Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

With rumors that March Browns were hatching, I tried a pool on the lower Beaverkill.  Never saw a MB or a rise. At about two I started my journey up the UEB.  From the Sunoco station at East Branch to the pool above Thayer Hollow,  there were multiple cars at every pull off and parking area.  It was not until I got above Corbett that I found a pool with no cars.  Saw a few Hendricksons on the water and  a rising fish.  Caught the fish and with no other fish rising, left for more productive water. I felt I was above the hatch so I headed downstream.  Found rising fish in a pool above Shinhopple but the bugs were not hatching in anywhere near the numbers that they did earlier in the week. Last stop was at a pool where the bugs were as thick as maggots on a road kill just two days ago. There were fewer bugs and more boats and wade fishermen.  Again I was unable to locate any big fish. Most of the fish I did catch were between 10 and 14 inches.  I don't know if its because there

Left camp early as I had a long walk to get to where I wanted to be on the WB for my date with the bugs and the fish.  Neither showed up.  At 2:00 I pulled the plug and returned to the car more lathered up than Always Dreaming after his Derby win. Drove over to the UEB and encountered more boats, cars and fishermen than I'd seen since the One Bug Weekend. At 2:45 fishermen were sitting down (not a good sign) on the banks and in the boats.  Eighteen cars were divided equally between Long Flat and Powerline pools. I kept driving upstream until I found a pull off with no cars.  Looked over the bank, saw risers, (didn't see the boat just upstream) put on my vest and headed into the pool. There was a modest hatch of the usual suspects plus some apple caddis.  The boat was anchored where the water was shallow enough for me to fish and I was left trying to fishing the deep part of the pool. I soaked both elbows casting to what turned out to be mostly two year old fish (10 - 12 inc

If you went looking for Rick at the Troutfitter today, you didn't find him.  Don't know if he called in sick or just took a personal day.  All I know is that by the end of the day he was feeling just fine. Stop by the shop and ask him how he did. If you followed the advice in yesterdays report and made it to the river today you witnessed an epic hatch of paraleps and Hendricksons.  Put simply, both the WB and UEB are on fire.  The long delayed and much anticipated Hendrickson hatch is in full swing and the fish are eating like hogs at the trough. That said, the water is still high.  Extreme caution is required if you are wading.  Nothing but your best drag free casts will be looked at and only once in a while will your fly be eaten.  Should you come?  You betcha!

Returned from my sojourn down south in time to be on the WB (at 2800 cfs) for the paralep/Hendrickson hatch.  It was cool and breezy but the bugs came (boy did they ever!!!).  The fish are now keyed in on them and were rising even in the heavier, faster water. The WB fish don't suffer fools and with the wind and difficult wading I got my share of refusals.  But enough of the fish were willing to eat my flies to make it the second best day of the year. The fish ranged in size from 14 to 18 inches and were equally divided between browns and rainbows. The hatch started in earnest last Thursday and apparently has continued through the high water. There were some paralep spinners on the water at the start of the hatch today but the duns were the main course. If you can find a safe place to wade the WB at these levels, it's the place to be.  The UEB has been colder and may or may not be as far along.  I plan on giving it a try when it gets down to 1000cfs as that is my cut off

With wade fishing the Delaware system taken off the table by unseasonably high water I spent 18 hours (round trip) driving down to Tennessee to fish the Watauga and South Holston tailwaters with an avid fly fisherman friend,  originally from Syracuse who now resided in Greensboro, North Carolina.  We floated the Watauga Sunday and wade fished the South Holston on Monday. Both rivers have large populations of  10 to 14 inch trout and at this time of year sulfur hatches that get the fish up and feeding.  We didn't catch any of the monster 30 inch plus inch fish that reside there but caught lots of the surface feeders, making it an enjoyable distraction from the high water plaguing the Delaware River fishermen..   with wade fishing on the Delaware System

With the sun shining in Lordville and the WB dropping back towards 3000cfs, I sat down and tied a dozen red quills and paraleps.  I was confident that with the warmer air temp the bugs would come again and that I could get out for a second day of dry fly fishing before the cold front shut things down. Checked the water level for the WB at noon and instead of dropping below 3000cfs it had risen above 4000cfs!  While I was tying flies in the sun Mother Nature was pouring rain down on Deposit. The bugs are hatching on the WB now, and there is no fishing.  The rivers aren't safe to wade and most aren't even safe for all but the most experienced boaters to float. Stay home and wait for the rivers to drop to safe levels.  The fish will be there waiting for you.