Little lehigh help.

[Opie610]

I am planning on fishing the little Lehigh for the first time this weekend. I was wondering which is the better area the Wild Cherry Lane or the Heritage section. I have been watching videos on YouTube about the little Lehigh and I hear people getting ridiculed for fishing the kiddie pool. I do not want to be anywhere near that. Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[NickR]

Imo the Little Lehigh becomes a decent trout fishery from the Heritage section down.

 

[afishinado]

Opie610 wrote:
I am planning on fishing the little Lehigh for the first time this weekend. I was wondering which is the better area the Wild Cherry Lane or the Heritage section. I have been watching videos on YouTube about the little Lehigh and I hear people getting ridiculed for fishing the kiddie pool. I do not want to be anywhere near that. Thanks for any help in advance.

I don't believe the Wild Cherry Lane section is stocked in the fall and that section really doesn't hold fish very well.

The Heritage section can be fished year round. Oh, and the kiddie pool is okay to fish. A while back, fish escaped from the hatchery and were stacked up there. That pretty much has ended and now it's just another place to fish in the Heritage stretch. Check it out.

Also, you are able to fish both upstream and downstream of the stretch....a lot of water to explore. Enjoy.

 

[Opie610]

Thanks for your help guys. Really appreciated.

 

[Opie610]

Well i fished the Heritage section from the fly shop upstream to the hatchery this morning. The wind was brutal at times but i had a great time. Managed to land 1 brown and 1 rainbow both around 14 inches.
The water was much shallower that i thought it would be. I didn't get to explore down stream from the fly shop so i dont know if there are any deeper holes down that way or not. but definitely worth the trip.

Does anyone know how far downstream the FFO section goes?

Thanks again

 

[troutwilleatflies]

opie610,theFFO section extends down past the 78 bridge to some signage,also there is some nice water down there.

 

[Opie610]

Thanks trout. Probably gonna check the lower half out this weekend,.

 

[Sylvaneous]

Try pale yellow sucker spawn, sz. 16 scuds or sz. 18 pheasant tail nymphs from 78 and below to the 'end pool'. The water above the hatchery is good nymph water but wading isn't allowed and you really need to wade this to fish it well. Then below the covered bridge a bit is a 90 degree bend that is a long riffle. Examine it carefully and find the better spots to fish. People hit this pretty well, but it has fish. Nymphing water is pretty scarce from here down. It's been many years since I was in the Lehigh valley, but I knew the Little lehigh well when I was there for 7 years. I can't remember better than that.

Sylvaneous.

 

[afishinado]

Sylvaneous wrote:
Try pale yellow sucker spawn, sz. 16 scuds or sz. 18 pheasant tail nymphs from 78 and below to the 'end pool'. The water above the hatchery is good nymph water but wading isn't allowed and you really need to wade this to fish it well. Then below the covered bridge a bit is a 90 degree bend that is a long riffle. Examine it carefully and find the better spots to fish. People hit this pretty well, but it has fish. Nymphing water is pretty scarce from here down. It's been many years since I was in the Lehigh valley, but I knew the Little lehigh well when I was there for 7 years. I can't remember better than that.

Sylvaneous.

The wading restriction was lifted a few years ago on the LL.

 

[geebee]

The water was much shallower that i thought it would be.

that is common on SEPA streams - LL, Tully, EB Brandywine, White Clay, Valley Creek, Octararo etc.

anyone who is use to freestoners with their deep pools and fast shallow tailouts and riffles has to make a big adjustment, or at least I had to.

trout, particularly stocked ones will typically hold in any water more than 18" deep, that you'd usually walk past trying to find deeper spots.

floods pretty much wash out most major structure and widen the streams here , so you're just left with small pockets and slots for the trout to hold in.

a slot of just 3-4" deeper than the 12" water depth , can and often does hold one or more fish.

stealth and accurate presentation is needed, as these fish have little natural cover and safety.

it is surprising to me as to how shallow water they will hang in - I try to fish upstream slowly, pinging casts to any spot with white water or where I can't quite see the bottom 100%.

cheers

Mark.

