Our first HBTU trip of the season will be to the Little Lehigh Creek near Allentown on Saturday, March 28, 2020. We will meet at 9 a.m. in the parking area in front of the former Heritage Fly Shop (it is permanently closed) located at 2643 Fish Hatchery Road, Allentown, PA 18103 (40.564991, -75.506734). This lot can fill up, so we suggest getting there early. It will be one week before opening day for stocked waters.

The water temperatures in this limestone river are good for trout much of the year and there is a good density and mix of wild and stocked trout. The river gets fishing pressure and the trout are educated. Access is easy and substantial. Long leaders and light tippet are recommended. It will likely be too early for the famous Trico hatch, but BWOs, egg patterns, cress bugs, scuds, shrimp, tiny midges and even standard patterns such as Walt’s Worm are a good place to start. Coupling midge patterns with other patterns is a common approach.

The meeting spot will be in a “Heritage” stretch, which is a catch and release, fly fishing only section. Barbless hooks are required.

We will fish until around noon. Due to COVID-19 we will skip our typical lunch and beer afterward which is a shame because we had a good place picked out. We’ll catch it next year.