Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

It morphed back into another overcast, drizzly kind of day where the temp struggles to get out of the mid fifties.  The sun loving caddis slept in and never made an appearance. The hendricksons didn't bother showing up until the appointed hour of three. The fishing was condensed into the 3:00  -  5:00 Hendrickson  hatch period and with neither morning caddis nor evening spinners it made for a short day. Found three nice fish in tailouts sipping Hendricksons.  All three ate my fly and all three came unstuck.  Found a good number of splashy risers in the faster runs.  They were feeding in the water column and wouldn't even look at my fly.  If I hadn't let my fly drag in the current while waiting for a rise I would have been skunked.  Was awfully nice to the 13 incher that ate the dangler. When the hatch shut off about 5:00 everything stopped.  When the predicted evening rain started about 5:30 no one had to talk me into heading for t...

Left camp early with a list of things to do before the mid afternoon Hendrickson hatch.  Made a dump run.  Then stopped to see an old friend to confirm that I could still access the stream from his land.  It was about 11:00 and I still had plenty of time to pick up gas for the lawn mower.  Stopped for a look at the river and there were risers - gas can wait - went fishing! It wasn't my original plan but I fished the Upper East (UE), The Beaverkill (BK), the West Branch (WB) and finally at 7:30 put my waders back on to catch the fish of the day in the Big River (BR). The weather -  Everything I write (even if its in permanent ink) may be washed out by Saturday. The wading - It's getting better every day.  The BK is now wadeable.  You still can't reach all the fish but you can try.  The UE is still high but you can get in it in places and you should.  The WB is still a bit high.  Look for levels below 2000 CFS before filling up the g...

If you obsess about water temps and flows you can go nuts and (more importantly) end up in the wrong place (although for the right reason).  Today was one of those days.  Last year, I had a couple of good days on the Neversink.  There are no boats, the water has been warmer than the Delaware and it was at a marginally wadeable level.  All the right reasons to be in the wrong place. By 4:00 I was back on the Beaverkill with a modest hatch of bugs and rising fish.  Water levels also let me get into the Big East where I found rising fish that were utterly unimpressed with my offerings. How'd I do?  Not well.  Fish of the day was a nice 18 inch Rainbow.  Nothing else came close. The fishing - You could - today - wade the Beaverkill and a number of people did.  By tomorrow there will be (if it doesn't rain) places where you can get into everything but the Big River.  You will not be able to reach many of the rising fish you see and you ...

If you didn't give it serious thought, today and yesterday were pretty much the same.  Yes, the air and water temps started out a bit colder yesterday but the sun poked through the clouds enough to get the air temp up around 56 and the water temp to 48.  Today the air and water temps started out quite a bit warmer but peaked at 52 and 45.  I saw the sun through the clouds a few times but it never really warmed things up. You need bright sunshine to heat up the water - it didn't happen.  It rained a bit last night which didn't raise the flows much but kept them from dropping which would have opened up additional water for wade fishermen. So how did that affect the fishing? More than you would think.  Instead of starting at 1:30 the Paraleps began hatching about 2:45.  The Hendricksons that blanketed the water at 3:00 Monday were basically no shows on the same water today. By 4:30 there were lots of paraleps, a few Hendricksons, some olives and even some ...

After last Wednesday's fiasco ( in my 6 hour drive, never saw a rising trout or a bug) I was reluctant to head for the camp.  It was 29 degrees in Hancock this morning.  The water temps were all about 41 (much colder than last Wednesday) and the water flows were at almost the exact same level.  The car was half packed but there was a big green/yellow blob of rain on the radar headed right for Hancock.  I think I'll wait 'til tomorrow I said.  My wife gave me a big hug and said "Just go." Temp climbed into the 50's on the way down and  there was no wind. The yards in Hancock were covered with yellow dandelions.  Maybe, maybe. Unpacked the car, turned on the heat in the camp, ate lunch and headed out.  The Beaverkill was the only wadeable river and at 1250 cfs wadeable means getting out far enough to make a back cast. I went there.  At 2:00 there were a few paraleps on the water.  By 2:15 there were lots of 'em and rising trout (all up...