September 2004 Report
January/February
March April
May
June
July August
2003
Reports
Please browse our previous year's reports to find out
what the action was like in years past.
It looks
like the wheels are in motion to begin implementation of a
better resource management plan for the Francis E. Walter
Reservior and the Lehigh River. We were party to a meeting
that discussed the preliminary aspects of this plan and it
is one that we are very excited about. Obviously, this is
something that has been a long time coming and it will not
be achieved overnight. If this something that concerns you
send us an email.
We will surely point you to the correct organizations who
are working to achieve this goal.
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September 27, 2004 - UPDATE
We are fast approaching that time when most
streams are hatched out. And even if there were hatches it is
doubtful the fish are looking up due to the hifher than normal
water levels. Streamers are your best bet or your standard nymphs
- hares ear, caddis worms and/or maybe even some scuds if you
are fishing a limestoner.
For the shorebound saltwater angler - now is
the time to prep that gear. Year after year - it is mid-October
that we find the suds to really heat-up. Send us an email
if you have any questions.
Check out some of our action
from last year.
Basics of Saltwater Fly Fishing:"
8-10 weight rods, matched-up with either an intermediate or
a sinking 200-400 grain line. The sinking lines enable you to
get down in the current or deepest of holes. A good quality
reel with decent drag is also a must. Saltwater fly fishing
does not require near the precision that freshwater trout fishing
- so keep that in mind. But your need to be able to throw line
effectively. Flies are all the usual suspects - clousers, deceivers
and Popovics Jiggies. Go with chartreause, white, olive, yellow
and combinations of all. And don't forget the stripping basket
- either make one yourself or buy a pre-fab.
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September 22, 2004 - UPDATE
Not really much to report at all since all the
larger waters are still rippin at unsafe/unfishable levels.
Smaller streams are now fishable, but we have not been out.
Once levels come down a bit on Penns - conditions
will be perfect and it should be in great shape for our Fall
Weekend Package.
A really amazing event
occured over the weekend from all the rain and that is
Francis E. Walter Reservoir rose about 100 FEET! Yup,
that is right. This was caused by the Army Corps shutting
the valve to protect the downstream towns and even the
lower Delaware. Just to put that in perspective - that
much water did not even put the lake at 50% of capacity.
Talk about a hole in the ground!! Since the rains ended,
and the major pulse of water has made its way down thru
the lower Delaware, releases have been in the 7,000cfs
range. But it looks like the Army Corps is starting to
cut them back a bit - hopefully in a stepped-down fashion.
Still at the time of posting the Reservoir is up about
80 feet.
Look for more updates over the weekend.
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Pictured above is a chart that shows the
sudden ramp-up in lake-surface elevation.
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September 18, 2004
Hopefully everyone made it to high ground - safe
n sound! ! (04.09.17pm)
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September 17, 2004 - Valley Creek Report
Check out the chart above for a good idea
as to the last
31 days of flow on VC. Notice every week or so there
is a spike, but runoff is over in no time.
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Yesterday evening we had out David Dunbar
on Valley Creek. The plan was to show him around this
stream, since he is new to it, and even possibly land
a few trout. Well, all was a success. A couple of trout
did come to hand, beautiful little wild ones at that.
However, the techniques taught were a big hit. Be it on
Valley or some of his more familiar waters he plans
on putting to use what he learned. Chances are it will
pay off.
Currently, Valley Creek is at a great
level. Flows have been consistently above the mean flow
for quite some time. Water temps have been holding in
the low-60s. And from what weve seen there is just
an outstanding population of 1.5 year old fish in the
stream. This is obviously a direct result of the great
flows and most likely lower predation from birds and other
wildlife, which can really take a toll on trout pops when
the water gets skinny.
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Get out there and enjoy this fine time of year.
Over the next few months begin to look for browns to start getting
a little frisky! Especially on waters where they move into the
tribs to spawn like Penns.
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September 13, 2004 - UPDATE
Over the weekend we put in some
time on our home waters - Valley Creek and tried out something
different - the Upper Schuylkill. Both waterways produced fish
- nothing big, just some good late-summer trout fishing. Our
standard rig produced on Valley - with most fish coming on bead-head
dropper. Check out the Nitro on our patterns for an effective
Valley fly.
On the Schuylkill, buggers were
the fly of choice. If anyone is looking to checkout some new
water - give this river a shot. Where we like to fish it is
pretty far upstream in coal country, so it may not look like
the most trout friendly habitat, but don't tell the brookies
that! There are also a bunch of little rainbows that the PFBC
has been stocking for years.
