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

[lycoflyfisher]

Good info to have, anyone familiar with how some of the cold tribs influence the mainstem, ie Pohopoco, Fireline, etc

 

[REDNECK_FLYFISHER]

I fished the Lehigh on Monday night near in White Haven and the water temps were 66 degrees. I fished Hayes creek near Hickory Run State Park on Sunday and that was 64. It looks like I will be done with the Lehigh for a few months so its off fishing for bass and crappies at Moosehead lake.

 

[Swattie87]

REDNECK_FLYFISHER wrote:
I fished Hayes creek near Hickory Run State Park on Sunday and that was 64.

How did Hayes fish?

I fished it in primo conditions earlier this Spring and it underperformed, as it has a reputation of doing. I know what the PFBC surveys say about its biomass, but it routinely fishes poorly for me. In conditions where similar (and nearby) small wild Brown Trout streams fish very well. After fishing Hayes, that same day this Spring I had a smash up afternoon on a similar nearby stream. I was at Hayes at dawn and I'm certain no one was fishing ahead of me...I'm done devoting a primo conditions day to it at this point.

 

[Millsertime]

Swattie....For those same exact reasons..I have not been back to Hayes. I'm sure the numbers are there but it's tough to justify the effort with such consistent poor results. Last time I fished it after a rain and the water was partly stained. I figured easy to catch some browns on streamers. Wrong...And I hiked up to I-80 and fished 1/2 way down.

 

[REDNECK_FLYFISHER]

For swattie,
as for how was hayes creek, well lets just say it was a nice hike. I was out for 4 hours and I caught 1 brown about 6". I moved to the area 3 years ago and this was my 5th time on hayes and only my second fish. I keep hearing people in the area say how great they do on it but I just don't have any luck there. I agree with you about not going back. I do have luck on other area streams so I don't know why I am wasting my time on hayes at all.

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah...I fished it on a warm day in late April, the morning after a good rain. It was up and perfectly off color. Checked all of the SGL lots and the lot at the 534 bridge and there were no vehicles when I got there (at, or slightly before dawn). Went in from the SGL lots to the west and started at the Fourth Run confluence. Fished up to I80. I think I got a half dozen or so, but worked hard for them. Given how good the habitat is over that distance, that's a disappointing result in those conditions. I've fished it three other times in similar conditions, and got similar (or worse even) results.

The second stream I fished up that way this last time on the same day in the same conditions, I fished about half the distance I did on Hayes. Got about 40.

 

[k-bob]

"started at the Fourth Run confluence."

in this area where some steams fish well and others not so much, I once fished a long way up fourth run. small stream w/ good water temps and small pools, but I didn't find many trout...

 

[timmyt2]

I hope to explore some of the tribs in the area this summer. Never fished any of them before. Obviously i wont start with hayes!

 

[troutbert]

Is anyone aware of water quality or other problems on Black (Hayes) Creek that might be hindering wild trout populations?

Many streams in the region have good wild trout populations. What's the problem there?

And has the PFBC surveyed it in recent years?

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
Is anyone aware of water quality or other problems on Black (Hayes) Creek that might be hindering wild trout populations?

Many streams in the region have good wild trout populations. What's the problem there?

And has the PFBC surveyed it in recent years?

There are numerous Black Creeks in the Lehigh River drainage so I always include the local name of "Hayes" so folks know what stream is being referred to by the angler.

Hayes Creek aka Black Creek has been discussed at length on here for many years.

Hayes 1

Hayes 2

Hayes 3

 

[afishinado]

Swattie87 wrote:
Yeah...I fished it on a warm day in late April, the morning after a good rain. It was up and perfectly off color. Checked all of the SGL lots and the lot at the 534 bridge and there were no vehicles when I got there (at, or slightly before dawn). Went in from the SGL lots to the west and started at the Fourth Run confluence. Fished up to I80. I think I got a half dozen or so, but worked hard for them. Given how good the habitat is over that distance, that's a disappointing result in those conditions. I've fished it three other times in similar conditions, and got similar (or worse even) results.

The second stream I fished up that way this last time on the same day in the same conditions, I fished about half the distance I did on Hayes. Got about 40.

Swattie, you had the answer 5 years ago, I believe>

If you use a mapping tool and know the stream you can pretty accurately figure out the stretch where they found the big biomass numbers from the RM numbers. I did and it made sense...it's very difficult to fish that stretch effectively. Primo habitat but tough to get anything to them. My guess is that biomass is very localized and a lot of that number may have even come from one spot in particular.

The last survey I saw had the pop #'s at 27 near the mouth and over 160 (a way high number) in the upstream section surveyed. Likely, as Swattie surmised above, the survey was done in a small area that held a dense population of fish and likely an area very difficult to access and fish > woody debris, undercut banks, rhodo tunnel, etc. Surveyors in a small stream can vacuum up nearly every fish from every little nook and cranny of the stream.

I don't have the survey details since the link is no longer connected because it was from the old FBC site. But, one other possibility is the survey was taken during the warm season and many fish migrated to the section because of a cold water spring or trib using the section as a respite from the high temps. Also, the fish can migrate from the Lehigh and move back and forth.

Anyway, the stream was great back-in-the-day, but appears to be a shadow of itself right now.

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah, I still think that’s likely true...Where they surveyed and all. That stretch is difficult to fish, but a couple of those massive holes can hold a mess of fish. But still, it’s darn good habitat the whole way to I80. In good conditions like I’ve fished it in, I’d expect it to produce well, and it consistently doesn’t. Not sure I have the full answer why. I suspect it’s fished more than some of its neighbors, but the reports are pretty consistent that despite the biomass, it fishes like a dud.

Even a class C or so biomass stream will have a fish in every “good” spot, and should fish well when conditions are good.

 

[k-bob]

any other fishing reports on fourth run, the trib to hayes? Maybe I'll give it another shot some day...

Btw another hickory run area stream with interesting habitat, maybe some Browns, but tiny and kind of impossible to fish, is the upper parts of panther run on the south side of mud run.