May 16, 2017 – More Good Flows for Small Creeks – Little Lehigh Creek FFO

Have I mentioned that Lehigh County does parks right?

While I have driven by and stopped to peek a few times over the years, I have never targeted the Macungie stretch of the Little Lehigh Fly Fishing Only until today.  Knowing it is small, no more than 15 feet across even in high water, and pretty shallow, I figured today was as good a time as any to give it a shot.  It takes me under an hour using back roads to get here, which is perfect for something close but different: exactly what I needed today with my schedule.  When I arrived I was pleased to see that it was still stained and flowing well from the weekend's soaking rains.

A nice sized average for the day.

Usually a nymph fisherman through and through, and not knowing where to begin, I went walking looking for runs, riffles, and braided pools, of which there are some, thank god.  Otherwise, it looks like the headwaters of a spring creek, slow and flat, and with no risers, I would have been out of luck.  Thankfully, I found a good plunge pool, probably an old dam or mill pool, and I picked up at least 6 high sticking with a prince and a caddis pupae as the dropper.  One fish was about 15 inches long and angry, but the average was about 13, with a couple fat little ones thrown in here and there.  

A little bigger and a lot angrier than average.

Lucky for me, the pattern that developed was that fish were bunched in shallow, fast runs, some right up against the edge of the riffle’s lip.  Each place like that where I stopped produced multiple fish.  All were rainbows.  I don’t know if they don’t stock browns here because in theory there are still some wild ones, but I did not hook any today.  The water temp in the heat of the day was only 59 degrees, so maybe the browns haunt the habitat I avoid on spring creeks unless I see a riser.  The water I did fish was perfect for high stick nymphing, and the fish fought well in the shallow fast runs on a short line, so I simply enjoyed what the creek gave me today.

Looked for a brown or two on wood?  Just more rainbows...

I did find a few fish on wood too, all bows, while looking for a brown trout.  Besides one other friendly guy who was parking at the upstream end of my short trek, I had the place to myself.  The area is a pretty, suburban oasis, so the folks in the community are lucky to have it, and we fishermen are lucky that it remains open to fish, even if it is mostly just a stocked fishery these days.  It was a good afternoon of small creek fishing.  I lost count early in the trip, but I would say over 15 and less than 20 would be a fair estimate for about 3 hours of fishing and exploring.  I made it home in less time than it took to get there, even at 2:45 PM, so I will keep this one on the list for the future…

Stained water, but pretty and hungry fish to be had, probably between 15 and 20 in a few hours.