LehighRegular wrote:
Beast & Blue
The reason there aren't coldwater releases is a result of the discharge tower configuration. When the Corps goes into flood control mode and drops the lake after a flood event or during a whitewater release, the large bottom release gates are cranked wide open. When that happens the coldwater goes bye-bye. ONce the coldwater is gone, we don't get it back until Fall when inflow water temps drop.
We can't do away with WW release so we have to figure out how to save the coldwater. A new tower with selective withdrawal and a little bit more water in the lake is needed.
The Corps is finally (ughh) wrapping up the Study that has been ongoing. It shows some real potential. Support by anglers and the local community will be needed and of course money to make it a reality. The Study shows the number of projected miles that will be supported with coldwater all summer long would be more than anything in the Eastern US. If you interested in the Lehigh you will want to check out the report for yourself.
The "fishing releases" will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I don't like the language in the 2013 Plan, but devil will be in the details. THe good thing is that there are now dates where water levels should be good for fishing when typically flows are high in the spring season. How the water will be managed is a different story.
The bugs are starting to hatch. Fish have been spotted up and hungry. This weekend looks very promising. I'm jonesing to get out on the river.... LR
The rafting companies appear to have more influence than the fisherman. I could be wrong- don't know- but based on that Army Corps comment page it appears they tell everyone that runs the river with them to inundate the page with comments. Now, obviously they currently bring in more money than fishing of any type in the river-based on the numbers of fisherman I see in peak hatches. I don't fish in the most popular spots, I go higher into the formal state park, but I still have a general idea of pressure and money being spent.
Now...considering that the upper park is what??? 26 miles of public water with variance on each bank, surrounded by 3 game lands, 1 state park, and probably a few conservation easements that I don't know about...I would think this is a prime class A potential water,if....the tower structure is added to. If they were to hold tons of water back without a new tower, that would add to the volume of cold water at the bottom. I understand it was built as a flood control project, but doesn't releasing giant white water flows run counter to that objective?
Additionally, the now "dead" tributaries on the west bank are still pouring freezing cold water into the main river, they may one day recover more completely from those acid mine projects and someone may be able to simply dump limestone in there or put in a tumbler.
I do think that combined with the excellent bear hunting(world record bear currently from the area),pretty good deer hunting, and the mass of public property for hunting opportunities at a reasonable price, that if that were to release more cold water and become an amazing tail water, there would be a nice surge of money to hit the area from increased trips and people even buying cabins.
One of the primary problems some of the areas up there have is the outrageous taxes.They are forcing people into foreclosure. Some of the taxes on 2,000 sq ft houses up near the FEW are 7-8k/yr. All those 2nd vacation homes of which there are 1,000s at 1000-1500 sq ft, would be a nice hunting/fishing 2nd home, but the taxes basically put a second mortgage on the house. I don't know what is going on with those taxes, but they need to halve.