Valley Creek - Chester County - 4/12/24

[Nymph-wristed]

100 CFS and falling on the TP gage, but I fished way up yonder, so just a stain and a little more volume
A couple varieties of small caddis and a few random craneflies too
Cloudy, rain at times, one nice soaker that I am glad I didn't quit over....

I had a few short hours this morning, so I hit Valley around 8 AM. I did not expect a bonkers streamer bite where I was based on the clarity of the water and the number of bugs active by 9 AM, but I had one on. I started out tossing the jigged bugger and landed a nicer Valley fish, especially for the skinnier reaches. I also turned another good fish with my hookset (and treed my bugger, of course) but didn't stick him well enough in a tight spot.

It was hard to ignore the bugs, so I started nymphing around 9 AM when I saw one riser. I got him to eat a duracell jig, which tends to be effective in stained water and low light. I had a steady pick of small to average fish until I had to quit at 11 AM. Half of them hit on the swing, too, and half also ate a soft hackle on the dropper (some on the swing, too, but now the math is too complicated).

A pic of the best fish of the morning:

 

[wildtrout2]

100 CFS and falling on the TP gage, but I fished way up yonder, so just a stain and a little more volume
A couple varieties of small caddis and a few random craneflies too
Cloudy, rain at times, one nice soaker that I am glad I didn't quit over....

I had a few short hours this morning, so I hit Valley around 8 AM. I did not expect a bonkers streamer bite where I was based on the clarity of the water and the number of bugs active by 9 AM, but I had one on. I started out tossing the jigged bugger and landed a nicer Valley fish, especially for the skinnier reaches. I also turned another good fish with my hookset (and treed my bugger, of course) but didn't stick him well enough in a tight spot.

It was hard to ignore the bugs, so I started nymphing around 9 AM when I saw one riser. I got him to eat a duracell jig, which tends to be effective in stained water and low light. I had a steady pick of small to average fish until I had to quit at 11 AM. Half of them hit on the swing, too, and half also ate a soft hackle on the dropper (some on the swing, too, but now the math is too complicated).

A pic of the best fish of the morning:

View attachment 1641235378

What a gorgeous wild brown!

 

[steve98]

Nice Brown,

Is this the Valley CK in the Valley Forge park ?

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Nice Brown,

Is this the Valley CK in the Valley Forge park ?

Yes, that is the one.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

What a gorgeous wild brown!

I am sure she appreciates the kind words! Valley does grow them pretty, yeah? 👍

 

[Clams]

Very nice! I was on Valley Friday as well from 5-7pm. Was down to about 60 cfs by then. Caught a bunch while stripping black buggers and a few on a white one as well, but none as pretty as the one in your photo.

 

[wgmiller]

Nice sparse spot pattern on that brown! I'm sure 100 CFS with a slight stain were ideal conditions for a stream that usually runs quite a bit lower.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Nice sparse spot pattern on that brown! I'm sure 100 CFS with a slight stain were ideal conditions for a stream that usually runs quite a bit lower.

100 CFS in the Park is a bit much, 60 is on the high end of great nymphing flows (see Clams tossing a bugger in 60 still), but I make estimates about how it will fish upstream based on the numbers below.

 

[tjsingle]

Great report, glad you got a good fish upstream. Back in March I had a run in with sizeable brown in the upper reaches (not the fish shown below)

The higher water the past 6 months or so has been fun for fishing. I used to live in Wayne so Valley was pretty much in my backyard, and I would fish it often. Even living in Downingtown I still make it over there frequently.

I like to toss streamers until they don't work, then I'll nymph. I usually go by turbidity to dictate my fishing, there's a few numbers I like to see on the gauge 🙂 There probably isn't a science behind it, but I'd like to think there is

 

[Clams]

I usually go by turbidity to dictate my fishing, there's a few numbers I like to see on the gauge 🙂 There probably isn't a science behind it, but I'd like to think there is

Interesting. My understanding of turbidity is that it measures the clarity of the water. To me this means it would show whether the water is stained or not, which is obviously very useful info. But whenever I look at the Valley gauge the turbidity is always all over the place and doesn't seem to reflect the clearness of the water (unlike the cfs which rises and falls religiously with the amount of rainfall).

