Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

Home recovering from a very enjoyable week on the river.  Somehow I'm never too hot to sleep after standing in 50 degree water for six hours.  Not so in Lafayette. Fred Z. - Good to hear you're still a loyal reader.  I never have kept track of the miles.  I start from home with a full tank (down and back equals about 2/3's of a tank) and I always have to fill up once during the week.  Sometimes need to add a squirt, sometimes not. Walter & Dennis = Couldn't begin to imagine the knots I could tie with a 20 foot leader.  I use Trouthunter's finesse 12 foot five x leader and tie on a 3 foot length of the Cortland 6 x fluorocarbon. Steve - It's always crowded, especially during "big bug season" (April 20th to June 15th). It's crowded again when the sulfurs start up in the summer because all of the action is concentrated in the uppermost part of the West Branch.  In the fall when the water temps cool and the fish migrate back from their therma...

It's Friday.  I'm a little tired, the painting project has been adding 3 hours a day to my "work" schedule and it didn't disappoint me one bit to wake up this morning to a drizzle that cancelled both the painting and any other outside projects that might have been farther down the "To Do" list.  It was time to get my fishing gear organized. Went out to the car and got my olive box and two of the three sulfur boxes and brought them in to be reorganized.  Tossed out some of the flies that didn't work or were beyond repair, sat down and tied a dozen flies (sulfurs and olives), applied water shed and put them under a hot light to "cure".  That done, I washed off my wading booties and set them out on the porch to dry so I could contact cement the felt bottoms back onto the the boots where they were coming loose.  Got out my backup pair and put them in the car.  Ate lunch, put a few answers down on the crossword puzzle and might (just might) ...

Spent the morning doing prep work on some of the trim that was peeling and did a permanent fix on the suspected bat entrance hole.  All dirty nasty work that took longer than expected. By the time I finished, cleaned up, had lunch and tied a dozen flies it was 2:15.  The cloudy skies led one to believe that the afternoon sulfurs would be late and they were.  By the time I arrived the wade fishermen had beaten a retreat.  The guided trips are in it for the day, good or bad and with an upstream wind and no bugs by 4:30 it was probably mostly bad. It was bad enough that I drove the loop from Hale Eddy to Deposit on both sides of the river twice.  Saw very few wade anglers, the normal amount of boats, very few bugs, two risers and enough wind to keep me in the car.  At 4:30 it was time to make a choice and I opted to fish out of the wind. From the sewage treatment plant to Cold Springs Brook was out of the wind (comparatively speaking). Most of the boats we...

Those of you who have read the blog for several years probably know that I'm not a big fan of fishing "The Sulfur Zone".  Why?  It's far too crowded with drift boaters and wade fishermen, the carnival like atmosphere is not to my liking, the fish have been beaten to a pulp and finally because I just get bored fishing the same pools over and over again. Yesterday was not much fun for me.  Couldn't find a place to even get into the river until after the afternoon hatch was over.  When I did, a flotilla of boats came by me, all within 20 feet, ( it was no ones fault it was just the result of where I was standing in relation to all the other fishermen),  and most of the fish I caught were so exhausted they were unable to put up even a semblance of a fight. Decided today to take the cure and fish the Upper East (UE).  The hot weather this month has pushed the water temp below Harvard over 70 much of the time. Above Harvard the temp is ok but the flow is at s...

After the weekend off and a short day (of fishing) yesterday, I was anxious to get after it today.  Finished my mandated three hours of painting (gutters and screens), cleaned up, ate lunch and headed out at 1:00.  Drove up to Deposit and just plain couldn't find a place to fish.  It wasn't crazy crowded and other people would have squeezed in somewhere but I like room to roam and what passes for solitude on the Delaware, today, in the "Sulfur Zone" there just wasn't any of either. Drove back down to Hale Eddy and saw some sulfurs coming off in the riff above the bridge.  Decided to try just upstream, saw lots of sulfur nymph husks but no sulfurs and more importantly no rising fish.  Returned  to Deposit and sat in the shade under the pavilion and chatted with Dave who said that the anglers had found the sulfur hatch hard to pin down as to when and where. Got back in the car about 3:30 and drove around.  Talked with an angler who had just finished ...

It turned out to be an interesting day for me.  Went out in our wood lot to harvest some Chanterelle mushrooms that had come up after the Friday/ Saturday rain.  Was stung by a bee while walking on a two plank wide foot bridge.  One of our granddaughters was stung while walking on the same bridge 12 years ago.  Both times the bees had built a hive on the underside of the planking. Went to the Dentist where the last rights were performed on old #14 a molar on the upper left hand side of my mouth that has never complained about chewing on bubble gum or steak.  14 has been drilled, filled, had a root canal and a crown. He is currently circling the drain with extraction predicted within 6 to 12 months. Next stop was the Dermatologist.  When you get to my age you become a little like a mulch pile where things decompose and other things start to grow.  The Doctor said "Everything looks good I just need to hit a couple of spots".  Seemingly half a ta...