Little Lehigh

T

timmyt

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Jun 20, 2007
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Fished there last evening from about 4pm until dark. It was my first trip there this year. The water was in great shape, up with some tint to it, exactly what you want this time of year. Only problem, there was nothing going on. Hardly any bugs coming off (was expecting sulfurs), no fish working either on top or below the surface.

Am I missing something? Has something changed with this fishery? There were some caddis and plentiful sulfur nymphs all over the rocks so the bugs were there. Perhaps it was just an off night but it seemed eerily quiet to me for what should have been a prime spring evening
 
I think this post will raise some controversy. While IMHO the Little Lehigh isn't what it was a decade ago there are still plenty of bugs and fish. I don't think it is an issue with the fishery. The fish seem plentiful and well fed this year.

What you have observed seems common everywhere I fish and I think it is a combination of the late season and the high water levels. The hatch schedule has been shifted all over the place this year after the cold weather. When the hatches do appear they seem to happen just at dark. The big show is always at dark, but most years something starts to happen when the shadows get on the water. Unfortunately, this year whatever happens is compressed to right at dark. In addition, the flows have generally a touch too high for good top water action. If the water is too fast trout will tend to feed underwater. My experience this spring is that the water drops to a level where the surface action starts for a day or two and then we get a storm that puts it off for a few days. The start/stop dry fly action has been going on since the beginning of the season. Look at the USGS gauges and find the lowest stream in your range and fish there. For example. I like to fish dry flies when the Little Lehigh is 100 cfs or lower; today it is 142 cfs. No hard and fast rules for when they rise, but the water level is a shade higher than I prefer for consistent action.

On the good side, water temperatures are about 60F and the trout are active. When the water levels are OK the fish have been rising. They are primed.
 
I didnt mean to raise controversy, I didnt even know there was any! I was looking more for discussion like your second paragraph!

I don't fish there but a couple times of year and like i said havent been there this season yet at all. Hard to determine anything that way. I noticed the water levels were still above the 75th percentile on the guages for the previous few days leading up to yesterday. i was hoping it would have dropped more by the time i went but you gotta take your limited opportunities where you can get them. I rolled one small fish on a sulfur nymph and that was it. Didnt observe fish feeding anyplace, on top or underneath. I know some of these runs held fish, i even sat back on the bank for awhile in spots to see if i could observe fish feeding underneath, didnt see one flash all day.

I had a feeling perhaps it was the higher flows and strange weather. Its hard to make an accurrate assesment of the situation when u fish someplace randomly like that. If u are closer or fish it once a week you can get a better idea. Victim of limited opportunities! Thanks for the help!

 
Never fished the LL but JeffK is spot on. I ran into the same thing last night- fair number of bugs, Class A wild brown stream, and nothing rising. Sulphurs didn't really get going until 8:30, and even then the fish ignored them. Caught a couple on a PT nymph but nothing close to what I expected.
 
I was on a different LV stream on Saturday, there were loads of bugs and some trout taking them, but not on the surface. Especially with sulphurs, use a soft hackle pattern, trout seem to favor them during the hatch because they are easy pickins.
Specifically for the LL you are plenty of fish and bugs, you just have to know the stream and the fish.
 
I did try a sulfur soft hackle for awhile but i am not proficient with them. Need some more practice in both areas to learn the stream and the fish
 
+1 to what Chaz said. I have been fishing a sulphur soft hackle with floatant in the film with great results. It's not the easiest thing to see for me but it works very well.
 
Beeber, i am new to fishing soft hackles and i am still perfecting the technique. So you are fishing them dead drift more like an emerger as opposed to 'swinging' them? I was attempting to swing them, not sure if i was doing it correctly. I had the soft hackle tied about 12-18 inches off the bend of a bead head sulfur nymph and i was dead drifting the whole rig and then letting it swing downstream until it was parallel with the stream. Even leaving it hanging/swinging in the current briefly at the end of the drift.
 
The most effective pattern I have found is ,little Dorothy, Tie It directly to the end of your tippet. Cast across stream 45 degrees let it swing and follow with the rod tip. Let it hang for a couple seconds before you recast.
 
Across and down, you will have more success than up and across. although you will occasionally pick one up casting upstream.
 
I'll give it a shot Lou, thanks!
 
Wets work well and I have been seeing more backs out of the water than noses when the sulphurs are on this year. I've fished 9 days in a row and had risers all but two. But then I may be dialed in a little better than occasional fishermen and I hang in there with dries because I am out enough. . Half the time they are going underneath. Little Marryatt, light Cahill, and partridge and yellow soft hackles are classic sulphur wets, but I had one year where a Peter Ross was my hot sulphur wet. An RS2 with a light body can be good too. That's why fly fishing is great, sometimes it doesn't make sense and we have to try odd ball stuff.

My other approach this time of year is to put on a large March Brown emerger or spinner. Sometimes they whack the larger fly; sometimes they avoid it. However, it is worth a shot on streams that have March Browns and I can see a size 8 spinner in the dark a whole lot better than a size 16 spinner.
 
Anyone know if tricos have begun hatching on the LL and lehigh valley in general?
 
Saw tricos in spider webs at saucon yesterday...
 
That's a positive sign .... maybe heading up early Sunday b4 the matches
 
Cool! Maybe ill see you there....
 
J55 ... I'll pm u on sat
 
Roger that.
 
I've fished the LL hundreds of times, and during the sulphur season and later in the year I never went before 7 pm, earlier is just too early. On warm nights, you can arrive at 8pm and still catch the bulk of the hatch. I've fished it many times until 11 pm and just had a blast fish fish rusty spinners after dark, there's enough ambient light around to even see when the trout take your fly. The most predominant flies after the sulphur season in the evening are Baetis. I usually use a rusty spinner starting around 8.
Mornings you want to use a trico anytime after July 1, and get there at first light. Have males and females in both duns and spinners.
 
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