Valley Creek 3/21/08

[sholgate]

My wife and I were on Valley Creek this afternoon after an unsuccessful morning on the French Creek (A bit high and murky). Beautiful day, water clear and low, and I was lucky enough to fool a 10" Wild Brown. Lovely way to spend some time before family comes in.

[Nymphmeister]

Very cool. What does Valley Creek look like?

[sholgate]

Valley Creek is a small free stone stream. It runs about 50 cfs. I have only fished parts within Valley Forge Nat'l Park. The trout are wild, smart, and small, but it is worth it for the beauty and it is a good choice when other streams are are high. (Like my near-by Tully.)

I would like to explore some more up-stream in the near future. Although I have been there only twice, it is quickly becoming a favorite small stream.

[AaronJasper]

Isn't Valley Creek a limestone spring creek? I know it appears to be be freestone but I am pretty sure the creek flows because of groundwater.

[Nymphmeister]

Just peeked in my FF's Guide to PA book, and it says Valley Creek is a limestoner, and it supposedly coughs up wild browns in the 15-20" range with some regularity. The state has studied the stream extensively and apparently still is, there are PCB's in it. The author says the stream is a good one to fish with terrestrials, and it stays cool in the Summer. It has 7 miles of Class A wild brown trout water and it runs into the Schuylkill River. Sounds like a really nice piece of water to me. Has Master Jasper fished it much?

[sholgate]

I sit corrected. There are probably bigger fish in there just haven't been lucky, or skilled enough to fool them. I was using mostly Bead Head Pheasant Tail Nymphs that I tied with a bit of flash.

Tomorrow I believe my wife and I are going to try either Donegal or West Branch Octoraro. Just getting around and discovering the streams around me. I took a 10 year vacation from trout fishing and busting off the rust. Looking forward to warmer weather and the regular season!

[Nymphmeister]

Hey, who knows how accurate the big fish report is in the book. Anyways, big trout in small streams are SPOOKY. Your best shot at catching one out of there is either fishing at night, or tossing a BIG streamer (3-6") when the water is up & off color after a rain.

[sholgate]

Thanks for the advise. I am always learning. I have never fished for trout at night, only catfish and bullheads. I grew up on the Susquehanna.

[AaronJasper]

Torrey... I was there a few weeks ago.

http://troutpredator.info/index.php?topic=1351.0

[Fascist Killer]

From what I've read and heard, the big fish are up stream. If you have the Landis book Torrey, its the upper access area he refers to. COincidentally (or maybe not), this also happens to be where all the browns spawn. I think most of the regulars respect that gournd as sacred while the fish are on their redds, but I wouldn't be surprised if part of the reason the big fish are caught up there is that occassionally someone heads up there and targets them when they're easy to find. Pretty stream. I like the scenery of the manatawny better though!