Page 32 - The Hunt - Summer 2022

The most popular activities at Brandywine Creek State Park include hiking, running and biking. Another is fishing. Wilson Run, the tributary that drains Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, has been stocked as a trout stream. “There’s tremendous access to the Brandywine,” says Terry Peach, owner of a Marblehead Flyfisher, a Centreville shop that provides fishing gear, fly-tieing and fly-casting lessons, and guide service. “As long as you’re in the water, you’re fishing on public property.”
And the season keeps getting extended. “Normally, fishing is good from May until
September,” Peach says. “But the last two years, you could fish from April into October.”
While the main stem isn’t stocked with trout, sometimes one will wash down from the
West Branch. Other than that, most of the fishing in the Brandywine is for small-mouth bass and
“a gazillion sun fish,” Peach says. “And spring shad has been amazing the last three years.”
But that’s only near the stream’s mouth in Wilmington. The migratory fish comes up
the Brandywine from the ocean to spawn— though only as far as the first dam in Delaware. “Sometimes you’ll get muskie and tiger muskie
RESOURCES
Brandywine Creek
State Park
41 Adams Dam Road, Wilmington, (302) 577-3534, destateparks. com/brandywinecreek
Brandywine Outfitters
2096 Strasburg Road, Coatesville, Pa., (610) 486-6141, canoepa.com
Brandywine River
Museum of Art
1 Hoffmans Mill Road,
Chadds Ford, Pa., (610) 388-2700, brandywine.org/museum
First State National Historical Park
211 Delaware St., New Castle, Del., (302) 544-6363, nps.gov/frst
Hagley Museum & Library
200 Hagley Creek Road, Wilmington, (302) 658-2400, hagley.org
Marblehead Flyfisher
5716 Kennett Pike, Suite D, Wilmington, (302) 654-6515, amarbleheadflyfisher.com
Natural Lands
ChesLen Preserve
1199 Cannery Road, Coatesville, Pa., (610) 353-5587, natlands.org/ cheslen-preserve
Natural Lands
Stroud Preserve
454 N Creek Road, West Chester, Pa., (610) 353-5587, natlands.org/ stroud-preserve
Northbrook Canoe Co.
1810 Beagle Road, West Chester, Pa., (610) 793-2279, northbrookcanoe.com
Somerville Manning Gallery
101 Stone Block Row, Greenville, Del., (302) 652-0271, somervillemanning.com
Wilderness Canoe Trips
2111 Concord Pike, Wilmington, (302) 654-2227, wildernesscanoetrips.com
30 THE HUNT MAGAZINE summer 2022