A Good Day on Ridley Creek!

[FrankB2]

My wife and I got a lot start, and Ridley Creek is a 40 mile drive. We were surprised to see the fff'ing only section with fewer than 5 people in sight, but
were each rewarded with a nice trout. My wife's trout jumped out of her hands before I was able to snap a pic. We almost didn't go to Ridley Creek: we assumed it would be packed because last weekend was pouring rain. The trout water nearby is closed until April 3, and our other choice was fishing for crappie. I think we chose wisely... That trout was the hardest fighting trout I've ever encountered. I was hoping he hadn't taken the Zebra Midge, since that was on a 6X tippet. When I saw that he had taken the GW, I put more pressure on (4X tippet), but he just didn't want to quit!

Gear: Sage ZXL 8'6" 4wt, with a #12 Green Weenie, and a #20 Zebra Midge dropper. My trout took the Green Weenie, and my wife caught her's on the Zebra Midge (I was getting her fly out of a bush, and she was using my rig).

 

[Jimmie]

Nice Frank. Thanks for sharing, I had to chuckle. That creek is as big as most of our rivers.

 

[FrankB2]

Where are you at, Jimmie? That's pretty small for a SE Pennsylvania trout
stream.

I should have noted that I'm hunched over because my wife was standing in
a hole when she took those pics.

 

[Jimmie]

Central CA. just on the west side of the Sierras, Frank. In fact I'm going to edit my info to show that.

 

[jpbfly]

Nice report Frank....I'm a little worried when I see your vest pockets

 

[sandfly]

Frank Nice fish for that area. See you go to the sporting Gentleman by the looks of your gear hanging. I would say ridley is average for S.E. Pa. Streams like valley are smaller, but the lehigh valley area are about the same. If ya ever want some info feel free to pm me. I fished the area for 40 years, grew up fishing cooks creek in bucks co.

 

[FrankB2]

Valley Creek! DUH!!!! I lived 5 minutes from that stream before moving to Bucks County, and forgot about it already (4 years). For those not familiar,
that's a narrow stream, with a nice native population of trout. It's not stocked, and the PCB levels make it a new harvest stream. The trout can grow quite large there, but they aren't easily fooled. I was stringing my rod up there about 7 years ago, and ran into a guy that was walking back to his car. He had knee pads
on, and showed signs of having crawled quite a bit that day. He told me that he had fished some of the toughest trout waters in the USA, but that Valley Creek
was the toughest. When we lived in the Valley Forge area, I always considered us to be closer to the Lancaster area than Philadelphia. The latter is what I
consider SE PA, mostly in a negative sense (i.e., it's not attractive at all). Places like Ridley Creek are a nice little oasis, however!

Good observation on the Orvis zinger, Bob. I stopped at the Sporting Gentleman to buy some hooks and the zinger on the way to the stream yesterday. Barry and his crew are great people.

Central California sound like a great place to live, Jimmie. I've never been out West.......

Those baggies in my vest hold my knotted leaders.

 

[mcnerney]

Frank: Nice fishing report, and it was good to see both of you did well!

Larry

 

[super fly fisherman]

Nice photos it looks like a great day on the stream. That "small creek" would be a major river here in AZ.