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May
31, 2005 - Lehigh River Update
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We hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!!
We've been on the water a bunch over the last
few days. The action remains steady, with sulphurs,
march browns, caddis, and olives on the water
at various times throughout the day. If nothing
is rising - buggers and very big wet flies - size
8 - have done the trick. In the next few weeks
keep an eye out for the large BWOs that appear
in the late afternoon on the Lehigh.
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This
coming up week we will be away on our annual
pilgrimage to Martha's Vineyard so do not
look for any web updates during the week
and into early next week. We are hoping
for some nice warm weather, as the last
few years have been COLD!! We've been in
ski hats and covered head-to-toe in fleece!
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Double-header!!! |
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Pam with a really nicely colored
up Lehigh River brown. |
May
26, 2005 - Lehigh River Update
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We had noted
fisheries biologist Bob Bachman and fantastic
trout angler - out on the Lehigh the other
day for an afternoon of fishing. Some of
you may already know this, but he is responsible
for creating/enhancing the tailwaters down
in Maryland. Talk about some great fisheries!!!!
The day
immediately started off with sippers going
strong. Sulphurs were on the water HEAVY
from 4pm to dark. Lots of noses and fins
were showing throughout. The water is VERY
low - only 640cfs at Lehighton, but water
temps are fine.
Wading at this level is doable, but use
caution!!!
Should be
a nice Memorial Day Weekend and don't expect
much of a whitewater release. There is only
a 250cfs inflow right now and the lake is
sitting at ~1,332'. The 2005
Plan calls for the lake to not drop
below 1,330'.
FYI...according to the Army Corps the White
Haven gage has been vandalized. Great! We
have not heard a timetable for this to be
back online.
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Bob with a dandy Lehigh River
brown caught on a Sulphur. |
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May
24, 2005 - UPDATE
As of the last few days we have not been
on the water. We continue to be plagued
by low-flows and a lack of rain north across
the whole state, but most signicantly north
of the PA TPK! Hopefully that will change
in the near future since it is only a matter
of time we head into that Summertime pattern
of HEAT! As it stands right now the fish
need more water. Look for a few Lehigh reports
over the next week as we have a some trips
lined up. The word is the river is still
on and is producing quite well. Flows are
great for wading and floating at this poin
in time. In fact water temps all the way
to Easton are in the 50s.
Some of you may have noticed
- but as of now - the White
Haven temp gage for the Lehigh has been
offline for about a week - an email has
been sent to the ACOE inquirering about
the issue. Enjoy the great dry fly water!!!!
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May 20,
2005 - Lehigh River Update
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night on the Lehigh!
Rising fish everywhere!! The majority of the
fish were in the 14" range - with a few
18" fish hooked, but not landed. Caddis,
march browns and sulphurs. Hot fly was a sulphur
sparkle
dun. Water temp was 61 - this is below
the Gap. A decent number of the fish hooked
were wild. Just think if we could get cold
water for this river. Please remember just
about every trout stocked in the Lehigh below
the Gorge is courtesy of the Lehigh River
Stocking Association. Please give support
them! To learn more about what they are doing
for the Lehigh - click
here. |
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May 18,
2005 - UPDATE
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The current outflow from
FEW is 260cfs. According to the Francis
E. Walter Dam Target White Water Release
Schedule for 2005 - the release
is not to go below 250cfs at this time of
year. Chances are this weekend will
show a release equal to the inflow.
With flows like this wading is possible...but
definitely use EXTREME caution. The rocks
are big and slippery!! A wading staff is
a must. As for bugs - caddis, march browns
and sulphurs. Water temps are now reaching
into the low-60s.
We need some rain! All waters are low.
Especially Central PA.
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May 16,
2005 - Lehigh River Report
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Saturday Dean had out Tom and Ed. Two buddies
whose friendship goes all the way back to
elementary school. Both fishermen are dryfly
enthusiasts. The day started off throwing
some buggers, but after a while there was
little production. The caddis soon began to
pop and the switch to dries was made in hopes
of finding some rising fish. By now the wind
is beginning to kick up and there was no rhyme
or reason to the direction, up river, down
river, across river.... it was all over the
place making casting dries difficult. |
A beefy looking Lehigh River
brown. |
On our travels down river we spotted a few risers
here and there - but nothing consistent like on
Friday and the fish were very picky. We pulled into
some of the best runs and pools that were as shielded
from the wind as we could get. That seemed to help
a bit as both anglers did hook into some fish. By
evening we only landed one fish (a 12" brown)
but had about 3-4 hookups or missed strikes. There
was one last spot I wanted to try before the end
of the trip. Again, a bit out of the wind. Well
this spot didn't disappoint. As we pulled in we
spotted a fish rising. Tom had on a sulphur and
made two nice casts, and on the second a beautiful
16" brown came up and slurped in his dry fly.
