Valley Creek, Chester County, 8/15/21

[Clams]

Took advantage of the cooler temps and fished the upper portion of Valley Creek from 6am till 1130am today. And did pretty well. Landed 7 or 8 and probably hooked and lost just as many. A couple were in the 10-12" range and the rest smaller. That's serious progress for a hacker like me!
Weather was cloudy, air temp was in the low 70's and water temps were in the low 60's all morning. Some showers passed through just before dawn - they didn't add much to the flow but it did produce some stain which I'm sure helped me out. Saw no bugs in the air and no fish feeding on the surface so it was a good thing I left the 3 wt in the car and went with my nymphing rod. Caught fish on buggers, walts worms, buggers, frenchies, pretty much all the basic nymph patterns were working. They were hungry all morning while it as cool and cloudy but around 10am the sun came out and it warmed up and the bite pretty much ended. Fished two parts of the creek about a mile apart and had them both completely to myself.

Also:
Had my first ever encounter with stinging nettles. I was wearing long pants (wet wading) but they still got me. As I type this report, it feels like my shins and calves are electrified. Not painful, just... weird! Hope it goes away soon.

Took a tumble into the creek when I used a big wet log as a step to climb out of the creek and and the log gave way. Went face first into the creek. It's a miracle that I didn't break anything - my rod, my sunglasses, my bones - all thankfully intact.

I've been fishing Valley since 2017 and this was by far my most productive day ever there. Didn't catch anything that would make the banner photo on Sick Days but had consistent trout action for 4 straight hours. I'm finally getting the hang of this creek and it feels good!

https://imgur.com/gyt6G54.jpg
https://imgur.com/pLV24AP.jpg
https://imgur.com/BbrAftF.jpg

 

[Prospector]

Thanks for the report. A very nice day on Valley. With nothing happening on the water you made some good choices. The best choice was being on the water at 6am. Congrats!!

 

[allthingsfishing]

Good job.
I am always weary of stepping on logs. I had a similar experience a few years ago. At my age I can't afford to have too many falls.

 

[Mike]

See second paragraph regarding relief from stinging nettle encounters. By the way, stinging nettle seems to be most common in my experiences around limestoners.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/kids/plants-and-animals/stinging-nettles/

 

[Clams]

Mike wrote:
See second paragraph regarding relief from stinging nettle encounters. By the way, stinging nettle seems to be most common in my experiences around limestoners.

https://www.in.gov/dnr/kids/plants-and-animals/stinging-nettles/

Thanks I took some benadryl last night to ease the stinging and it helped. Today it's all gone.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Like trips over logs, my encounters with stinging nettle barely registered as a kid... These days it's a different story too! Good low water day on VC!

 

[Mike]

When I was surveying Fishing Ck, Clinton Co in the village of Clintondale the kids who came out to watch called the stinging nettle “stickweed.” They had a name for everything….longnose dace were called “gruntleys.” Likewise, when I surveyed Dunkard Ck, Greene Co., the kids in Mt. Morris who watched us called northern hogsuckers “muddleheads.”

 

[martinlf]

My son-in-law calls nettle "fireweed." Makes sense to me.

 

[larkmark]

The proper name for stinging nettle is burn hazel.

 

[wgmiller]

larkmark wrote:
The proper name for stinging nettle is burn hazel.

I was gonna say, that's what I've always called it growing up in Lancaster. The banks of the Conestoga in many places is littered with it. There's plenty along the banks of the Donegal as well. Wicked stuff, for sure!

It seems as though "Stinging Nettles" is a more widely accepted name and "burn hazel" is a largely local moniker:

 

[larkmark]

Haha! It's also edible by the way. Can make tea from it and also eat the actual plant if cooked. I pick it when young . A tasty springtime dish.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

What, no 7 Minute Itch? That is what we called it. Is that some Philly thing?

 

[drakeking412]

as others have said nettle is edible. when you steam or saute the leaves the histamine loaded barbules get destroyed and I've heard it has similar health benefits to spinach. I've never verified any of this though, i just eat spinach.

i do know for a fact that if hit by nettle you can find "jewelweed" usually nearby and the jewelweed when crushed and rubbed on the nettle stings will counteract it and greatly lessen the symptoms.

 

[JeffP]

I remember there was a ton along a stretch of the Pequea near route 30. It was nasty but I don't ever remember it lasting that long. . I almost always wet wade so I've been hit pretty good a few times.

 

[wildtrout2]

Nymph-wristed wrote:
What, no 7 Minute Itch? That is what we called it. Is that some Philly thing?

Must be. I'm a Philly suburb guy and that's what we called it as kids. The most important thing is to be able to identify it so you can avoid it. If/when you contact it, you won't soon forget it.

 

[larkmark]

The plant you definitely want to avoid is the invasive Giant Hogweed which is fairly common along waterways. It can cause severe burns to people and animals. I have seen it a lot. Look it up online.

 

[AndyP]

7 minute itch is definitely a SEPA thing. I fell into plenty of it along the Brandywine growing up. The myth was if you could take the pain and not itch/scratch it for 7 minutes it would go away .... yeah that was a myth LOL !