Does the Little Lehigh have any wild browns left?

[CLSports]

I have been fishing the Little Lehigh for 20+ years and not just once in a while, but quite often. I am not referring to the FFO (old Heritage section), but the entire length from headwaters down to mouth with Lehigh River. As most know, it has been on a serious decline in recent years and in the last 3 or so it seems to be even worse. I have stopped fishing most hatches there except the Tricos since it is the only one that is worth the travel time for me IMO. The last three summers I have noticed a sharp decline in the number of wild fish seen anywhere. This weekend after hitting 3 spots from 7 a.m. until 9:00 I saw very few Tricos and no wild fish. One riser in a spot I know that is stocked and there are always holdovers in there. I walked for many miles up and down in three locations over those few hours looking for fish and bugs.

The banks in the lower park have been mowed and cleared of all streamside vegetation in most of the water from the FFO section down to 15th street. It has been going on for several years and I know why, and there is little that can be done, but it is sad that the stream seems nearly devoid of any wild browns anymore.

I know the naysayers are typing now and stating they are there I am just not seeing them. Trust me. it seems as if they have been wiped out completely.

I keep going back a few times in the summer hoping for change, but it is getting worse.

If anyone would like to meet there and prove me wrong I would welcome the education. The water temps are good and I checked in several spots with springs and below confluences of other streams. The temps are fine. The silt is bad and very little structure or habitat left. The riparian buffers are gone. The steam vegetation is a distant memory. The fish have seemingly vanished too.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

I was there on Friday nymphing pocket water before 8 AM and caught YOY and two 7-8 inchers in the Heritage section. A few, very few tricos, as you noted. The township was literally mowing the streamside vegetation, while a tree crew was following up behind, so you have a point about how it's managed. Also a few swimming dogs, which are my favorite for how stable the banks are after they carry a stick in and out all summer at the same spots.... I agree that it is full of mostly fat, stunted rainbows (and those massive goldens this spring). It makes me sad, but the little ones are coming from somewhere. Sorry no isolated pics of the fish, but the collages sort of tell the story, I guess.... I have not caught a wild fish along Krick Ln in 10 years, and I do fear the rest of the creek is going that way without some intervention.

 

[troutbert]

The banks in the lower park have been mowed and cleared of all streamside vegetation in most of the water from the FFO section down to 15th street. It has been going on for several years and I know why, and there is little that can be done, but it is sad that the stream seems nearly devoid of any wild browns anymore.

Why is that being done?

 

[teedee]

I have fished the LL hundreds of times over 20 years and it has been in serious decline since 2015. This is the worst I’ve ever seen.

 

[TimMurphy]

I have fished the LL hundreds of times over 20 years and it has been in serious decline since 2015. This is the worst I’ve ever seen.

Dear teedee,

I haven't bothered to fish it since 2004. It was already in serious decline then compared to 1987 when I started fishing it.

The Lehigh Valley has experienced explosive growth over the last 30 years. Back when I started fishing the LL a good friend of our family had a bar about a mile or so from I-78 and Rte 100 off Schantz Road. It was surrounded by 100's of acres of farm fields, with the only other commercial structure on the road being a concrete plant.

An aerial view from today shows nothing that is recognizable to me anymore. Everything has been obliterated for warehouses, Wawa's, and sub-divisions. That has happened all over the Little Lehigh drainage too.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

 

[Jay_H]

Dear teedee,

I haven't bothered to fish it since 2004. It was already in serious decline then compared to 1987 when I started fishing it.

The Lehigh Valley has experienced explosive growth over the last 30 years. Back when I started fishing the LL a good friend of our family had a bar about a mile or so from I-78 and Rte 100 off Schantz Road. It was surrounded by 100's of acres of farm fields, with the only other commercial structure on the road being a concrete plant.

An aerial view from today shows nothing that is recognizable to me anymore. Everything has been obliterated for warehouses, Wawa's, and sub-divisions. That has happened all over the Little Lehigh drainage too.

