Do the trophy trout still run into and up Valley Ck to the dam during June?

[Mike]

In the early 1990's a well-known angler and author was reporting that there were an abundance of large trout in Valley Ck that had been appearing on an annual basis in the stretch below the first dam above the mouth. PFBC stockings had long since ceased. After a few years of these reports we surveyed that stretch on 6/26/95 at his request and based on such an unusual report. In fact, there were large numbers of very nice to trophy size trout, although many were thin and were believed to be stocked fish. Seven had been tagged by a local University and one was a 21 inch Brookie, but it was unknown when or where the tagged portion of the fish population had been tagged and released.

Our belief was that many or all of the trout had moved in from the Schuylkill River, particularly since this appeared to be an annual event. It also seemed unlikely that a single angler would have known about this if the big fish had been present throughout the spring. As I recall, the fish would just appear in late spring. The timing and poor condition of the fish suggested that they had escaped warm water and entered the much cooler Valley Ck.

In 321m of electrofishing downstream from the dam sixty-one Brown Trout and one Brook Trout were collected that were 15-23 inches long. Sixteen trout were 20 in. and longer, including a 21 inch brookie.

I am not here to debate the source or other issues that might surround these fish that could be brought up here. I am strictly interested in learning whether anyone here knows whether or not this still occurs or had personally experienced this situation in Valley Creek in the past. Plus, with the frequency that Valley Ck is mentioned here, I thought this bit of history might be of interest to its followers.

 

[Longbow]

Last year, in that area, I observed two different browns cruising along the surface that were well over 20". I cast to them but only got a head turn. Always wanted to go back at night with a mouse, but they were inside the park.

 

[Dave_W]

This would be a good topic for a local survey, particularly if it could be coordinated with VFTU (as Mike already knows).

Anyway, if a new electrofishing survey is conducted, may I tag along to observe?

 

[Mike]

Dave, that is not in the cards for this year. The field schedule will be full. Efforts in that neck of the woods will focus on documenting a known and some possible wild trout streams that we have just discovered downstream along the Schuylkill.

 

[afishinado]

Mike wrote:
Dave, that is not in the cards for this year. The field schedule will be full. Efforts in that neck of the woods will focus on documenting a known and some possible wild trout streams that we have just discovered downstream along the Schuylkill.

^ Good to hear! That sounds like a great choice for allocating limited time as well as funds.

The scenario described by Mike is fairly well known amongst VC anglers fishing the stream for a long time.

The theory is stocked trout drop down into the Skuke from the nearby ATW's like French, Pickering and Stony Creeks. When the River warms, they seek cooler water and end up at the dam just upstream from the mouth of Valley Creek.

I've witnessed it myself in the past, and still hear stories once in a while about large trout holding just below the dam.

Sometimes dams are a good thing....lol. In this case it prevents invaders from the River (including flatheads) from coming upstream into a wild trout stream.

Good luck with the surveys, Mike.

 

[vcregular]

Yes, have witnessed this in the past. It was a pretty cool sight to see. Time frame of witnessing was most likely the late 80s thru the time hurricane floyd hit the area. I think that was '98.

It occurred in late-May/early-June and as you said the fish would try to jump the falls. Some of the fish were big - 20"+ - up to what I thought were mid-20s. I don't fish the stream near as much as I did then so I don't know if that still occurs. The last time I saw truly big fish in that area was downstream of the falls in the fall where a spring dumps in. There were two fish pairs up and both were easily over 20"+. I went back the next day and they were gone.

Also, I tend to think the majority of the fish tried to jump the falls when the water was up/muddy. Which could be partly why not too many anglers noticed them trying to jump? Since angler would not be fishing on those dirty water days. They used the high water to their advantage.

I also recall seeing one particular angler numerous times when I fished that area during the sulphur spinner fall that would always be heading out to fish when I was heading back to the car. He was a night angler and he claimed to get into big fish above the dam on large greased up wulff patterns. Again that was before Floyd which in my opinion devastated that area of the stream and also imo crushed the sulphur hatch. More or less wiped it out. That stretch above the falls did hold big fish. You could see them in the depths of that limestone green color water. Again those fish are now gone imo.

