June 19, 2024 – What May Have Been My Last Tango with the Trout until the Fall? Perhaps Mason was “Taking the Waters”? – Lehigh River

A good last trout day trout?

Mason had his Lehigh River baptism today, quite literally.  He did catch a brown trout before that, however, so there were a few firsts and many ups and downs this morning.  We connected when I responded to his post on PAFF about vacationing in the Poconos this week and, being a brand-new fly fisher, him wanting to get out with someone willing to share some knowledge and spots.  Normally, this time in June would be great conditions to target places like the Brodhead and the Lehigh River, but this has not been a normal June.  Even coming out of the dam, the water in White Haven was getting over 66 F this week.  The Brodhead is really low and hot, so that is probably done until the fall.  I did not want to disappoint Mason, but all week I was low-key preparing him for a bass fishing trip on the Delaware if not an all-out cancellation from me.  I had the day off for the holiday, so I did not want to sit home in the A/C either.  Conditions were still ethically sound this morning, and he was willing and able to meet me in the Lehigh Gorge at 5:30 AM, so in the end we had a short, very productive window.  Sadly, aside from the water temperatures getting close to done, the bugs are on their own timelines.  And the wild fish that depend on these delayed June tailwater hatches, are still getting while the getting’s good.  This might have been it in NEPA for me for a while, so I was pleased that the last trip of the spring and my first to the river this year was a good one.

An early start with a couple cooperative stockers and bath time.

So the ups or the downs first?  Let’s start with the ups.  Mason and I did fish, he was there right on time if not early, he was a good guy and very appreciative of my time, and I think he learned at least one helpful new skill since he had never nymphed with an indicator before—which is fly fishing 101 (or maybe 102 if we start you with a dry fly) in my class.  In the absence of risers, indicator nymphing the big river is almost a necessity sometimes—more on that later, as I did not have that luxury myself today.  Mason has had very limited experience, including a guided trip with my boy John at the TCO shop on the much tamer Tully, and a casting lesson at Orvis, but he caught a trout on the very challenging Lehigh River.  Don’t know if this counts as an up or down, but he did see me catch probably half of my fish with a handful of good ones in the mix.  At least he saw the caliber of fish possible in the river on a good day?  I did spend a lot of time with him, but the fish were chewing, so I had to catch a few!  In my defense, I had his blessing each time I picked up the rod once again.

Some pretty trout in a pretty place.  Bonus shot of best wild fish.

So on to the downs?  Mason broke the rod tip on his barely used Clearwater before we even left the parking lot.  I think it was broken when he took it out of the bag to assemble this morning.  I was carrying an extra rod, as I almost always do, but it was a 10’ 5 weight, so a lot more rod than he had been learning on.  I also had no appropriately sized indicators with me, and Mason left his at home.  I was wet wading, and I store most (or apparently all) of the indicator sizes I typically use in a pocket in my waders.  I dug around and confirmed I had a backup thermometer—which is another item I keep close at hand in my waders—but I had no bobbers big enough to float bigger bugs in bouncy water.  I found an old foam Fish Pimp that could almost to the job for Mason and eventually added a Palsa pinch on or two for extra buoyancy….  Last but not least, Mason did take a double dip. I was upstream of him and heard the splash, even over the sound of the water, so it must have been a good one.  Further evidence is that he lost his hat, which he impressively recovered on the second dip.  Arguably the best catch of the day!  With his permission, I captured the moment after he had mostly recovered and was ready to climb out.  A few more steps and a bit more flow, and I may have had to meet him down in Jim Thorpe or Weissport with a long stick to fish him out.  At least it was hot out, even at 7 AM, and the water was not 50 degrees.  His wading staff came out after that.  One often has to learn to respect the Lehigh the hard way, and I have fallen here myself, usually in much cooler conditions.

Another wild girl.  Squint and you can see I did let him fish ahead of me too!

A bit about the actual fishing?  I had a hit on my first cast in a riffle seam and caught a fish on the second cast.  I guess I avoided the first cast curse on a technicality because they kept eating most of the morning or at least whenever I picked up the rod to fish.  There were caddis, so a soft hackle on the dropper tag accounted for half of my fish and Mason’s one fish.  There were also some big adult stoneflies, an isonychia or two, some BWOs, midges, what appeared to be tricos, the works.  We only saw three of four risers on the walk to our second spot, and they looked to be smaller bank eaters, nearly impossible to target, and probably not worth the scramble down the gorge.  Having no indicators myself, I made the mono rig on my 10’6” 4 weight do some work.  I did catch a couple reaching over riffles in narrower spots to target the opposite bank, but I mostly fished the seams close to me and in front of and behind any mid-stream boulders.  I caught a few trout, all browns, over 14 inches and one thick fish edging 17 inches.  I would say most were wild or too “experienced” to tell apart. 

Days last wild fish and some net shots.

A couple fish were just plain gorgeous, like the last wild fish of the day.  I caught this fish trying a hail mary to get Mason on one more fish before quitting time.  The scramble down to this hole below a cold tributary was a bit more challenging than it was this time last year, so I think I used up what was left of Mason’s battery life.  He was in waders and needed to cool off, so he found a nice spot to submerge himself (on purpose this time) and chill out while I made a few final casts.  I got a small wild fish to eat a perdigon, and then not long after I hooked what I thought was a tank.  One came off eventually, thankfully the smaller one on the dropper tag, but I had myself a double for a few tense moments.  I would have preferred a tank, of course, but the fish that did remained buttoned to the perdigon point fly was no slouch.  Shade was nearly gone, sun was in my face, Mason was done, and so was I by this point.  Had things gone differently, he may have had a better fishing day, what with his own rod and a bobber and all, but I hope he enjoyed the experience.  He lives in SEPA not far from me, so I promised I would get him some reps on stockies this fall to build his confidence.  The Lehigh or the Pohopoco, which comes with its own set of challenges, were the only NEPA games in town today, so at least we got out and got him on a trout on a far better day for bass (or fluke) fishing.  I hope this was not my last spring trout trip?  Looking rough ahead....

Some B reel and bonus shots.