Here's a screenshot of the past week. The darker line is the CFS which rises and falls with the rainfall exactly as you'd expect. The thinner line is the turbidity which goes up and down like crazy seemingly without relation to anything at least as far as I can tell. So I guess my question is, how do you use this on Valley (or elsewhere)?

 

[wgmiller]

100 CFS in the Park is a bit much, 60 is on the high end of great nymphing flows (see Clams tossing a bugger in 60 still), but I make estimates about how it will fish upstream based on the numbers below.

100 is probably a good streamer flow, no?

 

[tjsingle]

Interesting. My understanding of turbidity is that it measures the clarity of the water. To me this means it would show whether the water is stained or not, which is obviously very useful info. But whenever I look at the Valley gauge the turbidity is always all over the place and doesn't seem to reflect the clearness of the water (unlike the cfs which rises and falls religiously with the amount of rainfall).

Here's a screenshot of the past week. The darker line is the CFS which rises and falls with the rainfall exactly as you'd expect. The thinner line is the turbidity which goes up and down like crazy seemingly without relation to anything at least as far as I can tell. So I guess my question is, how do you use this on Valley (or elsewhere)?

The graph you posted of recent results looks a bit odd to me, and I suspect that there might be some debris obstructing the actual device. Other rain events from this year haven't had that fluctuation from what I've noticed. But overall it appears to me there still is a trend, but maybe not as pronounced as a major rain event may be.

The way I utilize turbidity on a stream gauge in general is experience based. I've fished Valley enough to know what numbers on the gauge will work at certain times of the year. Obviously there are exceptions to the trend. I had one day a few years back, blue bird skies, about 30CFS flow and did extremely well on streamers. Made absolutely no sense. I've also caught some of my biggest fish in gin clear water there

Factors like water temp, season, weather, etc all play a factor

100 is probably a good streamer flow, no?

It can be, depending on clarity

 

[Clams]

The graph you posted of recent results looks a bit odd to me, and I suspect that there might be some debris obstructing the actual device. Other rain events from this year haven't had that fluctuation from what I've noticed. But overall it appears to me there still is a trend, but maybe not as pronounced as a major rain event may be.

The way I utilize turbidity on a stream gauge in general is experience based. I've fished Valley enough to know what numbers on the gauge will work at certain times of the year. Obviously there are exceptions to the trend. I had one day a few years back, blue bird skies, about 30CFS flow and did extremely well on streamers. Made absolutely no sense. I've also caught some of my biggest fish in gin clear water there

Factors like water temp, season, weather, etc all play a factor

Got it, thanks. I stopped looking at turbidity long ago because my experience is that it's mostly all over the place like in the screenshot. Maybe I'll start paying attention to it again. Although I would think that it rises and falls similar to how CFS does.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

100 is probably a good streamer flow, no?

My best fish in the Park up through Chesterbrook have come in 60 to 80 CFS, and I have had more than a handful over 16 inches, including one a hair shy of 20.

I tend to ballpark it based on flow and then adjust according. Basically, I just fish it when I am fishing Valley, just a convenient visit with an old friend. Because it is close, I have had the luxury of learning it in all conditions. That has taken longer with other cricks obviously.

I am more concerned about picking days and conditions that keep fishermen away these days. The crappier the better 😉

One secret to success on Valley and any number of very pressured SEPA Class As is to pick your days if you have that luxury....

 

[wgmiller]

am more concerned about picking days and conditions that keep fishermen away these days. The crappier the better 😉

I think that's generally true on most streams. If you can get comfortable being uncomfortable, you can have some banner days with a stream all to yourself!

 

[bringthepain]

My best day on Valley was at 70 cfs many years ago now on good Friday. It used to be that spring caddis hatch was my best time to catch fish there. I'm a dry fly fan more than anything though so i'm biased