Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

I am in the process of closing the camp  but after 28 years even the garage needs a good hoeing out. Have spent the last two mornings in there filling trash bags and sweeping up sunflower husks (the mice/chipmunks once chewed through a plastic garbage can during the winter and ate 50 pounds of them). Finished up at 12:45, ate lunch and went out looking for rising fish. It was windy and I drove up the UE looking in the protected areas. Found rising fish in one of them.  They were right below me, not 60 feet away. The only problem was that getting to where I could fish to them required a long walk over somewhat difficult terrain. Took the walk. Saw the fish rising just downstream in the placid water. When I got there, not five minutes later, the wind changed directions and blew right up the once placid stretch of river. Paced along the shore for an hour with relentless wind and no risers. Gave it up and headed for camp. Stopped at a pool that was in the wind on my journey upstream.

The sun finally poked through the clouds about noon. Most times you don't want sunshine if you are looking for olives but it's fall and the water is cold,  a little sun is not always a bad thing. Took a drive up the PA side of the BR (bad idea), two major road repairs underway with traffic signals - both red.  No fishermen, bugs or risers all the way up to Hancock.  Took the PA side of the WB up to Hale Eddy, nary a rise or a fisherman.  The water is still off color but clearer due to the significant input from the tribs.  Kinda wanted to try the WB but with no bugs or risers I passed.  Drove over to the UEB and tried a long slow pool with a decent riff above it. There were bugs on the water and a few risers but most were yearlings (it's spawning time remember). Gave it about an hour and then drove over to the BK which is still a little high and (it turns out) bugless. Five minutes in the water there was more than enough. Drove back to the lower WB just to see if the DR

Have yet to see a deer (buck or doe) from my tree stands  this season.  That made the decision easy. Rivers dropping,  warm weather in the forecast and here I am, back at camp. On the way down I saw four does, three fawns and three bucks, (one was a good one). The weather was  overcast with an all day drizzle, temp below 50 all day,  not what they predicted but with long johns, three shirts and a raincoat I couldn't complain. The pseudos were tardy but they showed up.  The fish have moved back into the slow water but they fed. The big browns are busy doing other things but the rainbows and smaller browns were eating on top. From 2:00 'til 5:00 it was fun.  Returned to camp in the daylight and found the local ladies and their kids out back waiting for apples. Shook the tree and  made their day. Tomorrow it's clean out the garage and mow the lawn for the last time this year. Hopefully the pseudos will wait 'til show up to hatch.

Back when the world was young, the trout season closed everywhere on September 30th. Today if you put the proper additives in your bloodstream you can trout fish year 'round. It was, however, the last day for the UE above Shinhopple and the WB above Monument. The intent of the closures is to protect the spawning browns. Not sure what is going on with the River Master but the minimum flow requirement at Montague has been pretty much ignored this week.  The Cannonsville release has been cut back to 300 CFS in anticipation of the 2.11 inch rain that was forecast just this morning. As of tonight it has been cut back to under two. We badly need the rain.  It's spawning time for the browns and there is no way they can get up the tribs at current levels. Let it rain! The fishing -  Stopped my camp closedown program at 12;30, had lunch and set out to fish. The WB at 300 CFS is tempting but it is still a silt laden mess.  Drove to the UE intending to fish above Shinhopple for the la

The camp close down is underway. Storms up, grill in the garage and one load of accumulated trash taken to the dump. Fly tying room was scheduled to be put in mothballs (literally) today but I got into cleaning the closet and things slowed down. Will attempt to finish the job tomorrow. In the confusion I forgot to check the USGS  water flows before leaving camp. Drove all the way up to Corbett before realising that the Pepacton release had been bumped up and  there would probably be no pseudo hatch.  Drove from 1:15 until 3:15 (using over a quarter of a tank of gas) without seeing a rising fish anywhere.  The rivers were not crowded but there were people fishing in seven of the pools I looked at.  Was thwarted in my attempts to fish the eighth pool by a road closure.  Black cats crossed my path in Lordville, Hancock and Fishs Eddy.  Probably just a coincidence. Finally found an open pool on the BE.  Have fished it a couple times this year without much success. The third time wasn&#

At 7:00 this morning it had still not wet the ground under the trees in Lordville. By 8:00 it was raining and it has rained most of the day.  If the browns are going to get up the tribs we need much more of the same but at least it's a start. Couldn't mow the lawn, so I left early hoping to find some olives hatching (I didn't).  Caught a nice rainbow on a blind cast in the BE and lost a another nice one in the BK.  At 2:30 I drove up the UE, found one of the better pools in the lower half  empty, parked and waded in. There were pseudos and what looked (in my hand) like "pink ladies" that appeared enormous compared to the pseudos but were somewhere around a 16/18, all over the water. The fish?  They were rising EVERYWHERE. A blind man would have covered three fish on every cast.  Did they eat? You betcha!  Was into really nice sized fish (both browns and rainbows) for four solid hours.  In the very low water you had to let things settle down between fish but th

The weather forecast calling for two rainy days in a row got me packing the car and heading back down to the camp. It was a little chilly inside the camp and I had to turn on the heat to get things warmed up.  Left camp at about 1:30 hoping for pseudos and rising fish. Drove up the PA side and saw nothing but muddy water. The river was just starting to come down from the cut back in the release from Cannonsville. Six boat trailers at Buckingham but nary a bug or riser to be seen there.  Stockport had a couple of trailers but only one car.  Don't like to wade in the muddy water when you can't see bottom unless there are bugs and risers.  I headed up the BE and UE looking for bugs. First rise I saw was at Harvard. There were fishermen in most of the pools in the lower half of the UE and when I saw a couple of rises in a pool with no fishermen I didn't need to be told to get fishing. There were enough fish up to keep me interested and enough fish that ate my fly to make it

