Fish Sticks
Well-known member
The Tully is a stream id love to night fish just because of the water type/pool structure. There are big carp in there I know but are there sizeable fall fish?
Last edited:
Thanksgiving Jam?
- Thread starter Silent Ocelot
- Start date
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
Tully would be ideal though also for Jam style meet up with large open water and decent length. Id also like to get up there in April on cocoosing and see the white suckers migrate up there for the first time since the dam came down too. Mike said they would benefit from the removal.
I would have done it but I'd already volunteered to work. If you get out, enjoy
Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
See @Fish Sticks, nature doesn't need our help, it fixes itself.
lestrout
Well-known member
Yo FS - I tried to find that YouTube - Searching for "muskie brandywine river" didn't do it. Do you have the link?
Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
I think night fishing it would be beneficial, throwing mice and other large noisy topwater patterns should prove to be productive as those massive trout that have hidden in the banks all day have now come out under the cover of darkness to feed. There's fields nearby on one of the stretches so it pretty likely some mice would fall into the creek. I don't think anyone else night fishes it so you'd have the advantage of tossing something to the trout that they have not seen before. Most people nymph it myself included.
There are sizable trout in there. Can't state exact lengths but I would theorize some approaching the 28 inch mark. A buddy and I spooked some huge ones that were hiding under the banks we were walking over. The heads on those fish looked like they belonged on a large dog! I once fished it under particularly high flows in the late summer of 2019 with an 8wt saltwater rod and a full sink 300gr line with a drop rate of 7/8 inches per second chucking streamers. I hit fish that were so large that when they shook the fly out they would kick up most of the fly line out of the water. No easy feat to do with that heavy of a sink line. The big ones are super smart and have really acclimated to the environment to avoid the angling pressure that the stream gets. Fishing for those big ones is like going for muskie.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
Wow I knew the Skuke had some large wild invasive brown trout but never would have guessed the Tully would have anything too big. Every now and again I have caught some wild invasive brown trout around the tribs with nat repro but most times I’ve gone there I have caught mostly rainbows.
The reason I want to night fish it so bad is because its kind of wide riffly and shallow and i imagine has a healthy crayfish population so my favorite technique of wading right down the middle and chucking chunky size 2-6 wets and tension loop drifting tight to the bank in soft water is an option. Pleasurable fishing style for sure. Hoping there are chunky fall fish in there which is target species at night in stocked fisheries.
Tried finding the video I forgot what i searched for. Someone at the orvis store told me about in like 5 years ago and I forgot what the search terms were. It was wild if anyone else knows what I am talking about please do post.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
Did anyone wind up having mini Jam/solo Turkey day fishing? I am going to take my daughter out today
Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
Yes it is a good place to meet and I think a good middle destination-wise for a variety of the members on here, barring the central PA guys and the ones farther north. As I said it's not an easy stream but due to its size we'll have room for a fair amount of people and I'm confident enough that I could lead people to fish, whether or not they actually catch anything is dependent on a variety of factors.
I like Cacoosing too. Actually fished it on Nov 1st this year. First fish was a nice wild brown, then it was just chubs for a bit... At one point I joked with the guy that I was fishing with that no one would never stock Cacoosing. I had to eat my hat as low and behold, there were some bananas further up the creek! Yes, they stock it... I did manage a nice 14 incher stocker but had to maneuver around the typical spin jockeys gunning for their favored fluorescent freaks.
As for the suckers. I have seen some in Cacoosing. I'd rather have them not be in there and catch wild browns only.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
I have never been up cacoosing really beyond 50 yrds. Would be cool to see the white sucker migration there in april though. I like catching suckers especially on light tackle. I actually do enjoy fishing for wild invasive brown trout if their around though. The white suckers probably feed them because they eat the eggs in april when they move to spawn(when i get out my sucker spawn flies). Prob used to feed the native brook trout in Cacoosing a long long time ago too when they were there. I still remember a pod of white suckers about 200 deep that moved into “the run” in the yellow breeches. Anyone have pictures of the flood plain project/dam removal just curious.
Silent Ocelot
Well-known member
I think the ones I I hit on when fishing streamers were massive rainbows. My largest trout out of the Tully is a 20 inch brown trout and it was a gorgeous fish that I shouldn't have landed because of my slack line on the water.
The_Sasquatch
Well-known member
Sorry-I love brook trout too, but is anyone else finding EVERY reference to wild browns as "wild invasive brown trout" quite obnoxious? We get it. They're not native to PA.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
Well being not native is something entirely different then being invasive. Not native + harm equals invasive. So when I say invasive this terminology communicates more than just nonnative.
