1. Troutnut Forum
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2. Fly Hatch Talk
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3. The Tully Trico season

Preface: Any hatch where you are knee deep in trout rising and sipping bugs is awesome, regardeless if you are struggling to get a tight line. But on my home water the Tulpehocken Creek (Tully), which many of you from PA have fished before, Trico hatch brings problems...
1) Stressfull/unhealthy conditions for the trout. i.e. low water & high temps
2) A lot more fishing pressure from the "fair weather" community

I am a relative greenhorn compared to some of you who have decades of experience under your belt, and am just fishing for some general opinions here.

Had a great day at rebers using sze 22 trike spinner but i am noticing the tully temp is climbing. What kind of impact can we make on the stream? Is fishing in the morning and laying off the trout in the afternoon ok? or should the tully be left alone completely??

Thanks for your input!

It has been my understanding that as long as the water temp is under 70 degrees, you will not harm the fish, although over 65 and the fish shut down. I tend to leave trout alone in any water above 65 degrees. There are many on here more knowledgeable than myself, so hopefully they chime in as well.

The water is up in the high 60's already and its not even july, ~68 degrees. Even with the high water temp the fish still actively rise. The fisherman are right there after them. I don't blame them, but there is a lot of ignorance towards the resources we have in PA.

I see a lot of people dropping the 65 degree threshold and 70 degree threshold but was wondering if there was any literature out there i could be directed to.

Bio, sorry I missed this one. The Tully is typically OK through June, especially in the morning, and sometimes into July and August, but each year is different. Stream temps depend on many factors, including ambient temperature, water level in the lake, and how the operator at the dam does the mixing, as she or he has the ability to draw water from different levels in the lake and mix it to try to get a reasonable temperature while holding on to as much cold water as possible. It's a shallow lake. The USGS gauge up near the water plant can be checked online; it gives the temperature at that location. The water warms a bit before it gets to Rebers, and even more down to Papermill Road. A stream thermometer is a good thing to have when fishing tricos.

"Is fishing in the morning"

I have fished the Tully in the winter, spring, and summer and while it often has a bunch of trout it is really only a marginal trout stream and I doubt if trout would exist there without stockings.

Since the Trico spinner start to fall as early as 6:30 a.m. on the Tully I think you are okay to fish the spinner fall because in all the times I've fished Tricos on the Tully it is over by 10:30, 11:00 at the latest.

As Louis mentioned bring a stream thermometer. Check the water temp when you get there. If it is less than 70 degrees you should be okay but just because the water is less than 70 doesn't mean those trout aren't stressed. The is very little gradient on the Tully and I've seen in July large brown trout 16" - 18" sitting on the bottom gasping for oxygen. You can see them with their mouths opening and closing quite rapidly. I've seen some come up to the surface and start to float downstream with very little life left in them. If you can't revive a trout you catch you might as well kill it and bring it home and eat it.

Yes, Matt makes some good points. I'd put the threshold at 68, and try to play fish quickly, breaking them off if you can't land and release them quickly. The stream is delayed harvest, but a number of fish do hold over and there are some bigger fish there. They benefit from careful fishing.

The cold water pool in Blue Marsh is depleted. Water temps remain in the 70's even with this relatively cool weather we've been having in the last few weeks.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/pa/nwis/uv?cb_00010=on&format=gif_default&period=&begin_date=2013-08-06&end_date=2013-08-13&site_no=01470960

Thanks for posting up the gauge. The shallowness of the lake makes July and August iffy in many years. IMHO the fish in the Tully should be left alone until fall, with the hopes that they find cold water somewhere and survive for another year.

Terrible water temperatures for a trout. No one who has any regard for trout & fly fishing should visit the Tully until the water temperatures remain at least 68 or less for a few days.

Thanks everyone for the input. After several months away I have been back and was surprised at the amount of trout that are still kicking after the brutal summer of low flow and high temps. They definitely have been hugging the springs and tribs. But are spreading out and hitting dries as we get into my favorite time of year.

I will be at Reber's Bridge sunrise on Sunday Oct 6 if anybody wants to meet up, always looking for someone to talk shop with and share a laugh.

btw look at the pectoral fin on this guy