March 25, 2019 - Falling Water, Mud Remains – Little Lehigh Creek FFO

Kept the new(er) 'Ru clean, but it wasn't easy!

I fished the Little Lehigh fly fishing only (FFO) section today for the first time in a while.  I considered going to the Heritage section later in the day, but the water upstream was still running high and off-color enough to decide to stick it out where I started.  The flow was fishable, and the stain wasn’t bad.  The only real issue was my inability to step into the creek in a lot of places without starting the mud machine (or sliding into deep water).  So much rain fell all year, with last Thursday being the latest culprit, that the first few feet of water line and down into the creek a couple feet are coated with silt and mud.  One step near an eddy, for example, and the entire hole is muddied.  It is even hard to enter the water in many spots because the banks are so slick, covered with sand, silt, and mud.  I had a very similar experience on the Monocracy one day this winter after a bout of rain, and it prompted me to move on quickly to another creek.

Bright and healthy, just a bit sluggish with colder water and heavier flows.

Today, I improvised my approach to a few holes, and moved around to find clean water (and a clean way into the water), so I managed a half a dozen rainbows that were likely stocked at the beginning of the month.  About half took an SJ worm and the others took a green caddis larva on a long dropper.  I saw no hatches, besides minimal numbers of midges, so I figured the caddis close to the bottom might work.  Had I been given more room to cast, I may have tossed a streamer, but euro-nymphing was just effective enough to make my four hours on the water just enjoyable enough.  When I found a good spot to wade, it became a good place to fish, so I picked apart some runs that I knew had to be stocked and willed them to be productive, dammit!

Caddis larva fooled a few in the 13 inch range.

The fish were all average 12 to 13 inch stockies, and the water was cold enough to make the fight a tad lethargic, but they did hit the flies with conviction, enough so that I felt the takes telegraphed through the rod, something that I haven’t experience much since last fall.  It gave me warm wishes for May and June when the fish will be set up in heavier water and giving my rig a good bounce.  Rainbows like water to be a little bouncier, anyway, so the fish I caught today were close to current even if they were not in it.  I suspected that one fish that I lost was a brown, perhaps one of the remaining wild ones in this section, but he was not on long enough to confirm.  I did speak to a guy who has fished this section for 30 years, and he did confirm that he still finds a few each year.  I heard that this section dried up a few years ago, but I cannot remember who told me or how long ago it was.  I do know that even the Heritage section is not even close to the wild brown fishery that it once was.  Macungie and Emmaus are still experiencing suburban sprawl, so even though Lehigh County’s building laws around creeks are more progressive than in other parts of SEPA, perhaps, even creeks with a decent riparian buffer cannot handle the amount of runoff the additional nonporous surfaces create, it seems.  My photos show where the creek is leaving its banks and flooding the surrounding fields—better than houses or roads, for sure.  If it had rained today, I would have left promptly, but the precip held off until about 2:30 PM when I was making my way home.

San Juan worm in the muddy water got some love.

Small water like this was probably a decent choice for today, so I was glad I didn’t try some of my larger favorites.  The times I have visited this section of the creek during the week, I have only seen a handful of retirees, too, and that held true today, so I did have some solitude for most of the short day.  I am still getting used to my new schedule, where I teach two classes on Tuesdays and another on Wednesday evenings, so it is possible that Thursday will be my next opportunity to fish, unless I sneak a couple hours in on Wednesday morning.  It is supposed to get cold again tomorrow night, so I may wait until it gets a bit milder again (or roll the dice on crowds at Valley?).

Picked my spots to enter carefully.  The branches were useful in avoiding a slide into the water today!