Fished the Lehigh this weekend

[salmo-trutta]

Fished the Lehigh this weekend. Fished above the dam on Saturday and caught a bunch of lethargic, long, shinny brookies all stacked up in one hole. Stopped in AA Outfitters Fly Shop Sunday and met Mike. We bonded, great guy and very helpful. I bought some highly important, "must have" fly fishing stuff, and yet another fly fishing hat (I have about 100 fishing hats so whats one more) and Mike gave me directions to a top secret spot on the Lehigh, below the Dam where I caught a bunch of fish, mostly on small tan cdc caddis (#16). Caddis coming off heavy all day long. The thing was, I missed nearly twice as many strikes as I hooked, and I could not figure out why. I finally found that if I set the hook by very lightly pulling away from the fish it worked best???? I have no idea what was going on with that as I usually never have any problem with hooking fish. Most of the fish I caught were stoked fish. I wounder if that had anything to do with it? Also, I tie my cdc caddis on a scud hook, but I never had any problem with that in the past? Oh well, it was a fun trip.

 

[henrydavid]

Thanks for the report, I'm hoping to fish the Lehigh near White Haven this week and was interested in what was going on.

I fished another river this weekend and right up until dark on Sunday the bite was the same. The trouts were "nudging" but not really eating. It was frustrating to say the least. Others reported the same. Finally close to dark they were actually eating and I got several strong hook ups.

 

[fishngun]

Lemme guess, the top secret location involved a shed painted like the american flag, a parking lot and a hidden entrance?

 

[salmo-trutta]

wrong fishngun....this one was much more top secret than that one! But I will need directions to that one if you please!~

Steve

 

[RyanR]

henrydavid wrote:
Thanks for the report, I'm hoping to fish the Lehigh near White Haven this week and was interested in what was going on.

I fished another river this weekend and right up until dark on Sunday the bite was the same. The trouts were "nudging" but not really eating. It was frustrating to say the least. Others reported the same. Finally close to dark they were actually eating and I got several strong hook ups.

I was out on Friday afternoon around B-town, not much was hatching overall. At least not in any numbers to get any surface action but it was windy, so. March Browns were beginning to show. Gosh those suckers are big on this river! I only stayed until 5:45 so I'm sure the surface action picked up later. Should be a good time to hit the river all holiday weekend. Somewhere between dog training, grilling ribs & chicken, and drinkin' I'll be getting out on the river for sure. Gotta tune up, I leave for my annual Adirondacks flyfishing trip next Wednesday after work.

Good luck to everybody and stay safe. Let's all take some time also to remember the sacrifice of our fallen vets & POWs and their families.

 

[chrisdm4]

RyanR wrote:

henrydavid wrote:
Thanks for the report, I'm hoping to fish the Lehigh near White Haven this week and was interested in what was going on.

I fished another river this weekend and right up until dark on Sunday the bite was the same. The trouts were "nudging" but not really eating. It was frustrating to say the least. Others reported the same. Finally close to dark they were actually eating and I got several strong hook ups.

I was out on Friday afternoon around B-town, not much was hatching overall. At least not in any numbers to get any surface action but it was windy, so. March Browns were beginning to show. Gosh those suckers are big on this river! I only stayed until 5:45 so I'm sure the surface action picked up later. Should be a good time to hit the river all holiday weekend. Somewhere between dog training, grilling ribs & chicken, and drinkin' I'll be getting out on the river for sure. Gotta tune up, I leave for my annual Adirondacks flyfishing trip next Wednesday after work.

Good luck to everybody and stay safe. Let's all take some time also to remember the sacrifice of our fallen vets & POWs and their families.

Where will you be in the adirondacks? I will be heading up next Thursday to lake placid to do some high peak hiking and fishing the ausable. Hopefully hit some mountain streams as we are hiking!

 

[RyanR]

chrisdm4 wrote:
Where will you be in the adirondacks? I will be heading up next Thursday to lake placid to do some high peak hiking and fishing the ausable. Hopefully hit some mountain streams as we are hiking!

