The End of an Era.

This past December, the Little Lehigh Fly Shop officially closed bringing an end to seventeen years of bestowing knowledge, gear, and skill to local fly fishermen. According to the local paper, The Morning Call, Rod Rohrbach, the owner, blames the economy and the lack of youth in the sport for his shop's ultimate demise. Two problems that are impacting more than just fly shops. They are impacting the entire industry. As I returned home this past weekend, I paid my respects to the boarded up stone building the shop called home.

I began fishing the Little Lehigh, soon after I received my first fly rod on my thirteenth birthday. The water was my proving ground during my teenage years as I honed my craft through trial and error on the many selective wild brown that call the stream home. It helped to have numerous hatchery escapees to pound on all day long in between the wild browns. It was here I learned how to fight larger fish on small tippet and to sight fish with long fine leaders with minuscule offerings in the high twenties.

Every time I went to the Little Lehigh, I knew it would be crowded. Fly fishers from all over visited the stream and took in the wonderful hatches, fish, and wisdom around the shop. And of course, there were the regulars. It seemed no matter what day I went to the stream, I saw the same old men fishing or hanging around the shop enjoying themselves. It was quite the scene.

With that scene in mind, I walked down to the stream, and found it lacking its familiar feeling. There was no one around. For the first time, I had the entire stream to myself. My only company was the resident great blue heron population. We took turns whacking the trout. It went on this way for quite some time before another angler appeared. I recognized him from a distance. He was a regular identified by his style of fishing. If you frequent the Little Lehigh you have surely seen this grizzled veteran fishing a streamer down and across violently jerking his fly line on the water. More often than not, his style works. The appearance of another fishermen, and a regular at that, provided me with some hope for the stream.

Even then, I worry that it might fall upon the wayside. Word on the street is, that since the fly shop closed, all the no wading signs were removed and fishermen could be seen wading in the holy water once reserved for trout only. Rumor also has it, that the fly fishing only section will be stocked for the first time ever this coming year. I can think of no better recipe to wreck havoc on the already diminished brown trout population, by allowing people to wade over reds and introducing large stockers to out compete the browns for the remaining turf. When you combine this with the massive amount of sediment and runoff introduced into the headwaters due to development, I really worry for the stream I once called home. Hopefully, the regulars can rally to restore some honor to the stream and protect it for all its worth. Rod wouldn't have it any other way. 

Little Lehigh.

My planned weekend trip back up to the Salmon River to duel with large migratory salmonids was put on hold for a variety of reasons. Nonetheless, I still managed to get out and fish albeit for 12 inch trout instead of 12 pound trout. Saturday, I began my mini-adventure with an urge for carp on the new switch rod. I made the trip and fished for around an hour. I saw zero carp in the stained water of Lago x and decided that I was wasting my time blind casting for golden ghosts. Reluctantly, I decided to head to the Little Lehigh.

Be Prepared To Combat Fish on the Little Lehigh.

The Little Lehigh is a limestone stream flowing through the heart of Allentown, the third most populated area of Pennsylvania. It has one of the largest populations of wild brown trout in Pennsylvania despite the constant threat from runoff and development. These threats have increased greatly over the years and the results are easily noticed. The amount of sediment found in the stream has increased substantially and in my opinion, the fishing has suffered the consequences. Despite this, it still holds large numbers of trout, especially large numbers of stocked trout & hatchery escapees. The fishing on the Little Lehigh, for a beginner, can be extremely challenging. For someone who fishes the Little Lehigh regularly, it can be somewhat of a joke at times. Once you figure out the flies that work and the techniques needed, it can be like hitting the broad side of a barn. I hadn't fished the Little Lehigh for nearly a year, so I was interested to see how she was doing. 

Sight Fishing To Large Trout Rocks.

Arriving on the stream, I noticed how uncrowded it was. The cold weather, high winds, and rain made a lot of regulars stay home on this Saturday. I got out my 9ft 5, and headed to the glory hole. Packed along was a spool of tippet, a small fly box, clippers, and forceps. The hole was manned by several fly fisherman indicator nymphing under large pink thingamabobbers. I positioned myself high on some slippery rocks along the rapids feeding into the hole and eyed my quarry. My favorite method of fishing on the Little Lehigh is sight fishing. Nothing is better than picking out a large trout, presenting the flies to him, seeing the take, and setting the hook. I chose my fish carefully, presented the flies, and preceded to hook up regularly drawing the ire of the other fisherman. The high point came after hooking a very colorful rainbow that was pushing 18 inches. I kindly asked the nearby fisherman to take my picture and then showed him my flies to help out. I caught several more in the 12-18 inch range before packing it in. The majority of the fish were stocked save for a few nice browns. 

Colorful Little Lehigh Rainbow.

The Little Lehigh is great place to take friends and family who are new to the sport and introduce them to fly fishing. Along the way and with the right help, they have the chance of hooking a fish that would be a trophy on any other waterway.