Rain and Valley Creek

[thebassman]

Hey Everyone,

I did a quick search of the forum and on google but could not find the answer to my question.....which I know has been discussed here at PAFlyFish.

I thinking of heading out to fish tomorrow morning and was thinking of hitting Valley Creek for a bit. I know with the rain that the water is up, but I also know that valley settles down pretty quick.

I was wondering if you guys who fish it way more than me would think that by tomorrow morning that it would have settled down a bit.

Also.....think the Little Lehigh will be blown out??

Steven

 

[pcray1231]

Yeah, it comes down quick. You shouldn't have any concerns whatsoever about it being too high. If trying to hit it "perfect", my concern would be the other way.

They're probably done, but it's always worth mentioning to watch out for spawning fish.

Watch the gauge:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?cb_00065=on&cb_00060=on&cb_63680=on&cb_00045=on&format=gif_default&period=15&begin_date=2013-11-05&end_date=2013-12-06&site_no=01473169

Notice the spike on the morning of the 27th. As of this posting, that was WAAYYY higher than it is now. And by daylight on the 28th, it had already dropped. A little too much.

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah, it depends on how colored up the water gets to a degree, but I’d say “ideal” for Valley is probably in the neighborhood of 50-75 cfs. Problem is, after most rain events, it won’t stay in that range for longer than a few hours. It’s at 34 right now, which will be better than the 20 cfs or so it is at a normal base flow, but still lower than ideal IMO. How it will be tomorrow morning will all depend on what happens between now and then.

As pcray mentioned, watch the gauges and base your decision on that, although I’ll disagree slightly on there not being a “too high” for Valley. I wouldn’t want to try to fish it with 500 cfs ripping through there!

 

[pcray1231]

Well, there is a too high. In fact, it gets REALLY high. But if you arrive in a situation like this, so long as the bulk of the rain has passed, just wait a few minutes.

Agree, 50-75 cfs and dropping is ideal. From a peak of "holy crap, this is an epic flood", it takes like 5 hrs to get there. I've had days where it was still too high when I started in the morning, and too low for my liking by lunchtime. Those were also among my best days there, as there was an hour or two where it was just crazy.

That "epic flood" stage is common and happens quickly with even a moderate rainfall. This is a classic boom-bust watershed. Half of the watershed area is buildings, and the other half is parking lots and roads. Not much sinks in, it just runs off real quick. Thus, it comes up real quick, gets real high, and drops real fast. It's saving grace is a relatively stable base flow. But it's tough to be real successful with just that base flow, it's small with a low gradient, clear water, and shy fish. A few fish is typical. It fishes much better with some real flow and color to it, when you can truly do well. But those conditions don't last very long.