Well, Guide School was AMAZING! I was literally living my dream everyday I was there! We drifted through several different sections of the upper Lehigh River consisting of nearly 20 river miles and a few class 2 and class 3 rapids. If you aren't familiar with Eastern PA, the Lehigh river begins just northeast of White Haven and continues on its course south-southwest cutting through Lehigh Gorge State Park, passing near the towns of Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Bowmanstown, Walnutport, and a few others before dumping into the mighty Delaware River which forms the border of PA and NJ. The rowing ranged from very basic to technical areas with boat smashing, raft busting white water. The fishing was as diverse as the water, including both rainbow and brown trout, smallmouth bass, panfish, and creek chubs that can reach 16" or more! Never underestimate the chubs in this river. Several were caught that fought as hard as any trout.
Classes were conducted on the river as experience is by far the best teacher. Our guides, Joe DeMarkis and Charlie "Bunky" Limpert were as good as they come. Joe has been guiding in this region for 28 years, and Charlie has guided for 10. They relinquished their normal role behind the oars and let us take over while they gave us tips and support along the way. Safety was always the number one priority, followed by comfort and then fishing. We learned how to angle the boat for both anglers to reach prime spots, how to ferry across a river quickly, how to use hydraulics and eddies to your advantage. We had the opportunity to use fiberglass Hyde and air pontoon style boats and experience the advantages and disadvantages of each style.
Fishing techniques were discussed along with fly selection for your anglers, appropriate casting methods, mending line and fly retrieval were practiced many times. Fish landing and handling for photographs were also practiced. We did it all! If you can think of an aspect of fishing or guiding, we discussed it. I would rate the fishing in the Lehigh River as Excellent. Four of the Six days were spent on different sections and everyone caught multiple fish each trip. On one day, I scored the Lehigh grand slam, landing a rainbow, brown, smallmouth and a mighty chub on the same fly in under an hour.
One day, we drove north about 2.5 hours and fished the famous West Branch of the Delaware River from Hale's Eddy to Ball's Eddy. It funny, up there every hole, eddy, run, riffle and rock has a name. Boat control was easy, but the lesson was on boat etiquette and fishing technique. You see, this is the probably the most fished water in all of North America. The brown trout that live here are big, wild and educated. From April through October, these fish see more flies than anywhere else and the day we floated by them was no exception. When we arrived the water temperature was 52 degrees and size 14 sulfur Mayflies just started hatching. We had to be quiet, make casts of 70 ft or more and make perfect drifts of the fly. The slightest twitch or change in speed would put the trout down as fast as a beaver slapping his tail on the water. It was crazy hard. Easing an anchor into the water would send fish swimming. Movement in the boat as much as to make a slight wave would put happily feeding fish to the bottom for 10 minutes. It was extremely humbling, and depressing. Everything would seem perfect, the fly, the drift, the presentation, and...Nothing! Over and over again. Only one fish was caught during our entire day, five anglers, two boats, 10 hours on the water, dozens of flies. A small brown trout of 8" was caught and landed. I was guiding and fishing with Joe that day and at about 5 o'clock, I changed my fly for the 8th time. I only started fishing because Joe was tired of casting and needed a break. He had never heard of the pellet fly called the crackleback. I laid out a cast of 40 feet over a giant rock protruding from the bottom which I could easily see through the crystal clear water. The little trout swam out from behind that rock, looked at the fly and ate it. I figured it was obvious as to why this small trout ate my fly, it reminded him of the pellets at his hatchery. That's when Joe laughed and said, "all these trout are wild, native, naturally reproducing"... We laughed. Id rather be lucky than good.
I don't care if I ever fish in that section of river again, but it was an amazing opportunity to see some very large, very, very smart trout and beautiful scenery.
The following day we fished the lower section of the Delaware River, from Belvidere, NJ to the access below the PP&L plant. This section has a tremendous amount of structure and fishy looking water. About 1 mile below our entry point is an area known as Foul Rift. This section is filled with huge boulders with jagged granite and limestone outcroppings. The volume of water is also much larger with flows of around 2,800 cfs. This place is like none other on Earth as it was formed in the last ice age when glaciers broke off many rock fragments and scraped striated lines grooves on every surface. A challenging area to guide, but the reward of hooking and landing many 2 - 4 lb. smallmouths makes it well worth the effort. Smallmouth bass is the main draw for anglers here during the summer months, but from April through May, American Shad and Striped Bass migrate up the Delaware for more than 100 miles as they seek to reproduce the next generation. Charlie said the fishing can be pretty fabulous if you are on the river at the right time. It's all about timing. Now that I have a few friends who live near there, I my be absent from school a few days in April or May next year. Just sayin’.
If you are ever headed to eastern PA and have a day or two free to fish, there are many beautiful streams and rivers worth checking out. Call my friends Joe or Charlie or better yet, call me and I’ll be happy to direct you.
Here are a few pics from the trip.
Guide Joe DeMarkis offering instruction in the Lehigh River.
The Lehigh River along "The Wall" at Jim Thorpe.
Charlie with a nice Lehigh River Smallmouth.
Joe fishing the famous West Branch.
West Branch of the Delaware River... Amazing and Frustrating!
Charlie with a lower Delaware River Striper. He caught it just a few feet from the boat ramp after we launched on his favorite fly he named
"The Goose Turd". If I get a chance, I'll show you how to tie it in a week or two. Be looking for it soon...
