Tips on location near SEPA / Chester county

D

Dabandfly96

New member
Joined
Dec 1, 2023
Messages
11
Location
West chester
Hey everyone! I’m semi new to fly fishing and the area. I currently live outside of west chester and have been fishing valley forge, valley creek in downingtown, and the Tully. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on different locations I can catch some trout. I’m not looking for your honey hole, more so somewhere that I can park that’s near a hole in general. I have found that I spend most of my time exploring and walking, but I’m not close enough to keep going back to most of these locations.

Please help out a new angler,
 
I’d switch to bass fishing if you want to stay close. If your stuck on fishing for trout, drive an hour north and a little west and you will find plenty.
 
Or wait until spring stocking takes place then there are multiple options in Chester County and Delaware County on put and take streams.
 
Dabandfly96 said:
Hey everyone! I’m semi new to fly fishing and the area. I currently live outside of west chester and have been fishing valley forge, valley creek in downingtown, and the Tully. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on different locations I can catch some trout. I’m not looking for your honey hole, more so somewhere that I can park that’s near a hole in general. I have found that I spend most of my time exploring and walking, but I’m not close enough to keep going back to most of these locations.

Please help out a new angler,
Click to expand...

I feel your pain as I grew up in downingtown and the trout fishing is what you stated. I'm in phoenixville now and will hit up french creek now and then. Also little lehigh is about 1 hour north of you, not a terrible drive and it'll put you in area of a few other creeks. feel free to dm me and I can give you a few more ideas.
 
Yo Dab - welcome to the best ffishing forum. Come to the Valley Forge TU meeting next Thursday. It's at the Barn in Uwchlan and the speaker is Henry Ramsay, who lives in Morgantown and knows most of the streams. The VFTU members are always willing to help out conservationists and anglers, especially fly folk.
 
French Creek or Hay Creek are reasonably close (between you and the Tully)
 
Dabandfly96 said:
Hey everyone! I’m semi new to fly fishing and the area. I currently live outside of west chester and have been fishing valley forge, valley creek in downingtown, and the Tully. I was wondering if anyone had any tips on different locations I can catch some trout. I’m not looking for your honey hole, more so somewhere that I can park that’s near a hole in general. I have found that I spend most of my time exploring and walking, but I’m not close enough to keep going back to most of these locations.

Please help out a new angler,
Click to expand...
Tale a look at the maps of the Schuylkill Basin, there are many tributaries to the river that hold trout throughout the year.
 
But in all seriousness, French creek would be a good start! It’s close enough for you to really spend time there and make it your home water ..learn the stream and get things dialed in! Best of luck
 
Try the Pickering Ck Delayed Harvest area in late winter or early spring after stocking. It may also hold a few trout over the winter from the prior year’s stockings. At least that’s what summer water temps may suggest. It stays cooler than the special reg area on French Ck.
 
If you can get to Kimberton Fire Co Building A on Monday Jan 29th at 5.30, the Dame Juliana League is holding a fly tying event. The members of this club do a good bit on and around French Creek.
You could probably be able to sign up for helping with the float stock in Mid February, that would be a wealth of information for you. Check out the club face book page for more information, they have a website too.
 
Mike said:
Try the Pickering Ck Delayed Harvest area in late winter or early spring after stocking. It may also hold a few trout over the winter from the prior year’s stockings. At least that’s what summer water temps may suggest. It stays cooler than the special reg area on French Ck.
Click to expand...

When was the last time Pickering was surveyed for wild Trout? I suspect there are some surprises to be found in that watershed.
 
Oregon_OwlII said:
I've wondered the same thing. A casual check of water temps up there looked good to me on relatively hot days.
Click to expand...
Yeah. There’s definitely some wild Browns in tribs of Pickering. A lot of posted land in that area, so the tribs aren’t really accessible for the most part. I’d bet you’d find some in Pickering main stem too. Some of those tribs are limestone and/or quarry water. I think that whole watershed is better than advertised.
 
Yes, there are a few tribs with wild BT and they are much better than Pickering for the most part for wild trout. But even one trib was marginal with wild trout found one year but not a couple or so yrs later. Pickering itself has a few wild BT, but few if any fingerlings. If we ever found any fingerlings in Pickering, it was only 1 or 2 in the upper 20% of the regular stocked stretch (not the DH), but my true recollection is only of a few yearlings and older fish in Pickering proper and at only one sampling site. This was consistent for that site over the years. I think we sampled every or almost every trib over a few yrs time span.
 
Thanks Mike, good info.
 
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