Where, when do Lehigh River wild browns spawn?

[pcray1231]

Regarding Penns, I have seen redds and I do believe plenty reproduce in the main stem. I do think they grow very quickly there and reach that 10-12" mark in only a year, so the ratio of "small" fish is on the low side, and it can feel like size classes are missing. Yeah, in earlier spring it can seem like there's no young, last years class is already around 10" and this years class is too small to catch really. By summer you start getting 4-8" type fish mixed in. They tend to be in shallow slower riffs/flats/tailouts. Bigger fish in pocket water as well as the heads and edges of better pools. I also vividly recall fishing late fall one year and catching a decent brown dropping eggs. That was many years ago and kinda turned me off from fishing during the spawn.

Thats not to say the tribs aren't utilized, but, reproduction occurs in the main stem.

 

[MarkC]

Some of the trout in the lower Lehigh spawn in the valley limestone creeks. I caught a 28” brown in the Monocacy Creek below the first obstacle (at the time) Johnston Park Dam when I was a kid (50 years ago). I spotted 2 giant fish while muskrat trapping, came back with bass tackle and caught one on a jointed Rapala.

Never topped that fish but we would take very nice fish on the lower stretch of the Monocacy creek once the weather turned cold when I was a kid. Nowadays the fish can run all the way up to Illicks Mill dam, which I’m sure they do.

Mark C

 

[LehighRegular]

Regarding Penns, I have seen redds and I do believe plenty reproduce in the main stem. I do think they grow very quickly there and reach that 10-12" mark in only a year, so the ratio of "small" fish is on the low side, and it can feel like size classes are missing. Yeah, in earlier spring it can seem like there's no young, last years class is already around 10" and this years class is too small to catch really. By summer you start getting 4-8" type fish mixed in. They tend to be in shallow slower riffs/flats/tailouts. Bigger fish in pocket water as well as the heads and edges of better pools. I also vividly recall fishing late fall one year and catching a decent brown dropping eggs. That was many years ago and kinda turned me off from fishing during the spawn.

Thats not to say the tribs aren't utilized, but, reproduction occurs in the main stem.

Reaching 12" in one year is pretty much unheard of growth rates. A 12" fish in Penns is likely a 2-3 year old trout. Yes...there is lots of food, but the temperatures are not ideal for those rates of growth.

 

[pcray1231]

I think this shows year classes well.

PFBC 2007 Biologist Report - Penns Creek

Sampling in June in trophy trout section. This years year class is 2". Last years year class 5-10" with a peak at 7"-8". 2 years ago year class at 11"-15".

An observation, shared by many, is that the average size is bigger farther downstream in the ALO section and below. Unclear whether thats due to faster growth rates or older fish, probably a combination of both, but personally I do think the growth rate is a little higher down there (not suggesting its due to regulation differences, just habitat). I do seem to see year classes, but in late May/June they are an inch or two larger than the sampling from above.