Anyone know if Tricos started yet on Little Lehigh or LV streams in general?

[HeavyWater]

I'm in and out of the area to visit my dad, and I can't really stop at the stream every morning to check if out.. So any information would be helpful... Thanks.

 

[NJW]

Yes, I've seen them on Saucon.

 

[Mike]

Yes, I have seen them on the Jordan for nearly a week.

 

[CLSports]

I was fooled by a good hatch of BQ's on the LL on Sat. I thought they were Trico's. There may have been some mixed in though I am sure. I didn't see many on the water or fish feeding really. It was an off day with on and off showers in the morning. I know they usually are going good by early July.

 

[JeffK]

Went yesterday (7/14) and the trico fall was heavy. Water was covered briefly and fish were on them. Of course they were tough to hook (for me at least) but I got a couple of good fish to the net after missing some others.

I think the cloudy weather helps. My buddy who fishes there a lot said it was the first decent trico spinner action he had seen this year. When the sun came up the dry fly action shut off quickly. I was fishing a pod of risers and decided to use a 24 fly since they were spurning a 22. By the time I tied the new fly on the sun was out and the risers were gone.

However, fish were hitting spinners sunk deep, so fishing was still OK til we left for lunch.

 

[wgmiller]

I spent the better part of last week in the Lehigh Valley doing various things (fishing, sightseeing, etc.). I caught an Iron Pigs game, saw the Steel Stacks, visited Dorney for a few hours, did a winery tour, and just generally explored the area. There's a lot to see and do, that's for sure! I fished several days on the Little Lehigh, Saucon, and Cedar Creek. The timing of my trip was to coincide a bit with the tricos. I reached out to "CLSports" ahead of time to see if he was interested in wetting a line, so we met up one morning.

The first day I fished Saucon in the park and hooked and lost two on #24 male trico spinners. Hooking and landing fish on hooks that small is an art, and my hooks didn't have an offset point, like a scud or emerger hook. Anyhooo, I short-set a nice brown on a male spinner, which still haunts me. I only saw rising fish to tricos in the park area. Overall I didn't do well on Saucon, but this trip was about exploring. I know this stream fishes well, but timing is everything.

I fished the Little Lehigh in several areas (Heritage section, upstream of the Heritage section, etc.) and again didn't do very well. As far as tricos go, I hooked into a few fish, but again couldn't "seal the deal". I've gone back to the drawing board and will be tying new spinners on emerger or scud hooks. CLSports and I fished upstream of the Heritage stretch (much further up) and took a beating. He hooked into a stocked rainbow and I took a skunk (and a dunk :-D). We saw clusters of tricos in the air and some rising fish, but in his opinion the hatch (and/or fish numbers) just wasn't like years past. CLSports, it was a pleasure meeting up and exploring tricos on the LL!

Little Lehigh, upstream of Oxford Drive

CLSsports works a riser in the LL fly stretch

Little Lehigh male trico spinner

CLSports works a glass smooth glide for risers


Cedar Creek was my redemption stream, as this creek has always produced for me. I fished in the parkway stretch and find this to be great water to fish, that seems largely unpressured. There are some absolute PIGS near Haines Mill Road and the pedestrian bridge, but good luck catching them. I did go upstream to the fence at Dorney Park and saw a pool full of pigs swimming around there as well. But that area was posted, so short of daydreaming, I did no fishing.

Cedar Creek brown

Cedar Creek

Coca Cola Park, home of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs

Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, former home of Bethlehem Steel

Dorney Park


The Lehigh Valley is rich with fishable water in the summer months, but the low flows can make them challenging. I look forward to returning this fall to check out other streams on my list such as Monocacy and Nancy Run. I never fished or tied tricos before, so this was a completely new experience, and I enjoyed it. So off to the Tully I go...

 

[Mike]

Generic Heads-up…I was informed by a reliable contact that popular Lehigh Valley limestoners, the Jordan, and the Tully now have the invasive New Zealand mudsnails. Clearly anglers are moving them about, which means that they need to do a better job of checking their gear.