With the last day of my "regular season" at hand I had planned on fishing the Lordville riff.  It is the "home pool" after all. When I arrived on the scene someone else was already there. Got back in the car and drove up river on the  PA side.  It wasn't nearly as crowded as last Friday but there were still both drift boats and fishermen at all the usual places. Decided to drive on up the WB and say goodbye to a friend that gives me river access at his place. He wasn't home. Sat down by the muddy river for twenty minutes to see if he returned. Never saw a bug or a rise. Drove from there up to the Troutfitter Shop in Deposit where Dave was getting ready to close the door. He said the shop had had a busy day after a slow week and that the rooms had been filled last night and tonight. They will be open through the 15th of October. Never did don my waders. This week has been  the poorest fishing for me since back in April. There are still rising fish but I d

It was an overcast drizzly day and yes there were olives from two to four on the UE. Saw a few caddis on the two Bk pools that I tried and no bugs on the BE pool I fished. Took a drive down the BR as far as Hankins, water was off color  even down there. Stopped at Basket Brook and Kellums  Bridge looking for risers - nothing.  Cut cross lots over to Fishs Eddy (kind of a neat drive) with the intention of trying McCarter's pool again without people standing across the river throwing lures at me. Alas I arrived in a downpour and continued on up to the BK where I managed to hook a couple of nice bows. Went up Rte 30 about 2:00 and found pseudos and rising fish in a pool that was vacant for the first time in the last ten days. The heavy pressure showed as the few fish feeding would stop rising soon as my first cast floated over them. Saw several come up under the fly for a look and go down never to be seen again. Did manage to hook five and land four.  Another angler silently slipp

With my time on the river drawing to a close I thought it would be helpful to those of you who are planning on fishing this fall  to give you a current status report on the rivers making up the Delaware River System.  Keep in mind that a good rainstorm could change everything. Beaverkill - The river is crystal clear with a current flow of under 75 CFS.  There is no flow to the water in the pools. With the cooler temperatures the fish have repopulated the pools. The streamside rocks show evidence of continued iso hatches.  The water is still too warn to expect meaningful pseudo activity. There are better opportunities elsewhere. The Upper East - (above it's junction with the Beaverkill) is flowing at about 135 CFS  at Harvard with a release at Downsville of 114 CFS. The flow is low and slow but the water is ice cold, pseudos are hatching in the afternoon and the trout are feeding on them. The fishing has attracted quite a few fishermen.  The fish have all been fished to and are

If you were looking for my report yesterday - there wasn't any.  I had fished for 7 straight days and thought clean underwear might be in order.  Put up two tree stands and had Monday lunch with a couple of my old friends. They pointed out that it was the first day of fall.  Driving back down late  yesterday afternoon I realized that this is my last regular week on the river this season. Bow season starts next Tuesday and I will spend a lot of time sitting in a tree watching nature and just reflecting on life.  My birthday is March 30th so I am born again just in time for trout season but every year in the fall, when the bright colors are gone and the first snows come - I get a year older. The fishing: I'll admit it, last Monday's fishing bonanza got me out of whack. Had one other good day out of seven. The rest of the days were but three to four fish.  At first you make excuses,  waters too low, too much sun, too many fishermen, muddy water in the WB and BR.  Finally y

Stayed at camp this weekend, primarily to work on my yard project.  With the continued hot sunny days even my enthusiasm for fishing wanes. Am not often here on weekends and was amazed by the turnout of fishermen. Boats and wade fishermen everywhere.  Had no desire to fish the high and silt laden WB.  There were far to many boats for me on the BR and so many wade fishermen on the UE that finding an empty pool was impossible.  The Bk was relatively free of anglers.  But the flow is now down around 75 CFS and today at least the temps were up near the no fish zone. There was  no one in "Wagon Tracks" so I parked and walked out on the bare rocks, an eagle took off from a tree overlooking the pool (a good sign), and several fish rose - it was about 4:00, the sun was beating down with the temp was in the high 80's. Looked down at the rocks next to the water and every one was covered with dozens of iso husks. Just say'in. Decided, after considering all of the above, to fis

I know these are some of the most beautiful September days you could ever have but c'mon, if not rain at least a few afternoon clouds. Today I headed for the UE around 3:30, drove up to Corbett, turned around and headed back towards East Branch. Why? Power Line and Long Flat didn't have a single car but every other pool had multiple fishermen. Sure there are afternoon hatches of olives (pseudos mostly) and fish that want to eat them. But the release has been lowered to 114 CFS and the Hale Eddy flow gage is at about 130 and it's next to impossible for me to catch fish at the current water level, in bright sunshine, even in an undisturbed pool. Because of the heavy pressure I fished two "C" pools. There were bugs, but alas, the pools were on a part of the UE that runs east/west and were in full sun. In the first pool I saw three fish rise once each, hooked two (lost the first at the net) and landed the second. The second pool had two rising fish that I managed

