Saucon Creek, Northampton County, 8/30/2011

[Lonewolve]

Fished Saucon near the lower park, water temp was 58 degrees and water was high but not off color, Stream took a real beating ,one thing i can tell you is that the rocks are really clean,like they were scrubbed with a brush, moss is missing from its usual haunts and the stream bed has changed in spots for the better IMHO.I remember the 96 winter flood and how the Lil Lehigh and Saucon fished for the coming year. As bad as the storm was it could have been far worse. I nymphed, swung soft hackles, no dice i got Blanked.I usually don't Blank on this stream, oh well thats fishing.I didn't do a stream sample, something i usually do everytime i fish.Shame on me. I did however see small caddis fliterring about cream/ lt tan about a #18 and small baetis/olives #22 from time to time.
No risers presented themselves.and i did manage to spook a few wild browns while movin up.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[Fishidiot]

Nice report - thanks Rick.

 

[clydeman]

I have seen the Saucon the exact same way. After a flood the rocks do indeed looked scrubbed and stream looks void of vegetation. I am probably going to fish it this weekend so will see.
Nice report.
Thanks

 

[Lonewolve]

Fish,
I tried to do a report right this was my first report.Hopefully i will be able to do one with pics after i get the posting pics thingy figured out.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[Fishidiot]

Rick,
It's a good report because you describe the stream conditions including temp.....and esp how it's changed since Irene - which would be of interest to those thinking about a visit. You also describe the flies used and whether they were effective as well as insects seen. I happen to feel personally that reports that reveal a skunking are particularly useful and honest because they reveal to the reader a realistic view of what one may expect. I think too often, folks put reports here in this forum to brag up a great day or show off a fish they're proud to have caught.....and that's fine. However the main purpose of this reports forum is to indicate what is happening (or not happening) on particular waters so that our readership can get a handle on what is current.
Again, well done.

As for pics: They're a nice addition but aren't a substitute for good and timely info.

(Most folks having difficulty posting pics need to re-size their photos to a smaller size)

 

[kyle1248]

I fished the Saucon tonight. I fished from the upper end of the Trophy Trout section up into the ATW. I took a skunking as well. The water was slightly higher than the average spring flows I would say but was running clear and the stream bed was incredibly clean. There was great indications of flooding along the streambanks with two shopping cart sightings along the banks as well. I nymphed all the moving water moving upstream and had no takes. Since I only really had 1.5 hours to fish until dark I pretty much stuck to a beadheaded pheasant tail and an Al's Rat combo. Didn't take a water temperature but I am sure it was plenty cold. I saw very few signs of insect life. Saw a few sporatic cream colored caddis coming off which were probably size 18. Saw one fish rise right at dark along one old railroad tressle but that was it. Forgot my glasses so I saw no fish either. I did notice that a lot of the brush piles and trees that were in the stream before Irene in the ATW were gone and a few new blowdowns in the beginning of the Trophy Trout appeared.

 

[surveyor06]

The little lehigh also looks like it was scrubbed clean in the Heritage Section. Maybe good for spawning?

 

[PhilC]

Hopefully things shape up for some fall streamer action

 

[csoult]

Sorry to hear about your luck Rick you'll get them next time I'm sure.

 

[whheff]

I fished it last week before the storm and I only hooked 2 little, about 5 to 6" browns and a chub which was just as big. My 2 friends got skunked too.
Big change on the Saucon from this year to last.

 

[Lonewolve]

Hey I pass and drive along the Saucon from its headwaters to where it dumps in to the Lehigh River going to and from work , also cross Nancy run,As well as The Bushkill is just over the hill from where i work,The Monocacy is also nearby,and as i ride along the headwaters of the Saucon,Liebert run and the Lil Lehigh are over the hill and then i ride along the Hoesensack creek,another lil limestoner thats posetd to the gills, worst stream i have seen this week so far are the Saucon,Bushkill,and saturday i will be down the Lil Lehigh scoutin out the storm damage probably tying flies maybe fishing so ill be able to comment there too.
I am not dissapointed by not catching fish,its all part of this great sport and love of ours.I know one thing for weeks before the storm i watched literally 25 browns sippin tricos upstream of me ,and below me is where i like to nymph and usually i can catch a few slammers too.I hadn't fished here in a few years so i was planning on fishing here the weekend the storm came.I had however stopped daily and watched these fish and also saw fish flashin after nymphs below me for months.waiting plying my strategies darn storm put a wrench in my plans..but as ahhhrnoold would say "I'll be back.
one thing i know is that these floods are a good/bad thing for the local streams, scour and cleans the rocks and bottom.does a few changeups to the streams path.or direction, worst thing is that it literally grinds up the food base, not entirely but it does a good job of reducing invertabrates.I just wanted to pet a few of my speckled friends is all.I been workin so much most of my fishing has been done up my cabin in Clearfield and Centre counties.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace

