Ridley Creek.

Ridley Creek, located off of Route 1 in Delaware County, is an excellent southeast Pennsylvania trout stream. Within Ridley Creek State Park, from Sycamore Mills Dam to the mouth of Dismal Run (a tributary into Ridley Creek) is a catch and release/fly fishing only section spanning 0.6 miles.



There are some great holes to fish on the fly fishing only section of the stream with plenty of structure favorable to trout. As the creek snakes its way through this stretch(section 3 of the stream), it takes several hard turns that create deep pools and undercuts in a few steep banks. In some pools large blow-downs offer current breaks behind which trout can congregate. A few large boulders are also present in the wider portions of the stream, providing another type of structure anlgers can focus on.

There are also many riffle runs as well that piggy back over loose slack water sections on the stream. These areas offer the opportunity to float a dry or work a nymph through the faster sections.



Because trails follow the stream along its entire journey throughout the park, it's possible to sight fish on the higher banks over the stream in order to locate specific holes that trout are holding in. With water temperatures not much higher than 40 degrees right now in mid-April, trout still seem to be in a winter lie mode, which means that getting small beadhead nymphs as close as possible to the bottom of the streambed is vital for producing strikes. Once the weather consistently begins heating up, those riffle sections will hopefully light on fire and anglers will finally be able to break a sweat.