Will it ever rain again?  The part of the lawn  I've been working on (seeding and watering) is growing while the backyard looks like the Sahara desert.  Refused to be lured into morning or early afternoon fishing. Fishermen have been as thick as maggots on a road kill on the UE above Shinhopple. I had trouble catching fish there before the crowds arrived I've no need to put my shortcoming on display.  Left camp about 4:00 and headed to the UE, with contingency plans to either fish the WB down around the game lands or hit the BR about 6:30 and hope for a late hatch of olives.  Down below Shinhopple, away from the crowd, I found a pool with no fishermen in it that I've fished four times this year. To better understand fishing the UE you need to see my catch figures for the four previous trips: 0, 0, 22 (and they were mostly big fish)  and 4. The fishing:  The UE is now at 130 CFS.  It was somewhere between difficult and impossible at 180 CFS.  There were pseudos and isos

Wanted to go out early this morning but with the temp in the mid 40s, I had to wait until almost ten before the bugs were in the air. Saw a few brown caddis over the water and a small group of tricos jumping up and down trying to keep warm. Was back at camp by 11:05.  Sometimes you just know it isn't going to happen. Went out this afternoon about 3:30.  Not a cloud in the sky, temp in the low 70s, couldn't ask for a nicer day  - unless you are a fisherman. Drove around looking at streamside  rocks (for iso husks). Saw  none on the BR or BE rocks.  There are lots of  husks on the BK rocks and I did see a few isos duns floating untouched,  down the UE both Mon. and Tues.  In the bright sun there were few if any risers.  When I got in pools with hills blocking the sun there were both bugs and risers. Only problem - I couldn't catch 'em.  Was in a pool on the UE about 5:30 with bugs and rising fish. I left.  Do it to me once, good for you. Do it to me twice, shame on me. 

With the lawn in need of a mowing and the wood stacker empty, I passed on early morning fishing and took care of chores. Spent the early afternoon steaming some battered flies and reorganizing my olives, isos and spinners. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the bright sunshine coupled with a stiff breeze made it easy to delay the start of  fishing. Went out about 3:30 and headed for the Upper East (UE) where the hills provide both protection from the wind and early shade.  It is now the third week of September and every pool above Shinhopple had fishermen in it.  If I find out my blog has anything to do with this I'm going to have to stock it with red herrings. Went down river and tried two pools I hadn't yet fished this year. Both required a walk and a decent to the river through multiflora roses. The first was a zero. There were olives on the water and I saw but two rises. Never rose a fish and was out of there in less than an hour. The second pool use to have a ro

After five days touring the northeast I was ready to get back to the peace and quiet that is found at the Delaware River this time of year. Started off by taking a ride up to Deposit to check out the WB.  It's muddy but there were rising fish in the usual spot just downstream from the grass island below the 17 bridge.  One boat (the only one I saw all day)  was anchored there with a sport casting at the risers. Stopped at Hornbeck's in search of Dai-Riki hooks (they are out of business and I'm trying to get a lifetime supply of the ones I use),  had a nice chat with Lloyd, and came away with 4 boxes of hooks. Then stopped at the Troutfitter Shop to chat with Dave. He and his brother had fished the BR on Sunday and I wanted a report. It wasn't  good. They saw very few isos and no risers. Dave caught the fish of the day - ask him about it when you see him. Next stop was Roscoe, I knew Dennis who owned Catskill Flies had passed away but was surprised to learn that th

With Don Holton's funeral services and burial  scheduled for mid day here in  Lordville there was no thought given to fishing this morning or afternoon. Went out this evening expecting isos, there  were next to none. It was  slow until about an hour before dark when there was quite a bit of bug activity. There were olives in various sizes, epherons and swarms of midges hovering about head high over the water. The fish got feeding (mostly subsurface)  as soon as the sun was off the water but it wasn't until the moon was the principal source of light that heads appeared and willingly ate my flies. My wife and I are leaving tomorrow morning for a drive up through New England. Not sure how long I'll be gone. If you get any rainy overcast days there should be olives early afternoon on both the BR and UE. Until we get enough rain to take care of the minimum flow requirements the WB will be high and colored. You will move a lot of fish there with streamers but are not likely

Had a number of stops to make in town including lunch at Ruston's Diner (the cholesterol capital of the world) with two old friends that I haven't seen in over a month. Left for camp about 1:00 with hopes of catching the afternoon iso hatch.  By the time I had unpacked and watered the lawn it was 3:30,  a little late for the isos but better than not fishing at all. It turned out that the Cannonsville release had been bumped up again and the increase had just hit where I was fishing. The isos were late hatching and no fish were feeding. Within half an hour the isos started hatching and shortly thereafter the fish started feeding. Unfortunately most of the fish were eating the nymphs. Cast at a dozen rises before a fish ate. In the next half an hour I hooked four fish (including a really nice brown) all at the top of a riff. I landed one ten inch rainbow, one  came unstuck and the brown and a nice rainbow broke me off when they ran down through the riff. Rather than hook and

I've spent summers in Lordville since I bought the "Lordville Estate" back in '91. Don Holton was the Mayor of Lordville then and in my mind he always will be. Received an email from Grace his wife that Don, who had battled congestive heart failure, passed away Wednesday while taking a nap (we should all be so lucky). Spent an hour talking with him a week or so ago never dreaming that I would never see him again. If you live long enough you have to say goodbye to an awful lot of good friends, Don was one. I will miss him, to me he was Lordville. For those of you who didn't know Don and have clicked on this site in hopes of getting some information about how or where to fish on the Delaware, know this: I tried the Big East down low near Hancock hoping to find that fish have begun moving back into their cool water haunts. I found not a shred of evidence that this is happening. Nary a rise. Wait a while on the BE. Fished a couple of pools on the Big River in the

