Limestone Spring Revisited and I found a GEM

[salvelinusfontinalis]

I fished 3 streams today and all of them are good. Stream1 is the stream me and Spectorfly visited on Friday. Stream2 is (well i dont know it doesnt have a name and isnt on any map) Stream 3 was the Little Lehigh open water. Im telling you i saw about 700 trout today (and thats not a far off count) had many takes but only landed 2 fish all day! you gotta love spring creeks for there unforgiving nature that forces us to be better anglers.

Stream1:
I revisited the limestone spring creek spectorfly and I fished on Friday. Again all through the channelized section i couldnt move a trout in the morning. I did however see some again through the wooded section and this time got some beautiful pics of this section. Again i couldnt catch a trout through this section either. I will say that this water is so clear and flat it is deceiving to how deep it is. This morning I stopped at wal-mart and picked up a pair of my usual 18 dollar rubber hip boots. I know im cheap :-D But i usually wet wade anyways. This morning was cold and i wanted to get on the otherside off the stream in the woods and cross it a few times, where i needed to, this would make it easier to fish. BAD IDEA! this stream may look 1 foot deep in spots but when the water crested my hip boots in the first step i was really suprised and really COLD! Here are some pics of the wooded section ....enjoy this stream is beautiful!


going into the woods
looking upstream at the dam from the woods
missed a trout here on friday
still channelized
love these streams
in the woods and the suns out
try and cast here :O
BEAUTIFUL!
as hard as this section is to fish theres gotta be a bigone in here
i like this pic
out of the woods

There is a small feeder stream that runs into this stream above the wooded section. It is probably the same spring source but it is far more degraded. There is a small dam created by the channelizing that is creating silt to gather through this section. i took some pics of it and it is pretty ....shame i didnt see a fish in it:

downstream look of headwaters of feeder spring
upstream view of feeder spring i like the sun in this pic
clear view of feeder spring headwaters
pretty little stream
morning over a limestone spring creek
feeder spring
heres another view of the mainstem spring source channelized

Then i worked my way down to the lake win the bass master classic. There was a fisherman fishing the lake right where the stream meets the lake. i look under the bridge and there was that largemouth bass. i dont like fishing beside someone so i left (besides i didnt want to seem hogish). Little did this guy know the fish he wanted wasent in the lake...it was under the railroad bridge!

railroad bridge
upstream of the railroad bridge

I went back up the the bridge tom learned how to cast at. Tom you are right you can hear the take. its like a small plunk. small black midges were coming off. i through up under that bridge about 30 times. I landed two sunfish and 1 very beautiful wild brook trout. Finally! i dont know if the population is lower than the class a it is supposed to be or if these brookies are just that selective. Although it was cold and they were probably down deep in the weeds. after i released this guy boy was he strong. he took off to never neverland downstream. the weeds are thick down there and choke the stream up. he was flying along the top of the weeds and suddenly ........GONE down into them. it looked pretty cool
the fish!

Stream 2:
I dont know the name of this stream but it is a limestone spring creek. Its weeds arent as prevelant but there is a good hinting. when i got here i worked my way downstream and saw tons of small fish scattering everywhere. I thought these fish were chubs. I e3ventually came to a large hole and saw some big fish scattering. This water is extremely clear and i didnt approach it correctly. so i kept working my way downstream. i can to a place where a small tree was down and made a small hole under it. after fishing it i decided to see what was under there. I spooked a HUGE wild brown out from under it. Id say in the 18 inch range. he look black in the water he was so dark. along with him came out about 3 small small browns and 3 brook trout! i was amazed. now i know the stream has trout. as i worked my way downstream i managed to spook about 40 more trout (all in shallow water) and came to a plae where the stream opens up to about 200 ft across and is about 1 foot deep. i figured this has to warm the water in the summer and didnt fish down below where it gets small again.
so working my way back upstream i came back to the hole i saw some larger fish scatter. there is NO good way to approach this hole. There is a buld up of large wooded debris on either side of the hole and it looks to be about 6-7 ft deep. so after pondering about 10 minutes how i was gonna approach it i cam up with this. i climbed on the large wooded debris and got right over top of them. There was about 40 fish in that dang hole. 4 browns over 17 inches and 1 brook trout looked to be about 16 inches i was drooling. they were running around everywhere. i tied on a egg pattern and just watched and smoked about 3 cigarettes for the next hour. they calmed down and got used to my presence. this is one technique you can use when you can approach a hole. then i saw a beast...he came out of the wooded debris a wild brown in the 20 inch range. the fish in the back end of the hole were paired up and breeding. all the larger fish :-( so i didnt fish for them. but it was amazing watching them "do it". the upper end of the hole had plenty of smaller fish to catch . i did hook 4 fish but only landed one wild brown. a side note: i saw that 16 inch brookie breeding with a brown about 17-18 inches. can we say tiger trout! :-D
heres a pic of the fish i caught:
brownie
after messing around with them awhile i walked back upstream heading back. and i got curious. all kinds of leaves and weed were built up around the edges of the stream.i started poking around in them and walking through them. you would not believe the amout of trout that came out of those weeds and leaves. it seemed every pile had about 10 trout in them. a mix of brookies and browns. THIS stream should be class a!!! i dont know if it is or not until i can find out what stream it is. this stream is truly amazing! im heading backj here next weekend to fish it again. i didnt take many pictures of this stream yet but i will on my next trip. what a gem!

