Lehigh River Stocking Association PO Box 54 Walnutport, PA 18088 Stocked: 294,300 Trout Trout Money Raised: $556,660 Site Menu LRSA Hats & T-Shirts... They look great and show you support the Lehigh River restoration efforts. The hats have embroidered lettering and brook trout. The t-shirts are printed on both sides. View Riverwear MEETING SCHEDULE 2007 We encourage all sponsors to attend the stated meeting of the LRSA. Meetings are held the last Tuesday of the month at the Walnutport VFW on Cherry Street in Walnutport at 8:00 PM. LRSA Officers: President: Bill Derhammer Vice President: Matt MacConnell, PE 610-657-2707 Secretary: Open Treasurer: Todd Woodring Chairman: Ted Miller Memberships: Colleen Miller 610-760-1367 Advertising Sales: Bill Derhammer 610-791-5215 Webmaster and Newsletter Editor: Matt MacConnell LRSA Board of Directors: Irv Conway Bill Derhammer Tom Gyory Fred Foster Matt MacConnell Bob Metz Colleen Miller Ted Miller Todd Woodring Visit our LRSA Photo Gallery Email us your fishing photo's. Just attach your photo in any image file format to your email and send to: webmaster@lrsa.org Lehigh River Hatch Chart The Hatch	Mission Statement The Lehigh River Stocking Association is a nonprofit, 501C-3 public organization dedicated to the restoration, revitalization and restocking of the Lehigh River. Our goal is the continuous improvement of this waterway and its tributaries. Our objectives are to insure clean water, a healthy and balanced ecosystem, an abundant fishery and access points for all citizens to enjoy. This will be to the benefit of all interests; including the businesses located throughout this region, the sportsmen and the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This project has been ongoing for the last seventeen years with great success. We need and ask for your support for this outstanding program to continue. 2008 Trout Fishing Contest Attaching the aluminum tag to the dorsal fin on one of the 170 tagged rainbow trout released in March Note that rules of the PA Fish and Boat Commission must be followed with regard to season opening dates. The break point between the two opening dates is at the Rt 873 bridge in Slatington - upriver is the later date and downriver is the earlier opening date. Note that if you want to release a tagged fish, you can pull the tag off the dorsal fin, this will cause a minor tear in the fin but should not harm the fish. Next LRSA Meeting May 27th at 8 p.m. See map below. This meeting will include nominations for LRSA officers and the trout contest drawing for prizes from those tags returned! Spring Stocking - March 22, 2008 Thanks to everyone who helped with this successful stocking event. About 40 folks were on hand in JT to get us started and another group at Northampton. The Rainbow trout were in great shape, about 13 - 18 inch and ~ 1.4 lbs each. Roughly 4800 of these fiesty bows are now prowling the holes, eddys and riffles from Glen Onoko down to below the Northampton dam. These fish join the 8,000 5-7 inch Brown Trout float stocked in November. The next few months on the river will be very interesting. Please be sure to renew your sponsorship so that we can keep up the angling excitement. See on the river! Detail of the 2008 Spring Stocking on March 22. River Trash Clean-up on Saturday April 26th, 2008. Meet at Walnutport Boat Ramp at main street bridge at 9 am. Cleanup until about 12:00. More details at this link: RIVER TRASH CLEANUP Float Stocking Nov 3rd a Success! Clip from Jim Thorpe, loading the Brownies into the float box Spring 2007 Stocking Recap: April 28th - Stocked 2000 13 to 17 inch rainbow trout in Areas 3 and 4 (Jim Thorpe/Lehighton and Bowmanstown/Parryville/Palmerton). April 21st - Stocked 2000 13 to 17 inch rainbow trout in Areas 1 (Northampton to Triechlers) and Area 2 (Walnutport, Slatington). The fish look great. If you havent renewed your sponsorship PLEASE BECOME A SPONSOR or RENEW! We are low on sponsors this year for some reason and will not be able to meet LRSA stocking targets without your support. Tight Lines. LRSA Video Clips June 2nd, 2007 Fishing Clip at Glen Onoko Link to Fishing Clips from Area 2 (Bowmanstown to Palmerton) May 12, 2007 Clips from stocking Walnutport and Slatington on April 21, 2007 Francis E Walter Dam Release Schedule - for details go to the Link Below. This is the presentation made to the public by the Army Corp of Engineers on 25 January 2007 at Mount Laurel Resort. Release dates are re-printed below for your convenience. FEW Flow Management Plan for 2008 FEW Flow Management Plan for 2007 River Flow