little lehigh Dec 9th 2012

[daman1277]

Well finally finished moving and got a day to fish. Cold and rainy so figured would stay local. Plus the little lehigh has left me skunked all year. Parked by the fly shop and hit the pool on the upstream side of the bridge there. Nada, don't know if there was no fish there or me having a hard time with my drift. Was using a tandem with a micro egg and a zebra midge. So went up one pool and still nada, not even a glimmer of activity. So went up to the bend at the discharge of the hatchery. I know that holds fish. Well it did for everyone else not me. So hot frustrated and went downstream one hole. There I saw it a golden rainbow swimming around like a flashlight in the water. Figured it was a long shot with what I had tied on. But hey why not. First cast drifts right by him but I see him move and then a shadow flew out from the rocks. Brought a 15" brown to hand. Yes take that little lehigh your not leaving me goose egged this year. So it was getting late, and cold so one more cast. Turned into a long release on the golden. Guess he needed some encouragement from the brown to eat.

 

[Chaz]

Great story, don't give up. I don't think the density of fish is what it used to be, but if you throw some trout food into the water you'll get an idea of how many fish there are and where they hold.

 

[Stagger_Lee]

Damman .. was there on friday on hooked 3 and had a buunch of bites but my reaction was slow along with too much slack.

Chaz wrote:

I don't think the density of fish is what it used to be,

Why is that? Is it just a stocking issue?

 

[jrmyln]

I'm not hearing about the stockings from all of the sportsman's clubs that have done so in the past.

Time to tie a pellet fly!

 

[PhilC]

I was just there last weekend only for an hour or so. I know what palo you're talking about...I think I caught the same one about a month or so ago, they were really hot on eggs then and that fish already had some elses fly in its lip.

I assumed all the fish came from the hatchery on the stream either escapees or swam into heritage from other areas. Still good numbers but usually spot more hogs swimming around. Still finding little wild browns in crappy lies being nudged out by the stockies...

 

[tobewan77]

Speaking to the kind fellow at the fly shop, they had a big fish kill from Sandy. The stream rose really quickly and fell quickly leaving fish stranded on the bank who were trying to escape the high flows.

 

[Fishidiot]

tobewan77 wrote:
Speaking to the kind fellow at the fly shop, they had a big fish kill from Sandy. The stream rose really quickly and fell quickly leaving fish stranded on the bank who were trying to escape the high flows.

I sure hope the shop didn't flood (again). I'm currently working on a painting of that shop and stream section - that little building is mighty nice but also mighty close to the water.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

That shop floods at every high water event,they move the inventory way before the water gets there.
Sorry to hear that fish got stranded by Sandy,I guess the Herons are happy.
The LL has been going downhill for the last several years.Between the silt and the sewage overflow it is slowly dying.I have fished it for 60+ years and have seen what was once a premier trout stream fade away.Sadly I rarely fish it these days but walk it often with my dog.

 

[sandfly]

Yeah the 70's were great fishing there, should have been there then. On Dec. 31st bucks county T.U has their annual end of year get together there. I might be down for it, check them out. there's a few on here that are members. good times on the LL..

 

[jrmyln]

I didn't think we got enough rain to have that kind of impact on the LL. It caused more wind damage than anything. Floyd and Lee caused some serious flooding on the creek and trout were everywhere back then. I'm a little out of tune with the LL the past few years but there are a lot of sportsman's associations that used to stock it with fish from Queen City and Cedar. They stocked some decent sized fish. The few times I've fished it the past few years, seems like all I've seen are what I call "cookie cutters".

 

[PhilC]

I thought it had "the highest population of wild trout in PA"...what a joke. Maybe Rod took all the fish with him

 

[jrmyln]

"the highest population of wild trout in PA"

Never heard that one!

 

[Chaz]

The populations are clearly down from even the early 2000's. Most likely due to floods of very high magnitude.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

PhilC wrote:
I thought it had "the highest population of wild trout in PA"...what a joke. Maybe Rod took all the fish with him

The joke's on you. The lower regs water WAS once that good. He made that statement based on surveys back in the day, but it's been going downhill ever since.

http://www.fishandboat.com/images/fisheries/afm/2003/5_08-11llehigh.htm

You're not seeing the huge numbers of hatchery escapees after high water events, but there's still a lot of wild fish there. The hatchery made great strides in cutting down the number of escapees, and those are the fish that are easily seen.

Hurricane Ivan dumped something like 6000 escapees into the creek in 2004. It was a fish fest for quite a while after that.

Yeah, the stream took lots of abuse with the silt from upstream construction, and the sewage problem. Things are improving though, with the exception of high runoff. That won't change, and the LL probably won't recover to what it once was. Progress....

 

[outsider]

sandfly wrote:
Yeah the 70's were great fishing there, should have been there then. On Dec. 31st bucks county T.U has their annual end of year get together there. I might be down for it, check them out. there's a few on here that are members. good times on the LL..

I was there. Had a good caddis hatch in May.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

A follow up on my previous post.I remember back in the 50's and 60's seeing Sulphur hatches on the LL that looked like a blizzard in reverse.I also remember my father having to clean his car windshield of all the bugs after driving from the covered bridge to cedar crest blvd so that he could see to drive home.The lack of quality fish I believe has to do with lack of food,they have a hard time living on tricos!
Wish we could bring those times back.

 

[JeffK]

I've only been fishing the LV 45 years - but ditto your comment. I don't even think the number of tricos are there anymore. Even in the summer would get tons of mayflies and caddis plastered to your windshield just at dark. Numbers of scuds in the weedbeds (where are they now?) was amazing. I think scuds were the big food source, but the bugs provided more fun fishing.

I hate to post numbers because they seem to cause at lot of bickering, but up through the 1990's a typical afternoon of easy fishing could yield 20 or so fish. Always could find a fish feeding, and usually on top. That sort of fishing is in the past.

Also, back in the day the Saucon was a dead conduit for zinc mine drainage. There have been puts and takes - but mostly fishing has been heading down since about 2000.

 

[sandfly]

Oh my the scuds were thick in years past. I remember the sulfers too..huge caddis hatches all the way through july. I think when they started building upstream from the turnpike the change started..

Bushkill in Easton has fallen by the wayside also. the fly stretch used to be up stream a few miles and there good hatches and nice wild browns near Tatamy and Stockerton.

 

[daman1277]

Is there any place now to go for a 20+ fish day

 

[troutwilleatflies]

I have had 50+ fish days on the Erie tribs,but even there the numbers are dropping.Have n't been there this year because of lack of water,too hard to plan a trip when it's 6.5 hrs away with these conditions,don't enjoy catching Steel in a bathtub LOL!
If you are really persistent and really a good FFer you MIGHT be able to have a 20 fish day on the LL,but the fish will probably be small.