June 10, 2020 – Jay and I Tough Out August Weather in Early June – Lehigh River

Hard-earned brookies to end.

When Jay and I fished together late last fall, we discussed doing some easy fishing for spring stockies on the Wissy or something.  We were fishing the Brodhead that day, in late November, so the context of that proposal makes total sense.  But when we finally got around to fishing together this crazy spring, we landed on the mighty Lehigh, on a day with a 95-degree heat index, so I guess we don’t much know our way around easy.  In my defense, this one was his idea—I just invited myself along when he texted me saying he was off this week and going fishing, asking for any input about spots on the river.  Water temps were okay and flows were normal, but it was too hot and humid at times to be a truly enjoyable experience.  The photos speak of success, pretty fish, arguably prettier surroundings, but we had a few ugly hours in between the good moments.  All that said, I do look forward to the time each year when the big rivers become more accessible.  While walking the gorge of a mighty river, there are always encounters (sometimes wet and/or painful ones) with what we poets call the sublime.  Even when fishing is meh, the day is often a memorable one.  We saw big water, big sky, big vistas, even a mother fox with a posse of curious kits, so in the end what’s a little swamp ass and sore muscle?

Even when fishing is not great, there is always this.

We started out at a spot not too far upriver from the tunnel, a spot shown to me by the inimitable Tom C a couple years ago.  The water is bigger here, but it was also warmer and less buggy today.  Because Jay and I both arrived before our proposed 5:30 AM meeting time, we were fishing early.  I even brought two rods down to the river because I wanted to toss a streamer before the sun got up.  I was picturing lower water conditions in my head, hoping to be capable of moving around more and covering the water more thoroughly, although I had not checked gages.  Jay was aware of a fishermen’s release on Memorial Day weekend, and we had some rain since, so the water was clear but with rather solid flows.  No takes on the streamer, not even a bump.  When I switched to my nymphing set up, I jumped a little wild brown, and that was a theme for the day—I lost many small fish throughout the day after a leap or two.  I was using Eric’s big old black stone as my anchor, so these little wild browns, and at least one stocked brookie later in the day, ate the big meal, but could not hold it for long—if it was not the size 8 barbless hook it was the weight of a 4mm tungsten bead that helped the hook drop right on out!  No biggie, of course.  Admittedly not great for photos, but any action and affirmation of a good presentation on a tough day are welcome.

At least one did not get away at first stop, pink tag fly on dropper.

Due to user error or that super thin nymphing line’s properties or both, I did lose a horse shortly thereafter, and that was more disappointing.  I fought a bigger fish in close for a minute before he took his first run.  I realized as he took the slack from my hand that drag was going to be a problem because I had managed to loop the line over the butt of the rod.  I quickly loosened the drag on the second run, so the friction of the line wrapping around the rod blank and looser drag kept him on for a while longer.  When I decided to try and get him on the reel for real and successfully looped the line back over the reel and the butt of my rod, then the drag was too loose, of course, and the next run just ended in limp line.  No!!!  I landed the 15-inch consolation brown pictured above a couple minutes later, all this while Jay was out of the picture fishing the shallower riffles around the bend.  This second fish fought really well too, but nothing like the first one I miffed, so I can only assume one of two things: the first fish was much bigger and/or wild, or I foul hooked it.  Since my anchor and dropper were a good 24 inches apart, and the fight seemed normal enough for big bouncy water, I don’t think it was the latter.  I exposed one more downside of the ultra-thin nymphing line, I suppose.  I may just be on the learning curve still, as well.  We shall see.  The irony is that I was carrying another reel in my pack with a WF floating 3 weight line, but I never put it on, even when I started trying a bobber to reach out further.  Too hot to do too much re-rigging or too lazy or a combo of both. To that end, Jay actually brought along his daughter’s drone and had discussed trying to take some cool pics for the blog, but it was just too hot to do any of that today.  By midday, we just wanted to get him on a fish or two, so we could quit!

Hazy, deep, a bit cooler though.

Jay and I both explored some shallower riffles above this run and pool, but as I mentioned above, he stayed up there a bit longer and did not see any of this.  While he was upstream, another fly guy walked in and was swinging bugs well downstream of us.  I saw him land one and when we spoke later he said he dropped one too.  I had planned to fish this flat and maybe should have earlier in the morning, but there were no risers early (or later) so it would have meant nymphing with a bobber over pretty nondescript water, just hoping.  Exposed to the sun, dude did not last long out there and neither would we, so when we met up again Jay and I decided to head about thirty minutes upstream into the gorge.  I knew there would be a chance of shade and definitely colder water with all the tributaries and cataracts that enter in this second spot and upstream.  The water is also colder the closer one gets to the dam.  This upcoming weekend begins the whitewater releases, but this access was much quieter today than it will be.  Plenty of bikers and hikers, even a shuttle bus for cyclists, but no one else on the water.  By now, I had my sun-hoodie up full time and was hoping that some of the dark clouds would actually give up some moisture, but the only moisture was inside my waders.  We took a walk twice, not long but some distance, to fish a couple favorite spots, but we hugged the tree line and paused at two waterfalls for some natural A/C.

Finally, you know?!

We only fished two spots and landed some fish here near the Rockport access.  I jumped yet another small wild brown before digging up a quality one on Eric’s pinky bomb.  I would say he was in the 12-inch range and gave quite a tussle in heavy water on my 3-weight rod.  Sadly, he was the only one we found at this often-productive bend, so I suggested a hail mary to end the day.  The final spot is a plunge pool at the mouth of a small tributary, and it’s not that far of a hike from the parking lot, even on a hot day.  The sky looked unsettled and it even drizzled for a minute, but we still got little relief from the heat once we climbed down to the river again.  I quickly landed a decent brook trout here (which the picture will attest really hates cameras) so I stepped out and asked Jay to shake off the skunk and have at it.

Team work/dream work.

He landed two pretty brook trout here on a small pheasant tail dropped above a heavy walts.  His fish, and two of the three others I landed here, took the bugs on the swing at the end of the drift.  No surprise, as even though few fish were showing, a steady parade of small dark caddis were marching upstream—the most consistent bug action I had seen all day.  We saw isolated large mayflies and larger tan caddis, many stonefly cases, but not enough to get these stubborn river fish to come out of the depths where they are often difficult or impossible to catch.  We needed a little help, and in the end nature provided.  It looked like we might even get a shower to cool off, but since we heard rumbles of thunder, we decided to enjoy the waterfall again for a minute and start walking back instead.  At this point, it just felt like mission accomplished after putting together a short flurry of fish, even if they were stockies!  It is a novelty to get into brook trout sometimes, no matter how they got there and definitely better than rainbows—well, maybe, as there are some monster bows in this river that I would have loved to have seen today.  

Nature's A/C, green caddis, camera shy brookies.

Because the state park facilities were open, Jay got to use a real bathroom facility before heading home, a sign advising a mask the only clue that we are still in some color level in this part of the state.  I was happy that I packed a clean dry shirt and plenty of ice packs, even more happy that I had cold water remaining and a bit of cold caffeine for the ride home.  Besides construction traffic, par for the course this time of year, I still benefited from lighter than usual traffic and was home before dinner.  Earned a nap, but I toughed it out until about 10 PM before passing out cold.

Colored-up novelty.