Today was my kind of day, high about 70 and low of about 50. You can do yard work and not have to ring out your clothes, no worries of the streams being too warm to fish and you can take a good walk in your waders without fogging up your glasses. Took advantage of the cool morning to work on the yard. The new grass apparently likes the cooler temps too as it is now growing like crazy. Left camp about 1:30 and drove up to the Troutfitter shop in Deposit to talk with Dave and see how their first year is going. He said the fly shop has done much better than expected. Said there are big differences between what is sold in the shop in Syracuse and the destination shop in Deposit. Next year they plan to have at least three times as many flies on hand for customers of the shop as they did this year. He also said that they had received many compliments about the rooms from both fishermen and other guests staying at the motel. They are planning on having all eleven rooms ready by opening day

Fresh from yesterday's ego boosting day I went out at about 9:00 to fish the BR. It never cooled down last night and it was 70 by the time I parked the car. No tricos to be seen. Hooked a nice rainbow right off the bat and two jumps later - gone. No one loses as many first hookup fish as I do - no one. Ended up having a pleasant and productive morning with risers eating my fly and fish eating my blind casts. The fish were not big but the action was steady - until the sun came out from behind the clouds and the fish just plain shut down. The afternoon was spent looking for my missing sulfur "A" box, last seen at stop two on yesterday's trip. I had foolishly crammed my sulfur "B" box in the same pocket of my vest so that I could show sulfur eaters on the UE some flies their grandparents use to eat. The "A" box was apparently a little miffed and jumped out at the first opportunity. Covered a lot of ground yesterday and I had backtracked all but 10 f

Have to admit my ego was a little bruised by the results of my Sunday/Monday fishing. Got up with the intention of putting things right. Had breakfast, packed a lunch and left the camp with the temp 62 degrees. Plenty of time to get to the UE before the trico spinner fall. The trico "hot spot" already had three cars parked and I didn't even bother to slow down. Farther up stream I found an empty pool where I actually saw several tricos. There were rising fish from the get go but they weren't feeding on tricos they were eating midges. I have lots of midges in my trip boxes but none in my vest. Had to do some judicious pruning of my smallest flies to get in the game. Some of the fish ate my cobbled flies like it was just what they were looking for, while others ignored my offerings. All in all it made for three hours of fussy fishing and if I had quit then it would have been a good day. Ate my lunch and drove farther up the UE to where the sulfurs and olives are hatch

Today was a tough day for me. Tried some pools over on the BK this afternoon. Three pools, three rises, two hookups and one 15 inch hatchery brown landed. The BK is just not ready for fall fishing, yet. I was O for three with my raincoat. Put it on two times and the sun came out and I got sopping wet inside the "breathable" jacket. Don't care what it costs buy GORTEX. The third time I left the raincoat in the car and a brief shower came over the hill out of a bright blue sky and just poured on me. At 6:00 I drove up the PA side of the BR. There were two boat trailers and two wade fishermen at Buckingham and seven cars and a boat trailer at Stockport. When I looked at the Junction Pool parking lot from Rte. 191, the lot was empty. When I arrived in the lot, not five minutes later there was a car parked and a guy wading upstream. While I was standing there two more cars (four fishermen) pulled in. Left and headed downstream to a place that has been good to me a couple o

It's Sept 1st and the releases from all three reservoirs have been cut back, Cannonsville to 400, Pepacton to 133 and the Neversink to 100. Wallenpaupack is generating again so minimum flow targets are being met. If there is no substantial rain you can expect the Cannonsville flow to be substantially increased whenever Wallenpaupack is shut down. The other two releases are more likely to remain constant. Drove down to the camp late this afternoon and saw fishermen everywhere. Looking off RT.17 through the trees at the Balls Eddy take out there appeared to be a lot of boat trailers. Labor Day Weekend has traditionally been a "Last Hurrah" time for many anglers and it seems to be holding true this year. The fishing: Drove over the Lordville Bridge on my way up the PA side and saw no one in the riff. Kept going with the intention of looking at Stockport, Junction Pool and perhaps the gamelands on the WB. Thought about the trailers at Balls Eddy and the likelihood of wa

Yesterday the release from Cannonsville Reservoir was bumped up to almost 1000 CFS before being lowered to 700. Why? The river has been below the minimum flow requirement at the Montague monitoring station for the past few days and apparently the river master has called for the release increase to meet the minimum flow requirement. There has been no power generation from Wallenpaupack during that period and I don't know if they have maxed out their drawdown or if the shutdown is short term in nature. In any event you can expect increased turbidity in the WB and BR during periods of high release. You should be mindful (if wading) that water levels can change without warning. Streamers are often effective in the colored water but I have had fish come up and refuse my dry fly when the water was so muddy I couldn't see my feet.