Thanks for bringing this up. I do recall the university study too. This would have been before fish ladders so although people wanted to think there was a unique sea-run population of fish, it was not possible.

By the way - good luck with the exploratory shocking.

 

[chadm]

I have walked the trail next to the creek a hundred times and occasionally see a few big trout in there above the dam. Just never see them when fishing.

 

[geebee]

interesting, as I said a week or two ago, I always throw a streamer in the foam of that dam expecting a big ol' brown to hammer it, but with no luck, but then I tend to fish Valley in the summer months when the white clay, tully etc are poaching trout...

maybe I should try in June...

 

[lestrout]

The dam used to be higher - one side eroded after a storm - I think a log punched the top of the right side off. At that time, there were a whole lot of trouts making the jump, and it was fun to see big and small ones trying to scale the falls. Only about 1% of them actually got high enough to squirm the last few inches and get over the lip.

As a result, there were times there were a lot (dozens) of big trouts in the plunge pool - in effect they couldn't get over the dam and stacked up for the most part.

A theory I had was that in those days the Schuylkill was more polluted, especially mine and industrial waste upstream. The big guys would be living in spring holes in the river at the bottom where the house sized slabs of slate provided refuge and food. But when a big rain event came along, the rain would flush a mess of contaminants into the river. Seeking cleaner water, these 2 footers would go into tribs that had clean water.

The year or 2 that I played with this section, I was in that phase of my ffishing life that I craved big trouts. I specifically traveled to places I knew in Cali, NY, twice to MT to get this done. Then I decided to see what the Valley dam pool guys would take (couldn't get any on dries - now that I'm wiser, I believe they were eating emergers). I even bought at least 3 rods to try to get the drift protocols down, to no real avail. So I descended to the depths. After landing a half dozen 2 footers (up to 26"), netting them and tossing them above the dam, I got the bug out of my system, and went back to the proper way of ffishing.

In any case, since the dam was partially breached, and the river watershed was cleaner, I didn't see the volume of biggies stacking up anymore. I could see the success rate of the jumpers was much higher since the right side was a couple of feet lower.

 

[afishinado]

lestrout wrote:
The dam used to be higher - one side eroded after a storm - I think a log punched the top of the right side off. At that time, there were a whole lot of trouts making the jump, and it was fun to see big and small ones trying to scale the falls. Only about 1% of them actually got high enough to squirm the last few inches and get over the lip.

As a result, there were times there were a lot (dozens) of big trouts in the plunge pool - in effect they couldn't get over the dam and stacked up for the most part.

A theory I had was that in those days the Schuylkill was more polluted, especially mine and industrial waste upstream. The big guys would be living in spring holes in the river at the bottom where the house sized slabs of slate provided refuge and food. But when a big rain event came along, the rain would flush a mess of contaminants into the river. Seeking cleaner water, these 2 footers would go into tribs that had clean water.

The year or 2 that I played with this section, I was in that phase of my ffishing life that I craved big trouts. I specifically traveled to places I knew in Cali, NY, twice to MT to get this done. Then I decided to see what the Valley dam pool guys would take (couldn't get any on dries - now that I'm wiser, I believe they were eating emergers). I even bought at least 3 rods to try to get the drift protocols down, to no real avail. So I descended to the depths. After landing a half dozen 2 footers (up to 26"), netting them and tossing them above the dam,

In any case, since the dam was partially breached, and the river watershed was cleaner, I didn't see the volume of biggies stacking up anymore. I could see the success rate of the jumpers was much higher since the right side was a couple of feet lower.

^..."So I descended to the depths."... :-o

^...I got the bug out of my system, and went back to the proper way of ffishing....

 

[Chaz]

I know they were coming up in the early 2000's.
There' a stream in Bucks that has big browns moving into a small brown trout stream in the fall, they would be in the 25 inch range.