On improving your success on the Delaware.

Those who read my ramblings regularly know that occasionally I come up with a suggestion that helps them be a better fisherman. Sometimes I point them to a part of the river system that I think will be hot and it actually is. But sadly, most of you who read this blog start your car at your house knowing where you are going to park and where you are going to fish. You remind me of a broken clock that is right but twice a day. I'm sure you've had good days where you go but if you follow the hatches and try new places you are far more likely to find success on a regular basis.

Back, it must be twenty years ago, when I knew the survey takers on the river, we played a game of hide and seek. They said they knew where everyone parked their car and where they were fishing - except me. They made it a point of finding me and most days they were successful. Why? They wanted to find out what I caught and where.

The reason for fishing different places is quite simple. Hatches generally move up river on each of the streams. Because of the temperature differences hatches start and end at different times on each of the rivers. I've spent a lot of years studying the wheres and whens and every so often I get it right. Last week (which was the best dry fly fishing I've ever had in over 30 years on the system), I fished in over a dozen pools and was seen catching fish in only one pool (you guessed it- on the WB). This despite giving hints galore as to where it was happening.

Being where it's happening, without being told GPS coordinates, takes lots of looking with more than a few disappointments. If, however, you are adventuresome and want to explore, here are some hints that will, with a little bit of luck, help you be in the right place at the right time.
1- The farther away from reservoir releases, the sooner the hatch starts (BK, EB and BR have the earliest hatches).
2- The hatches move upstream on each river in the system.
3- You need to learn the order in which bugs hatch and the approximate gaps between hatches.
4- If you follow a hatch upstream to it conclusion near the dams, often times the next hatch is well up the warmer rivers.
5- It's cheating but looking for where the guides are floating will help you identify where the best bugs are.
6- Before you buy a boat, know that drift boats are often into bugs and fish for only a short portion of the day/trip. If they float out of the hatch - game over. Waders can often get in their car and find another place where they can fish to rising fish. All for less than the price of a shuttle.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Had To Get Out The Neosporin For The Tooth Cuts On My Index Finger.

  To say the Delaware  is a hard river to figure is an understatement. Yesterday was an overcast day that had fishermen thinking olives. Turned out the water was probably too warm for olives and too cold for sulfurs, in short, a dud. Today the air temp was a little cooler, (I think), with a mix of sun and clouds and the sulfurs, (both yesterdays and todays), hatched. The fish? At least where I was, went nuts, threw caution to the wind, and ate everything that came down their feeding lane, both with and without hooks. Heard from two sources that the sulfur hatch at the red barn was also very good today. If my last report on the red barn sulfurs was erroneous, blame it on Ed who has been in Hawaii for the last two weeks, (hence no reliable red barn reports). The fishing mid-day was so good, and the number of fishermen in the "Zone", (it's Friday afternoon), so high, that I decided to fish down river during the evening hours. Fished a pool in the middle section from 6:30 unt...
Read more

Fishing A Cold Blow From Out Of The North.

  Jean came down and we spent the weekend watching wildlife in the backyard, driving around the area and enjoying two "nights out", one with David and Maryann, (the apprentice Troutfitter Inn cleaning lady). A shout out of thanks to her for spending four hours on the road to have dinner with us. Not sure the company or the meal was worth the drive. We drove up to Stilesville to witness the hordes of anglers, and then along the reservoir all the way up to Walton, where we usually stop and go in some of the shops. It was threatening to rain so we elected to keep going. It was raining on top of the mountains but we took route 206?? to Downsville anyway. We hit the rain part way up the mountain and then drove down the other side to Downsville in a torrential down pour. Came out of the rain at Downsville and drove down route 30 with the intention of checking  out the trout in some of the BK's thermal refuges, saw the muddy water at "Jaws" and drove back to the Lordvi...
Read more

Don't let that that rain come down.

 My South Holston river friend, (one of only two people who will fish with me), (the other is currently on injured reserve), is up for a visit (he brought his boat) and today we floated. There might have been some question about where we chose to float (no one else launched where we did), but we enjoyed the fact that we never saw another fisherman, let alone another boat, on the river all day. The weatherman might well have gilded the lily a bit when he predicted a chance of showers and a high temp of sixty degrees. It rained all day, and the temperature peaked at fifty three degrees. When I read the forecast for the rest of Mark's stay (rain for the next four days) I was thankful that we got in the day that we did today.  How was our day? We sucked it up, paid an extra $5.00 to launch (didn't have the proper change), parked in the wrong place (got a note from the owner where we put in), never made it to the predetermined takeout place, and had a delightful day counting bugs (...
Read more