Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

It was another one of those "perfect days for fishing", overcast with a light mist falling. An olive kind of day.  This is the third one I've fished this spring and if there are any more on the way I'd like to save them up for July or August when they might do some good.  Didn't get skunked but didn't throw at a rising fish all day.   There were none of the sun loving caddis.  There were no Hendricksons below Hale  Eddy.  The few spinners on the water early went untouched.  The only risers I saw were above Hale Eddy right where they were yesterday.  Four boats and two wade fishermen had'em covered. What I did see were boat trailers parked at Oxbow Campground near Harvard and two drift boats actually floating the Upper East Branch with the flow at less than 250 CFS!  Floating the UEB at this level shows total disregard for your fellow anglers who are trying to enjoy the sport by fishing for trout  under the most challenging conditions...

With another hot, sunny, summer type day on tap I decided to do a day/night double header.  Spent the morning playing the big river 'bows to a standstill. Lost the last three in a row to end up at a fifty percent catch rate.  Saw three Green Drakes,one Isonicia, some caddis and a few olives. There were enough rises to locate fish and once I took the March Brown emerger off, most of them ate. There has been almost no wade fishing on the BR until the last few days and the boat traffic below Buckingham has been relatively light.  That said, all of the fish I caught (except for the lone brown) had multiple hook marks in their mouths. Mowed the lawn (again) and took a short nap while the temp hit the high eighties and the gusty wind blew up the river.  Left the camp about 5:30 and stopped at my friend Ray's place on the WB to pick up one of my fly boxes that he had found on the stream bank.  Was sure it had floated down the river and was gone for good.  Than...

It wasn't because I didn't think the WB would be any good, it's just because I like to fish different places and with the water finally down to wadable levels, you can now get into spots that have been inaccessible to wade anglers all year. Fished the top of the UEB and there were still Hendricksons but, like Deposit last week, there were not enough of  'em to get the fish going.  Watched them float down a big pool and never saw a single one eaten.  Did catch the fish of the day there (an 18.5 inch brown that ate a floating Hendrickson nymph).  It was a beautiful golden colored with a dozen big red spots. The next stop was also in the UEB where the floating nymph was left in a fish's jaw.  Stopped further down the UEB at a pool that was good to me last year.  There were no Hendricksons to be seen.  A few fish were going on assorted may flies and caddis on arrival but there were no Hendrickson spinners to get the fish in a feeding frenzy. Tried a ...

Yesterday I fished the Big River, the Big East, the Upper East Branch and the Beaverkill. Never really saw a hatch.  There were a few March Browns, a smattering of caddis and almost no rising fish.  I did stop at the Hale Eddy bridge on the West Branch, where there were Hendrickson spinners over the riff upstream of the bridge but the number of boats and wade fishermen convinced me to fish elsewhere. Today I left the camp at 1:30 and headed straight to the West Branch.  When I arrived the water was covered with a smorgasbord of flies.  Hendrickson duns in good numbers, hatching caddis and spinners of both species. Fished until 9:30 and neither the bugs nor the fish ever stopped. There were quite a few wade fishermen and a surprising number of drift boats. With the water down into the 700's it was easy to tell who had rowed a boat and who hadn't (a lot of rocks got polished today). The fishing?  Fantastic!!!  When you can throw at rising fish for eight s...

You get to pick:                                #1  Sunshine in a cloudless sky, temp in the mid 80's, with afternoon thermals and a windless evening. - -or - -                               #2  60 degrees temp, heavy overcast skies, intermittent rain or a light drizzle and little or no wind? FYI- Last Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were #1's. Last Tuesday and today were #2's. Please vote in the comments section before reading "the rest of the story" (apologies to Paul Harvey, God rest his soul). Well, on M, W, T, and F,  there were Caddis in the morning,  Hendricksons in the afternoon, bank sippers in shady spots late afternoon and every fish in the river up eating spinners or caddis emergers in the evening. On last Tuesday and today, there were next to no caddis, (they like sunshine and w...