Little Lehigh report 2/26

[ANDY L]

I fished the Little Lehigh in allentown today. Fishing was very slow. I had 2 trout hooked and pulled the hook on 1 small brown and broke of a nice rainbow around 20 inches when he rubbed my 3.5lb tippet on a rock. Both fish were hooked on sucker spawn flies. I saw a few other fish caught but overall it was very slow.

[ihunt49]

What area were you fishing? I haven't been up there in a couple of years. That is a finicky stream to fish. :( smile.gif

[ihunt49]

DP ! :mad:

[ 02-26-2005, 04:34 PM: Message edited by: ihunt49 ]

[ANDY L]

I was by the hatchery. A little down stream of the bridge on hatchery road.

[Makojoe0317]

I was going to go up there today...Glad I didn't. I fishied the Pickering for an hour and nothing. Did not even see any.

[ihunt49]

Ah, the hatchery. Always did good there. Nymphs or light colored yarn balls were always good. :D

[ANDY L]

ihunt49
You gotta love those yarn balls also known as sucker spwan. It is amazing somtimes trout are so hard to get to eat and then sometimes you can catch them on something a simple as a piece of yarn bunched up on a hook. Another good way to fool them by the hatchery is by floating coffie beens with hooks crazy glued to them. That is probably the best pattern to use around the hatchery. It looks just like the fish pellets that they use in the hatchery and when the extras run out of the holding pens into the Little Lehigh it is as close to automatic as you can get. I have caught trout up to 25 inches in there by doing that.

[ihunt49]

Have to try that whenever I get up there again.
Thanks!

[Sweet Baboom]

Coffee beans? Sh!t, that's a good idea. Of course you could just buy a bag of food pellets and use that too. Talk about matching the hatch.

We've stopped to check out the area, but I haven't fished there yet. Maybe one nice day soon I'll give it a try.

[Capt.Mike4108]

Andy-That is a great idea. That kind of info is what forums like this are all about. You just caught me more fish! smile.gif I would have never thought of super glue. You're the man.

[ANDY L]

You can't use pellets in the area that i fish because it is a fly fishing only section of the little lehigh. No bait is allowed in the area of the hatchery.

[rubrbsct]

white glo-bug yarn brown or black sharpie marker...same result...Jim

[ANDY L]

rubrbsct,
I tried using a brown glow bug last year but after a few cast it would start to sink from the water being absorbed into the yarn. the coffee beans do not sink at all. They just float on the surface with all the pellets being washed downstream.

[rubrbsct]

when I tie one up I want to float I use a shot of waterproof spray (for sneakers ,shoes). you can even use them as a strike indicator with a dropper under that

[ANDY L]

I will try the waterproof spray. At first i was using them as strike indicators but they were getting hit every time and the nymph would get tangled up so i just eliminated the nymph.

[VDAWG]

Andy try an early black stonefly fished slowwww on the bottom with some splitshot in the deeper pools !!!! thats the stream i learned how to flyfish on !!!

[ANDY L]

I will try that next time. Thanks for the info.

[logic186]

Andy,

I have spent a great deal of time fishing the little lehigh. Here's what works for me. Unless the water conditions are poor, I only target fish that I can see (polarized sunglasses help here). I fish with one of two fly patterns 90% of the time; a pheasant tail nymph size 16-20 or Al's Rat (a midge pattern) size 20-24. The key IMO is presentation. If you get a good drag-free drift within 6" of the fish's nose, the fish will eat your fly. The trick is to forget about watching your line or a strike indicator. Instead watch the fish. If you see him open his mouth or move to intercept something and you think your fly is near the fish, set the hook. Nine times out of ten you'll be hooked up.