Upper Lehigh Gorge State Park trout are doing well

[Mark_Griffin]

Despite the broken bypass gate and the flood release of all the cool water at the FEW dam,
the trout have come thru the summer just fine in the upper state park section of the Lehigh.
The release temp topped out at about 71-73° which is a little better than a typical year
and a walk in the park for trout if the flow is there, which it was.

At those temps C&R trout fishing is not a great idea, but I did see and hear reports
from co-workers of trout being caught in the usual spots during the warm weather of August.
Last week I fished in a light rain with tons of flying ants on the water and found rising trout
right where they were in the spring.

Today I fished in a light rain with a spring-like hatch of mayflies and a big rise of fish.
Look for a great fall season in the upper ten miles of the state park because the trout
and river are in great shape.

A cold water dam release is gonna take a lotta work, but in the meantime if they could
just tweak the temp down a bit to even 68°, it would provide great trout fishing
in the White Haven area just about all summer long.

From what I've seen in the last few weeks, the fall trout fishing is gonna be outstanding
all over the northeast quad of PA. Enjoy. 🙂

 

[LehighRegular]

Hey Mark
Great pic! Yes the fish made it through the summer, they usually find a way. I was on the river Saturday evening below Lehighton, trout are there too. We had slate drakes hatching in fair numbers, just enough to get the trout active. It usually doesnt take much on those flies.

As for your water temps, yes they held at that the low 70s all summer for most part. This won't kill trout, but they don't grow either. But definitely better than the norm of 75 plus deg F that usually occurs in August. And we had some major heat waves this summer too. Just goes to show ya what a little added water storage does for this reservoir. If we wouldnt have had the BIG flood the river might have seen 68 deg F for most part of summer coming from FEW. Eventually, the cold/cool water would have run out.

Now as for your comment on re: a coldwater release is gonna take alot of hard work. I have to disagree. But it will have to take a collective effort by many individual anglers and angling groups and even our PFBC if we want to accomplish that goal. It wont be hard if we all give our $0.02 to those who make the BIG decisions. A couple of emails or a phone call is all it might really take.

 

[fishinginasuit]

thanks for the news and good to hear it, i've never fished the lehigh below the f.e.w. dam and would love a few pointers on spots to check out first for fall trout fishing for a firster on the lehigh
just started fly fishing this year and the summer was rough so i'm hoping to get out some in the fall with better luck
thanks
chris