Brown troutBrown, rainbow and brook troutFish on your own. Guide prices are optional; check licence, permit and access requirements before going.
JFMAMJJASOND
- Guide, per angler
- $225–263
- Public access
- Good
- Crowding
- Medium
Lehigh River
White Haven to Jim Thorpe and Walnutport, Pennsylvania · USA
Right now
Loading current conditions…
Flow, last 7 days (cfs)Normal range for these dates
Dam-controlled river. Flow here follows releases upstream, so it can change within hours. Check the release schedule before you drive.
Weather forecast
Forecast data loads here when available. Official weather source ↗
Day ratings weigh rain first (it raises and colors the river), then wind.
Flow: USGS Lehigh River below Francis E. Walter Reservoir near White Haven, USGS Lehigh River at Lehighton, USGS Lehigh River at Walnutport. Recent readings are provisional. Normal range: the middle half of past flows for these dates. Forecast: National Weather Service.
Recent changes
All changes →When to go
JFMAMJJASOND
Mar–Jun and Oct; floats depend on dam releases Wrong?
The water
A big tailwater below Francis E. Walter Dam with wild browns, usually fished by drift boat through the roadless Lehigh Gorge between White Haven and Jim Thorpe. Fishing depends on dam releases, and guides only run the gorge when the water is at a safe level.
- Target species
- Wild and stocked browns, rainbows
- Trip style
- Guide recommended
- Access
- Wade & float Wrong?
- Public access
- Good Wrong?
- Crowding
- Medium Wrong?
- Difficulty
- Intermediate Wrong?
- License and rules
- Fishing licenseRegulationsWrong?
What a trip costs
You came from a self-guided day-trip search. The calculator starts with one fishing day and no guide. Licence, permit, travel and any other costs still apply.
Flies by month
April
- Little Black Stonefly
- Hendrickson dry (late April)
- Quill Gordon dry
- Caddis
May
- March Brown emerger #12
- Grey Fox dry #14–16
- Sulphur dry
- Caddis
- Light Cahill dry
June
- Caddis
- Slate Drake / Isonychia dry
- Green Drake dry
- Grey Fox dry
- Blue Quill dry
October
- Blue-Winged Olive dry
- Isonychia dry
- Caddis
- Blue Quill dry
- Stonefly
Source notes
March is left out because sources name only Little Black Stoneflies. Sizes come from local anglers on a PAFlyFish thread; the LRSA chart and Wild East Outfitters give hatches without sizes.
From local shops and guides: lrsa.org · wildeastoutfitters.com · paflyfish.com. Ask the nearest shop what's working this week.
What to bring
- Rod
- 5–7 wt
- Line
- Floating; sinking line for streamers in high water
- Wading
- Best by boat/raft; studded boots if wading (slick boulders)
- Also pack
- Wading staff
- Fish the gorge with a partner
- Check whitewater release dates
From orvis.com, flyfisherman.com, diyflyfishing.com. Guides usually supply rods and flies on a guided day; ask when you book.
Guides and fly shops
- Wild East Outfitters · guide rates, rates and trips, hatch chart or reports
- Lehigh River Stocking Association · hatch chart or reports
These are the businesses this page's prices and fly lists come from. A listing isn't an endorsement, and nobody pays to be here.
Getting there
Getting there
Fly into ABE Allentown, then 45 min. About 52 miles (84 km) by road. Marker at White Haven, the upper end of the Lehigh Gorge
Open in Google Maps · Directions from ABE
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Driving from Scranton about 50 min, Allentown about 1 hr, Philadelphia about 2 hr, Harrisburg about 2 hr.
Something out of date?
Rates, seasons and access change. Tell us what's wrong and, if you can, where you saw it.
More trout rivers
Brown troutBrown, rainbow and brook trout
Rainbow troutStocked rainbows, browns and brook trout; some wild brook and brown troutFish on your own. Guide prices are optional; check licence, permit and access requirements before going.
JFMAMJJASOND
- Guide, per angler
- $225
- Public access
- Good
- Crowding
- Medium
The posted rate is one shop's New Jersey wade rate; it doesn't name the Flat Brook
Brown troutWild brown trout, rainbows, brook troutFish on your own. Guide prices are optional; check licence, permit and access requirements before going.
JFMAMJJASOND
- Guide, per angler
- $250
- Public access
- Good
- Crowding
- Medium