs) found in fish flesh. On occasion some stocked fish will migrate up Valley from the Skuke River.