Pete do you fish the Lil Lehigh at the park in Allentown? I have a friend who lives down in Zion Hill and fishes the crick most days. (I fished it twice). He said that it was low at the moment and hard work. I recall the most fantastic brook trout in that stream. Colours were amazing.KP
Yes indeed! I haven't been up there lately (in over a month...) but it is one of my favourite streams for 'wisened' trout. Highly over-fished in the C&R FFO area (near the hatchery), but the little lehigh itself runs for quite a few miles, much of which is in parks or on public land. For large (18inch plus) trout, this is my favorite bar none. I don't know of the current flow levels, but a month ago -- right after the heavy rains and flooding -- the volume changed from unbelievably high to low, with the flow rate dropping from 1100cfs at the flood-like conditions to almost still (it read <200 on the meter, but then 200 cfs is the lowest value...) Last time I was there (late august) was for a weekend, and there was a wonderful PED hatch (at least i think it was pale evening dun... whitish mayfly, size 15/ just larger than 16 duns) at 5:47pm right on the money all three nights (fri, sat, and sunday). The mid-day Little BWO (sizes 18-20) should be out now, along with the near-famous trico hatches 5 minutes before early ;) Seriously, the Al's Rat nymph works best before and during the hatch - which, the hatch is roughly 6am, depending on the day.
In any event, i do fish the Lil' Lehigh all up and down the stretch, including the park, but nowhere near as often as I'd like. I'm saving that for retirement, and should the good Lord keep me around long enough, I have about 30 years before I can even consider that one... :D
As for the brookies, they are some of the most amazing for coloration I've ever seen. In fact, if you consider them trout (versus char), my first trout ever on the fly was an 18.5 inch stocked trophy brookie in there. The native/wild 'bows are even more spectacular, in my opinion, but are far harder to spot, let alone fool.
Speaking of fooling trout, i'm off to tie some flies
Tight wraps,
Pete