Letting go your average size Valley Creek
gem!
Midday water temp on Valley was 64 degrees.
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Coal region brook trout!
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September 10, 2004 - UPDATE
CRUSHED!
Black dots indicate new record high flow
for the date.
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Any hopes of wetting a line west of the Susquehanna
River this weekend have been washed away - litterally!
That area of the state just got pounded. Most streams
out that way are at all time levels for this time of
year, but they should run off pretty quick and be perfect
for the nymph fisherman when clearing and dropping.
It seems our favorite flies over the past few years
have been wooly buggers and big-nasty nymphs.
Look for all this water to drain into the Hanna and
pretty wipe that out again for the rest of the month.
And all this just as the river was at the 4' mark in
Harrisburg. We just can't catch a break.
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September 7, 2004 - Lehigh River Float
A sample of the action we got into on our latest
Lehigh River float.
Browns, smalls and falls.
The trout are already starting to darken up for the fall.
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Great water conditions along with perfect
weather - combine that with two great fly fisherman and
you have a day filled with fish. Numerous trout in the
12-14" range and smallies all the way up to a fat
16-17" provided the action. You can add in a few
15-16" fallfish. Say what you will, but these fish
are fun on a fly rod. All the subsurface fish were picked
up on streamers/buggers - down deep and on the swing.
Split shot, lead wrapped into the fly, cone heads and
150 grain sinking lines! Any or all of the above will
do!!
A few of the trout came on buggers, but
most were fooled on dry flies. In the late afternoon into
the evening hours we have been finding a really nice summer
stenonema popping about. This looks like an orangish
cahill - size 12-14. We have also observed more and more
stoneflys and Isonychias. Olives have also been hatching.
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Fish have been coming up along the hard edges, back eddies and
slower pools. For the wade fly fisherman - hitting it at low-light
- you really do not have to venture that far off the bank.
Lately we've been finding water temps 2-4 degrees colder, compared
to outflow temps from the dam - FEW. Now that we are out of
the high sun angle the trout should fair fine. More rain will
only help the fishery.
Try to get out!! Fish are really all over the place! And be
sure to support what the LRSA
is doing for this river. They do much more for the river than
just provide fish. Any questions - shoot us an email @: info@flyfishpa.net
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September 5, 2004 - Lehigh River Float
On Saturday we had out veteran angler Bob Warren.
Originally this was scheduled to be a Susquehanna float, but
do to the high flows plans changed to a Lehigh River float.
Water temp at launch was a cool 64 and
the clarity was excellent. Immediately after launch we
were greeted with a smallie. And throughout the morning
the action never let up. Everything was taken on wooly
buggers - with the highlight of the day being a beautifully
colored up 18" rainbow. This fish kicked Bobs butt!!
He had his hands full, even on a 7wt. All told - 2 trout
and 5 smallies came to net. Throughout the morning there
were some hatching black caddis, Isos and BWOs and the
stonefly shucks were everywhere!
We should continue to see some great
fall action. We plan on checking how the evenings are
fishing in the next few days.
Stonefly shucks!
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A hefty Lehigh River rainbow!
We like to use the
Lehighton Gage as a frame of reference. Today the
river was in the 700cfs range. Certainly the upper limit
for wading, but just about prime for floating.
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September 3, 2004 - REPORT / UPDATE
Earlier this week, prior to the LRSA meeting, Dean was
able to hit Big Trout Creek - (a tributary to the Lehigh
River). Cold water, good cover and a nice population of
wild brownies was the reward of the day. Toss in a few
PFBC hatcheries as well. The stream has a nice riffle/run-to-pool
ratio, with some really impressive, deep pools/runs sprinkled
throughout. Aquatic life appears to be fairly abundant
with caddis and smaller mayflies likely make up the majority.
Terrestrials are key! Add in the few yellow stoneflies
that were observed - yellow sallies - and you've got yourself
a really nice trout stream.
All in all about a half dozen fish were taken in the
6-10" range - one being a stocker. Your standard
dry/dropper rig was the ticket - with both the dry and
nymph, equally effective.
This stream is well suited for 3/4 wt - 7 to 8 footer.
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A smaller than average Big Trout Creek brown.
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Check this stream out some day, but please release the wild fish.
It makes for a good alternative to the Lehigh Valley streams.
For more about this stream log onto to the PFBC
website. They recently a stream survey.
Look for some more Lehigh River reports as we begin the unofficial
start of Fall.
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