Little Lehigh Creek

[Blackhackle]

Hello,
New to the forum, but a long time PA fisherman now residing and fishing in NZ. Was perusing the links when came across a meeting scheduled later this spring about the demise of the Little Lehigh. Lived in Alburtis in the 1990s and fished the Little Lehigh a lot. Although the stream had some sediment problems wild brown populations and fishing were good. There was a lot of development going on right along the stream between Alburtis and Emmaus. What has happened, can someone fill me in? Thanks.

 

[Dave_W]

Hi Blackhackle,
Welcome to Paflyfish.com (PAFF). Hopefully we can help keep you linked back to how things are here in PA. And we wouldn't mind some pics of trout from NZ too.
Anyway, enjoy participating in our online FFing community - we're glad to have yuh.

Regarding the Little Lehigh (LL).....the things you described above are what "happened."
It's an urban stream with long standing problems with effluent, run-off, etc. It's still a great stream but you'll get opinions from old time LL regulars that the stream is really in decline. To be sure, you'll get this point of view from many old timers who have fished famous PA streams for a long time.

There is frequently discussion here about the LL as well as fishing reports. It's worth keeping an eye on these reports. We have some knowledgeable folks who post here on the LL from time to time.

Anyway, this being the internet...sometimes there are rumors and exagerrations. In my opinion, false alarms about the condition of our state's famous creeks are among the most common that pop up around here. Our famous streams have issues....but don't believe all the breathless stuff you hear.

 

[Mike]

In the areas surrounding Macungie and between Macungie and Alburtis you might need a map to find your way as development has taken over. You might still recognize East Texas Rd., however. That general area, as you know, was rich farm land that will never be returned to production.

The good news is that tribs to the Little Lehigh in that area support very nice wild Brown Trout populations and parts of the Little Lehigh near those tribs do so as well. The LL headwaters above the stocked portion in Berks Co also supports a nice population.

As for the stocked stretch immediately up from Hatchery Rd, it continues to support a wild Brown Trout population that sometimes gets fairly close to the biomass in the fly area below.

Since you left the area quite a while ago you might be surprised to see the list of so many wild trout streams that have been revealed in Lehigh and Berks Counties via the Unassessed Wild Trout Streams project, begun in about 2009. That list, as well as the expanded Class A list, can be seen on the Pa Fish And Boat Commission web site.