November 5, 2018 – Apparently, the Chlorine Spill Didn’t Get Them All – Valley Creek

Very happy to see you, man.

In April of this year, a water main broke and sent a huge plug of chlorinated water into Little Valley Creek, which joins Valley in Tredyffrin Township/Chesterbrook area.  There was a pretty significant fish kill as a result, so I have purposely left the area alone this year—that is until today.  I haven’t stopped fishing Valley, just this particular area this year.  In fact, I have still done well in the Park a handful of times, and I ventured up above Malvern at least once this year and caught some fish, too, but I had tentatively planned to take a walk this fall to see how the affected area was doing.  I figured I would look for redds and fish a few high percentage holes to see what had survived.  I was working from home this morning, so I only had a couple hours to fish this afternoon, but with rain falling, it was a potentially great day for Valley, so today was the day for some reconnaissance, especially since guys who are fishing it are staying awfully quiet…  I did not catch a huge number of YOY, but I did catch two.  Fishing from 1 PM to about 3 PM, I managed to catch probably 10 fish, a handful of Valley average but also two solid fish that were in the 12 inch range.  I even saw some redds and from the bank spooked a couple fish in shallow near suitable spawning spots.  These are all good signs that, even if affected, the creek will bounce back here.

Plenty of Valley-average eating this afternoon.

There was a sparse hatch of blue winged olives coming off at the first hole I visited, so after fishing midges for a minute and landing an encouraging young of the year all of 4 inches long, I made the switch to a pair of slightly bigger bugs, a size 16 sexy walt’s worm and a size 14 pheasant tail.  My second fish, the one that opens this blog post, was a doozy for Valley.  It was a strong, acrobatic fish over 12 inches long.  That certainly made me happy, as you can imagine!  Now that I was convinced I would be fishing and not just scouting, I kept working upstream to target a few high percentage spots in order to take advantage of my short window.

A resilient little creek.

After dragging a few more out of heavy, bankside cover on my way upstream, I reached the next good hole and took two more Valley-average fish out of it too.  The rain was getting steadier after a morning of drizzle, so I could see that a nice stain would cover my approach to one last good hole.  I would leave a bit more water to rediscover after the spawn, but I would end this short trip by giving my best effort in a hole where I know a couple larger fish tend to set up and, at times, cooperate.  The last hole did not disappoint.

Another good one to end the short trip!

I landed an 8 incher at the tailout before dropping my pair of nymphs in the quiet pocket nearer the head of the pool.  My flies took the perfect drift line, splitting the difference between the seam and quiet water behind it, and then came to a slight pause.  I set the hook and had another good Valley fish jumping on the end of a short line, one, two, maybe three leaps before coming to the net.  This fish was not as big as the first one, but I would bet it was 11 inches and much more colored up for the imminent spawn than his cousin.  It was just a real beauty that would have been a show-stopper in brighter light conditions.  Still, even the clouds and rain couldn’t hide the beauty of this perfect fish who beat the chlorine kill and looks ready to keep making more babies.  Valley is nothing if not resilient, but I guess she has to be with the history of ills and spills and bellyaches she has suffered over the years.

I will revisit after the spawn to see how the rest of the stretch has fared, but things seemed okay today.