A report from Jin
Your fishing reports were starting to drive me a little crazy 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 paranymph 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 awhile 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.