We'll be in Wilmington, right there along the West Branch of the Ausable. We always stay there in the cabins at the Wilderness Inn II. Paul has a great fisherman's package deal, lodging & food basically for $70/night per person. Dinners in his restaurant (he's the chef) are excellent, including the famous Prime Rib night.

We mainly fish the famed West Br. Ausable & the Saranac. Sometimes we make a run up North to the St. Regis River and I want to hit the Chateaugay River forva day one of these years to. The St. Regis probably has the most insane pocket water fishing I've ever seen. First time I took my Dad on the trip he saw the pocket water on the Ausable and was amazed, next day I took him up to the St. Regis and as we pulled into the access lot he stared out at the brawling, tannic-stained river and said "Oh $#it, we're not really gonna fish this are we?" "Yup."

 

[timmyt]

I was thinking of tryiNg the lehigh this weekend but Its a release weekend sat and sun, boooooooo

 

[salmo-trutta]

How do you find out when they release?

Also, Drakes are just starting on Yellow Creek. Should be seeing them on Penns in a few days1

 

[RyanR]

salmo-trutta wrote:
How do you find out when they release?

Also, Drakes are just starting on Yellow Creek. Should be seeing them on Penns in a few days1

Various websites have links to the entire schedule of releases for the Lehigh. Try this one www.thelehighriver.org and click on 2015 Flow Management Plan. The Lehigh River Stocking Association website and The Evening Hatch site also contains the release date information as well.

A whitewater release does not stop me from fishing the Lehigh but it does alter when & where I fish it.

 

[timmyt]

I dont know much about it, just getting into fishing it so i figure i should stick to the best conditions i can. Dont really know my way around, etc. Gonna have to put some time in and take me lumps to learn some things so i can learn when and where

 

[salmo-trutta]

thanks!

 

[vcregular]

this page is updated every Wednesday and Friday - http://www.nap-wc.usace.army.mil/nap/resreg.htm

It shows the predicted release for the weekend. However, when there is a whitewater release like there is this weekend, the bubble of water that makes up the whitewater release is 12 hours long. So they release from 1am friday to 1pm on saturday, then one 1am on sunday to 1pm on sunday. So the closer you are to the dam after the release the quicker the release runs off.

If you go here - http://www.nap.usace.army.mil/Missions/CivilWorks/FrancisEWalterDam/FlowManagementPlanSchedule.aspx - you can see when there are releases. There is also a pdf link on this page that gives you more detail about the release.

For frame of reference it takes 12 hours for the white water release to hit the palmerton area. Then you can kind of ballpark from there where the end time of the release will be upstream from there.

Generally speaking I am not a fan of fishing during a whitewater release, especially if the release goes from

 

[Smike]

Sulfurs were popping in good enough numbers last night to get a decent number of fishing rising. Flows (outside of Whitewater releases) are very low and allow for wading access to almost the entire river.

 

[Millsertime]

Smike wrote:
Sulfurs were popping in good enough numbers last night

What part of the Lehigh were sulphur's popping?

 

[Smike]

Bowmenstown section.

 

[RyanR]

timmyt wrote:
I dont know much about it, just getting into fishing it so i figure i should stick to the best conditions i can. Dont really know my way around, etc. Gonna have to put some time in and take me lumps to learn some things so i can learn when and where

If you can, hit it this Friday, the flows should be fine and the fish likely feeding. The WW release won't start until roughly midnight and will last until noon Saturday, then start again at midnight until noon Sunday. That's typically how it works. I believe there's a map of public access points on the LRSA site and perhaps the LCFA site too. Pick an access or two, strap on studded boots and wading staff and start exploring from there. It's a big river but if you break each riffle or pool down into sections and expand from there it's less daunting. Good luck.

 

[krayfish2]

Heading to Hancock Sunday - Saturday. If conditions are as crappy as I'm thinking they will be, it's likely that we'll spend a day or two on the Lehigh. Anyone available mid weekish ? Shoot me a PM and see where things stand.

 

[Dcap240]

I'll be out Monday. Water temp still hasn't even reached 55 yet.

 

[SBecker]

Probably going to float Sunday or Monday. Hit me up Kray, I should be available during the week.