Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 I don't know what happened to all the wade fishermen that I thought would be on the river this weekend but they just didn't appear in the numbers I expected. Perhaps they all bought boats or were being rowed down the river in one of the countless guide boats on the water today.  The Balls Eddy  and Shehawken takeouts were all filled with trailers and anytime you got a view of the WB there was a line of boats as far as you could see. After  two trips up the UEB without  seeing a rise yesterday, it was an easy decision to save the gas today. Hendricksons and apple caddis SHOULD be hatching on the UEB but they ARE hatching on the upper half of the WB.  There were a good number of trailers at Buckingham but nothing compared to the Balls Eddy and Shehawken takeouts. This would seem to indicate that while the BR is probably coming out of the doldrums, it is not "on fire" just yet. The fishing - The trailers tell the story. The WB has the bugs, the boats and the ...

 Friday was something of a transition day on the river system. The UEB release was cut back Thursday and and most of the ethical drift boaters opted to fish other water.  The waders were quick to see the change and both Long Flat and Powerline pools were lined with cars.  The rest of the UEB had fishermen in every pool. Thursday I found apple caddis, Hendricksons and rising fish. Friday I saw the apple caddis, a few Hendricksons and no rising fish.  Judging by the number of anglers standing along the bank, it wasn't just me that failed to find fish. The BK and the EB are now wadeable but appear to still be in the doldrums. There were a few boats on the EB and the wade fishermen were concentrated on the BK. The BR will see it's first wade fishermen this weekend. It's high to be sure but knowledgeable fishermen will be able to fish the edges.  Haven't been on the BR since late in April. There are sure to be March Browns, gray foxes and perhaps even sulfurs down ri...

With all river flows out of my comfort zone, it was an easy decision to go home and spend  time with my wife. When the weather prediction for the next few days called for reduced wind, warming temps and no rain, my wife "suggested" that we do the shopping for the new couch that is to go in her "Fem Den" yesterday afternoon, so I could, "get an early start in the morning".  I obliged, we did and then I did.  Was on the road by 9:15 this am. The streams were still very high but the big bug season is well underway I wanted to fish.  Had not a clue where to go until I checked the the stream flows and found that the Pepacton release had been cut way back and that the UEB was wadeable  Make no mistake, there were drift boats, lots of them, there were a few wade fishermen too but you could get in the water, there were bugs (apple caddis) and there were rising trout (FYI there was also a sneaky upstream draft).  From 1:30 until 4:00 there were bugs (always caddis ...

With all rivers in the Delaware system well above safe wading levels I decided to spend the day catching up on things that have been neglected with my irregular comings and goings. Did some yard work, put one and a half coats of red paint on the new screen door, did a good camp cleaning, spent a delightful  hour on the phone with a fellow Delaware River fisherman who I have scarcely seen since the pandemic and made a list of items that I need to bring down on my next trip. It being only six o'clock I decided it was a good time to try to answer your questions. Jack M.-  I'm not usually one to get out on the river early unless I am reasonably sure something good is going to happen (tricos) or if it promises to be so hot that fishing is limited to early and late hours (my split days). That said, the Hendrickson spinner falls are always worth attending.  The problem is no one (at least I) never know exactly when they will occur.  I'm quite sure they are temperature relat...

The rain last night didn't help wade fishermen one little bit.  When I first looked this morning the Hale Eddy gage was at 2,400 cfs which is well above my cut off point for wading the WB.  The rain had stopped sometime before 5:00 this morning and I watched the Oquaga gage go steadily down.  By about 9:00 the Hale Eddy gage was also dropping rapidly.  When I left the house at noon the Hale Eddy gage was only 140 cfs above my go level. I went. Surely by the time I got in the river it would be down to 2,000 cfs. Funny thing, the top of the big block of old concrete that sits in the water where I enter was only out of water by about an inch.  Yesterday a good four inches were showing. The bugs:  Wow!!!  Never saw so many kinds of caddis hatching in such big numbers, from the time I arrived at about 12:30 until I left at 5:30 the surface of the water was just covered with them. Badly outnumbered but trying hard were the mayflies, with tiny olives, paralep...

 It's Sunday evening, a time when I'm usually home with my wife. Tonight, I'm down at the fishing camp.  Why?  The stars aligned. The USGS gage at Hale Eddy reported the flow at 1,900 cfs, (below  my personal 2,000 cfs cut off point for wading the WB).  The weather forecast was predicting an all night rain of about 3/4 of an inch (which will probably send me home again tomorrow morning).  Rumors were being circulated by driftboaters of their hammering of the fish on great Hendrickson hatches on the WB the past few days. Left about ten this morning, which gave me time to unload at the camp, turn on the heat and then head back up to the WB.  Arrived about 1:00 to find apple caddis hatching (without a hint of sunshine).  It took a few minutes to see risers.  Even the caddis emerger rises (normally splashy and easy to see) looked like the trout were smoking weed. They just knew. The Hendrickson hatch built up slowly, as did the fish's feeding,...