Little Lehigh 1/8/08

[jerseygeorge]

Summary: I got skunked

Details: I have been getting skunked a lot there recently. Last year I only fished the LLH twice, not sure I caught a trout either time.

This time I fished from the bridge below the flyshop, all the way up to the hatchery road, then worked downstream to the bridge on the other side. Started on fly shop side. Fished zebra midge, als rat, greenie weenie, san juan worm, PT nymph. Not even a nibble.

A few years back I could always count on 4 fish or so on a slow day and 10 to 12 on a good day. For some reason I have not been successful there lately.

I saw two trout caught, both by fisherman at the hatchery pool. I don't dunk a fly there.

On the plus side, it was a beautiful day to get out and I am glad I took advantage of it. Don't get days like this in January often.

No insects at all, and water temp 46F.

 

[rckrego]

The river is in bad shape... I wouldn't bother with anything but midges. indicator nymph a tandem of them

 

[jerseygeorge]

What do you mean by bad shape? Flow was good, water clear. I only noticed that there appeared to be less fish. I have done well there sight fishing, and today I saw very few fish. A lot less than in the past, but then I am not normally there in January. Two years ago in early March I has an awesome day, so did my friends. That was previously the earliest I had fished there.

 

[LouM]

Thats the LLH I caught 2 dec 31, none on the 3rd and 5 on each of my 3 trips previous to that. I got skunked on the saucon today Thats why they call it fishing not catching.

 

[afishinado]

The LL is usually a great place to fish in the winter without having to wade. I like to practice my sight fishing at the LL. I stopped to fish a week or so ago and also noticed a lack of fish. The stream is dependent on the local hatchery for stocking. Stop in at the hatchery and ask them about stocking.

 

[fly_flinger]

I wouldn't say the stream is in bad shape but I have been catching less fish on average. I think the low water conditions of the summer and early fall are more to blame than anything. I have never caught a fish on a midge nymph there. Pheasant tails,baetis and copper john nymphs always catch fish for me. I fished there Sunday and caught fish on a pink egg and a copper john. I really don't fish eggs much but ran into some guys that were having luck with them so I tied one on. First cast, 18" rainbow. Missed a few more after that with it then had to go home.

 

[sandfly]

the stream does not get stocked there...its supposed to be for wild fish though they stay away from the pressure......its a hard creek to fish because of the pressure..if its clear it can be real difficult, i find i like stonefly's in sz.6 works. and sculpins this time of year...remember that fish you see and are fishin for might have been caught by someone else earlier....they shut down for a while.maybe a day.

 

[fly_flinger]

Bob,
Do they stock the other FFO section? I didn't think they did for some reason but they guys I talked to on Sunday said they do.

 

[rckrego]

I'm not referring to the fish, I'm talking about the river itself. Its very silted up. There was very little aquatic plant growth this summer. The hatches do not seem as prolific as in years past. I just think the development in the area and that hatchery are hurting the fishery, although the hatchery is probably why there remains a decent large trout population due to all the midges that enter the river through the outflows. Don't get me wrong, I still catch a ton of fish there. I haven't caught less than a half dozen fish there in longer than I can remember. It just doesn't look like how I remember it, nor like the older pictures of the fabled stream once looked. I think there are some stream improvements that could be done to help, but the silt problem, I don't know how to fix that.

 

[tabasco_joe]

I'm thinking you need a food pellet pattern and fish it in the hatchery pool.

 

[wreinhardt]

I agree with most of the threads about the deterioration of the LL. I fished on Monday in the pm, caught one bow on a beetle. That was the only fish I saw caught. Not nearly as many fish evident as used to be. The pressure is enormous--even on the lousiest day the stream is inundated with fishermen. I know a guy who fishes almost every day for at least a couple of hours, weather permitting. He says he sees a lot of poaching going on. Guys taking fish, guys using spinning rods--never sees the game warden patrolling the place. He even tells the story of a guy who owns a restaurant going into the hatchery at night to net fish. Fortunately, he was caught and fined very heavily. I used to love the place, fish very abundant and you could almost always catch between 6 and 10 fish in a days outing. I will now abandon the stream and do my winter trouting elsewhere. There's also a fair number of people fishing there without a license! Again, why can't the place be patrolled more. Rod in the fly shop (still an arrogant sob) still says the fishing is good and refuses to acknowlage that there are a lot less fish than there used to be. I stopped by on Tuesday and couldn't find a parking space. Maybe they should have more stretches on the LL with similar regs with the enormous popularity of the stretch. The bulk of the stream holds fish year round. Maybe that proposal opens pandoras box with a volley of criticism, just my 2 cents. Any thoughts.

 

[fly_flinger]

Were there fish rising Monday?

