Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

There are several guiding principles that I adhere to when trout fishing. One of the most basic is "Don't fish a pool more than once in a week."  Why you ask?  Because trout "remember" to avoid flies that didn't taste good.  Much like squirrels that are said to "remember"  where they buried up to a thousand nuts,  trout "remember" to avoid things they ate that left a bad after taste. Yesterday when the fish got going good I had a fly they were willing to die for.  Today with the water still too high to be wading (they bumped the releases again) I had very few places where I could safely wade.  Drove to a high water place on the WB only to find two wade anglers zeroing in on "my spot." Drove to the UEB and found two boats anchored in the pool I wanted to fish.  Drove by yesterdays pool and there was no one there. I know, I know but I stopped and fished. And?  The fish were rising in the same places they rose the night before....

With the drakes a good ten days behind schedule and sure to be hatching, I decided to head back to the river and try to find a place to fish.  When I got to the camp I turned on the computer and learned that the releases had been increased (WB - 1000 cfs, EB - 300 cfs).  While this is good news if you are concerned with the summer sulfurs blowing out in June due to the warn water temps created by the spill water, it was not good news for any one trying to wade anywhere in the river system today. Add bright sun and a stiff breeze to the high water and one might wonder about the sanity of anyone trying to wade fish the river. With my sanity in question I tried the conservative approach and threw an iso around on the BK for a half hour.  After all it was down under 1,000 cfs and running clear.  The only bug I saw was mine.  Never saw a fish rise.  End of story. Drove up the UEB, first car I saw was at Long Flat, another one was at Power Line.  The tr...

In case you slept through yesterdays series of storms - today's game has been postponed.  Hopefully it can be rescheduled later in the season.  All of the rivers are high, muddy and still rising.  With both reservoirs spilling they will stay high for several days even without more rain. On the positive side the spill water will be clear and probably full of alewives. Streamer fishermen will again be in their glory as soon as the tribs stop gushing mud. Dry fly guys, however, may not live long enough to fish a spinner fall. Was stream side for the first storm and a bolt of lightning hit so close that I felt the ground shake.  My ears are still ringing from the thunder clap, an interesting experience, as was the half mile walk back to the car.

Set out to fish earlier than usual today because I encountered cornutas yesterday. While they can and do hatch most anytime all summer, in the first week of June they can reliably be found hatching in the morning.  Stopped to chat with my neighbor who was standing by the road.  He asked where I was fishing today and I told him the Beaverkill.  Just as I pulled away a Rhodes & Johnston flat bed loaded with three huge pieces of uncut blustone came across the bridge and started up the three mile hill to Route 97.  Not wanting to spend half an hour inhaling diesel fumes I crossed the bridge and went up the Pennsy side. Stopped at Buckingham, as is my custom,  just to see if anything was going on.  Before I had even gotten to the launch ramp, I had seen half a dozen fish rise.  Cornutas?  Nah they were eating big yellow flies.  Gray foxes were hatching and there wasn't a soul around to do anything about it except me.  The hatch was over...

The day came as advertised, cloudy, rainy and cold. A three shirter for sure.  But we didn't get the 3/4 of an inch of rain that was predicted.  With the reservoirs already spilling that much rain could have made most of the river system unwadeable.  We have more rain on tap but today was predicted to be the heaviest soaking.  Looking at the weather radar, it seemed to go just south of us. The bugs?  Each place I went had different bugs.  The BR and the WB  had no bugs when I looked at them about 2:00 pm.  The BK had those tiny little olives that you're glad to see in the fall but  not now.  It also had iso's and cornutas.  Looked at streamside rocks and saw only two iso husks (it was raining so some may have washed off).  The fish were rising and after getting refused on an iso I switched to the cornuta - they ate it with relish (or without).  The UEB had the tiny olives, march browns, cahills, sulfurs, gray foxes and b...