Tannic water

[henrydavid]

I fished the Lehigh in the White Haven area Monday 11/9/20. The water was dark and visibility was very limited, my streamer disappeared 6 inches under water. I spoke to a local on my way out who said the water color was due to decomposing Hemlock leaves. I had never seen this before. I got skunked on my 1st trip to the big river in 3+ years.

 

[Millsertime]

My experience is that the LR is typically tannic year round. There are lots of Hemlocks that canopy the LR trib's which likely contributes to the tannic color.

I'd also say a 6" visibility depth for fishing a streamer is common year round on the LR, even with polarized glasses.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

Many streams with dense hemlock canopies are tannic, it is a fairly common occurrence in the Pocono region.

 

[Bamboozle]

I don't fish the Lehigh, although I concur with Millerstime.

However I might add that with the preponderance of the hemlock woolly adelgid (which is decimating hemlocks just about every place I fish), there may a couple of extra trillion hemlock needles in the water.

FWIW - Wild fish that live year round in tannin stained waters are some of the prettiest fish I've ever caught so there is one plus I guess...

 

[troutbert]

There are many wetlands in the headwaters. The tannins come from decomposing vegetation in those wetlands.

 

[salmonoid]

Tannins occur naturally in many plants. They would be present in hemlock needles, but hemlock bark was the prized component of hemlocks because of it's high concentration of tannin, which would be used to make tannic acid, for tanning hides. Most logging operations would have a tannery nearby, given the ready supply of large hemlock trees. Many of the old time logging photos for PA depict bark peelers, who are doing just that - peeling bark off of massive hemlock trees. The wood wasn't that great, so a lot of times, the monsters of the forest were left to rot, sans their bark. Kind of reminds me of how the bison were slaughtered for their hides and the meat left to rot..

Swamps, bogs and marshes, where plant material might accumulate, also have the tannins leach out and that is likely the main contributor to the tannic color of the LR, as troutbert noted. I don't think decaying hemlock needles would be the primary source of tannins in the LR, although they certainly would add something to the mix.

 

[afishinado]

salmonoid wrote:
Tannins occur naturally in many plants. They would be present in hemlock needles, but hemlock bark was the prized component of hemlocks because of it's high concentration of tannin, which would be used to make tannic acid, for tanning hides. Most logging operations would have a tannery nearby, given the ready supply of large hemlock trees. Many of the old time logging photos for PA depict bark peelers, who are doing just that - peeling bark off of massive hemlock trees. The wood wasn't that great, so a lot of times, the monsters of the forest were left to rot, sans their bark. Kind of reminds me of how the bison were slaughtered for their hides and the meat left to rot..

Swamps, bogs and marshes, where plant material might accumulate, also have the tannins leach out and that is likely the main contributor to the tannic color of the LR, as troutbert noted. I don't think decaying hemlock needles would be the primary source of tannins in the LR, although they certainly would add something to the mix.

From an article about Lehigh Tannery a small town just downstream of White Haven >

The old Lehigh Tannery can be found on Tannery Road at the Hickory Run State Park. It is easy to pass the pull-off because there are so many places to pull over and explore along the road, and because the upper half of the old building is long gone. All that remains is the base skeleton of what was once a huge building.

Steeped in the history of the Carbon County and White Haven area, the Lehigh Tannery is still a stopping place for many visitors who are fascinated with the historical value of a once booming region.

Lehigh Tannery was the largest tannery in the United States, from 1860 to 1874. At its peak, it produced 80,000 hides each year. bark from both of these trees was essential to tanning the leather hides. Men, called peelers, went into the forests each day to skin the bark off of these threes to take back to the tannery.

 

[Tigereye]

All the above is true, add to that you have accelerated decay due to warmer temps and low water and the " tannicity" becomes more distinct.

We saw similar conditions in the spring >>see the 4/19/20 Lehigh River report in the Stream Reports Forum for a similar discussion

 

[vcregular]

The Corps bumped up the water out the Walter on Monday. That definitely increased not only the tannic but also moved a lot of micro debris into the water column. A combination of both most likely caused visibility to go bit more on the dirty side.

 

[beadhead2]

The Tobyhanna at the Dream mile club is a tannic creek ,when I used to fish it with some of my friends I had good luck with a soft hackle ,black body ,black tail, sometimes gold rib other times black rib ,black hackle

 

[wildtrout2]

Bamboozle wrote:
FWIW - Wild fish that live year round in tannin stained waters are some of the prettiest fish I've ever caught so there is one plus I guess...

I couldn't agree more. I wonder if there's an actual correlation?

 

[troutbert]

wildtrout2 wrote:

Bamboozle wrote:
FWIW - Wild fish that live year round in tannin stained waters are some of the prettiest fish I've ever caught so there is one plus I guess...

I couldn't agree more. I wonder if there's an actual correlation?

Yes. Both browns and brookies tend to be bright colored in streams that are well shaded and/or dark colored from tannins, as compared to trout in waters more exposed to sunlight.

 

[Hilltop]

Strange, I fished the Lehigh on Monday, roughly half way between white haven and rockport accesses and thought it was pretty clear.
Didn't see any other fisherman just bikers. Didn't take a water temp but felt pretty cold. Caught 2 small browns and lost 2 others.