 

[Foxgap239]

Hey guys. Typing this from Madrid, Spain on business. It's nice to read these reports and think of home! Last time I was there someone constructed a damn in the park just above the first walking bridge. I wasn't happy about it because I thought it messed up a really good nymph pool. Can anyone tell me if Irene took out that damn? Gracias Amigos.

 

[clydeman]

Fished the section in the park on Sunday. On the water by 6.30am with air temps around 68 degrees and water temps at 58 degrees. Some tricos in the air - not many - and some small olives. Took one on a size 24 trico spinner and one on a size 16 spent olive. Not much surface activity. Moved upstream of the closed bridge and took one on a snowshoe pattern. Fish are still there but surface activity is slow. Hopefully all the silt being pushed out will be good for future years. It certainly made wading more difficult as the stream was just loose rocks and no silt

 

[JohnPowers]

Isn't there a trice hatch on the saucon? I'm catching fish in Allentown and bethlehem on tricos. Are you saucon guys sandbagging us with these tales of woe?

 

[clydeman]

I have not seen a good trico hatch on the Saucon this year. There were some in the air last Sunday but nothing like previous years.

 

[JohnPowers]

Somethings going on in Bethlehem and Allentown with the tricos. Monocacy is a shadow of what it was 25 years ago but seems to have taken a plunge in the last 5 or so. Hate to sound like an old fud but the days of massive clouds of spinners are gone. Some 22 hooks, black thread and poly wings were the ticket. With few flies they've gotten pickier. Time marches on but is this progress? How about this rain? WB Delaware remains unwadable. The new release regimen means any rain puts it up out of wading depth.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

John - This was from last summer at the Trico Jam on the Little Lehigh. The tricos have been very good this year as well.

 

[PhilC]

JohnPowers wrote:
Somethings going on in Bethlehem and Allentown with the tricos. Monocacy is a shadow of what it was 25 years ago but seems to have taken a plunge in the last 5 or so. Hate to sound like an old fud but the days of massive clouds of spinners are gone. Some 22 hooks, black thread and poly wings were the ticket. With few flies they've gotten pickier. Time marches on but is this progress? How about this rain? WB Delaware remains unwadable. The new release regimen means any rain puts it up out of wading depth.

I haven't really done much trico fishing until this summer, so I can't comment on that hatch specifically.
I certainly would do much better on the monocacy before the floods of 04-05... I was getting used to catch nice size wild browns (15+ inches) which put up a great fight and would often times (ironically, for browns) go acrobatic. I have never since caught wild fish this nice anywhere in the Lehigh Valley.
I did get out one day for the trico hatch on the Monocacy one day this summer (I did a stream report on it). I found that the fish that were rising to tricos were less selective than the fish on the Lil Lehigh. The fish would take the first pattern that drift past their lie, whereas on the Lil Lehigh there were way more tricos in the air and your presentation, timing, and pattern seemed much more important.
My 2 cents for what it worth (from the few days that I experienced...)

 

[JohnPowers]

Very good now is a fraction of even 15 years ago. I ran into a guy in late july who referred to a good hatch that morning on the monocacy. My point really is that he was a lot younger than me, 64, and didn't have the historical perspective. There are tricos and I'm catching fish but I no longer lose count.

 

[Mike]

The scrubbed appearance is because the rocks rolled along with the high water, crushing most macros attached to them and in their path and grinding off the diatoms. Additionally, the surface rocks were replaced with those from beneath the surface from upstream locations or by being released from the eroding stream banks. The loose feeling to the rocks under foot is also an indication that they have not "settled in" yet. If you look around, you may also find an advancing wave of gravel, sand, and other loose, eroded material that will completely bury the natural stream bottom like an advancing gravel/sand glacier. This is typical in some streams like the Saucon that are constantly battered by stormwater runoff. Codorus went through that phase and may still be doing so for all I know. What you are seeing on the Saucon and what has occurred on Valley Ck is what most people call the unintended result of "progress."