Fly fishing is the ultimate fishing experience especially when a trout slurps a fly off the water and the tug on the line coming from a long and limber fly rod is unlike any sensation of a spinning or baitcasting rod. It’s a fish and angler battle that is second to none. 

And although most fly fishermen are males, there are a few women who opt to enjoy the sport. Not only is fly fishing an enjoyable experience, it requires finesse and patience. Traits women seem to have better than their male counterparts. 

As such, and for ladies who would like to give this life-long sport a try but don’t know where to start, the Hokendauqua Chapter of Trout Unlimited will host a “Fly Fishing Basics for Women” clinic that will provide expert training from experienced, veteran fly fishers. 

The clinic will take place on Saturday, September 21 in the Social Hall and on the lawn of Egypt Fire Company No. 1, located at 4099 Kuhn Lane, Whitehall. While the clinic is still two months away, it’s limited to 15 participants so as to insure each lady gets one-on-one instruction. So first come, first served. 

The clinic will run from 8 a.m. and will end at noon. It’s free and will offer bottled water, coffee, tea, hot chocolate and donuts for those in attendance. Covered will be a short introduction to fly fishing and will include  equipment needed, natural trout food, hand-tied flies, necessary knots and fly casting. And according to Dale Ott, long time TU member and instructor, all equipment will be provided. 

To register, contact Dave Abraham at 610-844-3459 or email him at [email protected]. Additional information can be found on the Hokendauqua Chapter’s website (Hokendauqua.tu.org/Hokendauqua/current-events. Or simply go to “Hokendauqua Trout.” 

Trout Unlimited is a national organization with 150,000 members and 400 chapters whose mission is to conserve, protect and restore North American’s cold-water fisheries and watersheds. Their goal is to ensure that robust populations of native and wild cold-water fish will once again thrive in their North American range so future generations can enjoy healthy fisheries in their home waters. 

The Hokendauqua Chapter was officially chartered in 1987 and their primary focus is on the Hokendauqua Creek and its tributaries in Northampton County, and this has expanded to the Coplay Creek in Lehigh County. 

One aspect of their work is local stream-bank stabilization and restoration. But that’s not all chapter members do. 

It has sponsored Eagle Scout and Girl Scout projects along the banks of the Hokey Creek, as it’s known, and sponsors at least one student per summer to the Rivers Conservation and Fly-Fishing Youth Camp at Boiling Springs, PA. The chapter has also been in schools with their First Cast program that instructs youths to pond fish during the National Wild Turkey Federation’s Jakes Youth Field Day at Ontelaunee Rod & Gun Club each August. 

For adults, the chapters’ Project Healing Waters benefits disabled veterans through fly tying and fly-fishing instructions. This also includes first responders. 
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For the ladies, they are involved in the fishing segment for Women in the Outdoors program along with weekend fly fishing retreats for women who have had breast cancer. In addition, they hold refresher fly tying classes at Northampton Middle School on Saturday mornings in January and February. It’s an active chapter that promotes and perpetuates the sport of fishing, especially fly fishing. 

Since 1883 the Lil-Le-Hi Trout Nursery has been a family and educational attraction in the Lehigh Valley. Located on most appropriately Fish Hatchery Road in Allentown, the nursery is a place families gather to feed the trout and see the different stages of their growth from fingerlings to lunker breeders that take a few years to grow for stocking in area streams. 

The Pennsylvania Fish Commission provides the fingerlings from their hatcheries and an initial amount of food that the trout were accustomed to eating at the hatcheries. Then, the Lil-Le-Hi nursery volunteers from Lehigh County Fish and Game, Pioneer Fish and Game and Trout Creek Fish and Game associations continue feeding and maintaining the ponds that the trout are raised in. The City of Allentown maintains the property but all the other work is done by these three sportsmen groups. 

At the brief meeting this past Saturday, Herb Gottschall, Lehigh F&G President and Harry Monk, nursery manager, convened a meeting to announce that the three clubs have merged their volunteer services that will be known as Queen City Sportsmen’s Association. The benefit, said Monk, is that when it’s time to clean the rearing ponds generally in the past only four or five members from a club would show up to do the chores. But today, the nursery had the benefit of 20 members from all three clubs that met to scrub, wash and rinse the ponds in preparation for a new batch of fingerlings to arrive later this month from a fish commission hatchery. 

The holding ponds are normally cleaned twice a week so the combined member volunteers can get the job done quicker in a cooperative effort. And to do so the trout are moved from one pond to a cleaned one so that pond can be cleaned. The fish are rotated this way to maintain a healthy environment and to prevent diseases. 

When asked if there will be another stocking from the nursery a club member said they have 2,000 trout to stock, but are waiting for cooler weather and higher water levels, two conditions that trout prefer.
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So the next time you visit the nursery, keep in mind it’s the three volunteer clubs that provide this Lehigh County attraction which is one of the oldest continuously operated trout nurseries in the country. It’s a gem that we took our children to when they were youngsters and until this day, they make periodic visits there to feed the trout the nourishing pellets that the volunteer club members bag for sale to visitors.  

With July 4 being a Fish for Free Day in Pennsylvania, when a fishing license is not needed, those fishing trout streams need to take precautions when fishing for them during summer heat conditions. 

According to the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission, trout thrive in cool (below 68 degrees), clean, well-oxygenated water. They go on to explain that during summer months, when water levels and flows decrease due to lack of rainfall, water temperatures rise and dissolved oxygen decreases, which in turn causes additional stress on trout. 

As such, anglers are reminded to consider these conditions and take some personal responsibility when fishing or trout during these periods of stress. The PFBC recommends the following practices. 

*Fish early in the morning when water temperatures are cooler. 
*Land a hooked fish quickly – do not “play” the fish.
*After landing a fish, release it as quickly as possible without removing it from the water. 
*Avoid fishing when water temperatures are above 67 degrees. 

One area stream that maintains a decent temperature year-round is the Little Lehigh. And despite not being stocked since the last inseason stocking, there are still some trout remaining and anglers who fish in cool morning hours often fish the deep holes and catch a trout or two. Fly fishermen also work the riffles, where water is more oxygenated, with fly’s that match the hatch. The upper Jordan Creek is productive especially near the game lands. There are also native trout in Cedar Creek in the Rose Garden stretch where one fly angler customarily fishes it but releases them. 

If going to the South Jersey shore for the July 4 holiday, the best bet says On the Water Magazine is to target some kingfish off the beaches with small pieces of worms tipped on rigs. The Delaware Bay and Cape May beaches are probably the best spots to look for these fish. But it’s recommended you bring a few different soft plastics like Fin-S Fish or Zoom Flukes for potential weakfish. 

Anglers looking for sheepshead should grab some crabs or sand fleas and hit the backwater bridges. Fluke fishing on the other hand seems to be slower everywhere last week. 

If you have a hankering for Old Bay steamed crabs, pick up some bunker from a local tackle shop and hit the bays or tidal creeks for Jersey blue claws. Crabbing has been on fire!

Opting to fish North Jersey, Kyle Tanger at Fishermen’s Supply in Point Pleasant Beach, said fluking in the Manasquan River has been really good especially farther back with fish up to 22 inches being caught. 

Cold water has hurt the surf fishing somewhat, except for those targeting sharks as that bite is pretty good. One South Whitehall restaurant used to have shark bites on the menu and they are delightful. 
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There’s also good fluking reports from the Sea Girt Reef, along with some bonito being caught offshore on jigs.  The offshore tuna bite has been spotty because of the weather. Tanger added that there are loads of sand eels at Little Italy where anglers have been sight fishing for cobia.