Lehigh River, any tips?

[tjsingle]

Hey guys,

A buddy and me went to see if we couldn’t have some luck on the Lehigh River today at the Glen Onoko access. We have fished many Lehigh tribs but haven’t ever fished the river itself. Flows looked OK based on what we saw for the White Haven (450cfs) and Lehighton (around 800 cfs) gauges, so we decided to give it a shot. We fished large pools, pocket water and riffles from about 9am-230pm with really no bites or fish landed. We fished small nymphs and small streamers. When nymphing on a 9’ leader and probably 1-2’ of tippet and an indicator basically at the fly line we could rarely tick bottom. Probably hiked 2 miles up into the gorge from the lot. Wading was tough due to the cloudy conditions and being unable to see bottom.

Can anyone offer any advice on how to approach fishing the Lehigh?

Thanks
Tom

 

[Swattie87]

Even at 450, or 250 out of the dam, it’s a bear at best to wade. Downright dangerous, if not deadly at worst. The gradient is very deceiving. What looks like a flat calm tailout, isn’t. The tannic water doesn’t help anything. I think most of the guys who are serious about fishing it are floating it. And many of them fish it below the gorge, where it levels out some.

I really like fishing the tribs, but other than an odd cast or two from the mouth of a trib I don’t mess with the main river. I’m sure there’s fish in it, and some really nice ones. Just not worth drowning IMO. I tried once to cross it on foot at about 250 cfs to reach the mouth of a trib...you can probably figure out which one if you’re familiar with them. It was knee deep in the tailout of a pool and lifting me off my feet...at 250 cfs...I turned back. Scariest wading experience I’ve ever had, and 250 cfs is about as low as it gets. I came back with an inflatable raft the next time.

Best advice on how to fish it...very carefully in as low of flows as you can find. Know the release schedule, and fish with a life-vest on. I’m not kidding. Winter and cold water probably isn’t the best time to try to learn your way around it either. Both from a fishing and safety perspective.

And just for perspective, I fish the steepest, roughest, and most remote streams in PA regularly. If you know the Lehigh tribs, you know what I mean. The Lehigh itself though is the only stream in PA I’m legitimately scared of.

Edit: Not trying to discourage you from fishing it, just relaying my experiences and where they led me. Be careful if you do is all, and don’t take any chances. I’m sure some other can offer some more actual fishing related advice for it.

 

[Tigereye]

Agree with the above. Winter is not the best time to explore the river. Fish it spring through fall. Not only does it fish better, you will get a feel for where it is wadable and where it is not. You don't want any surprises in 40 degree water and air temps not much more.

That all said. Do not fear the river, respect it. No fish is worth drowning over. If you can't reach a promising spot walk up or downstream 100 yards and you will find one that is just as promising and less fretful. There are very few places one can cross even at the lowest flows. It's a fools errand to even try.

A technique that works in winter are dark wooly buggers fished dead slow in deep pockets and pools along shore. Think 2-4 ft deep. Those deeper than that are just too tuff to fish effectively.

Good luck and stay dry.

 

[Mike]

Since winter is tough anyway and flows can be higher than desired, I recommend fishing minnow rigs with spinning equipment for starters. You can cast out farther, actively fish deeper with a lot of shot, and operate the bait like a spinner. You will need ball bearing swivels so that the spinning minnow doesn’t twist your line. At this time of the year in cold water and higher flows it is likely that this technique will out fish all others.

Using it closer to shore in areas that you estimate that you could reach with a fly you will learn which types of near shore habitats hold fish. That will then lessen your learning curve when you give the fly fishing with a wooly bugger a go in the winter months.

I would add that in winter you need not go to the gorge as fish are spread out in catchable numbers down to Route 22. Hit the dam tail race habitat and creek mouth areas for starters.

 

[Out4Trout]

Please be careful when fishing the Lehigh. That river scares the hell out of me. Back in 1987 my brother drowned near Bowmanstown. He was floating down on inner tubes and not fishing but it was the undercurrent that got him and kept him from swimming out. I have had a fear and respect for that river ever since.

RIP Todd Scitney

 

[blueheron]

Did Mike just recommend fishing bait? With a spinning rod? On the Pa Fly Fishing site? I can only add you should use a bobber so you can tell when a fish eats your minnow. Silly
Sorry about your brother, that's a bummer

 

[blueheron]

For the OP, winter is tough, can't beat a black bugger or a large nymph
forget the small stuff this time of year. Wait until the flow drops to 200 at the FEW gauge and try again. To really explore it bring a bike and go further up the gorge, lots of fish there. Try the heads of pools and fish low and slow. Put your time in. Forget the bobber. Don't walk on the fish. That's enough to get you started

 

[Mike]

The op asked for an approach and I gave him an efficient, effective one. Learn where the fish are first by using an approach that is most likely to move the fish in winter, then switch to a bugger once the types of habitats that are reachable with a bugger and hold fish in the higher and colder water conditions are identified.

 

[blueheron]

To be really efficient he could electroshock the water, measure and tag them, and come back later with a better sense of where they are. Still silly. Or he could take the time to learn the water and the prevalent forage, experiment over several visits, pay close attention to water conditions, come up to the next tying jam at the Gap nature nature center on the banks of the Lehigh to meet some guys that fish the river and progress to the next phase of fly fishing. Or use a worm and a bobber, his choice. If someone wants to advance in fly fishing they really need to see the big picture, pointing out where the fish are is the easiest piece of the puzzle. Sorry Mike , I'm calling you on it.

