Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

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...