 

[wreinhardt]

The only rise I saw was the one fish when he rose to take the beetle.

 

[jerseygeorge]

Sounds like I am not the only one disappointed in the stream. It also sounds like I have to find another stream that fishes like the LLH used to a few years back. Thanks for all the comments.

 

[tabasco_joe]

One of the reasons the stream appears to have good and bad times is that every few years or so there is a flood that washes some fish out of the hatchery. I saw this back in, I believe, September or October of 2006. The stream overflowed it's banks and the set of hatchery pools that parrallels the stream overflowed. For months afterward there were a large number of fish in the LL down to about the fly shop. They then disipated over the next several months. I seem to remember that a guy at the hatchery told me they lost about 1000 fish.

I think that flood was in the top three all time for the stream but you can see with the settup they have to divert water from the stream to the hatchery it can happen on periodic high water.

I grew up in Allentown near the stream in the 50s and 60s. I didn't fish it then but I did frequent the park and I don't remember the sediment that I see there now. That's definitly a factor.

 

[tabasco_joe]

Went back and checked the stream flow data for the last 7 years. The flood I saw was in fall 2006 but there were also large floods in 2004 and 2005. (in fact the 2004 flood was the all time and all three floods in the 2000s were greater than Agnes of 72.) If they had the same overflow I observed in 2006 then the stream probably got a shot of additional fish during that period. That may account for the "good fishing" many of us remember. I know that I was just getting into fly fishing in 2005/6 and the fishing on the LL was easy in late 2006. Served as a nice confidence booster. Now I can hardly buy a fish. Of course Lou is going to teach me how to overcome that.

 

[wreinhardt]

I would like to expand on tobasco_joe's comments. Yes, the series of "100 year" floods we had a couple of years ago dumped a tremendous number of brook trout in the stream from the hatchery overflow. During those periods, the fishing was easy and catching lots of the "dumb" fresh stocked brookies was no real challenge. However, the quality fishing I referred to in my post was not during those periods, but those years encompassing the 1980's and 1990's. During those years, I recall very little brook trout population but rather a population of beautifull colored healthy rainbows and browns, both present in very abundant numbers. Hatches were plentiful and even though the fish were picky, quality angling was to be had. In my opinion, the river has tanked is due to a variety of reasons. The siltation now evident is the result of the uncontrolled development in the upper watershed. This leads to a reduction in the familiar hatches. The stretch is way overfished. There has been a tremendous explosion in the popularity of fly fishing, the result of the movie "A River Runs Through It". There is poaching going on, patrolling by the law enforcement is nil. As I said in my earlier post, they should consider creating more special reg areas like the heritage stretch. Several friends who used to fish the river frequently have since gone elsewhere. I think my comments are pretty accurate, I started fishing the Heritage stretch back in the late 1970's. I think I can attest to the degradation that has taken place over the years. Any comments?

 

[Dances_With_Brookies]

I've been following this post since its inception, and now I feel I need to respond...I grew up in Center Valley which is 15 minutes away and the LL is where I first learned to fish back in 1984. Every weekend my dad took me out and we fished all day, both days. Back then, the fish were plentiful and very forgiving of my lousy attempts to try and catch them. I remember donning cheap rubber hip boots and starting at the covered bridge and fishing all of the way up to Fish Hatchery Rd.-stopping somewhere in between to eat a bagged lunch with my father. He and I filled up over three photo albums with all of the mug shots we snapped of fish we caught. For me, the weekend would never arrive soon enough. Once I became more proficient, it was nothing to catch 30-40 fish in a day. In high school, I forged notes with my father's signature so I could skip school and take a personal day. During the 80's and early 90's, there was even natural reproduction of all three species of fish. I noticed some changes in the watershed right around 95-96 before I moved away. Since then, I have fished the LL twice, and like most of you, came away stunned at the amount of pressure and relative low density of fish. On the one outing, there was easily 40 fishermen along its banks with other fishermen patiently waiting along one of the cutouts that leads down to a section on the hatchery side. It's not very enjoyable when you have someone staring at you and waiting for you to pack in it so they can have a go at the spot you are occupying...My second trip since 1996 was not much better, aand I vowed that I would not return. The comments presented here come as no surprise and it is discouraging as to the current state of affairs. The LL holds a special place in my heart as I have many fond memories there as a child. I can only hope that something is done so the next generation can experience the things I did along its banks. Nothing put a bigger smile on my father;s face then the sight of me reeling in a fish. If you are a father then you already know...

 

[tabasco_joe]

I'd like to see the Heritage section expanded from the golf course down to the covered bridge. Wonder how much greif the bait fishermen would put up at that thought?

 

[martinlf]

Does anyone fish outside the special regs area? I often do and find beautiful wild fish, though no big ones so far.