Little Lehigh, Lehigh Co., 5/5/14

[Deutschy]

I've been searching the web daily/weekly for Little Lehigh fly fishing reports but have come up empty handed every time. I fish the stream on the heritage section everyday the weather conditions allow me to any where from 4-8 hours. I wanted to start posting daily reports for anyone whose looking for quick tips, tactics, and general updates of the stream life and fishing before they head out to wet a line on the LL. Starting today May 5th, I will be providing daily reports coming straight from the Little Lehigh's Heritage Section. If anyone has any questions or thoughts for me along the way I'd be more than willing to help or listen.

Thanks, Mike Deutsch

 

[Fishidiot]

Welcome Deutschy,
We have many folks here on the PAFF (Paflyfish) community who fish LL regularly. Bet you've met some of 'em.

With respect to writing reports. First off - although the LL is well known - we ask for reports to include Stream, County, Date format in the title line as this helps standardize search function (note the corrections I made).
We appreciate your reports. A good report covers water and weather conditions, hatches, fishing pressure, flies that worked (or didn't), water temps etc. Reports that "caught the skunk" are valuable too - as our reports forum is for more than bragging about a good day (although some bragging rights are fine).

One final suggestion: although we have many LL fans around here...daily reports of the LL are unnecessary. Some new posters on our forums have gone a bit overboard in attempting to write up every fishing trip. Why not contribute a report around once a month or so? Also, reports should focus on specific trips rather than a month's worth of observations, although you can certainly include some long term observations in a daily report.
DaveW

 

[Deutschy]

Yes of course Dave I couldn't agree with you more! My intentions are to provide the information you had stated just a moment ago. The whole nine yards. Flies that worked, hatches, stream conditions and so on. I don't plan on projecting what I caught or how big the fish were. I simply just want to provide some quick updates that are easy to check up on for the regulars at the LL and everyone else because I've looked everywhere online and can't find one person who does! I will do my best to write a summary/report once every month that'll help give people some good insight they'll be able to use to their advantage when they get there to fish.

Thanks, Mike Deutsch

 

[troutwilleatflies]

Since you fish it every day a weekly report would be helpful,monthly would be too long and the info would be stale.

 

[LetortAngler]

. Daily/weeky, all sounds good to me 🙂 more the merrier IMO, conditions change all the time and its good to know what were dealing with before making the drive.
Thanks mike

 

[Deutschy]

I will provide a report once or twice every week because monthly provides a to large of a gap for the fish/stream to change and my reports will become useless. Seeing as many people who fish the water do make a considerably long drive to get there and have little time to waste, I think this way is best. I appreciate the feed back guys. I'm working on getting my first report up ASAP. Please don't hesitate to mention what exactly it is that'd you'd like to see in the reports that'll help you most!

Thanks, Mike Deutsch

 

[NedZeppelin]

Actually, I'm OK with a daily report, since between work and family so little time is left to actually fish the vicarious experience of fly fishing is often all I have.

 

[Fishidiot]

Deutschy wrote:
I will provide a report once or twice every week.....because monthly provides reports will become useless.
Thanks, Mike Deutsch

Mike,
Monthly reports aren't worthless. Even if you submit one report per year - if it is a good report - that is useful.

I think there's some misunderstanding here.
According to the site owner's concept for fishing reports: reports should reflect a single day of fishing on a single waterway (there is some wiggle room here and we tolerate some exceptions). The key to making a report relevant isn't how frequently they're submitted, but rather the elapsed time between the trip and the report and the information included. In other words, reports that follow soon after a trip are best because the info is fresh...but more importantly, the info provided matters because a long time later, if one is planning to visit LL - or whatever Stream X - they can look at date, weather, hatches etc.

This is why a single good report from several years ago is still useful and why we hold on to them. It may not be a fresh report - but if you're planning, for example, to visit Yellow Breeches this weekend and weather report is for sunny weather.....you can look back thru past year's reports for the same stream on the same date and see what someone previously reported.
Again, there's no hard and fast rule for how often one chooses to post reports. If you want to write one weekly, that's fine. It isn't necessary and individuals who have sometimes "over reported" can rub some of the readership wrong (although that is the other reader's problem, not the fishermen who wrote the report).
Just some stuff to be aware of.

 

[Deutschy]

I shouldn't have used the word "useless" when talking about monthly reports. I agree that any good report can be useful time and time again but I think what I'm trying to get across is that fresh weekly reports are going to be far more accurate and effective concerning the current conditions if the reports are written meticulously. You can always look back to old reports from past years but all the info reported won't be a precise image of the current stream conditions... For example- A report last year from a trip to the LL on May 6th could have reported there was a sulphur hatch. But currently this year on May 6th the sulphurs haven't showed and are looking to be a couple weeks later than their hatch date reported last year due to a harsh winter which results in the angler reading the report to arrive to the stream prepared to fish sulphurs when in reality he won't being seeing any. Aside from that though... I really do appreciate the advice leading me into the right direction to start posting reports! My goal is to simply provide the most current and accurate reports to save anglers time and help them catch more fish.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Hi Mike,

Good to see someone that'll provide a good stream report for the LL.

Some suggestions:

In addition to hatch info, probably the most important info you could provide would be the water temps. Not so important right now, but when it gets really hot outside, that info can be crucial. Anytime the water temp gets over 70 degrees, it's best to leave the fish alone.

Get a good thermometer, take temps in several places with good current flow, and report highs, lows, and time of day the temps were taken.

If you use an infrared thermometer, remember to take readings from a foot or less from the water's surface. For every foot you are away from the surface, you get like 10% error on your reading.

Also, I suggest checking with Dave at the shop to share and coordinate your info. I'm sure he'd appreciate it, and he might be able to add to your report info. He can also forward the report to Gary Blockus of the Morning Call to list in his outdoor column and fishing reports.

Good luck, and thanks for providing information to people that may have to make a long drive, only to find out they should have gone elsewhere.

H.A.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

I was walking my dog along the LL today at the C&R FFO along Miilbrook Farms.The water conditions were perfect and I did see a few risers.Submitted this for those that are thinking to give it a try and wonder if the creek is fishable after all the rain.