Wading Heritage section of Little Lehigh

[Coughlin]

I had not been to the little Lehigh in a couple of years and was astonished mid-summer to find people wading in the CR Leisenring Heritage section. At first, I thought maybe the guys were new to it and didn't know the protocol, but when I asked (politely) they just shrugged and said there weren't any regulations against it. Sure enough, I then saw that the no wading signs were nowhere to be seen. What happened?
Coughlin

 

[Heritage-Angler]

The regs changed almost 2 years ago.

In speaking to the local WCO, they're trying to let the riparian buffer grow naturally in most of this section. No removal of downed trees, etc.

While they're still maintaining a short section for handicap access, they're not gonna mow the grass right up to the water anymore.

Doing this would make fishing from shore difficult in most of this section - hence the change in regs.

As long as wading anglers respect the redds at spawning time, overall this is a good thing for the fish....

 

[greenlander]

Agreed. The manicured lawns were always an issue for me when I used to fish the LL semi-regularly.

I always felt any negatives that came from fishermen wading the stream were FAR outweighed by the negatives of having a completely artificial shoreline.

 

[Coughlin]

Ok, thanks. I just figured too many joggers had gotten a #14 something stuck in their scalp. Still, I always thought there was something special about the Leisenring run. Truth to tell, I'm sorry it changed imho.
Coughlin