Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

Had time this morning to fish before heading home. Chose a place on the big river, the water level and temp were ideal.  The air temp and wind were another matter. There were neither bugs nor risers and I was relegated to blind casting for the entire three hours I fished. Have always been one who enjoys blind casting. Why?   You get to cast, which I enjoy.  It makes you a better caster.  It teaches you where the fish are.  Every once in a while you get a fish to come up and eat your fly.  Never have seen a fisherman who is standing with his rod over his shoulder looking for risers catch a single fish. So how did I do?  Turns out I was prophetic.  Yesterday I said you would be fishing mostly for smaller fish but that there would probably be a couple of chances at a big fish every day.  Started off having a big rainbow eat a caddis and tear into my backing before coming unstuck.  The next three fish were small browns under 10 inch...

Things are almost back to "summer" normal.  By that I mean the rivers are almost at early summer flow levels, all are reasonably clear with levels safe for experienced waders. The predicted temps should keep the freestones below 70 degrees and thus fishable this weekend. The weekend outlook - Don't get your hopes up.  The fish are still between the banks, there will be bugs hatching and fish rising but almost every rising fish in the river system has been caught at least once (some many more times). So?  For sure they don't enjoy the experience and will do all they can to avoid having it happen again. Can you catch fish?  Yes but things need to be kept in perspective.  In 2018 (the latest figures I have seen) it took the average angler 4 hours to catch one fish. The hatches that get every fish in the river feeding on top are done for the year. You will mostly be fishing  to one and two year old fish but remember, every time you cast at a rise it could b...

All of the streams were hit by the early morning gully washer so I stayed in camp, lent some order to my fly boxes, made repairs to a few battered flies, tied some new ones and watched the graph on the Beaverkill hit 3,000 cfs of very muddy water. If things settle down enough I'll probably drive around this evening looking for a place to fish. With time on my hands this afternoon (it was hot, sunny and way too early to fish),  I looked back on the reports since I sent out since my last thank you.  Geoff, Ed, Marty, Dick and Thomas have all taken the time to share their experiences or offer encouraging words (or both). Thanks to you all!!!  It's nice to know at least a few fishermen are reading my ramblings. About 5:30 I couldn't stand sitting around any longer.  Drove up both branches (BR, EB and BK are a raging muddy mess).  The WB was quite clear and fishable above Oquaga.  Even below Oquaga down through the "NoKill" it was clear enough to fish and wa...

With the warm weather likely to put the freestones over 70, thunderstorms predicted for early evening and my wife due to arrive at noon with clippers and scissors there was no choice but to fish early. Found fish feeding on a morning sulfur spinner fall.  The feeding lasted about an hour and a half  after my arrival (they were going when I got there) and after finding what they wanted to eat, was into fish, one after another. After the haircut and an early dinner we enjoyed a leisurely drive along most of the two branches and the lower couple miles of the BK. There were fishermen in every pool on the UE and a few anglers fishing the BK and BE (both of which were over 70 degrees).  There were lots of fishermen wading and floating the WB and the BR down to Buckingham. The rains that came this afternoon and evening were hit and miss coloring some of the tribs while leaving others low and clear. At 9:00 pm the effect on the river flows was minimal.  There are more ...

After yesterday's morning debacle (no bugs and four lost rainbows), I was anxious to right the ship.  With the weather forecast calling for two days of high 80's, this morning offered a "last chance" opportunity to fish the BE. I took it. Although the temp was 46 at 6:30 there was no reason to dillydally as you could watch that little red line scurrying up the thermometer. Was in the water fishing to rising trout by 9:00.  To say the fish were careful about what they ate was an understatement.  In a riff where there are always iso loving rainbows, I got seven refusals (some of them indignant) on my best iso emerger. Finally hooked and lost one on a pattern I've never even tried before. Once down in the pool, things went better. Refusals were equal to or exceeded takes but there were enough of both to make it a really nice morning of fishing. In the car heading back to camp at 12:30.  My wife is coming down tomorrow so I split the afternoon into quadrants - wat...

Monday morning with reduced crowds and cool temps gave me no warning of what was to be.  Delayed my departure until 9:00 to give things a chance to warm up and then headed for the big river. The bugs must have forgotten to set the alarm and over slept. Nothing on the water or in the air. It was almost 11:00 when the caddis showed up, the fish remained unimpressed. At about 11:30 the first olive appeared, rubbing the sleep out of its eyes.  At last a few fish stirred.  Saw not more than a dozen rises in a run that two weeks ago was full of fish.  The olives continued to hatch in modest numbers but the fish lost interest. The wind began to blow and this fisherman lost interest too. Returned to camp, had lunch, mowed the lawn and had a nice chat with a fellow fisherman who spends time in a camp out in the suburbs of Lordville. About six I headed out again, filled the car with gas and decided to go and say good bye to the Beaverkill until fall. The BK is running b...

Because the Covid-19 virus has eliminated a couple of the things I do when I'm home in Syracuse, (Saturday morning gatherings at the Troutfitter and Monday lunch with old friends)  I have spent additional time social distancing here in Lordville.  It has resulted in me trying to find places to fish on Sundays.  Time was when almost everybody fished Sunday morning then headed home leaving the rivers empty on Sunday night. Not this year.  Once again there was no place for me to fish. Left camp about 3:00 and drove around looking at bugless water from Lordville to Downsville to  Deposit to Hale Eddy and back up to Corbett. Finally found an empty pool about 6:00 that had a few sulfurs hatching.  Had no sooner gotten into the water when a car with three fishermen in it pulled up right next to mine. They had apparently reserved the pool as they all waded right in and watched me wade right out. Driving down RTE 30 about 7:00 there was a blip, blip, blip noise ...