October 19, 2010 - NJ Fall Blitz

Well, it has started. Weather-wise, we could not ask for anything better. It was a fly rodders dream. No waves at all. In fact the ocean was like a pond. And what little wind there was, only aided a bit in extending your cast as it drifted over your back from the dunes.

The fish were there to be had as well. Blues galore in fact. Some were micro, but others put a nice bend in the rod. We also found some weakfish mixed in also. This as a nice surprise since you don't necessarily associate the fall run with weakies.

The key to getting into the weakies was to let the fly sink so that it got down into the water column. Combine this with a slow strip. Yellow clousers did the trick. For the blues the faster retrieve the better. Any color fly with a fast strip produced a blue. Fun day!

October 4, 2010 - October Rains!

The floating community on the Lehigh has a new ramp to work with. This one is located smack-dab in the middle of the Lehigh Gap.

If you work in the new ramp just upstream of this one near Bowmanstown you have a really nice float and you don't have to contend with the Palmerton lo-head dam which was removed a few years ago. However, quite a few water maps still depict the Palmerton dam on it. Truth is, it is no longer there so don't worry if you see it marked on a map. In that stretch you've got some really great water. Nice pools, and some fantastic riffle/pocket water. Next spring or even this fall after the large release subsides, check it out!

October 4, 2010 - October Rains!

We needed the rain, but a widesprad 5-10" is a little extreme with the bulk of Eastern Pa getting 6-8" of rain. What drought!

And Francis E Walter again did its job of holding back just about all of the Upper Lehigh. Only the lower basin flooded (Walnutport), depsite a scaled back 140cfs release for the duration of the rain event.

The 1,394' level at Walter reflects about 35-40% of flood storage.