Lehigh River (Rockport Access, Carbon County) 5/4/18

bradtheflyfisherman

bradtheflyfisherman

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Jan 16, 2018
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Drove down to the Rockport Access this morning on the Lehigh. Water seemed a little higher than usual likely because a lot of the feeder creeks were flowing pretty well. Fishing release weekend, lots of bikers, some kayakers and white water rafts. Nice and cool in the gorge, I think between 55-60 degrees. Got on the water around 10 AM.

Walked down stream about a mile and half to a big run I've fished a couple times before. I was tightlinine nymping, 11 ft 4 wt Douglas rod, roughly a 6 foot leader, with a pat's rubber legs and a caddis fly.

Some bugs coming off, definitely a ton of small midges, occasional Hendricksons, and some BWOs. Didn't really pay too much attention to the bugs...no fish were coming up even in the slower water. I came to nymph anyways and had some spare dries just in case I keyed in on any rising fish.

Switched out the caddis to a midge, still nothing. Caught a chub, and then a fat 15 inch chub that I thought was a trout, both on the pat's rubber legs, which I have never caught a chub with before. Next up was a stocked brookie, missing both front fins..ate a red tag nymph, poor fish swam away quick though.

Circled back to the end of the pool in some slower water, slammed a nice 18 inch brown on the red tag. Had some faint red spots on the tail, and most likely wild. Gave a very good fight, no acrobatics though. The sun also broke through about this time, noonish, and it warmed up quite quickly.

Moved to another run I've pulled fish out of before farther upstream towards Rockport, not a bite, was a little disappointed.

Moved up to the run and pool by where the train tunnel on the opposite side goes into the mountain. Same red tag nymph/pats rubber leg combo. Started in the slower water at the end moving up, but then starting catching fish right in the fast water. A 14 inch wild brown, and a nice 16/17 inch wild brown. Both fought nicely and were jumping everywhere. Moved up into the much faster water nymphing the edges and pulled out another couple smaller 10/11 inch browns.

Called it day around 3 PM ET...then went to grab food and fish a blue line near Stroudsburg.
 
Nice report Brad. Glad you got into some fish. Was going to fish that section today but a friend convinced me otherwise and we ended up in the stocked section. ( First section I showed you). Similar insect activity and conditions, though I did see a few risers, obviously on the opposite side. Caught a few on small HE but you certainly had a much better day.
 
I too was out on the Upper Lehigh in the white haven area (I PM'ed you Brad). I thought about going to Rockport but didnt get up there until close to 2 and wanted to fish til dark and didnt have enough time to explore.

I found fairly heavy caddis activity immediately and they remained for most of the day (dark wings with a dark greenish body and a green egg sack) I thought the water seemed higher than last time i was at this spot on a fishing release too. There were a bunch of cars when i arrived so i parked and walked like a half mile upstream to some nice flatter water. Sporadic risers but it was frustrating because it seemed like as soon as you would get into position they would go back down. I hooked and lost a couple then caught what i think was a small fall fish, that was a first for me.

Went back to the truck and had a sanwhich and tied a new leader at 6 (ALL then other cars were gone by now). I was hoping the fish would get going closer to dark but for the most part they never did despite more caddis on and off after 6.

Found a small pod of risers in a pool i had fished on a previous trip at 730 and managed to catch 2 small stocked rainbows and missed a few more to avoid the skunking.
 
Glad you were able to get out Joe and Timmy, and catch some fish too!

I will be trying to get a bit farther downstream in the future - by where Drake's creek and Stony Creek comes in. Unfortunately, my bike was stolen in Philadelphia so I haven't been able to use it...

Did I reply to your last PM Timmy? I thought I did...otherwise I don't see anything recent.
 
Yo Brad,

I had PMed you Friday before i went up looking to maybe meet up. Sounds like you made a better decision than I did about where to fish.

Next time i head up there i am going to explore a different area for sure. I havent found what i am looking for yet but i have barely scratched the surface. As soon as i get my pontoon geared up that will open a lot of new areas for me to. Unfortunately we are already into the part of the year where the whitewater people are getting all the prime time releases on saturday which boggles the mind, the conditions for whitewater rafting have been prime most of the time for weeks and weeks so why they need an additional scheduled release for this seems a bit ridiculous to me

I wanted to head up this weekend but have a kid related committment Sunday and am blocked out by whitewater saturday. I'm sure once Monday comes it will be back to 2k so its sunday or bust this week
 
Apologies Timmy - last PM I had from you was from April 7th. Maybe my inbox is screwed up.

Yeah, the white water releases really screw things up. I likely will be up there Sunday at some point to fish it. Maybe Rockport...maybe farther down by Drakes Creek.
 
What do they release for white water and how long does it last? Does it mess up fishing for the whole day? What if you were to go below the Gorge, would the effects be mitigated?

Brad i have heard from other members that PMs dont go thru sometimes so something may have happened.
 
If you go farther upstream at 800 CFS (white water release) - you might be able to get away with fishing below the dam or in White Haven. Down by Rockport there will be way too much water with all the tribs coming in too - so it will be un-wadable / unfishable. The water just moves way too fast in the gorge to fish it safely during high water.

I don't fish much below the gorge...so can't speak to that but I imagine you'd be much better off with a drift boat than wade fishing. I think the current isn't as bad in some places.
 
I wouldnt want to fish anywhere up there at 800, 400 is hard enough sometimes!

Hopefully they will keep it fair and equal and next year the white water releases can all be sundays and we can have saturdays to fish, mothers day weekend included.

Is it one of LCFAs goals to eliminate the white water garbage?
 
I once tried to cross the Lehigh in the Gorge on foot to gain access to a trib on the opposite side of the rail trail. It was late August or early September and the flow was under 300 CFS out of the dam. 275ish I think. I tried to cross in the safest place I could find within reasonable distance of the trib on the other side. Made it about 1/4 of the way and was being lifted off my feet. Water was a little above my knees. Never will try to cross it again at any flow.
 
Yep it's been canceled due to all the rain. If they didn't hoard so much water already they'd be able to do plenty of fishing releases...but they've kept it pretty much at capacity so anytime there is a rain event pretty much any fishing release will be canceled...well from what I understand.
 
You have to live through the many years when getting a full pool (1370) in spring never happened. I'd rather error on the side of caution and grab the water when we can, vs 400cfs fishing releases which based on inflow coming in below the dam from tribs is un-fishable most of the time anyway.
 
Hopefully the rain will slow down for rest of may and june

That and i gotta get my head out of my butt and buy the rest of the gear for my pontoon
 
You have to live through the many years when getting a full pool (1370) in spring never happened. I'd rather error on the side of caution and grab the water when we can, vs 400cfs fishing releases which based on inflow coming in below the dam from tribs is un-fishable most of the time anyway.
Click to expand...

Ah that makes complete sense then! Curious Mike, how did that lack of rain / full pool affect the flows and fishing back then? I'm assuming the river warmed up much more quickly.
 
Whats the deal with fishing post whitewater, like late sunday afternoon/evening? WW release is over early afternoon sunday, does it wreck the fishing for the day? If so its Monday or bust unless the flows come down some for those who are wading for the time being like myself
 
Fishing/catching can be sketchy post WW release depending on how much the river level fluctuates. Lately, that hasn't been a problem. If there is a big fluctuation in river level, I find it takes about 24 hrs for the fish to settle down.
 
Thanks LR

Sounds like its Monday or bust then, and i got something to do Monday....shoot
 
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