Some regular readers who know that I usually fish Monday through Friday are probably wondering what happened to Fridays report. Well, here it is. Drove back to Syracuse for an oil change, new tires and my annual physical. The bad wheel alignment that chewed up my tires will be corrected early tomorrow. My wife is fleeing Florida ahead of the storm and I will be picking her up at the airport just before the SU / Liberty football game. Will possibly return To "The Lordville Estate" in time to throw a few flies at BR fish on Sunday night. In my spare time I had a chance to add up the catch totals for August. In number of fish caught it was my sixth best out of my 28 years of record keeping. It was the third best August in the number of rainbows caught, while the number of browns was down quite a bit. Contrary to the usual decline in numbers of big browns that show up in the August catch, the percentage of browns over 17 inches was one of the highest in the years I have kept re

Did you ever hit Delete instead of Backspace? Just did and the whole G.D. four paragraphs disappeared. With my perfect Manhattan gone, I'm in no mood to try to recreate my day of driving around the river system. Sorry but if someone can tell me how to find it, I will be glad to publish it. Paragraph 4: It's now 6:30, I've eaten a sandwich, watered the newly planted grass and am heading out to fish the Big River. On a bright sunny day fishing the BR before the sun sinks below the hill is insanity. The fish just aren't there. Get your gear in order, check your leader for knots, clean your line, tie on a new tippet and your very best fly. When it starts to happen there is no way to stop the clock, no time outs or commercial breaks. You have an hour and small change to make or break your day. Tonight there were a few isos, some yellow sallies, lots of olives, swarms of midges and spinners of all sizes on the water that, since the last trico spinner fell this morning, h

Fresh from the success of yesterday's "perfectly planned" day, I had no doubt, looking at the weather forecast, that I could do it again. "Overcast with afternoon and evening showers" the weatherman said. The day screamed olives and isos. If water conditions (temp and flow) permit, there is only one place for me to to be on this kind of day. The Big River. Left camp at 3:15 (after a short snooze) and drove up the PA side. No bugs whatsoever at Buckingham. Stopped at Shehawken for a look see and ended up talking to Tom, an engaging gentleman who was taking out after fishing down from West Branch Anglers. He had seen no olives or isos and very few rising fish. After hearing his report I turned around and headed back down to Stockport where only the green Kia was parked. The owner is a retired, avid fly fisherman who fishes almost as much as I do. Stockport is his favorite "spot" but there is lots of room there and he usually walks way down sometimes t

Today went according to Monday's plan. Worked on the topsoil pile from 9:00 until 11:55. Had lunch, tied flies and left for the UE sulfur hatch. It was quiet when I got there but within half an hour the bugs started coming and the fish started feeding in earnest. Had multiple targets to choose from on every cast but it proved difficult to pick out the dumb ones (there aren't any). Got a big open mouth refusal from a big fish who sits on the far side of the river just on the edge of the current gulping sulfur duns (the ones without hooks in them). Managed to fool half a dozen two year olds that in the UE are a full two inches shorter than their WB cousins. At 5:00 with the hatch still going strong, I left. And (remember the plan) headed for the BR for the iso hatch. The BR had fishermen but nothing like last night. Had a quarter mile of river to myself. The isos may have started earlier (it was overcast and cool) because it seemed they were over earlier than last night. Rose s

Had the best of intentions when planning the day. With the morning temp at 50 degrees, I would work on seperating my pile of gravel and topsoil, mow the grass and water the newly seeded areas before lunch. After lunch, I would to try to hook up with the UE sulfur hatch which had the fish up and feeding last week. When the sulfurs quieted down I'd head for the BR iso hatch. Well, everything went as planned until I came in for lunch and it was already 1:45. Then things seemed to get in the way. Forgot I had to replace chewed up isos, olives, spinners and sulfurs. By the time I had redampened the newly seeded part of the lawn the sulfur hatch trip had been rescheduled for Tuesday. Did a crossword and a sudoku and yes, maybe dozed off for a bit and low it was 5:15. Headed up the PA side of the BR with the intention of fishing Stockport. Five cars and a boat trailer parked there changed my mind. Stopped at Junction Pool (three cars) and looked downstream at the tailout riff, no on

With my wife down in Florida visiting our daughter and granddaughter I hustled through my to do list back home and got back to the camp in time to spend the evening scouting out a couple of pools on the big river down near the camp. One had a few fish but is overlooked by a house in which a fisherman resides. He has made the fish difficult to catch. They look at every fly with their bifocals before eating. The second pool is one of my favorites. Couldn't fish it during the bug hatches this spring because of the high water. If there are any trout in it at present they sure didn't let me see them. Did hook two smallmouths. The second of which ate late in the evening, jumped and fooled me into thinking he was a trout. In the last three days the water temps have dropped to comfortable fishing levels on all of the streams, BUT, if the fish have moved at all it's not very far. Wait for the first good rain that significantly raises the rivel levels before looking for fish

Often times I'm my own worst enemy. I have an aversion to doing the same thing over and over. Earlier in the week I stumbled upon a good mid day sulfur hatch that had good fish up and feeding and I was able to fool enough of them to make it my best day of the week. I didn't go back. Why? See the first sentence above. I'm easily bored, need to explore, try new places, find rising trout around the next bend. Sometimes it pays off. This week - not so much. This morning I fished three pools on the UE between Harvard and East Branch that I hadn't visited this year (and probably won't again). Saw some tricos (not enough to get the fish up), no other fishermen, an eagle, three deer, and not a single rising fish. Caught a nice 18 inch brown on one of my first casts and never saw another fish. Took a moderately long walk to a pool that use to have several fish in it. The huge tree that created the pool has broken up and been swung into shore thus erasing the pool and maki

Sometimes you just need to vent, it's not so much about the fishing as it is the weatherman. Last Saturday the prediction was for hot and humid Sun. and Mon., then a major cooling trend with daytime temps in the low to mid 70's with nights down in the low 50's. Over 3/4 of an inch of rain was to fall on Tues. I was psyched, the river system would be freshened by the rain and cool temps and my new grass would finally grow. Tonight the temp is 68. It hasn't been below 66 all week. The daytime highs have been in the 80's and the rain never showed up. The fishing for me has been on and off, two good days and two rotters. Saved a skunking tonight with a last minute 17 inch brown. Tuesday was much the same with a 14 inch rainbow staving off the skunk. The whys: The water below the thermocline in the Cannonsville Reservoir has been depleted. The temp of the release water is rising and the silty water that was suspended above the thermocline is now coming down the river

