Lehigh River fishing

SBecker

SBecker

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Was thinking about fishing the Lehigh next Sunday in the morning, before football starts. I was wondering if anybody around the area would like to join me?
 
No takers? If i were around, I would join ya. Fishing in the 895 to 873 stretch yesterday produced some fat and healthy brown trout. Lots of bugs in the late afternoon. Isos and summer sulphurs. Looks likes at least some trout weathered that summer heat storm.
 
Maybe they should keep saying there are no trout in the Lehigh. Airing out 60' casts, with no one around was pretty enjoyable. Not to mention catching what could very well be wild trout feeding on late summer mayflies ain't a bad way to spend a Sat afternoon. :-D

lr_400_trout.jpg
 
For all his bluster, Alpo fished the upper Lehigh plenty, or he did when I first started talking to him.

ps: no trout in the Monocacy, there's plenty in the Lehigh, go fish there.
 
LRSABecker wrote:
Was thinking about fishing the Lehigh next Sunday in the morning, before football starts. I was wondering if anybody around the area would like to join me?

What.....I don't count? I told you I'd go if we're back by 1 or 2pm. Bring those hooks along that we talked about, so I can start tying your steelhead flies.
 
O I already counted you in to my little adventure Ed lol. I will not have the hooks untill the afternoon because my bud won't be up till around 4 from Philly he has to work at TCO till 2ish.

Jdaddy--- I can't see one thing that you wrote lol

VC-- That is a nice brownie, glad you enjoyed the river.

Gfen-- Plenty of water on the Lehigh to fish, not worried about a little extra pressure. Regarding Alpa, I knew he fished the Lehigh a lot thats why I could not understand his seemed hatred for it.
 
Trout in the Lehigh? What? I thought it was just spring seasonal trout fishery and mostly a smallmouth and fallfish river after that.

Go figure!!! :cool:

Good to see some trout found a way even after this hot summer.
 
I'll tell you what.....If the trout were able to handle this harsh summer, they can handle almost anything.
 
Well...here's the thing. It sounds like some fish made it through the summer. There are so many spring seeps and cold tribs, its really not that surprising.

However, it does seems like less made it through the summer than compared to last year. Based on what VC and some others told me, the numbers of trout showing are not like last fall that I encountered at this time last year. Which is not that surprising either. Last year was great summer for trout survival (Cool/wet summer). This summer was a tough one for the trout.

That also could change and we maybe surprised - maybe the fish havent really redistributed through out the river yet? Water temps still on the warmish side, but should cool off fairly well now. Maybe we will start seeing more trout show up. However, sometimes the Lehigh's trout get in a funk after a warm hot summer. We might not really know how the trout made out until spring time. If we see plenty of wild looking trout or holdover trout next spring, then you know these fish "can handle almost anything".

I think last summer was a sign of how well the trout can survive in the if the river, or a significant portion of it, can remain below 68F all summer long (i.e. its "Potential" if we get changes at FEW). This year will tell the tale of how hardy and resilient the trout are in the Lehigh.

My question is how the fin clipped fingerlings made out? The ones that were caught this spring that grew to the 12-13" range and the fresh stockings from this May. How well did they survive??? The wild fish typically know where to go when the river warms, but can and do these fin clippie fish know too?
 
LehighRegular wrote:
Well...here's the thing. It sounds like some fish made it through the summer. There are so many spring seeps and cold tribs, its really not that surprising.

However, it does seems like less made it through the summer than compared to last year. Based on what VC and some others told me, the numbers of trout showing are not like last fall that I encountered at this time last year. Which is not that surprising either. Last year was great summer for trout survival (Cool/wet summer). This summer was a tough one for the trout.

That also could change and we maybe surprised - maybe the fish havent really redistributed through out the river yet? Water temps still on the warmish side, but should cool off fairly well now. Maybe we will start seeing more trout show up. However, sometimes the Lehigh's trout get in a funk after a warm hot summer. We might not really know how the trout made out until spring time. If we see plenty of wild looking trout or holdover trout next spring, then you know these fish "can handle almost anything".

I think last summer was a sign of how well the trout can survive in the if the river, or a significant portion of it, can remain below 68F all summer long (i.e. its "Potential" if we get changes at FEW). This year will tell the tale of how hardy and resilient the trout are in the Lehigh.

My question is how the fin clipped fingerlings made out? The ones that were caught this spring that grew to the 12-13" range and the fresh stockings from this May. How well did they survive??? The wild fish typically know where to go when the river warms, but can and do these fin clippie fish know too?

I do not think anybody would expect that there was not some what of a fish kill this summer. The water just got too warm and we did not see much rain. This season though will allow us to get a feel of what and how many can survive in a brutal summer.

When will we be able to find out some info on the clipped trout? Can you get in contact with somebody about this info LR?
 
When will we be able to find out some info on the clipped trout? Can you get in contact with somebody about this info LR?

