If you have never fished the lower Fly Fishing Only stretch on the Little Lehigh Creek in Allentown, Pennsylvania you may not know of this tiny fly shop, located in a old limestone spring house in a beautiful city park. The Little Lehigh Creek "Heritage" stretch has its legion of fans and detractors and the Little Lehigh Fly Shop and its owner, Rod Rohrbach share in the number of strong opinions.

The Little Lehigh Fly Shop is more of a "convenience" store than a fully stocked fly shop. You wouldn't necessarily go shopping there for a new fly rod or reel, but how many trout streams can boast a stream-side place to walk to and quickly buy a spool of tippet material, some strike indicators, split shot or a few flies when you run out? It was also a place where a cup of coffee and some heat was available on a cold winter's day, as well as being a respite for a frustrated angler looking for a tip or real time hatch information.

From this tiny shop Rod also offered fly tying and fly fishing classes, as well as seminars that brought the famous and infamous to the banks of the Little Lehigh. He survived many floodings of the creek, a few in recent years which crested halfway up the building. While I admit I am not a regular at the creek or the shop, I liked knowing that Rod was there on those cold winter days when I typically fish the Little Lehigh.

I have no knowledge of the reasons behind the closing but if you know the shop, you can imagine there could be more than a few besides the usual. I am sure Heritage Angler knows the full scoop and hopefully will chime in. But in the mean time, I think I'll take a ride out there and buy something for a change while I have the chance. The Little Lehigh Creek won't be the same for me without the shop or Rod.

http://www.littlelehighflyshop.com/