Jordan creek near Bethlehem PA

[wingding]

Has anyone fished here? I travel to this area for business this week and saw that my hotel is right down the road from this creek. looks like there is a park close by with the same name. was wondering if its worth bringing my gear and mixing business with pleasure on friday. Hoping the park has access to the stream. I'm from western PA, so I've never fished in the east.

 

[Lonewolve]

Jordan creek in Bethlehem? Since when did they move it?

 

[InTheMend]

There are fish in there, but it's not special regs so by now the fish that haven't been harvested have seen thousands of eggs, power bait, and worms. You will have better luck driving for 10 mins and going to the Little Lehigh Heritige Section. It gets slammed more than any other stream I know of, even though it is fly fishing catch and release only, but there are countless numbers of fish in there so you can almost always pull a few out. Most of the fish are wild and you have bows, browns, and brookies in there. Your best bet is just to nymph with light tippet and midges or baetis nymphs right now. Its right next to a hatchery so you can't miss it. It is definitely worth a shot just be prepared to share a hole with four other people.... PM me if you want more info.

 

[SBecker]

Yea there is no Jordan creek in Bethlehem. There is a Jordan creek that runs from the Trexler game lands through Allentown. If you are gonna try it out, fish the Wehrs Dam section around the Parkland SD. If you need directions or can not find it in Google pm me.

 

[wingding]

sorry. not from the area. I was looking at a Google map on my phone and thought the stream was still in Bethlehem since those areas are close. thanks for the tips though. I hope my job gets done early on Friday and I can check out the spots before I drive home. if I catch anything, I'll try and post a few pics

 

[troutwilleatflies]

Forget the Jordan as it is very low and clear and the park you are referring to is not very pleasant.Go to the Little Lehigh or the Saucon or Monacacy.Those 3 are far better choices.

 

[Heritage-Angler]

troutwilleatflies wrote:
Forget the Jordan as it is very low and clear and the park you are referring to is not very pleasant.Go to the Little Lehigh or the Saucon or Monacacy.Those 3 are far better choices.

The Covered Bridge Park on Wehr's Mill Road is a nicer park than on any of the Valley limestoners - it's in a fairly upscale neighborhood.

http://www.southwhitehall.com/parks.html

You may be thinking of the park off of MacArthur Road, by the Home Depot - that one IS nasty.

The Jordan in Covered Bridge Park is a stocked fish only stream - it gets way too warm to support trout year 'round. IMO, Jordan Creek in this area is a model of a stream that should be stocked - it provides a great place for early season trout fishing for thousands of anglers.

SBecker is the guy to talk to about fishing there. Around here, he's known as the "King of Jordan". :-D

 

[PhilC]

^+1

 

[SBecker]

Ha is very correct in regards to how nice a park it is. Has alot of nice holes as well. Additionally, it is one of the highest stocked streams in the state. However, I am not so sure if I should be proud of the King of the Jordan such it is stocky central. Lmao I did grow up fishing that section of creek and know it like the back of my hand. I only fish it once a year though now.

Heritage-Angler wrote:

troutwilleatflies wrote:
Forget the Jordan as it is very low and clear and the park you are referring to is not very pleasant.Go to the Little Lehigh or the Saucon or Monacacy.Those 3 are far better choices.

The Covered Bridge Park on Wehr's Mill Road is a nicer park than on any of the Valley limestoners - it's in a fairly upscale neighborhood.

http://www.southwhitehall.com/parks.html

You may be thinking of the park off of MacArthur Road, by the Home Depot - that one IS nasty.

The Jordan in Covered Bridge Park is a stocked fish only stream - it gets way too warm to support trout year 'round. IMO, Jordan Creek in this area is a model of a stream that should be stocked - it provides a great place for early season trout fishing for thousands of anglers.

SBecker is the guy to talk to about fishing there. Around here, he's known as the "King of Jordan". :-D

 

[troutwilleatflies]

The covered bridge park in S. Whitehall is a nice park,I walk my dog there quite often.The JORDAN park in A Town is not a nice park and the stream there is a flowing cess pool.
Maybe with this rain the middle and upper Jordan will have a better water level.

 

[wingding]

Just one final post to update ya'll...Thanks for all of the tips on quick locations to try on my short trip. I did find time to get about an hour and a half of fishing in before ending my business trip. I went with the Little Lehigh in what I think was in a boro called South Whitehall, near some neat little stone bridge with a huge hole around it and a parking lot right next to it.

The creek was great, flowing nicely with good color and the weather was overcast. There were a few fish rising and I thought that I was going to have a great day. Then the reality of being a new fly fisherman hit. I hooked one and lost it and that's as close as I got to catching anything in my time there. I did not move around too much because there was so much shore access, I decided to just save time and just leave the waders in the car. The area was beautiful though. I was shocked at how much access there was to this creek in what looked like a very upscale area. Back in western PA, I would have expected to see all of that land heavily posted.

Anyways, here is what I unsuccessfully used. Go easy on me if it was dumb choices, I was just experimenting

- tandem of a green weenie and black bugger (fished this about 25 minutes)
- switched out the bugger for a black stonefly (about 20 minutes)
- switched out the stonefly for a red san juan (about 15 minutes)
- changed the tandem to a prince nymph and pheasant tail (bout 30 minutes, and this is what I hooked one on)
- Finally, right before I left I tied on an Adams dry to see if I could interest the ones that seemed to be rising every 5 minutes. No luck.

So thanks to all who commented when I asked about a place to fish on my trip to eastern PA. I had a great time even though unsuccessful. These were my first posts here and I found it very positive. I didn't meet anyone on the stream, but there were guys fishing the opposite bank for a few minutes.

 

[jrmyln]

There are some nice spots downstream from there. There are a lot of suckers in that hole.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

Wingding,if that is where I think it is you were just downstream from the Lehigh Country Club and that municipality is lower Macungie twsp,however you were very close to Emmaus.Glad you had a good time there and that final fly selection is always a good combo.If you get in town again and need some info pm me and I would be glad to help.By the way that area is still city parkland,that's why there is no posting,it starts just upstream in sections but there is miles of LL available to the public.