Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

After cutting back the WB release to 400 yesterday, the River Master bumped it up to over 800 today. Why? With Wallenpaupak generation information not available one is left guessing. My guess is that with the cooler air temps there will probably be less demand for electricity and PPL is cutting back on its generation schedule to save water for times of greater demand. Without the additional water from the Lackawaxen the river does not meet minimum flow requirements at Montague and additional water from the WB is required. If both my guess and the weather forecast are correct (little or no rain is forecast for the next ten days) we can look for sustained high releases from Stilesville. This will serve to cool down additional miles of the big river (probably down to Buckingham) and should provide additional fishing opportunities within the next week or so as the fish spread out. At 800 CFS and above some areas of the WB become more difficult/dangerous to wade, use caution. The add

The release at Stilesville was dropped to 400 CFS today under the FFMP which calls for a flow adjustment on September first. At this time the release on the EB remains unchanged. What are the effects? It's hard to say. PPL power generation at Wallenpaupak has continued unabated, making it unnecessary for the River Master to call for additional WB water to meet minimum flow at Montague. Haven't been able to get the projected generation schedule as the data is not currently loading on their web page. The reduction wasn't drastic but it will make it harder to float the WB. It will also provide less cold water to the fish in the upper big river. Although my fish sample is admittedly small, all of the fish I have caught between junction and Stockport in the past month have been very thin. If the hot weather continues they will be further stressed. Hopefully the cooler nights and shorter days will keep temps there at acceptable levels. The fish have been crowded into t

Today I left camp around 2:15, it really doesn't matter 'cause the sulfur hatch is over up river- and- if there is anything going on anywhere I'm not privy to it. But I've only been fishing evenings and I wanted to know - now I do --- Stay home!!! Everyone else is. Saw one guide the past three days and almost no fishermen. Fished up in the Deposit area for most of the afternoon and early evening. Hooked one good fish right off the bat and lost him. Then fished a good five hours without catching a fish over twelve inches. The bugs? There were Golden/yellow (?) drakes up river and Hebes down. Saw fish chasing the drake nymphs up to the surface but they left the duns alone. Everyone (even the fish) know Hebes don't taste good. I'm on track for one of the worst catch total for August in the 25 years I've recording catches. Yes I missed the first two weeks but I could have missed the last two weeks and it wouldn't have made much difference. Headi

With bright sun (yet again) I didn't venture out to fish until six PM. I needn't have rushed. There was no one on the river from Lordville to Stockport (one car there) no trailers or cars at Shehawken, no trailers at Balls Eddy, no cars at either gamelands parking areas and one angler standing on the bridge at Hale Eddy. Up river (where the action is) there was no one in sight above or below the Deposit town bridge, two boats fishing the pool just below Rte.17 and four anglers from there to the men's club. I saw a couple of rises in a big pool, put on the gear and waded out. From six-thirty until 8:00 I had rising fish, hooked seven and landed five, with a 17 incher being "fish of the day". There were sulfurs (very few) on the water, no olives, ants or isos. A few yellow drakes floated by, uneaten. Either the fish have been hooked on them or they just don't taste very good. For the hours I have fished the past two weeks my catch rate has been fine, b

Today was another scorcher One of far too many this summer. Chose to stay at camp and work on distributing the top soil/gravel that I purchased earlier this year. After a cool shower and a short nap I felt good enough to at least drive around and look at what wasn't happening. Left camp a little after 6:00 and took a drive up the EB. Saw a dark haired angler heading downstream from the junction of the EB and the Beaverkill with a smirk on his face and a large creel over his shoulder. The EB was near 70 at Harvard and the Beaverkill had to be well over 75. Perhaps he was hoping to find fish belly up overcome by the heat. Traffic was heavy heading back to NYC but everything was quiet when I turned up RT30. Saw a single cars parked at several pull offs and kept going up past Corbett to see if there were any bugs in the cold water. Found a few olives and nary a sulfur. Fog enveloped the river as I looked for risers. Found one working along a seam on the edge of the current and