Lehigh River around Jim Thorpe

J

johnnyd

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Dec 27, 2010
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I haven't gotten out much over the past year or so...I guess having a 2 year old will do that. So, I somehow finagled a freeebie day yesterday. I live just outside of Reading, but the thought of going to the Tully with the flows it is at was not very excitement inspiring...I just wanted something new...most likely bigger water...had the itch, I guess. I didn't really want any specific info on the Lehigh...just to be pointed in the right direction and explore. Swung by TCO friday, and decided to just park at Jim Thorpe and figure it out. Wow, is it beatiful there. I realized quickly that I should have brought the mountain bike...and remembered the studs for my boots (man, is that some tough wading). I ended up staying within the confines of the large parking lot there. The water there actual looked very good, so I wasn't really motivated to move. I have to admit that I fell victim to the "first time on new water mistakes". I found myself pounding spots that looked productive with everything I had learned from fishing the Tully. I brought a bunch of buggers and hoppers, but didn't even think to go to them. I guess retrospective is how I have learned everything about fishing in the past, though, so this is no different. I will say, I can see how a float down the lehigh would be very cool, but wading that could prove downright addictive. My legs are sore in spots that I didn't think possible today. I did manage to catch a really nice sucker around 15-16" though. I hooked it on a dry dropper rig, and swore I was about to reel in a nice brownie, until I saw the dorsal fin (calm self down, quick look around and then quietly place the camera phone back in the pocket). Anyway, I believe I will be doing this again this weekend...need to try out the "fixes" to what I did wrong.
Can anyone confirm that I was at least in the right time zone for fishing this river? Feel free to PM if you don't want to post...I know a bunch of my friends that hold there "spots" on the Schuylkill sacred for SMB, and I could only imagine them if there were trout in there ;-).
 
Yes you should take your bike with you next time and hit the trails. When the water is low and you can wade this is a good way to go.
I used to alway float the river, that was the initial reason I boat a 'toon, but I have been preferring the bike/wade thing more this year. On the bike I can fly up and down the trails and check out a lot of spots. This also help you be where you want to at particular time, which can be difficult on a boat. For example, if you want to be at particular pool for an evening hatch then you have to plan your trip around that. And your limited to spots near the take out or you'll be floating in late and/or in the dark.
There's lots of water that looks good but flogging blindly hasn't really worked out well for me. I've caught a few nice fish with buggers and wets but overall the action was slow. I've done best by finding rising fish and getting them with dries. Some do well with nymphs but I haven't put too much time in...its on the "list" as I want to improve my bigger water nymphing for steelhead rivers and the Lehigh would be a good place to learn...and helps justify the purchase of a switch rod hahah.
I find that when the sun is bright the fishing sucks, unless there's a hatch to bring the fish up. I've had long floats on bluebird sunny days and the fishing was slow. If you're lucky something will get going as the sun is setting that hopefully justifies the float. Thats why I sometimes prefer the bike, so you can fish during the prime time with out the effort of getting the boat out.
 
The secret of nymph fishing is knowing where the fish are. Learning to read water pays dividends. However, the most reliable method is to forego the temptation to fish during the next hatch, instead just walking the stream and noting the location of pods of risers. During non-hatch times, their lies are rarely far away.
 
Johnnyd

If you want to fish a beautiful stretch, try the Glen Onoko area. Make sure to bring your bike and use the rail to trail path along the river. Head up river and look for some fishy runs...they will be easy to find.

Forget the tully box of flies and fish larger size nymph patterns. Prince nymphs may be effective this time of year as the Slate Drakes should still be hatching. Stonefly, Hares Ear or PT patterns are always good too. Smaller nymph imitations for BWOs may be effective as well.

Water levels are extremely low and it should be relatively easy to get around. Still bring the studded boots and wading staff. Not sure what today's rains will bring, but I wouldn't expect too much of an increase in the river levels.

Feel free to use this inter-active map to find some access locations.

http://thelehighriver.org/data.html
 
Thank you all! I really appreciate the feedback. I can't believe it's taken me this long to get up there...it's only an hour and half away!
 
River is blown out. Check the gages before you go. No guarantees for the weekend to be at wadeable levels.
 
Yea we got hammered. Took me an hour and twenty minutes to get home from class, which is a normal twenty five minute drive.
 
Thought I saw Mt. Pocono got 8 inches? Can't wait to get down into the Gorge and see how many fish survived the unnecessarily hot water. I remember watching those 2000+cfs flows in early season just plow down that river instead of being held back. Prior to stalking in April, there were good numbers of fish through that 20 miles of public property. Granted last summer was historical rain totals and cooler temps, but..........Fill out those survey cards, there is no way to accurately shock that river, I think those fish move 10s of miles throughout the year.

Do rafters appreciate that almost 30 miles of that is public property? who knows, hope so.
 
Beast

I have heard some decent numbers of fish are in the gorge area and showing themselves in the likely locations. Not surprising. There is no doubt the fish move up river in the summer until they find cooler water, especially the wild trout. They know where to go and how to survive. Unfortunatley you can only jam so many fish in those spots and then you have people hammering on them, which doesnt help either.

The Corps says around 1000 cfs for the weekend. I had plans on getting up there on Sunday, now it looks questionable.
 
I fished below the gorge this Monday, same day the OP was there. Water temps remained in the low to mid 60s. I encountered one stocked brown and many healthy fingerling stocked 'bows from 10" on up to 16".
 
Lehigh at Lehighton is at 3780 cfs right now. I don't see it getting to 1k by Sunday.
Absolutely annihilated them last Saturday.
 
Release from FEW was cut back to 1360 cfs this morning.
Lehighton will be around 2000 cfs this weekend, if the release stays where it is. Lots of water.
 
at 2000, you'd have to be a M.A.N. or nuts to get in it. Good time to bust out a raft though.
 
The Corps actually cut things back pretty good for the weekend. Right now Lehighton is at 1500cfs + a bit. That's a good float level. But too high for even the most aggressive wade angler, unless you really know the river well.

And the rains never materialized this eve. So downstream gages should only continue to drop slowly.


jrmyln wrote:
Absolutely annihilated them last Saturday.
Click to expand...

What does this mean? Details?
 
Well, I caved...you guys scared me just enough not to go. I ended up at the Manatawny yesterday instead. I don't normally make wise choices, but this was one of those rare occurrences. Hopefully, this weekend will be a little better on the Lehigh.
 
smart move. VC Regular and I floated on Sunday morning until about 1PM. Water was really pushing and still stained from the rains earlier in the week. Slate drakes and caddis were hatching. No surface activity at all.
 
VC Reg,
It was a cut & paste that didn't belong there.

Was gonna catch up with Johnny D on the Lehigh but after checking it out Friday afternoon, I decided on the LS and stopped at Cabela's for some supplies and some dinner.
Good move too, caught about 25 trout with twice as many fallfish mixed in. Only one smallie though. 5 really nice browns.
 
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