Regards,

Tim Murphy

As someone who grew up and used to live in the Lehigh Valley this is spot on. The whole landscape has turned into warehouses. Very sad to see.

 

[Bamboozle]

I still remember the first time I fished Section 6, the "upper" Fly Fishing Only stretch (not the Heritage stretch) back in the early 1980's. As a non-local it was a little tricky to find it in the days when the PFBC listed Section limits by SR or LR numbers that were nowhere to be found on regular maps.

When I went back again in the early 2000's for the first time after 20+ years I had an even more difficult time because of the amount of development. I didn't recognize a thing with all of the houses and new roads...

Various sections of the Little Lehigh, including the headwaters are but a few minutes from me, however the most egregious development is in the "Macungies," Upper & Lower.

The folks in charge in these two municipalities are hellbent & determined to develop every square inch of available land. No projects ever get denied. It reminds me of when I lived in Bethlehem Township in the 1990's and the same thing was going on.

When I first moved to Bethlehem Township our municipal HQ was an old two story cinder block building. As the cash was poring in they built this massive place with a health club & outdoor fountains... I don't think it's a coincidence that the Macungies also have palatial municipal buildings with amenities where the council members sit on an elevated platform looking down on the masses like the Supreme Court.

It really is saddening & sicking to see what goes on up there with zero regard for traffic, quality of life issues or the impact on waterways like the Little Lehigh...

...and they ain't done yet by a long shot...

Fortunately for me, the township where I live now uses an old barn as our municipal building and council & the planning committee sit on folding chairs in front of folding tables on the floor at same level as the citizenry.

I just hope that it never changes...

 

[jgish92]

Fished it Saturday morning. Water temp 62. Only action was stocked rainbows hitting terrestrials.

 

[wildtrout2]

The folks in charge in these two municipalities are hellbent & determined to develop every square inch of available land. No projects ever get denied. It reminds me of when I lived in Bethlehem Township in the 1990's and the same thing was going on.

Sadly, this is the exact same situation in my own little town. They're also taking down 100 year old trees in the process. If there's any available space, it becomes a new apartment complex. My town was just like Mayberry when growing up. It's hard to watch this taking place!

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Worse yet than the ongoing urban sprawl of warehouses, strip malls, residential housing projects etc is the push to build solar and wind farms to offset the carbon footprint of said development. Thousands of acres if not 10s of thousands of mature forest will be cut to build industrial scale power generation. The city of Philadelphia is building a huge solar facility on prime farmland in Adam's Co.

Development, the lack of effective stormwater management regulations or enforcement and the lack of protective measures for floodplain, sinkholes, and riparian areas is certainly impacting water quality and hydrologic patterns throughout the Lehigh valley.

 

[Tigereye]

I fished it back in my college days (Moravian College '81) it was a gem then. Havent fish it since then. Sad to hear.

I get the urban development making its impact. I used to wake up in spring to wild pheasants dueling on the womens hockey field behind the dorms. Lots of bird seen as i drove home north on 100.

Intersection of 100 and 22 is now all developed. Used to see lots of geese in those fields

 

[Nymph-wristed]

The Tatamy exit of 33 has taken on a warp speed transformation for the worst. Bushkill and Martins are next for the steep decline, I fear. Why not put fulfillment centers and warehouses in abandoned malls instead of building new ugly structures everywhere?

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Worse yet than the ongoing urban sprawl of warehouses, strip malls, residential housing projects etc is the push to build solar and wind farms to offset the carbon footprint of said development. Thousands of acres if not 10s of thousands of mature forest will be cut to build industrial scale power generation. The city of Philadelphia is building a huge solar facility on prime farmland in Adam's Co.

Development, the lack of effective stormwater management regulations or enforcement and the lack of protective measures for floodplain, sinkholes, and riparian areas is certainly impacting water quality and hydrologic patterns throughout the Lehigh valley.