Morning olives on the UE and BR have been the most consistent hatch this summer, save for the sulfurs in the sulfur zone. The olives don't come off in big numbers but the fish are looking for them. Always a good thing for dry fly guys/gals. Drove over to the UE where I have enjoyed several good morning olive hatches. The river was in fog but you could see well enough to make out the occasional fish rising to sip something off the surface. One thing for sure, they weren't sipping olives. There just weren't any. Threw at rising fish (mostly one and doners) for almost three hours and got but five to eat (landed three). Drove back to camp and occupied myself until about 5:00 when I went out again. Tried three places, all above Hale Eddy and never saw a good fish rise until after 8:15. If you want/need to work on your casting/fly presentation (and who doesn't?) fish the daytime sulfurs up around Deposit. There are loads of yearlings (now 8.5 /9.5 inches) and they aren'

Opted out of the morning fishing to take advantage of the "cool" morning air to do yard work. By 11:00 I was soaking wet and dead tired. A long time neighborhood friend walked over just as I was quitting to say hello after spending a week in the hospital with congestive heart failure. We had a nice chat and before I new it it was noon. Cleaned up, had lunch and decided to read a book rather than go fishing in the bright sun and heat. About 4:30 I headed up to the UE to look for the sulfur/olive hatch. Instead of bugs I found fishermen, at least one in every pool I wanted to fish. Did a uie and headed for the lower WB. fished a fast run for about 45 minutes without seeing a bug hatch or a fish rise. reeled it in and went to the BR. Temp when I got into the river was 70.4. Waded out a little further and got 68. Decided to stay and give it a try. There were next to no bugs or rising fish. Hooked three rainbows and landed but one, got refused on a variety of flies and retur

Got back to camp at 11:30 this morning. Ride down had pavement still wet from last night's rain and a solid overcast sky. Perhaps olives this afternoon. By the time I finished lunch the sun came out, burned off the clouds and turned it into another very warm day. Left camp at about 2:00, made a couple of stops in town and then headed up to the UE in search of olives and rising fish. On my first stop I walked down to the river and it was covered with bugs and rising fish (good ones). A thought might just have crossed my mind about just how smart I was to be in the right place at the right time, if I hadn't noticed that they weren't olives but the 11:00 to 1:30 UE sulfur hatch. In the right place for the wrong reason again. Fished for about three hours, caught four nice trout in about 15 minutes on a strange little fly they couldn't leave alone. Then all of a sudden they could. Spent the rest of the time changing flies and tippet while occasionally fooling a fish. Wh

As most regular readers know, my fishing is done Monday through Friday. My bride is in charge of the weekends and this weekend is our 34th wedding anniversary. We had originally planned a three day trip but the forecast for rain each day led us to postpone the travel until sometime after Labor Day. The net result is that I fished today and am now obligated to write the report. It's a Friday and it is noticeably different from the rest of the week. Traffic on Rt 17 picks up by early afternoon with people heading out of NYC for the weekend, more trailers are parked at takeouts, more drift boats are on the river, cars are parked by pools that haven't been fished all week, no vacancy signs appear at motels. In short the Deposit/Hancock metropolitan area comes alive. So what does that have to do with a fishing report? Nothing. Except that on Friday it becomes harder for me to find the solitude I need to truly enjoy fishing. Finally he is going to talk about the fishing. Thi

Last night I got back to the car at 9:05. The night was clear, I was on the Big River facing the western sky and there was a full moon just coming up over the hill. Tonight I was fishing into steep bank that blocked the sky, it was overcast and the moon hadn't risen yet. I was heading back to camp at 8:25. Its mid August and the days are getting shorter by 2.5 minutes per day. I don't like it, but it's going to get worse before it gets better. Fished the BR this morning with good water temps and expectations of big things. Life is full of great expectations and sometimes no bugs or rising fish. Never saw a bug hatch or a fish rise. This evening, with dire predictions of severe thunderstorms and 1 to 2 inches of rain in the forecast, I kept close to the car. Went to the UE and steered clear of the fish that beat me up earlier this week. Found rising fish in an empty pool (a guy had just quit after leaving a fly and tippit in a fish) and got some to eat until they backed

Did a split day again today. With the August nights getting longer the rivers have a longer time to cool off and the morning fishing opportunities are increasing. The Sulfur Zone offers the only real opportunity for fishing to rising fish during the mid day. When the sun goes behind the hills things pick up again and there are feeding fish to be fished to wherever water temps are below 70. Today I was able to fish the BR both morning and night. The morning fishing was all blind casting. Never saw a bug hatch or a fish rise except to my flies. Rose five fish, three ate and stayed stuck. All nice 17 and 18 inch rainbows. About 6:00 I tried the upper gamelands. There were no bugs or risers until the sun went behind the trees. Saw two large olives on the water and a few Stenos in the air. Risers were one and dones (due to lack of bugs). Caught one 12 inch brown and a couple of yearlings. Thinking it was about seven, I decided to leave and try junction pool. Got to the car at 7:49

