French Creek Chester county

[Paul6.5]

I had a few hours to fish last Friday and decided to check out French Creek for the first time in 15+ years.
I started on the south branch off of 401, silt, silt, silt!!
Made my way down to the preserve near Warwick, silt, silt, silt!!
Stopped at a couple bridges on my way to the DHALO section and it was silted up however I did see some structures to narrow and speed up the stream.

Did something happen to this stream that I missed? I don't recall it being so bad. I know it was never a great creek but it's really bad now.

 

[jgish92]

French didn't receive a fall stocking this year. In the spring, when water levels are good, it can be a nice little put and take stream. It gets very warm in summer though, so without a fall stocking, I'm guessing it's very slim pickings. Hurricane Ida a couple years ago radically changed some sections of the stream.

 

[BradFromPotter]

I had a few hours to fish last Friday and decided to check out French Creek for the first time in 15+ years.
I started on the south branch off of 401, silt, silt, silt!!
Made my way down to the preserve near Warwick, silt, silt, silt!!
Stopped at a couple bridges on my way to the DHALO section and it was silted up however I did see some structures to narrow and speed up the stream.

Did something happen to this stream that I missed? I don't recall it being so bad. I know it was never a great creek but it's really bad now.

Look at all of the development in the area...what do you expect?

 

[mszoke1802]

I live very close to this creek. the development as mentioned in this area is insane. the creek fishes ok in the spring due to the stocking otherwise it's not worth it. There are a few good SM spots but they are closer to where it dumps into the skuke

 

[Silent Ocelot]

Yeah, I agree with the comments on this thread. It's a fun creek in the Spring when it gets fish but after May it becomes a boring place to fish. It may be my favorite stocked creek as I like the size of the creek and it has good structure. I have a lot of fun slinging a 4wt 7'6" glass rod there as its a fun rod to fish and an exceptional roll-caster. I can usually pick off a few fish in the FFO section before April first, which can be a tricky thing to do given the fact the pressure that part of the creek is receiving as the rest of the creek is inaccessible. During May this year I hit a bunch of browns. I was more excited to take an old friend out and get him into fish even with a spin bro wielding what looked like an ice fishing rod who hopped into our hole. I wasn't worried about him fishing in the same hole. I knew he wasn't going to catch anything. He was tossing what looked like a worm mashed onto a spinner. He did toss a few casts our way, and not very sneakily. He even asked us if we were using Powerbait on a fly rod (huh?).

 

[Paul6.5]

I guess having not been there in so long was a bit shocking.

I have no doubt that the developments are the cause of the silt. it looks like someone is trying to help with all the log vanes.

 

[Silent Ocelot]

Yeah, it's pretty silted over for the most part, kind of a junk stream at this point but it's close to two people I fish with so it makes for a great after-work location. It is fun to get those stocked rainbows in cold water on a 4wt glass rod as they put up a good fight. It's nice to find an excuse to use that glass rod too as I don't fish it anywhere else given that my other "loadouts" pertain to long nymph rods, beefy streamer rods, and larger water dry fly rods. I tail-hooked two fish in French this year that really shot off. One was in the FFO section. I also made the mistake of using nylon tippet at one point. Combined with a glass rod the rig and and rod had too much give to properly keep the fish pinned. It is fun when the fish wise up to the spin rabble and start selectively feeding. A fine time to swing some flies. The plunkers will by mystified at your performance. A good way to boost my rapidly-diminishing self worth and glass ego. Next year I have a plan with a friend to bombard it and make those trout tight-lipped.

At this point I am more interested in targeting wild/native fish so I'm willing to drive further to avoid the cruddy creeks of SEPA that are for the most part barren wastelands. A trip to Penns is always worth it, even just to lose some flies and rip my waders before a steelhead trip.

 

[Bamboozle]

I caught the first trout of my life in French Creek...

So for nostalgia's sake for the last handful of years I make a point to try and run down there a couple of times to fish after the final in-season stocking, NEVER in the FFO Section.

I never have problems with the conventional tackle crowd and usually do pretty well on bead heads & dries; never having to get scientific. I just knot on a few tried and true patterns that always work until I figure out what they want.

One day this year in late April/May because I was tired of drying off and redressing a small black EWC I use to imitate the Little Black Caddis, I tied on a black foam beetle...

...and KILLED them!! Go figure...

There are also some killer fallfish in that creek that fool you until you get them close.

Later in May the water is already getting warm and low, folks are swimming and my mind is on fishing the Sulphur hatches so I never think about "Frenchie" until the following spring...

 

[Mike]

The most downstream stocked section isn’t very sandy…lots of rock. It averages just over 20 m wide by a few tenths of a meter. As a result it is classified as a “small river” section. Most of the riparian zone is wooded and there is a nice bike path along segments. Were I fishing French Ck, the last section I would probably fish would be the fly stretch if I lived in the area. When I did the measurements for the average width a 3-4 different 300 m sites in about 2018 I was pretty impressed by the physical habitat in that section.