Rates - Click on the Link Below for Real Time Flows Francis E Walter Dam (FEW) Flows Lehighton Flows Walnutport Flows   The Lehigh River Watch is the official publication of the LRSA. Please download and take a look and enjoy the great fishing stories and conservation articles. February 2008 Newsletter September 2007 Newsletter March 2007 Newsletter November 2006 Newsletter September 2006 Newsletter July 2006 Newsletter March 2006 Newsletter   Make sure that your browser is Java enabled... NEW! LEHIGH RIVER FISHERIES MANAGEMENT PLAN Lehigh River Fisheries Management Plan May 1, 2007 Prepared by: David A. Arnold and Daryl J. Pierce Fisheries Management Area 5 Division of Fisheries Management Bureau of Fisheries Pennsylvania Fish NEWS - Lehigh River named Pennsylvania’s ‘River of the Year' DCNR Secretary Michael DiBerardinis this week named the Lehigh River as the commonwealth’s River of the Year for 2007. The designation recognizes the watershed’s role in eastern Pennsylvania history and its promising recreational future. The Lehigh River drains portions of 10 counties and stretches more than 100 miles. “The Lehigh River is alive and thriving, with water quality better now than it has been the last 150 years,” DiBerardinis said. “There are scores of partners working to preserve, protect and enhance this great state resource, and its resurgence has pumped new life into the communities surrounding it. “Once a historic transportation corridor for coal bound from Carbon and Luzerne counties to Philadelphia, New York and beyond, the Lehigh River helped fuel America’s Industrial Revolution,” DiBerardinis said. “Now, mountain bikers, hikers and hunters are seen where mules and canal barges hauled coal and other cargo. Where dams once contained the mighty river, anglers in great number now seek trout, American shad and other species found in a healthy waterway.” DCNR annually designates a “River of the Year” to applaud local residents, governments, non-profit and conservation organizations working to improve waterways and the quality of life in their watersheds across the state. The Lehigh River winds 104 miles from its headwaters near Gouldsboro, Wayne County, to its junction with the Delaware River in Easton, Northampton County. Its watershed drains Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northampton, Schuylkill and Wayne counties. The Lehigh is the Delaware’s second largest tributary. ACID MINE DRAINAGE AND THE LEHIGH The November/December issue of the PA Angler has its lead article about acid mine drainage in Pennsylvania. The article has some very sad facts regarding the conditions of streams in the state. Pennsylvania has about 4,000 miles of streams that are dead because of abandoned mine drainage. We don’t have to look too hard to see the damage locally, the “yellow boy” stain on the streambeds in the coal fields of Carbon and Schuylkill counties. You see streams that are gin clear that should scream “trout!” but have ph factors of 4, very acidic. Nothing is living in that stuff, no plants, bugs or fish. Heavy metal has coated the stream bed making them tombs. Just think of having these waterways healthy. What an impact on potable water and fishing recreation. Can you imagine 4,000 miles of “new” water holding fish? There is some good news in all of this. The Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund of 1977 provided $520 million to Pa and has been used to restore 18,000 acres of land and 100 miles of streams. Currently there is over $1,500,000,000 (yes that’s billion) in the fund that is not being allocated due to the states fighting over who gets the dough. The most and oldest damage is in the eastern states with more abandoned mines but the most mining is currently being done in the western states. So to get some help here in the Keystone State write your legislators and get bill S2616 passed to restore our streams and watersheds. They ain’t making any more creeks. P.S. Did you know that Pennsylvania has the most miles of rivers and streams in the continental United States? That’s something, PA is about 34th in land mass of the lower 48 states. PA is also the biggest polluter to the Chesapeake Bay, nothing to be proud about.   LRSA Feedback: Send your comments and suggestions. Email Name Add Your Feedback Site Menu News | Fishing | Forum | Photos Watershed | Join | Sponsors | Links Or Print Application and Send U.S. Mail Click Here TOP of PAGE © copyright all rights reserved 1998 - 2007 LRSA Lehigh River Stocking Association P.O. Box 54 Walnutport, PA 18088 Site Created 10/04/98 Site Updated 09/08/07