I've always felt that if you get fish eating duns off the surface, you can't ask for anything more. Well over on the UE late this afternoon there were olives and there were rising fish (lots of 'em - good ones too). The roofs of their mouths were so far out of the water you could have checked for cavities. They were happy, relaxed and feeding steadily. I slowly worked my way into casting range without alarming them and made my first cast. It floated down to a nice fish that rose, opened his mouth and when he started down I hooked - nothing. The half dozen fish rising around him all stopped feeding. My next cast was to a fish a little downstream. He ate the fly and tore all around the pool. When I landed him there wasn't a rising fish to be seen. The fish settled down and began cautiously feeding again (some not more than twenty feet away). In the next two hours I cast only at rising fish. Changed flies many times and got a total of two more refusals and one take by a

Arrived at camp about noon and elected to take care of chores around camp rather than heading out fishing in the midday sun. With water temps lower than they have been in weeks the upper pools of the BR were in play and I fished there hoping to find Epherons (white flies) and or Isos. Epherons are a warm water loving fly that hatches, molts, mates and dies all in the hour just after sunset. The hatches can be prolific but are dependant on the water during the summer being quite warm. The hatch on some rivers can be so thick that you can't see your fishing partner standing across the river from you. I've seen them on the BR at Junction pool in modest numbers and on the lower river near Callicoon in numbers that could sink a boat. I saw none tonight. What I did see were a few Isos. There is a big hatch of them usually around Memorial Day and then they hatch sporadically during June and July. Sometimes in August there is a second hatch of them that gets the fish up top feedin

If someone tells you he is killing them on tricos, find out where and tell me. Took another trico trip up the UE this morning. Was actually early as I arrived in East Branch with the temp still 64. Glassed every riff I could see from there to Long Flat and never saw a waxwing or a trico. One car was parked at the "hot spot" but I saw no one fishing. There were no tricos where I fished, not in the air, water or even in streamside cobwebs (a good place to look when scouting). They are long over due and I, for one, have no explanation. Decided to blind cast a small spinner for a while and was glad I did. In about an hours time I rose three fish, hooked two and landed one. Was about to reel it in when there were a couple of rises, then a couple more and then I saw an olive. Olives don't come in a concentrated hatch like Hendricksons or sulfurs for that matter, but the fish LOVE them. Within fifteen minutes there were fish rising all around me. To be sure, not all of the

The thunderstorms of the past three days have continued to affect the fishing on the Delaware system. Last night's rain hit the Beaverkill which peaked at about 1100 CFS. The warm muddy water went down the EB and into the Big River raising the water flow, temperature and turbidity. After crossing a morning trip to the BR off the list of options, I settled on a reprise of yesterday's 11:00 sulfur hatch on the WB. Got there ahead of the bugs and had a pool to myself the entire hatch. The hatch started a little late (11:30) and ended a little early (12:45). There were decent bugs and lots of risers. Unfortunately (at least where I was) all the risers were yearling browns between 8 and 9 inches long. Hooked one two year old that was just short of 13 inches. Returned to the camp and watered the new grass before looking at the radar image of T-boomers heading our way. Tied a few flies while waiting for the storms. My nap was cut short by the crash of thunder announcing the storm

With an overcast morning and good water temps the upper reaches of the BR seemed a good bet. Tricos and olives were on the menu and I was hoping for generous servings of both. Didn't happen. There were some tricos and I hooked two fish on them but it was hardly a feeding frenzy. Olives were even scarcer. Reeled it in after less than two hours and drove over to the WB for the eleven o'clock sulfur extravaganza. There were sulfurs and boats on the water when I got there but just yearlings were rising. By 12:30 the hatch had ebbed and the fish quit feeding. Went out again about 6:00 and drove through showers on the way to the UE. Donned a raincoat and fished an empty pool near Harvard. There were rising fish eating something too small to be seen by the human eye. For the most part they ignored my offerings (every cast was at a rising fish) and kept right on eating. Did manage to get a few to eat an assortment of my tiniest flies but never really had what they wanted. Hooked a

Some days are diamonds, some are just the stones in my pile of topsoil. With the temp on the porch at 6:00 this morning 54 degrees, I had lots of time before heading up to the UE in search of tricos. Went outside and attacked the pile of topsoil. At 54 degrees its a little harder to work up a sweat. Was about to head back in to the camp and get ready to go fishing when my neighbor came out and joyfully announced that her car was ready to be picked up and could I please give her a ride. She has been without wheels for over a month, I fished yesterday. After making sure her car started, I headed to the UE, it was 70 degrees when I got to East Branch and I never saw a waxwing, trico or a rise from there to Harvard. What I did see, however, were fishermen in the two best trico spots on the UE. If you need to know about the trico hatch on the UE, ask them. One has a red Ford pickup and the other drives a small black SUV with Jersey plates. Drove back to camp and tied flies, ate lunch

Was up early this morning but had enough things that needed doing that I didn't get back on the water until about 4:00 this afternoon. Fished a run on the UE that was good to me last week. It gets early shade and there have been afternoon olives enough to get the fish looking up. Last week it was big fish, today not so much. I caught a 18 inch holdover hatchery fish right away and it was the fish of the day in a cake walk. The rest of the fish I caught there were all within 1/4 inch of 11 inches long. The UE is a prolific breeding stream and it usually abounds in yearling fish. The fish in the UE do not grow as fast as those in the WB. Most of the trout born in May of 2017 in the WB are now about 13 inches long. Their UE cousins born at the same time are now about 11 inches long. The UE has big fish but first they have to get big enough to eat their grandchildren. When the olives waned and the sulfurs had just started to hatch, I departed. Decided to try the WB down low. T

