How's the trico hatch been?

[dubthethorax]

Considering hitting the Little Lehigh and surrounding water this weekend AM for the trico hatches. Has anyone fished it at the LL yet? How has it been?

 

[CLSports]

We need rain. Does not affect the tricos, but it would be nice to have a decent flow there. It is at 69 cfs now. A little rain coming today, but it might not make a huge difference. I was considering hitting it up this weekend as well if the flows are decent.

 

[dubthethorax]

yeah, I figured it would be really low, but the FF only stretch has been weird regarding when the spinner fall really picks up. I remember a few years ago it really didnt get going until the end of July, and other years it's slamming in mid June. Global warming has everything jacked up.

 

[CLSports]

Well, I ventured up to Little Lehigh on Sat. in the lower park section on Park Drive. I was there by 7:00 a.m. and the Tricos were going very strong. The flow and water temps were perfect. I walked up and down the stream for a while before I started fishing. I wanted to search for risers in all of my usual locations. I was unable to find a rise in 3 1/2 hours anywhere but one pool where I know the majority of fish are stocked. Even though it is stocked water there used to be plenty of small wild browns all throughout that section. It was disappointing. I did manage to catch a few stockies in the one pool. This has been common for a few years now. I keep going back hoping for it to rebound, but it has not.

 

[bigjohn358]

I fished a good trico hatch yesterday. I had several fish rising. I haven't fished a trico hatch in quite a while. Thought I had several tied up but found out I only had 2 good ones. Lost the first one in a tree. Second one I had 6 or so hits but kept missing them. Found out the hook point was busted off. So much for my trico fishing! Went back to nymphing and caught a few.

 

[Mike]

Walked a mile along the Monocacy today below the special reg area. Lots of tricos at various places, but not in Illicks Mill park itself. Where I saw tricos I also saw numerous trout rising, but those I could see were all 4-9” long. Time:10:20-11:10 AM. Much of that stretch is wide and shallow so you have to search out the short pieces of better habitat. No anglers today.

 

[dubthethorax]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Appreciate it.

 

[wgmiller]

I’m gonna give the Tully a shot later this week. I know water temps are right on the bubble, so I’ll grab a temp when I get there first thing in the morning. Either way, I plan on being off the water by mid-morning, so if the spinner fall doesn’t happen by then I’ll have no report.

CLS - did you check the upper LL where we fished last year?

 

[Mike]

I’m gonna give the Tully a shot later this week. I know water temps are right on the bubble, so I’ll grab a temp when I get there first thing in the morning. Either way, I plan on being off the water by mid-morning, so if the spinner fall doesn’t happen by then I’ll have no report.

CLS - did you check the upper LL where we fished last year?

If you fish upstream from the Cacoosing, the site of one of the long term temp monitors when we conducted that temp study, you should find the temp to be cooler than the gauge temp. That’s the way things go there in low flow years. I suspect that could be true in any stretch above Cacoosing but below Plum where the water from Plum has fully mixed with that of the Tully. Also, the temp should be cooler below the Cacoosing because of the aforementioned situation and now because the Cacoosing is now running cool without the dam to heat things up. When we did the study, on hot afternoons the Cacoosing was either the same temp as the Tully just up from the confluence or a degree or two warmer. If you decide to keep few fish later in the morning, you won’t have to worry about temps and the fish will probably taste pretty good after having been in the stream since late winter or early spring.

 

[wgmiller]

If you fish upstream from the Cacoosing, the site of one of the long term temp monitors when we conducted that temp study, you should find the temp to be cooler than the gauge temp. That’s the way things go there in low flow years. I suspect that could be true in any stretch above Cacoosing but below Plum where the water from Plum has fully mixed with that of the Tully. Also, the temp should be cooler below the Cacoosing because of the aforementioned situation and now because the Cacoosing is now running cool without the dam to heat things up. When we did the study, on hot afternoons the Cacoosing was either the same temp as the Tully just up from the confluence or a degree or two warmer. If you decide to keep few fish later in the morning, you won’t have to worry about temps and the fish will probably taste pretty good after having been in the stream since late winter or early spring.

Thanks Mike. I plan on prospecting in the areas you mentioned, particularly below where Plum dumps in. There won’t be a lot of time to “spot hop”, so I’ll have to make it count. As far as keeping any fish, I’ll leave that for others. Fish aren’t a part of my vegan dietary preferences! 😂

 

[Sylvaneous]

Just for info, I was on Spring on 8/1 and 8/2 and saw no evidence of Tricos, but I wasn't looking hard. I checked a few spider webs as well and saw none. I DID see many of what I call "Summer Beatis" or "golden beatis". They may be Acentrellas. They are golden colored sz 22 or less, midge sized mayflies that wiggle their tails as they sit a lot. They are adorable. If a mayfly can be 'cute', this one is. I've never seen a Trico hatch on Spring that was significant and nothing like the Lehigh Valley streams.

 

[CLSports]

I’m gonna give the Tully a shot later this week. I know water temps are right on the bubble, so I’ll grab a temp when I get there first thing in the morning. Either way, I plan on being off the water by mid-morning, so if the spinner fall doesn’t happen by then I’ll have no report.

CLS - did you check the upper LL where we fished last year?

No, I did not venture up there yet this summer. I may give that another look again, but I am not confident it is much better up there either. I will report back if I do go.

 

[CLSports]

Well, I went back to Little Lehigh on Sept 24th and hit two different sections in the upper watershed area and one just above the stone arch bridge in the new Class A managed section which is above the Heritage FFO area. I just wanted to report back on my observation.

The water was somewhat low, but the temps were probably around 66 degrees based upon my highly accurate temp measuring system. Anyway, few if any fish were spotted in 4 hours of searching for risers. I did see a bunch in a usual location tucked under a bank, but none were rising to Tricos that day. The tricos were really not going at all. It was windy, so could account for the few bugs seen, but I would have thought they were still going strong in late Sept.

I am completely puzzled by how much that stream has sharply declined with its wild fish populations in the last several years even though some sections are being managed as Class A now.

There is a riparian buffer project area that has a sign from the Little Lehigh Trout Unlimited chapter (I believe), and that area which used to be mixed stocked and wild, has drastically changed for the worse IMO.

Please PM me if you know this area and want to discuss more. I am curious to your findings.