Little Lehigh drying up!

[troutwilleatflies]

I was walking along the LL Tuesday at the C&R FLY FISHING only area above Cedar CREST Blvd and I don't know if its ever been this low.Hardly a trickle between holes.If we don't get a HEAVY rain soon a good part of the upper stream will stop flowing soon.

 

[Mike]

I would expect that to happen more frequently as more of the drainage basin above that point becomes covered with roof-tops, macadam, and concrete.

 

[outsider]

Mike, you are so right about your statement. Most forum members weren't around when I fished the Little Lehigh starting in the early to mid sixties. The stream was so different then. And it had a heckuva caddis hatch in May. I always heard they were a hardy species, but they are gone (unless someone else can me they do exist today). There used to be a large spring aside of the stream where a few trout took up residence and I remember dappling flies, trying to catch them. That is long gone.

My mentor was much older than me, and he told me there were grass beds and green drakes before my time. The Little Lehigh will someday become nothing more than a drainage ditch. How sad.

 

[sandfly]

seen the upper fly stretch bone dry in years past, it comes back.

 

[Chaz]

sandfly wrote:
seen the upper fly stretch bone dry in years past, it comes back.

+1 I've seen it very low, up around Cedar Crest through the DH section it has gone dry. During the late 80's it went dry at the spring in Trexlertown, all the brookies in the upper section disappeared. They never came back. I doubt that all the roof tops have as much impact as wells and the creeks use as a water supply.
You also have runoff not sinking into the ground as it did in the past.

 

[Mike]

Chaz,
Your last sentence is the point that I was making.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

Yesterday there was a write up in the paper about the LL being bone dry at Wild Cherry Lane.It's getting critical that we get a sustained rainfall.

 

[Bobert540]

Today's and tomorrow's rain will help but only short term. We need a few weeks with this weather pattern.

 

[troutbert]

troutwilleatflies wrote:
Yesterday there was a write up in the paper about the LL being bone dry at Wild Cherry Lane.It's getting critical that we get a sustained rainfall.

How far down from there is it dry?

Are there significant springs between there and the spring at the hatchery?

 

[Bobert540]

I doubt it is dry anymore. We received 1.5" of rain in the LV. Hopefully today's rain will help the aquifers heal a bit.