Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

With the wind at just  fifteen most of the day it was by far the  easiest casting day of the week.  The sulfurs are hatching in good  numbers on both branches.  They can be found in the upper half of the  WB in the afternoon, providing day time dry fly action that has been  missing for the past few weeks. Yesterday it got up near seventy and when the wind laid down around  six it paved the way for a system wide spinner fall.  I found rainbows  sipping an assortment of different spinners.  They were careful but  it's a lot easier to fool them when they are eating off the surface.  As is common with Delaware River bows, I lost almost half of the ones  I hooked. With rain in the forecast it might well be a good weekend to hit the  river, after all you can't mow the lawn or do yard work in the rain.

With the wind blowing tree limbs down along the road I decided to head  up to the upper EB where you have a chance to find a spot out of the  wind.  Found a nice run with no wind and a good hatch of sulfurs - but  in the hour I sat there I never saw a fish rise. Bit the bullet and headed for the WB where boats were careening out of  control in a wind that was blowing at over thirty.  There were a  surprising number of anglers braving the elements - shared a pool with  another crazy angler - we both hoped the wind would lay down when the  sun set and that there would be a good spinner fall.  We got half of  our wish.  The wind died but it was apparently too cold for the  spinners.  There were a few fish feeding but nothing to compare with Wednesday. Joe did catch a couple of nice ones and left the smaller fish for me.

Three shirts and a rain coat didn't begin to keep me warm.  The wind  blew over fifteen with gusts much higher - rain came on and off all  day and there were even a few ice pellets. The temp never got over  fifty two.  Saw only one other wade angler and half a dozen boats all  day. The bugs, for some reason were lovin' it.  By three the water was  yellow with every kind of bug you could name.  It wasn't until the  sulfurs started to wain that I noticed all the little olives and the  isos. The fish - were slow to get started but fed like crazy from about four  'til seven when things shut down (so much for yesterdays advice). Dry fly fishing was an event.  I missed rises by fifteen feet.  Drag  just might have been a factor in numerous refusals.  But, enough fish  ate the fly to make it a great day. My index finger looks like I was  pulling up rose bushes bare handed (trout teeth are sharp) and the...

Just as it was getting hard to see my cornuta the fish started eating on top.  Hooked a couple on the cornuta and then had to switch to a sulfur so I could see it.  The sulfurs were on the water by then anyway and the fish were more than happy to eat mine.   Over the years I have noticed that the approval rating of my flies goes up as the light fades. Until the summer sulfurs get going in the afternoon  the action seems confined to the last hour of daylight (again looked for cornutas in the morning - found nothing). It's not an ideal time to make a trip to the Delaware as there is a lot of down time.  When the summer sulfurs get going there is fishing from early afternoon until dark - come then!

It rained here Sunday  - and boy did we need it.  It put all the rivers  up - they were all muddy - it also cooled them down. The WB was  clearing above Oquaga by 12:00 Monday  and the upper EB was good to go  upstream of Centerville when I went by at five. Counted "only" six cars at Long Flat and three at Power Line.  The  drakes are done and the upper EB will soon be a quiet place again. Didn't find much of a hatch where I fished and there was nothing going  until the last hour - then they went good.  Hooked one after another  for the last forty five minutes of light. My best fish were a hand  full of fifteen/sixteen inchers. Had one refusal from a good fish  early and one big one came out of a dark hole and chased a nine incher I had on the line. If the big browns don't find enough bugs to eat  they switch to fish.