June 18, 2021 – Am I Turning into an Old Man? – Little Lehigh Creek

Early summer shift, though cooler morning.

They say we all turn into our parents, and turning 52 this year and losing my own old man less than two years ago has maybe put that in focus.  I mentioned that on the Lackawanna I spent probably 20 minutes talking to another older dude about fishing, and I found myself in another in-depth conversation with another angler today too!  They were both older than me, but not that old that they saw me as a whipper snapper.  I used to get away with a wave and even a stink eye, like I wish you weren’t out here on my turf today, but now, apparently, I am that guy who talks to you if you want to talk.  I am an introvert too, and you’ve probably noticed how often I like to fish alone, but I must channel my dad at times.  Even before I spoke to the other angler, a grandpa was out taking a hike with kids this morning, and I made a total Joe comment to the kids, like, “I hope grandpop is taking you for ice cream after this,” or something to that effect.  That was my old man.  He called everyone “babes,” too, which they thought was funny, but we knew it was because he’d forgotten your name.  So forgive me, Pamela, the Orvis AF lady angler (and a surf fisher too) I spoke to this morning if I call you babes next time we run into each other—no sexism intended.

Small bugs, 6X, 3WT kind of day.

This was just a fun fishing day, no expectations, but knowing this is a spot where it is hard to avoid social gatherings I was out early—though not that early.  I actually went here because I slept through an alarm and woke at 4:30 AM, ideally when I would have liked to have been on the road.  The Little Lehigh is only 45 minutes away before traffic, and I had not fished it since last summer, maybe, so I just jumped on a highway or two and was fishing by 6:30 AM.  No one was out yet, besides exercise enthusiasts, so I should have fished the honey holes, but I wanted to throw small bugs in pocket water instead.  Of the several creeks in the area, this one had the best flows and even a little color, so it was a fun and effective choice.  I had to chase two gear fishing parties out of the Heritage FFO section on a Friday, so no doubt the fish get pounded even more these days, and no wonder the “supplemental” stockers increase every year in a Class A creek.  At least the bugs and water quality are fantastic, and it’s catch and release, so the stockers look great and fight well.  I even caught at least three brook trout—which smells like a TU thing…  One bow was hot and nearly perfect, so it could have been one of the few wild bows in the creek. 

Some wild browns in there with all the stockers.

Plenty of small to average wild browns cooperated too.  I turned one better sized brown with a hook set, but after catching stocked browns in this stretch the last few years too, including a good one today, I will not commit to it being a missed opportunity at a good wild fish.  I had fun regardless, catching about 15 fish between 6:30 and 10:30 AM on small bugs.  The hot bug was def a size 16 bomb walts, especially on the browns, but the rainbows loved Eric’s version of my fav Saucon Creek bug, a brown hare’s ear nothing—I now call it the brown daub in honor of the billboards along Route 33 in the ‘Burg area for a local car dealer than also sounds a little like the results of a shart, to be honest.  I guess with a CDC tail, this fly could be called a shart too?!  Note to self.  Anyway, small natural bugs work on these pressured fish.

At least they are primo stockers who get to live here.  Some of the rainbows look too good.

There was a brief caddis hatch, so I fished the same set of riffles again when that started.  I caught fish both times through, and many of the wild fish the second time.  The warm up probably helped too.  It was 55 degrees to start this morning.  On my walk back to the parking lot, I did not see hordes of trico chasers, but I did witness a decent cloud of them myself, so either it is beginning, or today was an off day because of the colder temps, or I just started something by mentioning them here.  I will leave others to decide and pray for rain so that I can return to my other favorites in the area that have been less compromised by time and fishing pressure. 

Not mad a brookies anyway I can get them.

I felt kind of bad chasing a mom with two sons tossing a spinner not 20 yards from the famous Rat Hole, and the other dude was fishing a magnet on a float and said he is strictly catch and release.  Both thanked me for letting them know their error.  However, I did see at least two dead fish, likely rainbows, in the water as I waded, so either deep hooked or commanded to release from a stringer by the Commish or another concerned fly guy like myself.  Not that fly guys fishing hatches midday in 90 degree heat don’t kill fish!  Plenty of that here as well.  Either way, dead fish.  I guess I was feeling capable of social fishing today, but now that I write this, I am thinking that maybe I won’t let it happen again.  See you in January, babes?

Loved the 16 waltz, they did.