Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

After fishing for the last six days straight I am at a loss to explain where the big bugs (isos, green drakes and brown drakes) are. I've been on the Big River, Big East, Beaverkill, West Branch and Upper East Branch. There have been iso husks on the rocks of the streams for the past two weeks. Saw one Green Drake spinner fall and one iso hatch on the BK. A handful of Green Drake duns and spinners on the Big East. A few Green Drake nymph husks in the West Branch. But I have not seen a major hatch of any consequence anywhere. The concentration of both wade anglers and drift boaters in the "sulfur zone" above Hale Eddy would seem to be an indication that it's over. It is June 15th after all and with global warming this is now late for the big bugs to be making their appearance. With the wind that has blown all week daytime fishing has been frustrating. There were bugs and some rising fish but fly presentation was challenging to say the least. Evening fishing (...

Fourth straight day with high winds. When the wind blows like it did today, morning spinner falls are taken off the menu. Any meaningful dry fly fishing during the mid afternoon period has to be done in places protected by windward hills or steep banks. Even then gusts blow both up and down the river seemingly at the same time. It has only been in the last hour or two of daylight that the wind has "laid down" and allowed anglers to cast with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Fortunately the last couple of hours of daylight has had bug hatches, spinner falls and feeding fish. It was calm this morning when I headed out back to again try to catch my first fish this season in the Lordville riff. By the time I got in the water the "breeze" had picked up and within 15 minutes it was blowing a good twenty. I did, however, catch my first Lordville riff fish (a 9 inch rainbow) before heading back to camp. Drove to the UE for the afternoon fishing in hopes of finding ...

Today had possibilities, moderate rain, heavy overcast, cool temperatures - it literally screamed OLIVES!!! And where I fished they came. But first you need to know that I drove from Lordville to Corbett and from Corbett to Deposit, stopping at every known vantage point. I never saw a single fish rise. The best I could do was sit on the Shinhopple bridge and watch cedar waxwings fly out over the water to eat mayflies. The fish below them apparently didn't care as they weren't rising. At about 4:00 when one of the days many showers let up, there were fish rising in the deep water just above the town bridge in Deposit. Suited up and when I got close enough to see, there were tiny olives all over the water. There were also a few of the larger sulfurs. Waded into the pool above the bridge and - saw no risers. Walked up to the tailout of the upstream pool and got to cast at but three fish. For some reason the trout just weren't interested in the olives. On my way back to ...

Today I decided to gird my loins and take on the West Branch, boats and all. Started the day about 10 am on the lower WB at one of my favorite morning places. There is too much boat traffic there for me to fish late in the day but it can usually be fished early in relative solitude. It's a long walk in and out but the fishing is usually worth it. Today I was back at the car in less than two hours. Saw a few sulphur spinners, no other bugs, no fishermen, no boats, no risers and never rose a fish in over an hour of blind casting. Have no clue what the fish were doing but they weren't eating on top. Round one to the fish. Returned to camp and took the storms off (perhaps a day early?) and after lunch, drove up to Deposit to fish the sulfurs. Saw a couple of Troutfitter regulars, one in the shop and one on the river. There were enough bugs to get the fish up but it took a better fisherman than me to get them to eat a fly with a hook in it. In two hours of fishing in a stiff br...

My camp is near the river and I find it helpful to leave the porch light on and check the screens in the morning to see what is hatching. Often the duns molt on the screen and I get an opportunity to preview the coming spinner falls. As a general rule, rusty spinners in a variety of sizes will serve you well. If, however, you know what spinners are likely to be on the water it is helpful to match both the color and size of those on the menu. Last night there were a variety of spinners on the water and the trout weren't fussy at all.

Woke up this morning to find the BK was blown out and muddy. The EB and BR were rising rapidly and would both be too high and muddy to fish. Was I upset? Not in the least. After fishing two "split days" I was tired. The forecast called for bright sun, high pressure and a 15 to 25 MPH wind. I've seen that mix all to often this season and it hasn't been kind. Decided to do yard work, tie flies and take a nice nap. If the wind layed down - maybe - but if not it would be a DNF (did not fish). By 5:00 o'clock I was a bit antsy (it's tough to go cold turkey). Took a drive to better evaluate the situation. Outlook, bleak - BK, BE and BR all high, muddy and unfishable. Was surprised to find the UE also muddy/stained up as far as Harvard. There were fishermen from Harvard upstream trying their best to fish in gale force winds. Turned around at Corbett and drove to Deposit where the same wind was (at 7:00) still blowing. Most of the fishermen there had called ...

It's June 10th. The last two days of bright sunshine and 80ish temps put the water in the freestone portions of the river system close to the 70 degree "do not fish" mark. My log books tell me that the fish will in all likelihood be heading to thermal refuges within the next two weeks. With the weather person calling for a cloudy day with morning drizzle turning to a steady rain there was no doubt where I would fish. Departure was delayed when my limimg of the yard turned into a more time consuming project than I anticipated. Was not on the big river until ten. The cornutas (a big olive that often hatches mid morning this time of year) were hatching and the fish were eating. Cornutas taste good and the fish dine on the emerging nymphs before even looking up to eat floating duns. My late arrival spared me the early hatch frustration as the fish were happy to eat my dun. Just as the hatch was ending (it doesn't last very long) it started to drizzle. For once I r...

After two days home taking care of chores. I Drove down early and was on the river by 9:30. It looked like a good plan when I hooked my third rainbow in the first 45 minutes. Then things came to a screeching halt. With no bugs or rising fish to be seen, I called it quits about 11:00 and returned to camp. The next fish I saw was at 4:30, when an unlucky 9 inch brown ate my fly. He was then, in turn, promptly eaten by the second biggest brown I have ever seen in the Delaware River system. Played both fish for about five minutes with the big brown unwilling to give up the meal. When I got her up close enough to reach for her with my net she opened her mouth, let go of the 9 incher and slowly swam away. The nine incher? Seemed no worse for the experience and darted away as soon as I put him back in the water. Never saw a bug hatch or a fish rise from then until about 8:30 when a sulfur spinner fall got fish rising. Was able to find enough fish willing to eat my fly during the spinn...