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Justin Koch used to do most of his trout fishing in stocked streams, and then he joined the Lehigh River Stocking Association.
Now, Koch is casting for trout in the river nearly every day of the year. The Lehigh is just minutes from his home in the town of Northampton and thanks to the efforts of the LRSA, Koch is able to catch trout in the river all year long.
Since 1991, the association has been stocking trout in the river three times each year. Board member Gary Klein estimates the group has stocked a half million trout over the last 25 years, focusing on a stretch of the river from Northampton County up to Glen Onoko Falls in Carbon County. The first stocking was held on April 2 and two more are scheduled, Klein said, adding that 2,000 pounds of trout are released every time in a stretch of the river that isn’t stocked by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.
Klein said the stockings have not only generated outstanding opportunities for anglers, but created a year-round fishery as well.
And that’s what made Koch decide to give up the streams.
“I used to be a die-hard creek fisherman chasing the stocking trucks,” he said. “Over the last four years, it’s been a total turnaround for me. The Lehigh River holds fish all year long and it’s become a second home for me.”
The LRSA has a membership of more than 700 whose yearly dues of $25 a year pay for the trout that are stocked. This year, the group has purchased $25,000 worth of trout from a private hatchery that it will stock. Klein said they’re all browns and rainbows 14 to 18 inches in length, plus an additional stocking of trophy fish for the club’s annual Lunkerfest which is held in May.
While anyone can fish the river and catch the trout the club stocks, the organization is looking for new members which will allow for more trout to be purchased and stocked.
“The more members the more fish,” Klein said. “If we can get back to 1,000 members, we can buy around $29,000 of trout and increasing our stocking by 1,000 pounds. We’d love to put 3,000 pounds of trout in the river each stocking.”
Not only do the stockings allow anglers to catch trout all throughout the year, but it’s also created a fishery that includes many holdover fish and breeding populations of brown trout, Klein said.
And he has the data to back it up.
Last year, the LRSA began tagging some of the trout it stocked. Of the 225 tagged fish released in the spring of 2015, anglers reported 58 tags. One tagged rainbow trout was caught in February, evidence that Klein said proves some of the fish are surviving into the following year.
“We’re trying to prove there is a good holdover population in the river,” he said. “Some do survive year to year, and some even spawn.”
Club member Ryan Scott is convinced the trout in the river are surviving. The Lehighton resident fishes the Lehigh all winter and he routinely catches brown trout that are holdovers from the previous year. Even into March and April, Scott said, it’s not unusual to catch holdover rainbows.
“I do see more fish holding over to the next year,” Scott said. “The Lehigh River has turned into a year round fishery.”
In March, before the 2016 stockings began, Koch fished the river during a warmer day in Northampton and caught 14 brown trout in an hour-and-a-half, including one that measured 20 inches.
Koch attributed the Lehigh’s transformation into a year round trout fishery to three factors.
It begins with the club stockings, he said, and is aided by the fact that the river is cleaner today than ever before. The water produces abundant insect hatches and is full of aquatic life that provide a vital food source for trout.
“In the summer you see incredible hatches that you didn’t see years ago. The sulfur hatch is unbelievable,” Koch said.
Another factor aiding the fishery, according to Koch, is most anglers are practicing catch-and-release.
“I have no problem if someone wants to keep a few trout for dinner, but the catch-and-release on top of the stocking and cleaner water is really helping,” he said. “I’m catching trout daily through January and March, and when you’re doing that you know the fish are holding over.”
This year the club hopes to release 500 tagged trout to collect more data on survival and movement. The tagged fish released last year have already yielded some interesting results from anglers reporting where they caught their fish.
Most of the tagged trout move upriver, Klein said, and reports of fish moving one to three miles a few weeks after being stocked aren’t uncommon. One tagged rainbow trout that was stocked in Jim Thorpe was caught in Bear Creek last year, according to Klein.
Koch said he caught a 17-inch brook trout last year in Northampton that had a tag from a hatchery in New Jersey.
Interestingly, many of the tagged trout stocked last year were released after being caught. Of the 58 tags reported last year, Klein said 35 of the fish were released after the information was collected by the angler.
“We don’t necessarily push catch-and-release. We push selective harvest,” he said. “Take a few home for dinner and let the rest go.”
The success of the LRSA has attracted members from all over. Many are from the southeast part of the state, but Klein said there are plenty of members from northeastern Pennsylvania and some from as far away as North Carolina, Florida and even Texas.
“The state doesn’t stock here, so the trout you’re catching there’s a 90 percent chance it was put in by the LRSA,” Klein said. “If it wasn’t for the LRSA, there wouldn’t be much of a trout fishery in this stretch of the Lehigh River.”
Nor would there be much reason for anglers like Koch to call the river their second home.
“You never know what you’re going to catch. I’ve lost some brown trout that probably would’ve been records,” he said. “The quality of the fish here is amazing.”
