Squish, squish, squish. Steve Chukra, then 17, had made the change from spin fishing to fly fishing, and spent afternoons alongside the Lehigh River, waiting for the evening hatch.

"The sucking and pumping noises my feet made in the boots made me sound like a washing machine trying to find its way home in the dark, and my preferred sloshing route was along the railroad bed below Hayes creek," Chukra said. "After fishing, my father and I would meet near a spring that trickled down a rock wall near the railroad tracks, and we would then compare fishing notes as we walked back to the car together - he frequently remarked that he could hear me coming a mile away in my noisy hip boots."Chukra's next set of boots were the ones issued to him by the Air Force for Basic Training. He wouldn't enjoy another Pennsylvania summer for about 30 years."A lot went through my mind that summer as I shared my time with the Lehigh River trout," Chukra said. "I frequently pondered deep subjects including, what it would be like to live away, the girl that lived up the street, friends I might lose touch with, and also whether or not I might ever put my spinning rod and rooster-tails away for good."Chukra never forgot the times he'd enjoyed fishing the Lehigh. When he returned to the area, he soon became involved with the Lehigh River Stocking Association (www.LRSA.org), where he presently serves as secretary. The mailing address is PO Box 97, Lehighton.The LRSA is extremely active. Its activities include:• Designed, installed and maintains a bio-remediation site at the Louisanne Tunnel, which includes a solar aeration system.• Stocks spots on the Lehigh with thousands of trout.• Hosts the annual Lunkerfest Tournament.• Built a trout incubator which has already reared thousands of hatchlings.• Established a co-op trout nursery.But to keep the LRSA going strong, more members are needed. According to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, in 2016 there were 4,676 licensed anglers in Carbon County and 12,239 licensed anglers in Lehigh County. In contrast,

L.R.S.A. membership peaked at 782 in 2016."We are seeing an exponential increase in angling activity on the Lehigh and I am making a personal appeal to anglers to help us increase support for this tremendous river," Chukra said. "I firmly believe that without more membership support and the funding that it provides, we can expect that the quality of our fishery will decline.""Angling interest in the Lehigh and fish prices are both on the rise," he added. "Our concern is that LRSA membership participation and funding for the stocking program are not keeping pace with angling activity."Chukra said that the river has always meant a great deal to him, which is a feeling he shares with fellow LRSA members - that the Leigh is a beautiful place which is exciting to fish. With the contributions made by the LRSA, including the success of the organization's stocking program and a good population of hold-over trout, the "Lehigh fished better in 2016 than it has in the past decade," Chukra said."Many of our members recall exceptional fishing in March and April, when they were catching respectable numbers of large trout well before the

L.R.S.A. began stocking for the 2016 trout season," Chukra said. "There is no doubt that the combination of hold-over fish and our stocking program are producing great fishing."But, the improved fishing conditions haven't gone unnoticed. Ironically, the LRSA is becoming a "victim" of its own success."Our board members observed substantial fishing activity on most of the river between Glen Onoko and Northampton," Chukra said.The biggest challenge the LRSA faces now is to grow its membership base and funding."As we near our vision of creating a destination trout fishery, we need to attract and retain more members," Chukra said. "Since

L.R.S.A.'s stocking program is primarily funded with membership dues and donations, we need additional membership funding to counter the effects that increased angling pressure has on the Lehigh."