Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

It was a dark, overcast, foggy, misty kind of  day,  that you expect to see olives and isos on.  There were olives but not isos.  Tried a tailout on the big river and found fish eating something sub surface.  A big brown lured me into the tailout by eating my olive and then running and jumping through 75 feet of backing before coming unstuck. The next two hours produced one refusal, three fall fish and too many ignores to count. Second (and last) stop was on the BE which has been a disappointment this year.  The fish population seems to be way down and as a result the river has received less pressure than any other part of the system.  Found a good olive hatch (including cornutas) and some fish feeding just under the surface. A boat went by and the oarsman said they had seen risers but couldn't get any to take.  I pretty much had the same problem.  My fly patch was covered with flies that didn't work.  To make matters worse I lost half...

With Cannonsville no longer spilling and the release cut back to 275 cfs it was time to spend a day on the WB.  With the low water there were sure to be fewer boats and the wade fishermen probably  wouldn't  come in numbers until the weekend. My morning fishing was above Hancock.  It's a place I fish a couple of times a year.  It's a good long walk along the tracks but there is seldom anyone there. Saw two anglers, one across the river and one in the distance.  When a drift boat appeared I had already turned around and was headed for the car. There were no bugs hatching and probably saw no more than half a dozen rises that were not to my fly. Rose a dozen fish hooked a handful of hot rainbows and landed four of them. The afternoon fishing didn't go as well. Fished a piece of water below Hancock.  In the first half an hour six boats went by me and an angler appeared out of no where and followed me upstream no more than a long cast away.  Again ...

It kind of sneaks up on you. When the first hendricksons started hatching late in April you thought it would never end. We had  a major period of high water where even floating was dangerous and wading was out of the question.  The doldrums seemed to last forever and just when things started  happening the second big rain washed out the better part of the gray fox, sulfur and drake fishing. The lightning bugs are lighting up the yard and as I sat on the porch tonight the last toad stopped singing and all was quiet. It may be a week away on the calendar but on the river it's summer. I saw a few green drake duns on Sunday on the WB and won't take them out of my vest 'til I fish there again in the evening and confirm that they are gone.  The big bugs are clearly over on the BK, BE and BR.  I stopped in the drake water on the UEB late last night and saw a few coffin flies but no duns. Even the dreaded black caddis are winding down.  Fished the big river tonig...

Most who read this blog know I try to avoid boats at all costs.  After a bang up night Friday on the UEB, I went back for more on Saturday and had 18 boats wend there way by me in JUST TWO HOURS!!!   Now, some of those who rowed by were old river friends who I was glad to see.  Others were fishermen who stopped and shared information as fishermen do, most were polite and tried to stay out of my way. As I mentioned in an earlier post I landed one fish and had 12 fish come to the fly and refuse it.  Ya think the boats might have been a factor? Since then I may have gone a little overboard in my attempts to avoid boat traffic.  Sunday, with almost no one floating, I fished the then still high WB and had a bang up good time.  Two or three boats slid by way away from where I was fishing and I hardly noticed.  On Monday I again disdained the UEB drake hatch for fear of being rowed over by an inattentive oarsman.  Instead I fished the BE in a place whe...

With the heat turned up again today I fished early.  Was on the river by 7:00 with mist on the water and the slurp of rising trout in the air.  The spinner fall didn't amount to much.  Either they all fell the night before or the hatch is waning.  Actually did better than yesterday as there were more fish feeding where I fished today than yesterday. Quit about noon. Didn't go out again until 7:00.  With today's heat I could have waited even longer. In fact I could have waited until tomorrow.  Caught two fish that went 16 inches.  The brown was 9 and the rainbow 7.  'Nuf said. Oh, sat out on the porch tonight to watch the lightning bugs.  The heat must charge up their batteries as they were lighting up the yard like fans at a concert.  The toads were also in full voice for the third time this year (each hot spell). Have never known them to make so many false starts.  For their sake I hope tonight's the night.

With the weather forecast calling for near ninety,  I decided on a split the day.  It was a good idea and would have worked even better if I had started out earlier. Went to the UEB in the morning where a brown/green drake spinner fall was well underway.  My first two casts found fish willing to eat.  Thereafter the fish sharpened their game and refusals outnumbered takes,  It was calm when I started but the wind joined the fray on the side of the trout and made presentation of a size ten brown drake spinner something of a challenge. Mid day activities included  a power nap, fixing a fence and bracing up a peach tree that the neighborhood  buck has been chewing on (all done in near 90 degree heat). At about six I headed for the WB which I have fished exactly three times all season.  Between high water and the excessive number of boats, I have avoided it like the plague.  That said, it has the best bugs and the most fish. You just have t...