Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

After two days of relative peace and quiet in the "sulfur zone"  with a good mix of summer bugs and rising fish, where else would you go?  Arrived about 3:30 and headed down towards the Gentleman's Club.  Counted six drift boats between the route 17 bridge and the GC.  There were also two pontoon boats and one kayak and a bunch of wade fishermen.  Did a U turn and headed for the UEB. Drove up route 30 without seeing a parked car or fisherman until Long Flat where there were three cars.  Power Line had two and there were two more above Corbett.  Found an empty pool with a shaded bank and fish I could see rising from the road.  Climbed down the bank and had at 'em.  There were a very few sulfurs on the water along with a lot of cold water "smut" (a variety of tiny, nameless bugs).  For about an hour it was as if there wasn't even a fly on the end of my line none of the rising fish even acknowledged that I was in the game. The trout wer...

It's a mantra I've been preaching for as long as I remember.  Your best chance to catch a fish is always on the first cast. As soon as the fish becomes aware that you are there, the odds swing heavily in his favor.  I know, I know "He's still rising", but he gets to look at that fly from only inches away and if there aren't six legs on the water with the tail in the air he ain't eating.  Tip your cap and move on, find another riser, there's lots of easier fish to cast to. Well today I sinned.  Fell in love with not one but three fish.  Here's how it happened.  Got in the water at one of my "secret spots", the pool between the Gentleman's Club and the grass island just upriver.  The waxwings were working the far side of the island (a sure sign of bugs) and no one was fishing.  There were sulfurs, olives of all sizes, yellow drakes and isonychia on the water and  the fish were having an early dinner.  Despite the down time cleaning al...

Did another split day.  The best thing about the morning was that I was smart enough to quit after only an hour.  Spinners were on the water along with a few mayfly duns and caddis but the fish were nowhere to be seen.  Home before 11:00, grass mowed and peach tree limbs propped up out of reach of the deer before 1:00. Left camp at 3:30 and headed up to Deposit "Just to take a look".  Saw an old river friend Mike Carey standing on the town bridge and asked him if he was thinking of jumping.  He said no that he was thinking of getting his waders and fishing as there were quite a few risers upstream of the bridge.  He said there were good hatches of sulfurs last week and lots of fishermen but that the hatch seemed to be dying down and there were fewer fishermen this week. After watching fish rise for about 15 minutes I decided to suit up and give it a try. Was refused by yearling fish on four of my first six casts.  In about three hours of fishing I ...

Did a split day with the intent of further postponing my return to the algae laden sulfur zone with its boats, wade anglers, sulfurs, and super tough fish. This morning I fished a section of the lower WB that I fished back on the 22nd of June.  That morning there were olive spinners on the water and the fishing was great with big fish eating my fly with abandon.  Today, not so much.  Perhaps I should have been on the water earlier (went the same time as on the 22nd), as I had three fish in the first half hour and but one fish in the next three hours.  The fish were mostly 11 to 13 inch rainbows (never saw a brown).  Bugs?  One steno spinner and about a half dozen tan caddis.  It was a peaceful, pleasant algae free morning but one hard to write a paragraph about. In hopes of conjuring up a good t-storm I spent the afternoon spraying weed killer on the lawn.  Sure enough at 5:30 we had one. When the "all clear" siren sounded about 7:00 I was u...

Returned from my trip to the Owyhee River in Oregon late Saturday night. Spent Sunday doing chores at home and left for the river about 11:00 this morning. The Owyhee trip - The canyon is beautiful, the wildlife along the river abundant (mule deer, turkeys, ducks, quail, chuckers, eagles, otter, beaver, etc, etc).  But the fly hatches have virtually disappeared.  Have not seen any tricos in the last three years and the midges which provided great mid day dry fly fishing have been gone the last two years.  The only hatch was pmd's and that was a mere ghost of its former self.  The fish are still large (most all of the browns you catch are between 17 and 21 inches but the number of fish appears to be way down.  The pmd's hatch from 2:00 until 5:00 and there weren't enough of them to create a meaningful spinner fall in the evening so there was a lot of down time.  May look for a new destination out west next year. The Delaware - Didn't need to read the fis...