 

[Mike]

Well, that’s not what the op asked. The op is free to use any approach offered, simplistic or more complex, or any hybrid thereof. Many anglers prefer to catch fish as a major part of their reason for fishing or continuing to fish. The routes to doing so or learning to do so can be quite varied and some routes are better than others depending upon the conditions. The specific “rod and reel” methodology to me is unimportant as long as it is legal and sportsmanlike. A positive experience is what I find to be important. If that includes using a bobber for bait fishing or fly fishing, even though that was not the approach that I suggested, so be it. Across all fisheries, identifying appropriate seasonal and water condition specific fish habitats is paramount. Getting terminal tackle into those appropriate habitats determines in my view a high percentage of fishing success once an individual has some basic skills.

 

[maxima12]

I am calling Mike on this one too! Mike. your my hero! Well put! The experience! Varied and sportsmanlike, a very good rule!

Sometimes in fly fishing, we get so tied up, we forget the most important rule ----- Sportsman----- . To be sportsmanlike, we must assume my way, your way, might not be the only way!

I love minnow rigs, various designs. Can be used in fly fishing too! Articulated using a gang hook! Gang hooks, I was at one time the biggest producer of gang hooks in Central Pa. Everyone still wants them but unfortunately time consuming with limited profit to hour ratio. Was approached once by a gentleman who wanted 50,000 packs of gangs. Had to say no! He was a distributor!

Meaning to this! Well, no one ever wanted 50,000 leaders! So there is another side to fishing! Being sportsmanlike, I understand and love it!

 

[blueheron]

I'm out, I should have known better.

 

[FCP]

Google "Bounce Nymphing." It is a very effective nymphing technique used in the West for the fast, heavy, deep water in many of their great trout rivers. Much like the Lehigh River. Look for a Fly Fisherman article by Larry Tullis date 8/28/12. George Daniels refers to the technique as Drop-Shot Rigging in his recent book "Nymph Fishing." Bounce is a better description. There are also many good utube videos on the technique. I agree with Mike. You have to get your terminal rig down to where the trout are located. This technique requires using ample weight to get your flies deep so some purist would not consider it fly fishing. But it is not using a minnow rig on a spinning rod which I used very effectively for trout when I was a bait fisherman.

FCP

 

[afishinado]

blueheron wrote:
I'm out, I should have known better.

I'm with you, BH!

When I worked at the shop, I often had FFers tell me they had trouble casting in the wind, or fishing deep, or casting large flies, etc.

I asked them how did they handle such situations, and many said "hell, I just grabbed my spin rod!" I

It's fine to choose the tackle and technique you feel comfortable with at the time, just don't complain that you cannot do something if you never challenge yourself and really try to learn new things and figure it out.

If all you want to do is catch fish, I suppose fishing live bait would accomplish that most times.

But if you want a challenge, a new learning experience and the satisfaction of accomplishment when you succeed, then stick with fly fishing and figure things out.

 

[tjsingle]

Thank you for all the replies guys. Just to clarify the intent of the post was to discuss effective methods of how to fish the Lehigh due to the experiences my buddy and I had last Friday. I rather be equipped with the knowledge of how to fish the Lehigh before the next time I go up there, so I’m not spinning my wheels. After that Friday I was a bit confused why we couldn’t manage a hit on anything we cast out. Like I said before, we fished a wide variety of water and hiked a decent way up into the gorge. I’m not asking for the GPS coordinates of trout in the river.

Following the Lehigh Coldwater Fishery Alliance wading chart we figured we could still safely go out and fish. I think the smaller flies we used in conjunction with the higher flows, and the fact it’s winter combined were working against us. Fishing smaller streams in the winter give you the mindset that small is better, and size 18 flies aren’t going to cut it on the Lehigh in the winter it seems.

Next time we head up there, we will definitely look at heading up when the flows are at 200. Obviously since it was our first time fishing it, we didn’t have the best gauge on what the ideal wading conditions were.

 

[tjsingle]

FCP wrote:
Google "Bounce Nymphing." It is a very effective nymphing technique used in the West for the fast, heavy, deep water in many of their great trout rivers. Much like the Lehigh River. Look for a Fly Fisherman article by Larry Tullis date 8/28/12. George Daniels refers to the technique as Drop-Shot Rigging in his recent book "Nymph Fishing." Bounce is a better description. There are also many good utube videos on the technique. I agree with Mike. You have to get your terminal rig down to where the trout are located. This technique requires using ample weight to get your flies deep so some purist would not consider it fly fishing. But it is not using a minnow rig on a spinning rod which I used very effectively for trout when I was a bait fisherman.

FCP

Thank you for the suggestion. I have heard of this method and used it once or twice before on other creeks. I think that this would probably be the best shot at fish in some of the deeper areas. The issues we had were we didn’t get the flies down to the fish. Next time we will use this method along with some darker flies

 

[Tigereye]

A word of advice when fishing deeper pools. The river is has a very uneven bottom and alot of very conflicting currents on account of it. Most deep holes are best fished with spinners or minnow rigs. Fishing them with fly fishing equipt is not easy (exception is dry fly /emerger fishing during hatch)

During marginal times of year (Winter) the best use of your time would be to fish where 75% or more of your casts you can get effective drifts.

Fast deep water with conflicting currents I think you are looking at somewhere less than 20% when fishing nymphs regardless of method. Not that it is not possible.