Got a chance to fish the Heritage Waters of the Little Lehigh this morning. Nice to get out. Got on the water around 7am and no hatch acitivity to be seen. Water was “sllightly” off-color. Started out under the overpass, downstream of the Heritage bridge and worked my way up. I was able to pound up 2 small browns on #16 EHC’s. Nice to catch a couple on the top.
Left the water at the bridge and walked upstream to the park area and landed a fat 16" rainbow on a Golden Retreiver. Then on the way back to the car I spotted a palomino in a lie just upstream of the flyshop. One cast with the GR and Wham! A 14" palomino to end the day with.
Stopped in to visit the shop and picked up new hat. All-N-All a pretty nice morning.
Lady Fisher,Fritz,
The former management didn’t pass away…just moved to Colorado.New shop owner is Dave Bitner…a real nice guy.THe hatches are best in the evenings , usually midges …because the stream area the fellow mentioned in his post has widened considerably over the decades,believe it or not at one time this stretch had water cress and other Spring Creek vegetation an was narrower an deeper.Also the water temps stayed lower, it still stays very cool but is not what it once was…the Trico Hatch is by far its best hatch,besides the daily midges,the riffles and runs also have a bit of caddis activity.Black Caddis are always present .There is also a decent amount of cranefly activity that the trout do take craneflies as well .The sulpher hatch is a pittance to what it once was.There is HEx hatches in certain ssections of the creek…not in the heritage section.also during winter midge ,snowflies, baetis are good.early spring BWO are also.
A trip to the shop with Dave is also pleasant too.
Tight Wraps & Tight Lines
Rick Wallace
Thanks for the folowup. I had only previously read or heard about the Heritage waters specifically. Although I had fished around it before and driven past it countless times over the years, this was my first trip. So most of the history aside from the water itself is not something I would know about.
A nice place to fish though, as it treated me nice at least.
And … it looks like you had pretty nice weather for your outing, Ralph. I was stuck with mid 40’s temps with overcast skies, low hanging clouds, some mist, and a bit of breeze on and off.
It started out around 65, and by the time I left the water at 11am it was about 80 degrees. Sorry to hear abo9ut the poor weather on your end. I think you’re scenery was probably a bit better though John.
i remember the former owner spending a few afternoons outside of his shop becuase of high waters of the Little Lehigh that entered the premises. We had good conversations then.
The pictured stone building is actually a spring house. A spring emerges from inside the building, and flows out to the creek. Back in the day, there were no refrigerators, and this building was part of a farm that used it for food storage (milk, etc). It now serves as the home of the Heritage Fly Shop (formerly the Little Lehigh Fly Shop) - I have no connection to this business, other than being old friends with the owner (Dave Bittner).
It really is a neat little building, and stays pretty cool inside in even the hottest weather. The fly shop was added inside without altering the basic structure. After the passing of Al Miller (designer of the “Al’s Rat” fly pattern) in 2008, the building was dedicated to Al by a plaque mounted on an outside wall, next to the door.
Great location for a fly shop, except the stream often floods during high water events. The current owner Dave has experienced many of these floods over the years, as he was friends with the previous owner (Rod Rohrbach). Dave had the good foresight to build pegboard walls that pivot up, to be hooked at ceiling height. What used to take hours to “flood proof” merchandise, now takes seconds to accomplish.
Hurricane Ivan in 2004 almost ruined the fly shop business for good. I spent many days helping Rod and Dave salvage what remained, and Rod rebuilt the business, which remained successful until health reasons forced Rod to give it up. During that flood, the water level was up to the top of the front window. Two days after he lost most of his business to the flood, the rooming house that Rod lived in exploded and caught fire from a natural gas leak. He escaped with his dog, car keys, and wallet with five dollars in it. Most people would’ve just given up on the dream of owning a fly shop, but not Rod. With the help of friends, and even other local fly shops, he was able to rebuild. Say what you want about Rod, but he was one tough old bird, and a good friend. He’s now a trout bum, wandering around Colorado - and having the time of his life.
Bobby - A golden rainbow trout is sometimes called a palomino. Do a google search for “golden rainbow trout”, and you’ll get lots of pictures. The fish currently stocked by the PA Fish Commission that have this coloration are golden rainbows.
Due to their coloration, they’re very visible, and often heavily targeted by anglers. Kids love 'em!
