wgmiller
Well-known member
My daughter's first collegiate field hockey game was at Immaculata (Frazer area) yesterday, so needless to say, I paid a visit to Valley from roughly 8 AM - noon. Seeing the flow on the Turnpike-area USGS gauge let me know not to expect much, so I wasn't disappointed when I took a skunking. The purpose of yesterday's trip wasn't about catching fish - it was about reconning the stream and just being out on a nice day. With the USGS gauge showing 17 CFS, I knew conditions would be tough, and they were. I parked at the parking area on Bull's Corner Rd and fished upstream from Church Road to the lower end of Valley Creek Park. I found a few nice holes that held fish, and they showed themselves, but quickly darted back in. Those fish are super skittish at those low flows and know when it's time to feed and when it's time to hunker down. I know they're in there, so I didn't walk away saying "There's no fish in there". Up returning to my car, I fished downstream a bit, finding no fish and a lot of frog water. Undoubtedly, Valley fishes best when the flow is up.
Since my daughter is just a freshman, this will be far from my last visit to Valley, as I'll be in the area quite a bit over field hockey season. I have a few areas downstream on my radar to explore, which receive water from different sources. Hopefully I can catch with a bit more water in the system next time, but for this trip, it was just about trying to move fish with a Golden Retriever to see who was home.
Of note, it appears as though the entire stream through Valley Creek Park is having its banks stabilized. I didn't walk too far into the park, as it was an active construction zone, but they clearly had the creek flow diverted via a pipe system.
Views like this and cold summer water in metro Philly don't suck!
Found a decent (by Valley standards) fish under this mess. Getting him to commit, not so easy!
Lower end of Valley Creek Park, showing creek diversion pipe in operation. The bank stabilization project looks great. Hopefully a nice riparian buffer will fill in once the work is done.
Since my daughter is just a freshman, this will be far from my last visit to Valley, as I'll be in the area quite a bit over field hockey season. I have a few areas downstream on my radar to explore, which receive water from different sources. Hopefully I can catch with a bit more water in the system next time, but for this trip, it was just about trying to move fish with a Golden Retriever to see who was home.
Of note, it appears as though the entire stream through Valley Creek Park is having its banks stabilized. I didn't walk too far into the park, as it was an active construction zone, but they clearly had the creek flow diverted via a pipe system.
Views like this and cold summer water in metro Philly don't suck!
Found a decent (by Valley standards) fish under this mess. Getting him to commit, not so easy!
Lower end of Valley Creek Park, showing creek diversion pipe in operation. The bank stabilization project looks great. Hopefully a nice riparian buffer will fill in once the work is done.
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