It's a game changer

 On Friday they bumped the flow up to 625 cfs, on Monday it was raised to 925 cfs, then dropped back to 600 cfs.  Why? Minimum flow requirements at Montague. Pursuant to an agreement reached by those parties affected by the Delaware River flow the River Master is to maintain a minimum average daily flow of 1750 csf at Montague. If the power plant is running at Wallenpaupack a good deal of the water is supplied as a result of the power generation. If, however, Wallenpaupack is not operating at full capacity the River Master will call for any flow deficiency to be made up by running water from the NYC reservoirs. With the near drought conditions there will be a continued need for water to be supplied by the NYC reservoirs. The amount to be supplied depends on if the power plant is running and for how long. All fishermen should be aware that flows will be changing on an hourly basis.

In addition the water beneath the thermocline is fast becoming depleted. It happens every year in the fall. The water being released will be warmer and will contain the silt which was suspended above the thermocline. Most years the water turns gray and is more hazardous for wade fishermen as it becomes harder to see eel holes and trip stones. Trout have no trouble coming up and refusing your fly in the muddiest water. Just a guess but with this summer's dry conditions and the absence of "gully washing" rainstorms, perhaps there will be less color in the water than most years.

The fishing - For the last six weeks you didn't need to read fishing reports to know where to go, and what flies to fish, you didn't even have to look at the releases. Now you do. The Sulfur Zone  will be out of play for most waders when the release is at 1,100 cfs like this morning. Doesn't matter as the rest of the WB that slept through the last month will come alive again with the increased flows of cold water. There will be an increase in bug life (probably mostly olives). It will take the fish a day or two to adjust to the water temp and flow increase but there should soon be good daytime fishing. Was on the middle section yesterday from three-thirty until dark. It started slowly but by five there were lots of bugs and feeding fish.  If you go be aware of water levels. An increase of 500 cfs is no small matter. If you have worked your way across the river before the rise getting back to the car might well entail a long walk or a dangerous crossing.     

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Had To Get Out The Neosporin For The Tooth Cuts On My Index Finger.

  To say the Delaware  is a hard river to figure is an understatement. Yesterday was an overcast day that had fishermen thinking olives. Turned out the water was probably too warm for olives and too cold for sulfurs, in short, a dud. Today the air temp was a little cooler, (I think), with a mix of sun and clouds and the sulfurs, (both yesterdays and todays), hatched. The fish? At least where I was, went nuts, threw caution to the wind, and ate everything that came down their feeding lane, both with and without hooks. Heard from two sources that the sulfur hatch at the red barn was also very good today. If my last report on the red barn sulfurs was erroneous, blame it on Ed who has been in Hawaii for the last two weeks, (hence no reliable red barn reports). The fishing mid-day was so good, and the number of fishermen in the "Zone", (it's Friday afternoon), so high, that I decided to fish down river during the evening hours. Fished a pool in the middle section from 6:30 unt...
Read more

Fishing A Cold Blow From Out Of The North.

  Jean came down and we spent the weekend watching wildlife in the backyard, driving around the area and enjoying two "nights out", one with David and Maryann, (the apprentice Troutfitter Inn cleaning lady). A shout out of thanks to her for spending four hours on the road to have dinner with us. Not sure the company or the meal was worth the drive. We drove up to Stilesville to witness the hordes of anglers, and then along the reservoir all the way up to Walton, where we usually stop and go in some of the shops. It was threatening to rain so we elected to keep going. It was raining on top of the mountains but we took route 206?? to Downsville anyway. We hit the rain part way up the mountain and then drove down the other side to Downsville in a torrential down pour. Came out of the rain at Downsville and drove down route 30 with the intention of checking  out the trout in some of the BK's thermal refuges, saw the muddy water at "Jaws" and drove back to the Lordvi...
Read more

Don't let that that rain come down.

 My South Holston river friend, (one of only two people who will fish with me), (the other is currently on injured reserve), is up for a visit (he brought his boat) and today we floated. There might have been some question about where we chose to float (no one else launched where we did), but we enjoyed the fact that we never saw another fisherman, let alone another boat, on the river all day. The weatherman might well have gilded the lily a bit when he predicted a chance of showers and a high temp of sixty degrees. It rained all day, and the temperature peaked at fifty three degrees. When I read the forecast for the rest of Mark's stay (rain for the next four days) I was thankful that we got in the day that we did today.  How was our day? We sucked it up, paid an extra $5.00 to launch (didn't have the proper change), parked in the wrong place (got a note from the owner where we put in), never made it to the predetermined takeout place, and had a delightful day counting bugs (...
Read more