gfen
Active member
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2007
- Messages
- 6,628
I don't post stream reports much any more because I've seen what happens if you're not careful.
However, I think this stream deserves more attention because from what I've been told, and what I saw, are pretty different. Also, I think more "good presence" can help the stream, and frankly I don't think the meatheads would have much interest in it.
Trout Creek. I mean, yeah, its got the name and all but yet no one talks about it so you'd think that its one of those sort of ironic things because development and time have ravaged it and turned it into warm drainage ditch, right?
Wrong. Completely so.
I went out to check this out the other day in the spirit of adventurism, and not leaving my 15 mile foot print (9.9 miles, thank you very much!). I've heard so much about it being a nasty little dead stream in a ghetto fabulous area overrun with bums and riff raff.
This is only partially true, maybe not at all, but hell I'm running off a sample of one day, so who knows. I do know that I decided to strip my car of anything valuable, carry only my knockaround rod and beat up line, and bring something with a little more snot than a 5wt if things went sour.
Its certainly not in the nicest part of Allentown (South 8th Street), although the immediate area isn't too bad, it gets that sort of look about it when you go about one block in any direction. I drove by Mack Park and kept going, I only pulled over to really take a look when I hit Trout Creek Park, right below the trestle bridge.
It looked pretty good, actually. I saw a couple of decent size fish move from my shadow and decided I'd go down further and fish upstream. I saw a surprisingly clean park, reached the end and got ready to hop into the stream, went down past Imperial Paving and was pretty happy with what I saw. The stream looks really good. Its not very big, nor deep in many places, but its clean (mostly) trash free, and seems to have a really good mix of runs and pools.
That's, I believe, the parking garage for Good Shepard up there. Outside of the main park area, its defiantly dirtier, but none the less there's a great natural riparian buffer, lots of trees and great looking water. There's also a surprising amount of fish in the water, maybe nothing giant, but they're defiantly there.
Not just suckers, either, but actual trouts.
Man, what's it say for safety when even children can be carjacked and their cars joyridden and dumped to be stripped? Seriously though, its not so bad. There's a collection of normal enough looking people walking by, and surprisingly, it appears there's been a lot of in stream work done. There's bank reinforcement, in stream deflectors and buffers, etc. I'm not an expert, but I was taken aback by how good it was. When I started seeing the dumped rock banks covered with fresh grass held in by burlap, I knew someone was really making an effort.
That explains that, eh? This stream looks fantastic, I can't stress enough how many (smaller) fish I saw through the park, and I think its amazing that in the heart of a rundown part of town is this magnificent little stream.
I grew continually amazed by the amount of fresh springs running into it, including one healthy weedchoked little brook that, of course, had its own particular stamp of A'town on it…
That's a 17" truck tire, with aluminum rim, if you're interested. What you can't see is the swarms of midges up in the air there, to say nothing of the crane flies and mayflies on the main portion of the stream.
I only fished from a bit below the main park area up to where the train trestle enters into Trout Creek Park. Its a really nice area, and its under a lot of major work. In addition to the streamside improvements, there was a lot of fresh riparian buffer planting, turns out I read that they're working on revitalizing the whole park.
Hopefully, with the improvements they work on policing in the area. Again, I didn't see anything that left me wary, but more than a few people have commented its an awful place to live. I'm defiantly planning to go back again.
So, with that said, the "report" bit:
The water was up, cold, and clear. I'd say this is just about perfect for a 3 or 4wt, depending on how heavy you like to cast. The casting is never long, the water rarely above knee deep. I saw a surprisingly amount of fish, from a few inches up to significantly bigger. Fish were caught both on the surface and underneath.
I didn't take a water temp (deal), but with the amount of fresh springs it has to be cold.
Insects sighted were craneflies, midges, and size 16ish mayflies. I don't know which ones, I don't profess to care. 🙂
I'll defiantly go back.
However, I think this stream deserves more attention because from what I've been told, and what I saw, are pretty different. Also, I think more "good presence" can help the stream, and frankly I don't think the meatheads would have much interest in it.
Trout Creek. I mean, yeah, its got the name and all but yet no one talks about it so you'd think that its one of those sort of ironic things because development and time have ravaged it and turned it into warm drainage ditch, right?
Wrong. Completely so.
I went out to check this out the other day in the spirit of adventurism, and not leaving my 15 mile foot print (9.9 miles, thank you very much!). I've heard so much about it being a nasty little dead stream in a ghetto fabulous area overrun with bums and riff raff.
This is only partially true, maybe not at all, but hell I'm running off a sample of one day, so who knows. I do know that I decided to strip my car of anything valuable, carry only my knockaround rod and beat up line, and bring something with a little more snot than a 5wt if things went sour.
Its certainly not in the nicest part of Allentown (South 8th Street), although the immediate area isn't too bad, it gets that sort of look about it when you go about one block in any direction. I drove by Mack Park and kept going, I only pulled over to really take a look when I hit Trout Creek Park, right below the trestle bridge.
It looked pretty good, actually. I saw a couple of decent size fish move from my shadow and decided I'd go down further and fish upstream. I saw a surprisingly clean park, reached the end and got ready to hop into the stream, went down past Imperial Paving and was pretty happy with what I saw. The stream looks really good. Its not very big, nor deep in many places, but its clean (mostly) trash free, and seems to have a really good mix of runs and pools.
That's, I believe, the parking garage for Good Shepard up there. Outside of the main park area, its defiantly dirtier, but none the less there's a great natural riparian buffer, lots of trees and great looking water. There's also a surprising amount of fish in the water, maybe nothing giant, but they're defiantly there.
Not just suckers, either, but actual trouts.
Man, what's it say for safety when even children can be carjacked and their cars joyridden and dumped to be stripped? Seriously though, its not so bad. There's a collection of normal enough looking people walking by, and surprisingly, it appears there's been a lot of in stream work done. There's bank reinforcement, in stream deflectors and buffers, etc. I'm not an expert, but I was taken aback by how good it was. When I started seeing the dumped rock banks covered with fresh grass held in by burlap, I knew someone was really making an effort.
That explains that, eh? This stream looks fantastic, I can't stress enough how many (smaller) fish I saw through the park, and I think its amazing that in the heart of a rundown part of town is this magnificent little stream.
I grew continually amazed by the amount of fresh springs running into it, including one healthy weedchoked little brook that, of course, had its own particular stamp of A'town on it…
That's a 17" truck tire, with aluminum rim, if you're interested. What you can't see is the swarms of midges up in the air there, to say nothing of the crane flies and mayflies on the main portion of the stream.
I only fished from a bit below the main park area up to where the train trestle enters into Trout Creek Park. Its a really nice area, and its under a lot of major work. In addition to the streamside improvements, there was a lot of fresh riparian buffer planting, turns out I read that they're working on revitalizing the whole park.
Hopefully, with the improvements they work on policing in the area. Again, I didn't see anything that left me wary, but more than a few people have commented its an awful place to live. I'm defiantly planning to go back again.
So, with that said, the "report" bit:
The water was up, cold, and clear. I'd say this is just about perfect for a 3 or 4wt, depending on how heavy you like to cast. The casting is never long, the water rarely above knee deep. I saw a surprisingly amount of fish, from a few inches up to significantly bigger. Fish were caught both on the surface and underneath.
I didn't take a water temp (deal), but with the amount of fresh springs it has to be cold.
Insects sighted were craneflies, midges, and size 16ish mayflies. I don't know which ones, I don't profess to care. 🙂
I'll defiantly go back.