I get you, but I am not sure that's exactly worse... I do know they are starting to graze livestock like goats and even farm around solar farms, so at least folks are thinking about how to make them more sustainable than a concrete hulk with 50 bays for trucks to back into, 50 trucks rolling through your hood all day too....

 

[CLSports]

Also, when I was down above Ward Street bridge area and just below Cedar creek and I noticed many large tress were missing streamside. I do not recall how many, but I am sure there were several willows there and it looks very different now. Anyone know about this area?

 

[CLSports]

Why is that being done?

I only know this secondhand by a poster here years ago, but they said it was to appease the wealthy local residents so they could see the stream and not all of those ugly weeds! They are the taxpayers and local politicians, so their say has more weight. This is a heavily used park by joggers, walkers, bikers, etc.

I recall several years ago there was an effort to restore the riparian buffer in the park and they did stop mowing close to the stream and allowed the "weeds" to grow up on the banks. They planted small trees too. This lasted a while and seemingly abruptly stopped. I did talk to a woman there once who was observing the growth progress of the trees and "weeds" and I told her it was great work. I have no idea who that woman was, but I wish I could talk to her now.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

How about they put solar panels on top of warehouses and parking lots instead of clearing 1k acres of forest in the Poconos or steep sidehills along the West Branch Susquehanna or cutting 600 acres of prime farmland soils along the West Branch to offset floodplain impacts for the tower structures holding the panels. Industrial scale solar is just that industrial energy development with a large footprint with a security fence to block wildlife movement.

If designed with dual functions in mind such as livestock grazing or forage production great, but the large scale projects in this state are not being pursued in that manner that I have seen.

We have lots if impervious surfaces already, thats where solar panels should be going imo.

 

[Nymph-wristed]

How about they put solar panels on top of warehouses and parking lots instead of clearing 1k acres of forest in the Poconos or steep sidehills along the West Branch Susquehanna or cutting 600 acres of prime farmland soils along the West Branch to offset floodplain impacts for the tower structures holding the panels. Industrial scale solar is just that industrial energy development with a large footprint with a security fence to block wildlife movement.

If designed with dual functions in mind such as livestock grazing or forage production great, but the large scale projects in this state are not being pursued in that manner that I have seen.

We have lots if impervious surfaces already, thats where solar panels should be going imo.

If they are existing warehouse and parking lots, then I am all for it!

 

[6xAdams(Jones)]

In only a few hours, a question about wild (from stocked) trout became a discussion about solar panels?
... I can't resist...
- The solar power industry would have never, nor could it ever, survive a free market economy without tax revenue paying for the majority of its implementation.
- Solar panels don't last forever in regard to functional effectiveness. In 20-30 years a solar farm becomes a really big open-air shelter for farm animals and storage area for farm equipment.
- Only the metal and glass frames are feasibly recyclable. The mishmash of heavy metals in the cells is difficult - if not impossible - to separate and repurpose without an excessive use of other resources (and $$$).

I feel better now.
Thanks.

 

[sixfootfenwick]

In only a few hours, a question about wild (from stocked) trout became a discussion about solar panels?
... I can't resist...
- The solar power industry would have never, nor could it ever, survive a free market economy without tax revenue paying for the majority of its implementation.
- Solar panels don't last forever in regard to functional effectiveness. In 20-30 years a solar farm becomes a really big open-air shelter for farm animals and storage area for farm equipment.
- Only the metal and glass frames are feasibly recyclable. The mishmash of heavy metals in the cells is difficult - if not impossible - to separate and repurpose without an excessive use of other resources (and $$$).

I feel better now.
Thanks.

So I guess you are saying they can stick it where the sun don't shine.

 

[wildtrout2]

In only a few hours, a question about wild (from stocked) trout became a discussion about solar panels?

The way threads have been going lately, does that surprise you?