I speak in the language of the peer reviewed journals use to describe it and scientific classification of the animal itself which may seem out of place in fly fishing circles but is commonplace in fisheries science . But thats part of how we got here in the first place, the disconnect……so i say it. Say what makes you feel comfortable.
Ranked as more invasive than snakeheads by the IUCN, no one would get kn me about to referring to invasive snake heads as such would they?
GeneBeam
Active member
Eventuality you have not found the ignore content function here on PA Fly Fish.
Fly-Swatter
Well-known member
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- Mar 23, 2014
- Messages
- 1,276
I agree. Define the terms = win the debate. Or, beat us into submission at the risk of alienating us. A little wisdom goes a long way.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
I think what you point out is valuable in that defining these terms can feel like being “ beaten into submission”. If I were talking about wild invasive snakeheads though people would not likely feel like they were being forced to submit to something. This is because messaging from fisheries managers has created a different standard for the two fish despite the one they stock being ranked as more invasive than snakeheads by IUCN. People have big feelings about brown trout and hearing the word invasive feels like they are being personally attacked as you describe. However, correct terminology is part of public education and awareness because you may know their an invasive species but for every angler who does theres 1000 who don’t thanks to fish commission.
This group of anglers who are very passionate about fly fishing for wild invasive trout(trout-bitten pod cast below) use the same terms I did in their podcast.Defining the terms doesn’t have seemed to make them enjoy their time on the water any less and they don’t seem afraid this topic.
Fly fishing and conservation are two different activities. If you take advantage of all the wild invasive trout fishing opportunities but just don’t stand in the way of native trout conservation in the places it’s possible or promote the spread of invasive trout species you can enjoy the fishing and truly support conservation. Ya just have to separate them a litte acknowledge some basic facts with the understanding that brown trout are more at risk of expanding than being taken away by conservationists and it won’t feel like being “beaten into submission”.
My perception from the the troutbitten crew’s discussion of invasive trout species is it does not feel to them like the terminology is trying to force them to submit to anything, it just sounds like their trying to educate the public on the value of native trout species in this instance.
Podcast: Catch and Release: Always or Sometimes? And How C&R Changes Things -- S5, Ep5
We consider the ways that catch and release changes the experience of fishing for us — how our approach shifts when the goals are different.
troutbitten.com
tomgamber
Well-known member
I find someone interjecting a same 😑 2 page thesis on the peril of the brook trout, because they find the topic relevant to every single discussion exhausting. I find myself using the "mark read" button a lot lately.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
Ironically i did not start this one I was talking about meeting up in downingtown.
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To: Brook Trout Crusaders
From: Swattie87
I agree with you. I think many (most?) of us PA wild Trout anglers do, from a fisheries management standpoint. With that established, can we please try to better limit this discussion to threads specifically designated as such for discussing “wild invasive Brown Trout” and/or the management of our remaining native Brook Trout populations.
I don’t care what you guys, or anyone else, calls them. I’m just tired of getting click-baited into reading about Thanksgiving Day fishing traditions (or whatever the thread title is) and finding this discussion recurring in seemingly every thread. I’m not singling any one individual out, but collectively as a group, I find it offensive and disrespectful to other forum members, especially those who initiate new threads, at this point.
I don’t mind discussing it, and frankly, I’d be more willing to participate in this discussion if it was better limited to threads originally intended to discuss it.
From: Swattie87
I agree with you. I think many (most?) of us PA wild Trout anglers do, from a fisheries management standpoint. With that established, can we please try to better limit this discussion to threads specifically designated as such for discussing “wild invasive Brown Trout” and/or the management of our remaining native Brook Trout populations.
I don’t care what you guys, or anyone else, calls them. I’m just tired of getting click-baited into reading about Thanksgiving Day fishing traditions (or whatever the thread title is) and finding this discussion recurring in seemingly every thread. I’m not singling any one individual out, but collectively as a group, I find it offensive and disrespectful to other forum members, especially those who initiate new threads, at this point.
I don’t mind discussing it, and frankly, I’d be more willing to participate in this discussion if it was better limited to threads originally intended to discuss it.
Fish Sticks
Well-known member
In this particular instance as i’m sure you saw I don’t believe I mentioned brook trout first but if the fisheries science/IUCN terminology for brown trout causes this kind of reaction I agree with you its unfair for the threads to derail regardless.
I will compromise and only refer to them as brown trout outside of the brook trout or conservation threads. I myself here was just looking to discuss possibly a Christmas meet uo in downingtown and did not want the thread to for this direction either.