After a great battle, a couple of pics, we released
the fat, healthy brown back to the river. According
to Tom this is one of the biggest and nicest fish
he has caught on the river. Glad she gave up some
"gold" for him. |
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May 14,
2005 - Lehigh River Report
On Friday we had out the Smith
brothers - John, Ted and Tom. It was a great day
on the water with plenty of good 'ole trash talkin
and fish catching goin' on! Everyone got into
plenty of fish. Besides the fish that were landed
- numerous 14"+ trout and smallies were tangled
with. Hatches throughout the day included size
14-16 tan caddis, #12
march browns, and in late afternoon the sulphurs
started. FYI - they are very light colored. From
the time we started to the end - every good piece
of dry fly water had rising fish. Otherwise, underneath
was the ticket. It does not matter if it is buggers,
nymphs, spinners or bait. At the start of the
day - 9am - the water temp was 57f at the end
of the day it was 61f.
A beautiful Lehigh River
brown. |
Fat smallie! |
14" brown - tan caddis |
Of note were the
4" native brookie and 4" wild brown
that we picked up along the way.
Just think what cold water out
of the dam would do for this fishery. The brown
was caught just below Bowmanstown and the brookie
was caught just above Slatington.
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May
9, 2005 - SE PA Report
Over the weekend we had out Sean on one of our
SE PA limestone waters. Overall the fishing was
rather disappointing, but he did stick two trout
during the afternoon. He hit all right spots and
presented his fly just right. Water clarity was
gin-clear and the winds were rather gusty. Both
fish took a subsurface fly, as there was very
little insect activity on top. It is just a matter
of days before the sulphurs start. Oh yeah...lots
of dogs out and about. Stealthy approach is not
in their vocabulary.
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May
8, 2005 - Lehigh Report
The first
float of the year on the Lehigh turned up
meager results. One brown hooked n lost,
one pig smallie hooked n lost and one largemouth
bass landed. Yup! That is a first for us
to. Along the way we had a few other taps
here and there, but for the most part it
was slow for this afternoon session. Hendricksons
and tan caddis were hatching pretty good,
but we did not see one rise.
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Our first ever Lehigh River
largemouth bass. It ate a black wooly bugger.
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The water is still running very cold. Only reaching
the low-to-mid-fifties during the heat of the day.
In fact - for the Philly area - we are off to the
coldest start to May in over 20 years.
We've got some trips lined up this week. Check back!
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Green dots indicate
streams flowing about normal. Tan and burgendy
dots are streams running below normal. This is
from the USGS site - an invaluable resource. Check
it out!
We could really use some rain!
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May
3, 2005 - Penns Creek Report
Nympers
delight! Keep those rod tips high!!!
This
past weekend we hit Penns for our second annual
Penns Creek Weekend sponsored by TCO
Fly Shop. Both our guests wanted to take
the "PLUNGE" and were
fired up to fish one of PA finest wild trout
streams.
Saturday's weather couldn't have been better
- drizzle throughout and cold air temps. These
are the conditions we dream of when fishing
this stream. The fishing was steady throughout
the day - with nymphs early on and some dry
fly action to round it out toward the evening.
Both guests had many hookups with a good percentage
of those coming to net. In the afternoon there
was prolific hatches of BWO's
(size 18-20), hendricksons,
blue quills, quill gordons and a few left
over grannoms
- a proverbial smorgasbord. Also of note was
the amount of people out and about. This made
it tough to move around as much as we normally
like to. No doubt the low-flows are bringing
the folks out.
On Sunday, the decision was made to dodge
the crowds on the C&R stretch and hit
some different water - Dean's secret stretch.
This paid off, as the water was all ours and
so were the fish 8^) The action was great
and nymphs did the trick. At about noon some
surface activity was noticed.
Besides the fish catching - each angler picked
up a few fishing techniques and they also
got a session in entomology 101. Hopefully
they can now put these pointers to good use
on other streams and improve their fishing
skill set.
Great job by both anglers! Hope to have them
back. |
Eric with a hefty wild
Penns Creek brownie!
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The Lehigh River
The water temps are still very cold! Only about
50 or so all the way from the dam to down below
the gorge into Palmerton/Wanutport/Slatington.
If and when we get some warmer weather we should
see a pick-up in the bugs and action. Hopefully
by weeks end we will be able to get out on the
water and get a first hand account. Levels have
been for the most part good for fishing.
Meanwhile, look for flows on all waters to
be low! We need some rain to bring the flows
back up as the trees are really starting to
suck up all the groundwater.
Keep an eye out for the Sulphurs...they
should be popping very soon if not already on
your local water.
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Please check out our 2005
Lehigh River Plan page.
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