Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001
From: Mike_Wilson@ffic.com
To: wk@hep.upenn.edu
Subject: Re: Chapter Trip - Lehigh River - August 4 th

Walt, A quick report on the chapter outing. Five chapter members ( Ray Young, Denis Mora, Bill McNamara, Dennis O'Gara and Mike Wilson ) and two guests ( Dennis O'Gara's son and Steve Ware ) met on Saturday morning August 4 th to challenge the Lehigh River. Unfortunately we had just arrived at the section behind the Francis E. Walter dam, when there was an unscheduled water release from the dam. The influx of cloudy water shut down fishing below the dam for the remainder of the morning.

After breakfast we decided to try a section of the Lehigh above the dam. This section is much smaller in size, and fishes more like a small to medium sized stream. Several trout were caught and released - using caddis, hoppers and small nymphs.

After a quick dinner, we returned to the river below the dam, and water quality had improved to the point that we expected some action. Unfortunately the weather turned ugly, and it started to rain. We were chased from the river by the lighting which came over the mountain toward us. We retreated to shelter without having caught anything.

Although the water release and the weather caused some problems, I believe everyone had a good time. Stories were shared - fishing tales were told, and we had the opportunity to get to know each other a little better. As they say " The fishing was great even though the catching was a little slow ".

Mike

Photos will be posted a little later ...