Stream 3:
i fished the open water of the little lehigh way above the heritage section. i was absolutely amazed the amount of fish in this stream. even the amount of larger trout in this stream. this is my first trip to the LL and no doubt it wont be my last! i missed a ton of trout and had multiple ones hooked...just couldnt get them to hand. This stream is great and i cant wait to explore it again! By the way......olive, black gray and brown midges were coming off and the fish were rising! heaven! :-D

 

[Salvi1]

S,

Where is the little Lehigh and what waters look good? We were hiking out by Cabelas on the AT and there was this big stream looked great but there was not one sign that said what waters it was...

S,

 

[MattBoyer]

Salvi1 wrote:
S,

Where is the little Lehigh and what waters look good? We were hiking out by Cabelas on the AT and there was this big stream looked great but there was not one sign that said what waters it was...

S,

Probably the Schuylkill. Were you a little bit north of Cabela's near 61? If so I'm pretty sure that was it.

Boyer

 

[tomgamber]

i dont know if the population is lower than the class a it is supposed to be or if these brookies are just that selective.

If you go there on a weekend its full of people. Not fishermen so much as just people talking a walk. I'm sure the fish are just really spooky. Well, as I said, that was the case 20 years ago. I remember spooking 4 times as many as I actually got to fish to.

 

[steveo]

I know your stream number 1 well. It had many more trout in it a few years back. Our TU chapter has been trying to figure out what is going on. Mike Kauffman suspects siltation. The stream was channelized back in the 30's by the WPA. I believe the trout were stocked around the same time. They grow larger and are less colorful than the native strain. There's also a run of Gizzard Shad in the spring up the stream from the lake. It's pretty cool to see as there are hundreds of them.

 

[Chaz]

I know stream #1 well too. The population is down and it has nothing to do with siltation, it's always been that way. It's called harvest. Leave it alone and don't post pictures of it and don't brag about catching nice brookies there or it will be gone forever. It has only been stocked once, so there is a good chance that the brookies are a heritage strain.

 

[steveo]

Chaz,
Have you seen any harvest going on there? I have to say I have almost never seen anyone else fishing the stream. There are always plenty of guys fishing the lake so some of them may wander up the stream.

Of course Mike will never be convinced that harvest has much effect on a wild trout stream but hey, what does he know? OK, so he looks at the data, not the emotional aspects. We see it first hand. It's hard to believe that killing even a few of the largest trout in a stream this small doesn't affect anything.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

chaz,
i find your comments interesting. then why not advocate to have it removed from the class a list? if we all know something is going on and the population is low then it should be removed. also why not advocate to have it removed from the natural reproduction list?
i dont believe my pictures or report are going to add fisherman. i already reported the streams trout population is next to nothing...who wants to fish that?
siltation is becoming a problem on that stream but i also dont beilive that is the cause. i think the stream is so dang weed choked you just can fish for the majority of the fish. maybe they should electro-shock it again to find out.
did you think i was bragging? i can catch 50 brookies like that one in another stream........why do you guys (a very small minority) think that my posts are bragging? dang get out on the water and exp[lore more then.....the majority of people pm me about my posts and hiow much they enjoy them.
remember until someone fishes this stream and cares about it enough to help it...nothing is going to change. :-D i loved this stream but i dont see myself visiting it again for a long time. too many other fisheries with better trout in higher populations.