Did house and yard work this morning and then took the time to tally up the results of my fishing in July. Keeping in mind that I do not count yearling fish (those that hatched in the spring of 2019 and are now 9 inches long) this July was the third best in the 28 years that I have kept records on the Delaware. The brown population through the system seems healthy. The population of big (over 17 inches) rainbow trout is down. There are very few rainbows over 2.25 years of age now in the system. There are a good number of rainbows that are 2.25 (about 15 inches long) and 1.25 (not quite ten inches long) in the system. Historically in July the number of browns over 17 inches caught drops off significantly while the number of rainbows over 17 inches caught remains fairly constant. This year the large rainbow catch rate hit an all time low of 7% in July. The validity of my catch records are influenced by several factors: As a wade fishermen I have been unable to fish much of the riv

With yesterday being cloudy and the nighttime temps dropping into the low 60's the upper BR was once again available for early morning fishing. Last weeks morning fishing was very good and I was looking forward to taking up where I left off. The bugs? - There weren't any (actually I saw zero tricos and three olives). Risers? Saw a total of four, all to far away to cast to. The fishing? Sometimes you have to just put on a fly and "blind" cast. A friend said "It isn't blind casting, it's prospecting". I say it's nymph fishing on top. Whatever you want to call it, I did it for two hours. Rose six fish. Two said no thanks. Four nice rainbows ate and I landed them all. The best one was an 18 incher. Two fish an hour on a bright sunny morning when there no bugs is like making ---- Didn't go out again until 5:00. Should have waited another three hours. Fished a big slow pool on the UE where there were a few fish casually sipping the odd su

In over thirty years of fishing the Delaware I've never seen bugs behave the way they have this year. Hendricksons wouldn't end and the drakes wouldn't start and when they finally did get going the went almost into July. The Tricos should be on both branches by now but the only fishable hatch I've seen was on the big river. The summer sulfurs are something you can usually depend on. Be in Deposit by 2:00 and fish until 5:00. This year I've seen them at 11:00 and at 7:00 and everywhere in between. How have the bugs affected the fishing? Well, if you are where the bugs are hatching you are into feeding fish. If you are standing on the Town bridge in Deposit at 2:00 and see no bugs you have two choices, either fish where there are no rising fish and hope the bugs come or go and find where they are hatching. The first two weeks of July I tried the first option and struggled. There just weren't bugs where they were "supposed to be". In week three I start

After yesterday's UE bonanza there was no question where I was going this am. There were two cars parked on the lower part of the river at trico spots and two fishermen in the pool I had fished yesterday. I was unable to see waxwings or tricos anywhere from the Sunoco station up to Shinhopple. I wasn't the least concerned by the fishermen or lack of tricos as I don't go back to the same pool two days in a row and I was going to fish the olive hatch and spinner fall - except there weren't any olives, spinners or risers. Reeled it in after half an hour and drove over to the WB. At 10:00 it was already hot and I was glad to get into the cold water. Fished an hour before I saw the first olive hatch and it was 30 minutes later that the fish started to rise. Most of the rising fish were yearlings and even they showed little enthusiasm for what was a reasonably good olive hatch. Trudged back to the car at 12:30 and returned to the camp. If there was air conditioning in the c

Left Lafayette about 6:30 this morning hoping to fish a trico spinner fall on the Upper East branch. With the temp already at 66 degrees the chances of getting there in time were slim to none, but you never know. At Binghamton the car thermometer hit 70 - no hope of arriving on time now. Was pondering my next move when I drove into the WB fog at Deposit. The temp plunged back to 66, maybe just maybe. The BE water is too warm for fog and the temp began to rise again. I kept going anyway and sure enough there was fog on the river at East Branch and the temp went back to 66. There was already a fisherman at the best trico spot on the UE (they must be hatching I thought) so I drove on up the river to the next vacant pool. Was so anxious to get to the river for the spinner fall that I didn't notice that there were no waxwings in the air (or tricos either for that matter) until I was right down to the water. What to do next? Stood there watching the bugless water flow by when a fis

Played a triple header today. Early morning on the BR where Tricos were no shows and the olives made only a token appearance. Fish were looking up and most risers gave my fly at least a look. Early afternoon on the UE was indeed sulfur time. Good hatch, bright sun and clear water made for fussy fish. Late evening found me on the middle section of the WB. The fish there are relatively well rested but have completed their doctoral program. Got refusals by spinner sipping fish in the dark. The fishing? For me remains good. Today, not counting yearlings (now about 9 inches long), I averaged a couple fish per hour. You are not going to do that standing in line at one of the sulfur hot spots. Most of the river system is not getting fished and you need to go where the fish are less pressured. The fish are as much of a challenge as you could ever want but you have the room to move from fish to fish instead of standing in one spot casting to a fish or two that know you are there and exactly w

Neglected to say in yesterday's report that the Tricos I saw were on the BR. Today I started out on the lower WB and there were none. Tricos aren't overly fond of cold water and are only found in the lower portions of the UE and WB. Without Tricos the waxwings were nowhere to be see. There wasn't a bug of any kind for a good hour. Noticed a waxwing over the water and within minutes started to see olives. There were never many of them but they got the fish looking up. Had one brief flurry of rises but for the most part it was a blind casting morning. Sucked it up and went to the "Sulfur Zone" this evening just to see if the gentleman on the UE was giving me good information. He was. Fished a short way below Deposit and there were sulfurs (a good hatch) from when I got there (at about 6:00) until dark. Is my arm sore from fighting fish? Nope. There were feeding fish everywhere (anglers too), but I saw exactly one fish eat a dun. All feeding was subsurface. It wa