Valley Creek, Chester County, 10/31 and 11/1

[Nymph-wristed]

WATER: Post rain, stained to dirty, some leaf litter but not like over the past weekend. 60+ CFS on Thurs, 100 CFS and falling on Fri
WEATHER: Drizzle and fog Thurs, wind and Sun Friday
HATCHES: Olives, some caddis, YOY, I suppose 😉

Instead of posting random pics, I figured I was due for a report!
Valley fished silly on Halloween. I fished two flies the entire time, and 80% took a size 18 jig with CDC and a purple hot spot, 20% took a grubby hare's ear pupa on the dropper. Just tightline nymphing, I landed over 30 trout in 3 hours, and at least 10 of them were double digit fish, between 10 and 13 inches. My only regret was not packing another rod to give them a shot with the streamer as the water rose later in the afternoon. A few fish took the bugs on the swing too. The fish are colored up, and a couple hens were fat with eggs, so this may be the last hurrah.

Woke up on Friday and saw the double dip on the USGS gage and headed over with the streamer rod when the creek was above 100. Started slow, but as the creek cleared, there was a magic 90 minutes of Valley-good fish, and one good fish that was over 16 inches. A basic black crystal bugger did the trick with a large split shot to get it down. I landed two over 14 inches, and the average were mature 11 to 13 inchers. Two pretty fantastic days in a row, but it might be time for me to chase stockies close to home.

A couple from Thurs looking ready for love:

A few from Friday's streamer-fest, including the 16+ incher:

 

[TimMurphy]

Dear nymph-wristed,

They are all nice but the middle one is a dandy for Valley or any crick that size. Nice work!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Thank you, Tim!

 

[JohnPowers]

Unless you got itty bitty hands those are much bigger than the fish I remember on Valley. Nice going.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

No, you are right, John. I taped the one at over 16 inches, and a couple others were 14 on 11/1. Good Valley fish, for sure. Thank you!

 

[jifigz]

I've never fished Valley but I always hear about people catching mostly little fish.. That one is a pig for that stream then. Nice job!

 

[Nymph-wristed]

jifigz wrote:
I've never fished Valley but I always hear about people catching mostly little fish.. That one is a pig for that stream them. Nice job!

Thank you, jfigz. I put a lot of hours on that creek, and I think it is the third largest I have landed over the years, so a memorable fish for sure.

 

[JohnPowers]

Years ago I used to drive up from center city to fish the incredible sulfer hatch into the dark. You could really appreciate the abundance of fish then. I’m guessing the local tu chapter deserved a lot of credit.

 

[JasonC]

Great fish! Looks like more evidence of the piggies coming out to feed after the rains

 

[Mike]

Little Valley in the lower half mile or lower mile had the same size fish as Valley in the 1980’s, but stormwater has damaged its bigger fish habitat as well over the years.

 

[JeffP]

I moved to Exton for 6 months before getting married in the early 90s. I remember fishing Little Valley once and being really impressed. Caught about a 15 inch brown on a hopper and saw tons of trout in a hole by a small bridge. It was a long time ago but I think it was near where Chubby Checker lived? I also remember flying up the turnpike after work and catching the sulphur hatch. You couldn't believe the number of nice trout rising in 3 inch deep water. I remember coming back a few years late and not seeing much of a hatch.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Mike wrote:
Little Valley in the lower half mile or lower mile had the same size fish as Valley in the 1980’s, but stormwater has damaged its bigger fish habitat as well over the years.

Definitely silts up more there, Mike, plus more trash, beach balls, etc. That spill took out nearly an entire year class of YOY as well. It is also alarming how fast the creek can go from 20 CFS to 4000!

I will be hoping to see some redds this fall up there in the usual places. The average fish in the area were a bit larger this year and last, but they are all probably the same year class or classes, so I fear the 'benefits' are short lived.