Valley Forge, Pennsylvania,
February 28, 2009
A report from Jin
Mike, your fishing reports were
starting to drive me a little crazy. I needed to fish,
so I packed up the rod and went back to
Valley Creek.
I parked at the covered bridge and made my way upstream.
Air temperature was in the high 60s and it got even warmer
during the day.
There was definitely some bug activity, mainly midges and
an occasional mayfly. Everything was pretty microscopic. I
tied on a size 18 para-nymph and started prospecting up
stream but I didn't have much luck. I did manage to get one
decent sized trout to sip my fly but I was so surprised by
the take that that waited too long to set the hook. He had
enough time to eat the fly, swirl it around his mouth for a
while and spit it back out.
I worked a little further up than on
my last trip and found a nice deep pool. This was
perfect water for a big brownie. I switched back to a
nymph and landed a small brown. I tied on a bigger
fly--because big fish eat big bugs, and after couple
casts hooked a 14 inch brownie. He actually put up a
fight. I used the secret fly for this fish and
promptly put it away after letting him go.
I kept working up stream until I passed another bridge and
I found a pod of rising trout. There were about six browns
smashing bugs on the surface so I tied on a dry and on the
first cast a brown smacked it. Now, normally I would set
the hook, reel the fish in, and take a pic so I can send it
to Mike and make him feel bad for baby sitting when he
should be fishing. Not this time. I was slow and the fish
was too quick. Half a dozen more casts, three more trout
smack my fly, and no fish. People walking across the bridge
were probably wondering why that crazy fisherman was
cursing to himself.
I worked that pool over for another
half hour. A few more small browns smacked my fly but
none ended up on my hook.
Valley Creek is a spring-fed, limestone body of water that
supports a wild brown trout fishery just a short distance
from Philadelphia. No kill regulations, no stocking, and
cold water make it possible to catch browns up to 16-inches
in this creek.
The creek originates in East Whiteland Township and flows
12 miles to the Schuylkill River. The lower half is the
most accessible to the public with posted land makes it
difficult to find open fishing water on the upper sections
of the creek.