Little Lehigh tricos

[Bamboozle]

The Tricos are in most areas in varying numbers, however the stream between the Turnpike & Route 100 has some access challenges not necessarily all related to posting.

It can be slow and silty up there in a lot of places and getting into the water to wade can be likened to wading the Letort...

...not recommended.

Parking in a few spots is non existent or challenging and open water is spotty at best.

At minimum, do some reconnoitering before July.

Good luck!

 

[Baron]

Bam,
Historical note: That is where I began fishing for trout 41yrs ago. Right across from Camp Olympic on the wooded slope area. Its all developed now I guess. Anyway It didn't last long as we started a family and trout went by the wayside. For a while I night fished by drifting worms and caught allot that way. Blast from the past.

 

[Bamboozle]

200 years ago when I was living out the area, I remember fishing off of Macungie Road near there.

It was hard to find because I was unfamiliar and at the time, the PFBC only listed stream sections by local and State route numbers and who the heck knows those.

Fast forward 150 years....

As a LONG TIME local I went back up there to fish with a buddy and had almost as difficult a time finding things because I didn't recognize a thing, there was so much development...

 

[CLSports]

There are Tricos for the entire length of Little Lehigh creek. The issue over the past several years has been finding the fish! Only a few years back it was still fantastic and tons of wild browns all through that area. It has been really bad lately. I went to one spot in Macungie that usually has fantastic hatches and plenty of rising fish, but last year it seemed to be lacking both. It was silted in much more in spots than usual and that apparently affected the number of fish and bugs.

If Little Lehigh was taken care of like Valley Creek is, it would be a superior creek. Too bad it is not. Many issues and nobody seems to care enough about the wild fish habitat. It is a shame.

 

[CLSports]

I have had really good action in the lower park section of the stream too all the way down to the mouth. Tricos are the only hatch I bother with there.

I said this before in a post above ^^ a couple years back, but it is worth repeating: Ever since the Allentown Park system started mowing the stream up to the banks and not allowing the vegetation to grow in, it has suffered greatly. For a few years they let the riparian buffer grow in and the trout thrived. The locals did not like the WEEDS growing too high and complained about it. They mowed it up to the banks ever since and the plentiful wild trout are a now distant memory. It was good while it lasted.

I actually spoke with a woman several years back that was out surveying/assessing the riparian growth and I told her how great it was. I wish I could find her and talk to her again to see what happened. Her efforts were appreciated by me at least.

I also recall a time where a large tree had fallen in the stream and there were many small trout around that structure and it created a well needed scour hole. It was later removed by the park system (cut down with a chain saw) and the trout were gone. Too bad many don't seem to realize fallen tress in the water are a good thing. They see it as an ugly obstruction. They will however put in useless rock veins. Does not work.

The stream is now a flat featureless silted over mess in the lower park. Thanks to the City of Allentown Parks System.

 

[govtmule]

i like how wgmiller doesnt ask for locations but then asks about locations.....just go and look around

 

[Jaybird]

I always think that the little Lehigh could be a stream that could be rehabilitated in 2 or 3 years and make some TU chapter or organization or TU employee very famous. It's just waiting to be fixed .

 

[troutbert]

Jaybird wrote:
I always think that the little Lehigh could be a stream that could be rehabilitated in 2 or 3 years and make some TU chapter or organization or TU employee very famous. It's just waiting to be fixed .

The idea of rehabilitating the Little Lehigh is good.

But the question is how to do that.

Any suggestions?

 

[Jaybird]

Well if it was me , which it isn't . I'd contact the Mid-Atlantic and North East TU conservation leaders . Then leverage local politicians any way I could . Get local groups to help out , Plant an F load of willows , Negotiate upstream for a 15ft riparian zone along the river . Don't mow it down to the banks , Get the heritage section back to no wading . Have every chapter within 2 hours donate to it and give each chapter a personalized tour , That's were I'd start , also I would listen to all suggestions given . Keep positive people and good communicators on the project . But that's just me .

 

[Bamboozle]

Jaybird wrote:
...Negotiate upstream for a 15ft riparian zone along the river . Don't mow it down to the banks , Get the heritage section back to no wading...

A supposed riparian buffer creation in Section 8 (the former Heritage Section) is what got it from NO wading to wading...

Frankly, the fly-fisherman who whined that they couldn't easily fish from the bank with a riparian buffer were "wusses." Crap, I fished the Letort for decades on my knees in the Barnyard in tall grass 3-4 feet high along with other stuff waiting to grab my back cast…. It ain't easy but it can be done.

The bigger problem is that all of the Little Lehigh that flows through the Parkway is the City of Allentown's property & responsibility. The Parkway is highly utilized and is more than a fishing destination to many people (taxpayers). In other words, the city has other users to consider too.

In addition, other areas upstream are township property so a similar situation exists there too.

Section 8, along with Sections 2,3,4 & 7 are Class A whether or not people catch as many fish as they did in the “old days.” If people think they aren’t Class A because they can’t catch fish, a first step might be to try and have the PFBC do another survey to confirm their suspicions of decline.

Unless of course the last survey was more recent than the suspicions… ;-)

If not and those stream sections have TRULY declined in regards to fish numbers (excluding ALL of the hatchery escapees and stocked or holdover fish assumed to be wild, caught in the days before the “decline”), it might be a little easier to get the powers to be to agree to stream improvements.

While I prefer to fish from the bank in Section 8, I could deal with a riparian buffer and downed trees because to be honest, that hasn’t been an unique situation over the years along the Little Lehigh, even in Section 8.

 

[CLSports]

The bigger problem is that all of the Little Lehigh that flows through the Parkway is the City of Allentown's property & responsibility. The Parkway is highly utilized and is more than a fishing destination to many people (taxpayers). In other words, the city has other users to consider too.

This is a key statement.

Other uses. What are they?

Jogging, Walking, Biking, Frisbee Golf.

How many of these uses are affected by the health of the stream?

 

[Jaybird]

CLSports wrote:

The bigger problem is that all of the Little Lehigh that flows through the Parkway is the City of Allentown's property & responsibility. The Parkway is highly utilized and is more than a fishing destination to many people (taxpayers). In other words, the city has other users to consider too.

This is a key statement.

Other uses. What are they?

Jogging, Walking, Biking, Frisbee Golf.

How many of these uses are affected by the health of the stream?

As much as I hate to restrict frisbee in anyway , I never knew the park to have a frisbee shop or a joggers shop. Look you have a Limestone spring creek , they ain't making anymore .
As with any major venture you need the right people in place to be successful. At this point I wouldn't care what there own personal motivation is , as long as they try and recapture that streams quality .

 

[Bamboozle]

Fishing is an attraction to the park system as is walking, jogging, horseback riding, bike riding, picnics, dog walking, Frisbee tossing, etc.

Participation in those activities far surpasses fishing, even on Opening Day and when they stock.