 

[Chaz]

Wild Cherry Lane used to be stocked in the fall but not tHO it does hold fish all year. However the best sections of the LL to fish anytime are Knecks(sp) Bridge on downstream to the Lehigh River. From the bottom of the FF section to the River it was stocked on 10-14 for the fall/winter season.
Most trout will feed, if the are feeding in fast moving shallow water during late fall and winter, when the sun is on those sections. Trout will also feed in more shallow pools when the sun is on them. They seldom feed in deep pools during the winter, but will hold in them to rest and for cover.
Nymphs and streamers work best unless there's a really good hatch.

 

[phiendWMD]

afishinado wrote:
The wading restriction was lifted a few years ago on the LL.

Sorry for veering OT, but I've wondered about this for quite a while. Why was there a restriction in place? Why was it removed?

 

[troutwilleatflies]

The wading was restricted to protect redds I believe,it was removed when they went to this stupid "grow zone" to allow obnoxious weeds to overgrow the banks making it difficult to fish with out wading.

 

[Chaz]

It's called a riparian buffer, and it's supposed to be native plants. Yes there may be invasive there, but the stream gets warm during the hot months and needs the shade.
I don't know the reason except to say when that section between the Hatchery Rd. bridge and the wooden bridge was stocked, it looked like they stocked people. Removal of the wading restriction is a no brainer, since the traffic on the stream is less than it used to be even 10 years ago.

 

[troutbert]

Robust streamside vegetation is very important to streams.

Mike, the PFBC biologist who posts on here, said that there are some stream sections that did not hold trout back in the 1970s, and do today.

When asked what changed, he said the vegetation grew up along the streams.

That's it. Total transformation of the stream from non-trout stream to wild trout stream, just from vegetation growing up along the stream.

And of course it works the other way. Wack the vegetation along the streams, keep things mowed down in short grass (lawns), and the stream will suffer badly.

Not just in regard to temperature, but physically.

So congrats to the Allentown Parks people, if they've been moving in that direction.

 

[geebee]

Riparian buffers also prevent water washing off the grass into the streams, slowing down flooding and filtering out many nitrates and phosphates that together with thermal pollution reduces oxygen in the water and encourages algal blooms etc.

all ponds and streams should have a riparian buffer of at least 6ft.

cheers

Mark.

 

[WCO]

The wading restriction on the LL FFO area below the hatchery was not created to protect spawning redds. If I remember correctly, it was basically a "gentleman's rule" that became the norm there.

In regards to the growth along the LL FFO stretch and other area streams...I took part in a few meetings this past month with area municipalities and not only commended them, but encouraged them to continue to allow riparian buffers to grow (we also talked about areas where buffers could be expanded). The benefits a riparian buffer provides to a stream and the trout population are well documented.

 

[Maurice]

Way to go WCO. I wish more WCO's would show a presence at local meetings of sportsmans groups and municipal meetings. You guys have important input and can gain valuable information as well from local stakeholders.

Years ago when I first moved to York County Our WCO at the time Lee Creyer was present so often I found it uncomfortable. You know how hangin with 5-0 can be Haha. Now we have not seen hide nor hair of our new one since Lee moved closer to home in the Lehigh Valley.

But I suppose I shouldn't say ours isn't around cuz if I do I am sure I will be reminded that he is watching our meetings from the woods with Binoculars. LOL. Shame too cuz we get along and like our new guy.

But again, thanks for your attention toward local issues.

 

[ebroesicke]

Lee was a great WCO, and retired this year so now he gets to actually hunt and fish.

 

[troutwilleatflies]

The trout population on the LL is way down from years past.Ask anyone that has fished it 10-15-20 yrs ago what they think of that stream now.So this riparion "grow zone" has done nothing to improve it.Now if they would allow the trees that fall into the stream from time to time to remain there that would really benefit the trout,but they remove them?
The main problem for the LL is upstream development and now that thousands of acres in the Alburtis area will become warehouses soon it sure don't look good for the future.