If people fish the river and fill out a fishing log survey form and mail it to the PFBC or LCFA. OR log onto the LCFA Website www.thelehighriver.org or at http://www.thelehighriver.org/survey.php

If anglers fill out the online survey card, we should know if anyone catches any fingies. I've actually recieved a few online replies back already this Fall, but no clippies have shown up or have been caught, yet.

At the end of the season, I will summarize all the data we collect and send it to the PFBC.
 
I’m trying to learn more about the Lehigh and its trout so bear with me.

It’s my understanding the upper Lehigh (from FEW Dam downriver to about the confluence with Nesquehoning Creek) is classified as a HQ-CWF. I don’t argue FEW dam is affecting water temperatures in this stretch of the river, but if the river has a HQ-CWF designation over such a significant distance why is it assumed summer heat may have affected the trout populations at this time of year? I read about the cold tributary and spring seep influences, but, if these influences are as strong as people state, why is the river still getting warm even though it’s designated a HQ-CWF?

Last year we had over 6 inches of rain in June and the summer was not nearly as warm. This kept the Lehigh River water temps manageable for the trout. Trout will survive almost anything, but they were also given a break last year in the Lehigh so I am not sure it was a true sign as to how well they can survive. If you want a true sense of how they can survive, I believe you have to look at this year. Some posters have said there may be fewer trout in the main stem right now. Based upon the summer heat wave, I would assume the same thing. Was there a significant fish kill? I doubt it. Did some trout die due to the heat? I’m sure a few did. But I am willing to bet the trout were long gone (they moved) by the time the river temps got to be unbearable for them. Last year and this year were both anomalies in my opinion, but, even if we have normal weather patterns from year to year, isn’t a good portion of the HQ-CWF section of the Lehigh a seasonal fishery based upon how warm the water temps get?

One last question – If FEW dam releases were ideal throughout a given summer, how far downriver can one expect to have quality trout fishing when summer temperatures reach 90 degrees?
 
fishfuzz

You ask a lot of good questions. I'll do my best to answer them.

It’s my understanding the upper Lehigh (from FEW Dam downriver to about the confluence with Nesquehoning Creek) is classified as a HQ-CWF. I don’t argue FEW dam is affecting water temperatures in this stretch of the river, but if the river has a HQ-CWF designation over such a significant distance why is it assumed summer heat may have affected the trout populations at this time of year? I read about the cold tributary and spring seep influences, but, if these influences are as strong as people state, why is the river still getting warm even though it’s designated a HQ-CWF?

The problem with FEW is that it dumps warm water in July & August at a constant rate. There is no night time "cooling" allowed, its a constant heat pump. In summers when we have "normal" or higher precip and air temps are typical, the tribs actually cool the river. The LRSA has a temp probe in Jim Thorpe. They have the data that shows this affect, that temps actually drop as you get farther away from FEW. In dry summers, there is less influence from the tribs, therefore the river gets warm and stays warm.

Why does the river have a HQ-CWF status. That's a good question. My understanding its largely based on and for protection of the watershed. For the most part, the Lehigh satisfies the criteria for this classification. Occasionally, temperatures become an issue. If the DEP or PFBC wanted to enforce their target temps for releases into a HQ-CWF stream, FEW is in blatant violation of those temp regimes. However, I believe the agencies understand the limitiations with FEW.

Last year we had over 6 inches of rain in June and the summer was not nearly as warm. This kept the Lehigh River water temps manageable for the trout. Trout will survive almost anything, but they were also given a break last year in the Lehigh so I am not sure it was a true sign as to how well they can survive
Of course they surviived, but it is more or less a sign of how well they can flourish in regards to numbers of trout.
 
Sorry... PART II of my response to your questions.

Last year and this year were both anomalies in my opinion, but, even if we have normal weather patterns from year to year, isn’t a good portion of the HQ-CWF section of the Lehigh a seasonal fishery based upon how warm the water temps get?

The only reason it gets warm during a "normal" weather season is because of FEW pumping out warm water during Julyl and August. If FEW can keep the upper 8-10 miles of river in the low 60's we believe those temps or temps below 68F could be maintained for some distance down river. As I stated above, FEW is a constant heat source, its tough to cool that heat source down.

One last question – If FEW dam releases were ideal throughout a given summer, how far downriver can one expect to have quality trout fishing when summer temperatures reach 90 degrees?

This is dependent upon a couple of things. The volume of release from FEW and the temperature of the release. In addition, how much flow is recieved from the tributaries. This spring (late May/June) when air temps climbed into the 90 degree range, temperatures were around 70 at Walnutport. But we had a decent flow and release (about 200-250 cfs) that was still cold from FEW.

Based on what I have seen from the Modeling effort being performed by the Army Corps, some preliminary findings and just my opinion, if we can maintain a cold release from FEW (55-60F) in July/August, there should be trout favorable temps to at least Jim Thorpe - Glen Onoko area. Normal to Wet years, this will be even farther down river. Dry years (like this summer) there will be less miles of water, but it won't be the entire river that is warm. The trout will have some place to go...this year they were scrapping for every bit of coldwater they could find.

Hope this helps.
 
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