Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

It's no secret that August has not been a friend to Delaware River fishermen.  Torrential rains, high muddy water and reservoir spills have kept us off the water.  I normally fish about 20 days a month.  Yesterday was only my fourth day fished and first since the 6th of the month.  On none of those days did I catch 10 fish. Each day I fish I have a contest with the fish.  The rules are pretty simple.  If I catch 10 fish, I win. If  I don't, the fish win.  On a normal five day week "we" play a five game series.  This year the trout built up an early lead with the late hatches and cold weather in April and early May.  I kicked butt in late May and all of June.  The trout won a hotly contested July and have pitched a shutout in August. Left camp at about 2:00 drove up the PA side and stopped for a look at Buckingham.  Five trailers in the lot and a few bugs sailing by on 4,000 CFS of water.  Drove up to the middle section...

It has been 6 days since I've fished and 18 days since I made a cast in the Delaware. Drove down to mow the lawn and "take a look".  Saw two boats anchored below the 17 bridge in Deposit  so I exited  17 and drove into town.  Stopped to chat with Lloyd Hornbeck who said he had not heard of any wash overs being caught since the spills began.  Drove down along the river and saw bugs (some) hatching. Saw a fish rise along the bank of the island just below the 17 bridge. Crossed the Hale Eddy bridge and saw 4 drift boats.  Picked one of the wider places in the river, donned gear and waded (carefully) out.  If you look at prior posts, you will see where I said that if/when the water ever comes down the fish will be easier to catch.  Well, no one told that to the fish.  Had five refusals (three by one fish) before one in the back row ate my fly.  With the water over 2,000 CFS every fish you hook is an adventure.  The fish today were ...

The water temps throughout the system are now ok for trout fishing. Why?  All right, I'm only guessing but the ratio of bottom release to spill is improving daily.  Another factor is the wind that has blown the past two days.  This has probably mixed some of the hot surface water in the reservoirs with cooler water lying just below the surface.  Temps are now in the sixties and the trout are back in a reasonably comfortable zone. The bugs?  I'm not there, which alone says something, but the warm water will surely shut off mid day activity in the sulfur zone  (probably for the year). Any hatching at current water temps will most likely be restricted to an hour before dark.  There is a possibility of  a trico hatch or and ant flight but I doubt the trout will come up through current water levels to feed on them. Wading? At current levels - out of the question.  The BK was getting close and then shot up again with today's rain. Drift boa...

Arrived back in Syracuse from the South Holston at noon today.  Ended up leaving at 5:00  PM Sunday after it became obvious that Saturday night's pyrotechnic display was not put on by NASCAR at the Bristol track and that it came with locally heavy rains which turned several So Ho tribs into Tennessee's version of Oquaga Creek.  They blew out the South Holston. It could be said that I was unlucky and lost a day of fishing if it weren't for the fact that we sat in my friends house in Abingdon (20 miles north of the river) on Saturday morning and watched over three inches of rain fall in about three hours.  Both of us were sure Saturday's rain would blow out the river.  A call from my host's streamside friend, however, assured us that although it had rained there, the river was clear and that the bugs were starting to hatch.  Saturday afternoon/evening turned out to be a great six hours of dry fly fishing. So I got in two super days of dry fly fishing with...

You don't have to be there to know.  The entire system is blown out and even without additional rain it will remain unfishable for the near future. Why? Both reservoirs are spilling hot water into the two branches. Water is flowing into the reservoirs at a faster rate than it can be released, thus insuring that the warm water spill will continue to make the  branches both warm and dangerously high. There is no place to wade safely. Drift boating at these levels is unsafe for all but the most experienced oarsmen and then only in areas where water temps are not a threat to the fish and high water is not a threat to the boaters. Find something else to do or better yet somewhere else to fish.  I'm still down in Tennessee and have enjoyed two terrific days of dry fly fishing on the South Holston.  It's a ten hour drive but the number of beautiful wild brown trout eating sulfurs is hard to believe.  If you come bring your sulfurs and olives.  Nascar's...