November 7, 2022 – Winter is Coming? – Lehigh River

A lot of river shots today.

For a November day that peaked in the mid-70s, it looks awfully wintery in my many crick pics today.  It sure got brown in a short period of time in NEPA.  Don’t let the temperatures fool you, for the leaves are gone above Route 80.  The reason for all the photos of the river was probably because I was mostly here for the overall experience today, I think.  I just like the hiking and climbing and aerobic wading.  Of course, the lack of fish pics is also a sign.  I should know by now that the river is a crapshoot in the fall.  So much depends on how warm it got in the summer and where the fish went.  I rarely find a stocker this time of year, and today was no exception.  I worked a full 8 hour shift for 7 or 8 average wild browns.  I like to go this time of year because the flows are so wadeable, and I have a chance to fish water untouchable at other times of the year.  I had a small flurry of fish eating size 18-20 olives around noon.  I think I landed 4 in a row then in one hole and dropped another 2.  Otherwise, the other fish I landed or messed with were tight to cover in the high sun and low water, tucked right up beside boulders or in pockets.

Under ten average fish, low water, leaves are down.

I first fished a short section closer to Lehighton where the gage was just over 500 CFS.  Besides a few obvious holding spots that I worked far too long, perhaps, the rest of the river here was uncharacteristically uniform looking.  It was good to see the few clear examples of holding water and eddies in the low water for reference points when the flows are up again this spring, but I did a lot of wading into position here for short drifts over the prime spots with nary a bump.  No bugs were hatching, so I was fishing either a golden stone or a big pheasant tail jig to approximate a slate drake nymph.  Hoping for caddis or olives, albeit tiny ones, I did use a dropper all day too.  The only pattern I established for that magic hour at my second stop 40 minutes up-river was a small baetis nymph tied off the bend of my anchor fly.  A couple hit the small bug on the drift, but two of them also took it as the swing began.  I stayed long enough to fish a bugger towards the end of the day, but I did not get a follow.  Fishing a jigged bugger deep on this river means finding every unseen boulder and log jam.  Even with 3X and current helping, I eventually snagged and freed a big jig enough times that the hook actually snapped, prompting me to call it a long day.  A fish an hour?  Yeah, but plenty of outdoor time on a warm and breezy November day, so things could have been much worse.  

See you in the late spring, LR.