Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

This afternoon was overcast and it sprinkled.  The olives said "Oh boy" and hatched like crazy on the WB  and on the big river (no doubt on the EB too). There were all shapes and sizes of them and so many of them you had to wonder how a trout ever happens to eat yours. All this I've seen before and think I understand. But the sulfurs, that's a different story.  The sulfurs have hatched. they are done on the big river and the lower WB.  The two weeks ago the only meaningful sulfur hatch was above Hale Eddy. Run 1,500 cfs of cold water and they appear like magic all over the river system in abundance! it's just one of the many things about trout fishing I'll never understand. What I do understand is that the bugs are there and the fish are eating them and if you can find a place to fish safely in the high water you should see fish (lots of them). Catching them is up to you, they are not always easy (today they were).

After seeing yesterdays bug bonanza on the upper EB there was no mystery in which stream I would fish today. I was at the river at  2:30 ready for the fun to begin.  The first olives, sulfurs and isos were on the water by  3:00  and an ever increasing number of sulfurs and isos followed.  The sun must have affected the olives as their numbers were much below that of yesterday. The fish?  Never showed.  Apparently they were counting on eating olives or they forgot to bring sunglasses as the sun shone brightly on a cloudless sky. By  4:30  I was on my way to the WB to see what the big release had done for the fishing. When I got there the water was covered with bugs, mostly small sulfurs, and the  fish were up and feeding. Hooked 6 fish, landed two nice rainbows and lost two more within ten feet of the net.  The other two took off into the current and were last seen heading for the Delaware water gap.  It's not easy to land fish ...

They maxed out the release at 1620cfs at Cannonsville in conjunction with a problem that occurred at the construction site of the new electric generator.  I am going to a meeting  tomorrow  to find out more about it and will post what I learn here. It often takes both the fish and bugs a day or so to adjust to a big release increase so I decided to head in the other direction. Fished the big EB, the Beaverkill and the upper EB. Caught fish in all three places but the upper EB was by far the best. The 500cfs release has resulted in a prolific hatch of olives and sulfurs.  The fish had so much food they quit feeding with the sun still above the hills and the water still covered with bugs. Based on the last two days, this is some of the best fishing of the year.If you get a chance to get on the water before they cut back the releases you won't be disappointed.

During the drilling of test holes for the proposed hydro-electric project a bore hole went into an underground  stream of water that has apparently been flowing under the dam since it's construction.  The DEP has long been aware of the water flow which has previously shown up in an artesian well a short distance below the dam. The bore hole has given the water a new release point closer to the dam.  The artersian well flow is said to have diminished in proportion to the water that is coming out of the bore hole. As a safety measure the reservoir is being drawn down as fast as possible.  This means that 1,500 cfs of water will be run until the reservoir is empty or the problem is corrected. DEP anticipates that the corrective work will be completed by September at the latest. Running 1,500 cfs non stop will empty the reservoir by the end of September. The release of 1,500 cfs will make wading difficult in the WB.  It will cool the big river all the way to Calli...

Yesterday was the day my wife and I set aside to can sour cherry jam (an annual event).  Everything went well and I was able to leave for the Delaware around 2:00 , just in time to get caught in a monsoon rainstorm between Tully and Whitney Point.  Thankfully the river system was spared as there wasn't any rain on the river 'til almost 8:00 . After opening up the camp, I decided to try the big river which,with the 750cfs release from Cannonsville, has been running cold. The rainbows were looking up and the first fish that ate my fly didn't stop running until 30 feet of bright green backing was outside the tip guide.  The second fish never got into the backing as a grayhound jump seventy feet out broke the tippet. The third fish took off downstream with me after him as fast as I could go.  When I got to the deep water (200 feet downstream from where I started) I was looking at the empty black spool through my remaining few turns of backing. The rain came ...

Quite simply the best dry fly fishing for large brown trout that I have ever seen. The fish are mostly all over seventeen inches long.  I caught 35 one day with only two of them under 17.  The rest were between 17 and 21 inches long. The food is not plentiful and the fish are eating whatever is available. There are rising fish from dawn til dark.  The flies include tricos, midges, baetis, pmd's, and a few caddis.  There was a hatch of large olives one day and a fellow Delaware River angler, fishing a two fly rig, caught fish on almost every cast. That was an unusual event as in two trips to the Owyhee  I have not seen more than a dozen of those olives. The weather this year was much cooler than last year.  It started out with highs in the 100 - 108 range but a front came through after three days and the temperature was in the 80s and 90s the rest of the time. Fishing pressure was higher than last year but not nearly in a class with conditions on the Delawar...

 In my lifetime of fishing there have been two things that have had by far the greatest impact on dry fly fishing for trout.   The first was the advent of catch and release fishing.  This has allowed fish to grow to adult size, spawn effectively and produce wild trout stocks. It has put mature trout in rivers and added an element of excitement to dry fly fishing. The chance to catch a trophy sized trout in most rivers didn't exist 50 years ago. tHE OWYHEE RIVER IS NO KILL FOR BROWNS.Rainbows are stocked and can be taken by anglers. The difference in the two species in the river makes the clearest statement possible for catch and release fishing. The second greatest impact on dry fly fishing during my life time has, unfortunately, been a negative one.  The proliferation of drift boats and personal flotation devices has altered the very way trout feed. The continual assault created by an uninterrupted line of boats during peak fishing periods gives trou...

Blown off the river tonight by a forty mph dust/rain storm, quite a sight. How has the fishing been?  Very very good.  Last year the best fishing of the day was the trico spinner fall.  With heads up every where gulping spinners.  This year the tricos haven't really gotten going yet and haven't been a factor.  There are a few but the fishing isn't worth getting to the river early for. I've been arriving most days around eleven at which time the fish in the big pools are feeding on midges. The midges can be tied on an 18 or 20 hook and fished to rising fish. Accurate  casts-have a  real good chance of  a hook up.. By  two o'clock  it's time to head up river for the pmd hatch which this year has been accompanied by a heavy hatch of very small olives (it's strange to think of olives hatching in hundred degree temperature but they do).  This hatch triggers a heavy feeding spell with every trout on the river gulping dries. The trick is t...