Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 The bugs are hatching everywhere. The yellow stones were all over the streamside grass along the bank of the BR in Lordville and on the BE in Hancock this morning.  There were isos hatching in the BK and I saw gray foxes and green drakes at Buckingham at noon today. This morning my screens had more brown drakes on them than I've seen since the flood of '06. Left camp before noon expecting, with the overcast sky and cooler temps, to find big bugs hatching in the daylight.  I did (at Buckingham) but only saw one fish rise there. Drove a good length of the BE without seeing a rise, the lower WB was also bugless at one thirty when I fished a short piece of riff water there. A trip up to Harvard on the UEB also failed to produce rising fish or bugs. Was ready to drive back to the Lordville Estate when I decided to give the BK a look. It was literally a boil with feeding fish. What was on the water?  There were tiny olives, a few green drakes, march browns and gray foxes ...

 By now regular readers know what I think about the day after a front pushes through. With high pressure, a clear blue sky, bright sun and a 15 mph wind out of the north, the trout just won't rise, its a waste of time to even go. I went anyway. This morning I only lasted about an hour. There were march browns and gray fox hatching but not a fish to be seen.  Was back in time to tie flies before lunch. Went back out about two and drove up to Deposit, it was a ghost town, no boats and no fishermen. Was pulling on my waders when an old river friend pulled in beside me.  We shared the pool with a few Hendricksons, caddis and a very few spring sulfurs.  Rising fish? Not so much. We each caught a nice fish but it was slow going. Most of the fish that did rise were juveniles. Dropped down to the middle section of the WB about 4:30 and found a nice hatch of spring sulfurs being blown about in the wind. Was about a half hour before I saw a trout rise but the bugs kept coming ...

Spent the morning fishing a series of pools on the BK.  Why?  Yesterday I saw a few iso husks on the rocks along the shore line and wanted to be one of the first to throw an iso at 'em. The sun was hot and the only bugs I saw were a handful of march browns. Rose three nice rainbows all of whom happily ate the iso (so did several large fall fish). Should have quit at ten but fished two more pools with no joy. Got in the car at noon with the temp 88. With the freestones all over 70 degrees there was no mystery about where I would fish in the evening.  Waited out the first band of thunderstorms and left camp knowing that even with the sun shining brightly in a clear blue sky there would be a second batch of storms. By the time I got to Deposit the western sky was dark gray and the thunder was rumbling. With the river enveloped in fog and the rain coming down I decided to head back down river to try to escape the fog.  Hadn't gone a mile down the road when things got int...

 Having met my contractual minimum daily word requirement with the "Tell me Why?" offering, the fishing report can, comparatively speaking, be short and sweet. The freestones are alive and well with black caddis, sulfurs (well after dark tonight) and gray foxes.  There is also an opportunity in the am for spinner fishing.  However, with the temp predicted to be well into the 80s tomorrow most of the hatching will be after dark. The best hope is for the big bugs to hold off until the front comes through and cools things down.  If they hatch Friday and Saturday it will , in all likelihood, be in broad daylight.  The fishing - Today was not as good as you would like it, but not as bad as it could have been.  Fished the BR in the morning for a couple of hours.  Hooked and lost two nice rainbows and hooked and landed two nice browns.  Basically took the day off, drove up and down the river system mid afternoon and never saw a bug on the water or a rise...

 With little going on midday today I decided to try to answer your questions. Jeff and Dennis - The hatches move up stream and the upper WB is the last place where you see a hatch.  Also some of the bugs (green drakes, ephrons and tricos for sure and I think march browns, to some extent, do not do well in cold water. They seldom appear in numbers above Hale Eddy and so they are not used as an attractor fly there. Without having been hooked on a march brown this year, your fish were probably more than happy to eat them, lucky you. Jonny K. - You've done better than me catching one on a March Brown in the EB. You are correct in identifying those rises as fish eating march browns. I have fished to the rises with duns and they are ignored. Did get a smashing take when I let an emerger pattern be pulled under on the swing. What the fish have learned to do is eat the emergers when they swim up from the bottom and ignore the duns (you still see the big boil). dave - The problem here ...

 Last Tuesday night I was standing on the BE shore looking for a rise when I heard the first toad of the year start to sing.  On the way back to the "Lordville Estate" the road was covered with toads on their way to the river. Wednesday night found me on the BR where the toads were in full voice. After fishing I sat on the porch with my perfect Manhattan just listening to the sound. Thursday found me back on the EB where there was a toad every two feet along the shore each one singing it's heart out. The sound was deafening. I've always loved listening to it. ( It might be worth noting that I'm tone deaf and also love the smell of Off bug repellant).  My Monday morning was filled with appointments and I didn't get on the road until noon. First order of business at the fishing camp was to mow the grass. Didn't set out for the WB until four. By then most of the boats and wade fishermen had departed. Fished a couple of hours and caught one eleven inch rainbow...

We are on the cusp of the "Big Bug" finale for 2021.  Within the next 15 days everything will hatch.  The dragon flies (which feast on the may flies) will lead the parade.  The grass along the banks on the BR and EB is knee high which is about the time for the golden stones to exit the river, climb up the grass and emerge.  The spring sulfurs have almost surely started their march up the river system from Callicoon (I haven't fished below Lordville since the last high water to confirm it).  The green drakes, brown drakes and isos will all hatch within the next  two weeks. The current conditions are both good and bad.  The entire rivers system is low and wadeable.  Drift boaters, however, are currently restricted by the low water levels. The UEB is not floatable at current levels and the EB riffs make floating there a real challenge. With the recent heat wave (temps 20 degrees above normal) water temps in the freestones (BK, BE and BR) have risen i...