Valley Creek, Chester County, 9/8/12

[fadeaway263]

Fished Valley today in Chester County with a Fox, a Roach, a Prof and a Parisian. [English Prof, Fox Gap, Sroach and Parise]. Arrived at 6:30 AM. The Fox had coffee. Was a bit dark when we started and was cloudy till we finished up at noon. We all got fish and except for Prof we all fished ants. Water was 66 deg air temp low 80s but humid as all get out. Except for the 4 of us we saw only one other guy. Maybe Fox will post the pic he took of the Doe and her little ones drinking that PCB infested water. I went down to the stream gauge by the Turnpike Bridge and removed the substantial amount of flotsam that had gathered around it due to recent storms and I wondered if this debris affected the accuracy of the gauge data. The best part is the water was noticeably higher and was clear.

 

[wvuandy1]

I fushed "the V word" from first light until 10 or so.
I started out nymphing with a hares ear w/ a small zebra midge in tandem. I caught a few on the small Z midge and caught one real nice fish (for VC) on the h.e. My biggest catch so far on a fly rod so I was pumped. After a little revival work he swam off healthy and ready for someone else to enjoy. Not much going on on the top of the water as far as rising. I tried an ant for a few quick drifts with no luck. Though I did note some large crane flies (I believe) struggling along the banks in numbers as I was leaving for the day.

I lost my g3 wadder belt somewhere out there if anyone happens to stumble on it please advise. Otherwise it was a perfect morning.

weather was insane!

Water temp was 62-64

 

[sroach]

Great post Fade!!

Had a great time fishing with you guys, thank you again for letting me tag along.

Met up with Prof and Fox again on Sunday morning, fished from 6:30 till about 10:00. Water and outside temp were a lot cooler and a lot less humid, which made it nice.

Everything we took were on Nymphs, I threw an Ant a couple times, but no luck.


-wvuandy, congratulation, sounds like you had a great day, how big do you think that one was?

 

[ewall]

Nice post and thanks for the report!

I fished that creek for the first time yesterday afternoon with a FB Pheasant Tail and and Flying Ant with no luck.

Not to branch off into a different topic about Valley Creek, but do you guys have to take precaution after fishing the creek by cleaning your gear due to the PCB's?

Thanks

 

[wvuandy1]

Sroach, thank you. As far as size, I marked it on my grip end of the rod and will take a quick measurement as to where the fish extended up and let you know. After catching a lot of non-stocked 6 inch fish this one was different by a long shot. We'll see.

It was nice to hear that I was not the only one who only had luck on Nymphs. Is that typical when there is a big drop in humidity and heat that Trout tend to stay down?

-wvuandy

 

[Fishidiot]

ewall wrote:

do you guys have to take precaution after fishing the creek by cleaning your gear due to the PCB's?

Thanks

No.
PCBs are contaminants that exist inside the fish's flesh and are not going to travel on gear.

 

[ewall]

I thought water was contaminated from Fadeaway's post about the deer drinking the water. Either way, the contaminates don't stick to your gear? Has it been long enough since the PCB spill that it isn't so much in the water/soil as it is in the fish?

Sorry again Fadeaway, I don't mean to hijack your post.

 

[fadeaway263]

For those of us that fish Valley this is worth the effort to read. The prediction of impervious surface water by 2026 is scary.

http://www.savevalleycreek.org/watershed.asp

 

[Fishidiot]

ewall wrote:
Either way, the contaminates don't stick to your gear? Has it been long enough since the PCB spill that it isn't so much in the water/soil as it is in the fish?

No, they wont stick to fishing gear.

PCBs (poly-chlorinated byphenals - an industrial waste from electrical transfomers mostly) exist in sediment and fish flesh. They're pretty much everywhere in trace amounts. In the case of Valley, they came from a defunct train yard near Paoli that has been a Superfund site for years. The PCBs are diminishing and - I think - are now at levels in the trout that are safe for limited human consumption. I'm sure there's no plan to re-open V to harvest however. The watershed is currently something like 16-19% impervious and this number is increasing and many folks feel is probably a more serious threat to the fishery.

 

[paparise]

Had a good time on sat. Fished ants all day. There was little top water activity outside of the occasional rise but the ant with the right drift kept bringing them up so I didnt change. Thought I saw cranes too but wasnt sure. Tried one for a bit and got a strike on it but that was it.

 

[Foxgap239]

Was really nice fishing with several PAFF-ers. I will also say with 5 of us fishing (only guys I saw all day) we had plenty of room and even more ball busting fun. Great day with some great people. I got fish on bottom and on a beautiful parachute ant tied by paparise. Thanks Phil! Took some nice fish Sunday on that same ant. I need to tie up a few more because this one has about had it. Steve, I got a few more at the other spot I went to Sunday! Let's do it again soon. Oh yeah, water temp was 66 Saturday and down to 63 Sunday after a bit of rain.

 

[sroach]

Thanks Fox, was going to ask how you made out.

paparise that parachute Ant you gave me landed me a nice 8" fish later on that day.

 

[Keppenbill]

Gonna check valley out never been there guess i get some ants

 

[Keppenbill]

also wondering about depth i have waist highs

 

[englishprof]

Waist highs are fine. I wear hip waders on Valley. If you're in water up to your waist, you're in the wrong spot.

 

[Keppenbill]

Cool just wasn't sure guess ill start in the park section to get a feel for it