Saucon Creek, Allentown, 9/17/2008

[simplefish]

I fished Saucon for the first time on Wednesday. I got there around 3:30, and saw fish rising right away. Around 4:00, lots of bugs started emerging. Lots of blue winged olives 20-22, and a small amount of tan caddis size 16. The small browns were actually leaping out of the water and doing backflips. Really cool to watch. I only managed to catch one fish in an hour of fishing ( had to get back to work), and geeked a couple others, but I had more fun watching these fish and their acrobatics. The water was crystal clear, and the flow moderate. This stream seems to have a low pool to riffle ratio, but I only got to explore a small section. I could have sworn that I smelled sewage at one point. Is this normal?

 

[afishinado]

Simplefish,

Fredrick & I fished the Saucon yesterday. We also saw a ton of small BWOs, some caddis, and a larger mayfly that I couldn’t capture to identify. Dry fly fishing was tough for the most part. We caught some on dries but most on nymphs.

This was my first trip to the Saucon this year. I wasn't real impressed with the amount of fish I saw when comparing it to the past few years. And yes, the sewage smell is part of the ambience of the stream. There are sewage pipe heads (whatever they’re called) lining the banks of the stream.

Also you made an astute observation about the ratio of pools and riffles. I haven’t been fishing the Saucon for too long, but I understand that a hurricane (Ivan I believe) did a job on the stream. I know there are others on the board that have a lot more knowledge of the Saucon than I - maybe they will share that knowledge.

The Saucon has great potential as a wild trout stream, but is in need of some TLC. It’s a shame that the Saucon TU has disbanded. Any Lehigh Valley FFers out there looking to adopt a stream?