Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

On March 29th  (just two short weeks ago) when I authored "To post or not to post" I expressed concerns about the harm that could be done by encouraging people to come to the river to fish.  At the time the  New York DEC was encouraging people to go fishing (responsibly).  On the other hand Delaware County had just come out with a directive asking people not to visit their county. In making the decision to post it was my intent to serve as a voice on the river, stressing the need for all anglers to observe the recommended social distancing directives while calling out those who showed wanton disregard for the efforts being made by health officials and the general public to "flatten the curve".  I have done that. However, since the date of  the first post the New York DEC has amended their directive and asked people to fish locally.  FUDA has written their members urging people to stay home and all fishing related businesses along the Delaware River...

Despite the social distancing requirements currently in effect, I have had nightly visitors at the fishing camp.  Bats!  One each night for the past three nights. Caught the first one (in a landing net) and released it outside.  Second one (I thought it was number one returning) will not bother me again. The third fly by in my living room was last night (clearly another bat). Spent the morning searching for possible entry points and then closing them up. Have not seen the bat yet tonight and don't know if I've closed off his entry/exit path with him (or her) in or out. Didn't leave the house to fish until 2:45.  The wind wasn't a factor and the 65 degree temp made for a pleasant day.  There were a few bugs hatching and I saw a few fish rise. If the fish were close enough to cast to, the results were good. A nice 18 inch brown was fish of the day.  The fishing lasted but a couple of hours. There were a number of wade fishermen scattered about the ri...

The Lordville Road runs four miles from NYS Rte 97 to PA Rte 191. The three miles from 97 to the manikin house in Lordville is a twisting and turning down hill run.  If you are coming from Hancock on 97 and make the turn onto the Lordville road with any speed, you can put the car into neutral and actually coast the entire way to downtown Lordville. The road then crosses the Delaware River and runs for the last mile to 191. The road is usually lightly travelled, you might meet a Fed Ex truck, the mail lady or perhaps a flatbed struggling up the hill carrying slabs of bluestone to the mill, but often times you make the entire trip without passing a vehicle.  Until this year.  From the time I arrived three weeks ago there has been traffic on the road. Quite a bit of it actually but it wasn't until a line of six sedans, all shiny new ones, came down the hill while I was going up that the light came on. There have been bike riders, joggers and dog walkers (with dogs actual...

Spent the morning working around the camp.  Migrating birds have begun showing up. The male bluebird returned last week and Saturday he was showing his house to a prospective mate.  The tree swallows showed up yesterday and started fighting over the other nesting boxes. Purple finches finally appeared at the feeder (they were at the feeder in Lafayette last week). It's early days but buds are swelling and the grass is starting to grow. Got two reports from reliable sources of olives and rising fish on the West Branch Saturday. Drove up the West Branch and stopped at a friends house on the river to say hello and see if I could spot any risers.  There were four fishermen in sight with a good fish rising twenty feet behind two of the fishermen who were busy talking. Left the four fishermen and drove downstream. Stopped at the lower game land parking lot where there were no cars and walked down to the river.  There were a few olives and there were several risers in t...

Today I planned to take my first drive around the river system this year.  Left the camp about 1:30 and drove up the PA side of the big river. They are attempting to fix two areas of 191 upstream from Equinunk and have reduced traffic to one lane with stop lights at both ends.  Got two long reds.  Buckingham had three trailers and half a dozen cars. Two anglers were fishing near the launch ramp.  Talked with one of them who had seen rising fish and about 15 anglers at the game lands. Said he didn't like that many people and had come down river to get away. There were little stones, tiny caddis and assorted smut on the water with several fish rising up in the slow water. Journeyed up the big east, lower Beaverkill and upper east seeing a few bugs but only a couple of rises. Covid-19 - The river by usual standards wasn't crowded BUT I saw several boats with two and three fishermen in them.  Also saw numerous SUV's all of which had two or three fishermen in them...