 

[Chaz]

I once caught over twenty fish in a couple of hours there in the mid nineties, having said that I haven't done well there for at leat this century until spring 2006 when I caught 8 and hooked a few others. The rock walls harbor the trout, you can ask MK about that. This is for everyone:THE REASON YOU DON'T WANT A STREAM TAKEN OFF THE CLASS A LIST OR THE REPRODUCTION LIST IS BECAUSE THEY ARE THEN SUBJECT TO A LOWER LEVEL OF PROTECTION FROM DEP, THIS IS THE SAME REASON ALL TROUT STREAMS NEED TO BE IDENTIFIED SO THAT THEY CAN BE EVALUATED AND PLACED ON THESE LISTS. Without this protection all streams may be degraded at the whim of developers, industry, and the extraction industry. It seems to me thatguys that advocate keeping their secrets to them selves do more harm to streams then a couple of anglers. Not picking on you Sal, just making a point. These streams need as much protection as they can get.
As for the stream pictured, I also believe that nearby development may be part of the problem, but also the golf course may play a roll. When it is part of a water supply a stream should get maximum protection, but that isn't always the case, I've seen that stream right after heavy rain up out of the banks and it is gin clear, so if silt is a problem it is a minor impact.
I also think the lake harbors some of the trout, they catch brookies in the lake from time to time. Of course with all of the non native fish that reside in the lake how could brookies survive long, and you mentioned sunnies and blue gills, they are also part of the problem, you ought to see the stream after their young have hatched, it is bank full of panfish. I've seen a few bass wondering there also all of this plays a roll.
It's a shame someone doesn't take more interest in this stream, because it was once really very good.
I have fished many of the Berks County limers and some are very good, at least they don't all have browns in them, that's what makes them special, you can catch a brownie just about anywhere, but when you find a stream with brookies in them that are catchable then you've really found something. Keep looking but please be careful of the photos you post.

 

[troutbert]

I would be very interested in these reports if the stream names were given.

 

[jhguster23]

Sal cannot win.

When his posts look like fish porn with pictures of hulking browns, he gets bashed. When his pictures are of a beautiful, little known stream (not disclosing the location), commenting on how few fish he saw, he gets bashed.

I liked the post and I'm encouraged to see that there are that many good streams out there flying under the radar. If anything, it inspires me to get off the beaten path to see what other gems are out there under my nose. And I believe that the more people know about these streams, the harder it will be for developers, et al to put them in jeopardy.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

chaz u peeked my interest more.how would you think id take it you were picking on me? i never tried to keep this stream a secret but it seemed you wanted it to be. hence the reason i told you to advocate for those things
so without photos or reports it is highly unlikely anyone would take interest in this stream. you cant have it both ways....u cant tell people to leave it alone and then say its a shame more people dont take interest in it. just my take.
i bet the bass and sunnies are doing harm. but then again a stream like this has a vast food supply. maybe the sunnies are hindering spawning? the bass of course just eat the brookies.
what i wonder is.......after all that rain we had a few years back....you know the big one......if some trout or even alot of trout went into the pond beside it.

 

[Chaz]

First of all Everyone I'm not picking on Sal! Second, I'm not advocating that anyone tell a bunch of people about their secret places, remember though that there are no secret streams in PA. Read what I said about having these streams on the Class A list and the Natural Reproduction list. This is extremely important, streams that have trout reproducing in them are subject to ALL MANNER OF ABUSE if they are not protect by DEP from this abuse. I encourage ALL of you to report to the AFM for your region any streams you find with wild trout that are not on the list.
Streams may always be protected from harvest by regulations, but without the DEP designations streams cannot and will not be protected from population, channelization, and any other abuse you may think of. It is a double edged sword of course. But the bottom line is protect the streams by getting them on the lists, DEP has an obligation to upgrade the Stream Designation under Anti-degradation laws to change the designation and PROTECT THE EXISTING USE. Once a population is lost you may never get it back.