Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

Was surprised when I realized that two weeks had gone by since my last Q & A session. Last week I substituted the Beaverkill piece as I thought it raised interesting questions.   Will comment one last time on it before moving on to the latest questions.  Not sure if everyone is aware of how good a predator man is. When I began fishing and the DEC stocked only yearling trout and everyone kept their limit of ten.  A 12 inch trout was a trophy on most streams and a 14 incher was fish of the year. It was not until catch and release fishing became popular that catching larger fish became possible. The lower section of the Bk was not heavily fished when I started fishing there and catch and release was just getting popular. That there were some big trout in most pools was a combination of catch and release and light fishing pressure. Although I saw the Hendrickson hatch decline after the three major floods of the early 2000's the population of big fish (especially the ...

 The new weather pattern continues to bring thunderstorms almost every afternoon/evening and today was no exception. If Jim N. had given the GPS coordinates for his 10 to 2 sulfur bonanza I might have had my fill of catching fish and missed todays rain.  With no one giving me any useful tips I left the fishing camp (bet you wonder what I did from 6:00 am until 2:00) at about two, stopped at the Troutfitter for more tippet and then began the search for sulfurs.  If they were hatching at the Red Barn or up in Stilesville, I missed them. They sure weren't going in Deposit, Hale Eddy or any of my viewing vistas in between. A little discouraged by the fickle flies unwillingness to provide anything reliable but a late night hatch, I decided to fish a piece of water I haven't visited in probably ten years. It was about four o'clock and I thought that maybe I would be in it for the long haul, put on the second shirt and stuffed the raincoat in the back of my vest. Was I ever glad...

 After a night of heavy thunderstorms that blew out everything but the upper reaches of the two branches, there wasn't much question as to where both the wade fishermen and the drifters would go.  What driftboats there were, put in at barking dog and drifted downstream throwing streamers.  The waders headed up above Oquaga where the water level and clarity were fine for wade fishing.  Hopefully, tomorrow morning, DRC's blog will show a bunch of pictures of big fish that ate streamers. The waders above Oquaga, at least while I was there, had water too cold to entice a sulfur hatch.    About 3:30 I got out of the river and into my car. Drove down to Hale Eddy where I saw more sulfurs hatch in five minutes than I saw in an hour up in Deposit.  Did I fish?  No, never saw a rise, the water was high and as bloggers like to say "stained".  Drove back up stream and picked a spot below Oquaga where I knew I could wade, and fished.  There were a f...

 Slept until 8:00 this morning, had breakfast and went out to do some yard work.  In less than an hour I was as wet as I was after my muskrat encounter. It was an easy decision to forego what has been a somewhat futile search for the afternoon sulfurs. Up graded the flies in the olive box, tied a couple emergers, a spinner and three stenos. Fell asleep doing the crossword puzzle. Awoke in time to put together part of the barn, finish the male cardinal and insert the female cardinal into the 1,000 piece jig saw puzzle that Jean brought down last weekend. By five o'clock I was antsy, but there were severe thunderstorm warnings until six, so I waited until almost six-thirty to depart. Saw three adult deer, two with single fawns on Lordville Road. Also saw two turtles both smaller than a saucer making their way across the road.  Usually I encounter turkeys crossing the road but have yet to see one this year. Is he ever going to get to the part about the fishing?  Well, y...

July fishing continues to be like a yoyo, up and down. The summer sulfurs need to grow up, settle down and hatch when they are supposed to.  Seems I've experienced this problem before and will take a look back in my logs to see if they shed any light on the problem. I know the midday sulfur hatches are temperature sensitive and we have had some unusual circumstances to deal with. Clouds often keep the temp up river below the threshold for good sulfur hatches, rain water on many days actually raises the water temp making it possible for the sulfurs to act like mini march browns and hatch sporadically all day long. Ninety degree days with sun might well have the sulfurs hatching before anyone is even looking for them and then there is "The Surge" effect to consider. Right now being in the right place at the right time is the the key to success but being there may well require a session with a psychic or use of a Ouija board. The fishing  -  It was more like Ed Zern's Ex...

Spent the past two days relaxing with Jean.  We took in the annual Lordville 4th of July parade, enjoyed a dinner at the new Pheasant Tail Tavern in Deposit, watched fireworks from our back porch, took one of our many drives around the area and actually found a couple of roads we had never been on before. Jean departed this am and I tackled some yard work that had been postponed by the rain and got ready to go fishing. By 1:30 I was on the road, by 2:00, I was fishing, at 9:30 I was still fishing.  Thank God for the nighttime once again, for not only did I get floored by a muskrat (second dunking of the year), I got humiliated by the trout.  On the 1st and 2nd I had my way with the fish, two of my best days of the year, was puzzled that DRC fish of the day pics showed water graphs. Not any more! I fished hard, if not well, was knocked on my rear (in the WB) by a muskrat, must have had over thirty fish come up and lift an adipose fin on my fly, and if it wasn't for the las...