Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 Back sometime in early May a fox crossed rte. 97 in front of me when I was returning home from fishing. Didn't give it a thought. Probably saw the fox a couple more times before the strangeness of the encounters started to register.  Each time, the fox crossed the road from the shoulder on my side to the shoulder on the other side. I can see him in the headlights but the crossing takes place far enough ahead of me that the fox is well out of danger. Instead of ducking under the guard rail and disappearing in the tall grass the fox stops on the shoulder and lets me go by. It wasn't until I'd seen him a few more times that I became aware that he was limping. If you've ever had the pleasure of watching a fox in the wild, you can't help but be impressed at how light footed they are.  Their feet seem to hardly touch the ground.  Not this one, he is clearly struggling.  Because the encounters take place in the dark with me traveling at 55mph it's been a slow process ...

 I awoke Thursday morning to a nice steady rain, we needed it. Looked out at the BR and it was up a bit but clear. Looked out a couple hours later and the change was remarkable. By noon it was at 7,000cfs and a roiling orange in color. DRC reported that the WB was muddy in front of their compound but the river at Hale Eddy wasn't that high.  Same with the east side of the system, Both the UEB and BK were up but seemed to be still at fishable levels.  The numbers just didn't add up until I walked outside and listened to the roar of little Humphries Brook. The heavy rain fell between Hale Eddy and East Branch.  The tributaries were all pouring huge amounts of water into the system while up north the rain amounts were more modest. So what? Well by late afternoon the upper half of the WB was very fishable as was the BK and UEB. The drift boaters and almost all of the wade fishermen had concentrated on the WB above Oquaga Creek with almost every boat taking out at barking...

 Yesterday I suggested that you go to the BR about 7:00 for some sure fire action. Well today you didn't have to wait 'til seven. It was a BR day from the get go, good water temps and a cloudy, misty sky usually means the BR fish will be willing to eat all day long. So who fished the BR? There were but three trailers parked at Buckingham and I never saw a boat downriver.  Why? Well there was a south wind blowing up river at 10 to 15 mph, no fun for the guy rowing the boat. Left camp about 9:30 and drove up to Buckingham to see if there were any trailers scheduled for a shuttle downstream.  There were none. Fished a piece of the river well below Buckingham for four hours without seeing any boats, fishermen, or bugs and not more than five rises to anything but my fly.  It was wonderful, the fish were looking to eat and my fly was the only item on the menu.  Spent the afternoon finishing up the thinning of the peaches on one of the three peach trees, replacing and ...

 Yes, today is the longest day of the year, with 15 hours and 14 minutes of sunshine and an extra hour and 23 minutes of  twilight to fish in. Tomorrow will be a full second shorter but I've resolved to enjoy the day to it's fullest rather than waste time lamenting the pendulum's inevitable swing toward December 21st. Back in the day, boxing had a three knockdown rule. If a fighter was knocked down three times the fight was stopped and registered as a TKO.  Well yesterday I took my third hard face planting fall of the season. Loss of balance? Not really, it's just a case not picking my feet up as high as I used to. My boot catches on a stick or tree root that is sticking up just a little bit from the ground and splat, there I am, flat on the ground. Did it again yesterday afternoon walking back to the car on a well worn path after checking out the Methodist pool. Drove back to the Lordville Estate, took two advil and dozed off until 6:00 when I headed back out for the e...

I'm back in Lafayette helping my wife restore order to the house after the instillation of new carpeting. Jean has gone to the store so it's a good time for a break.  Jim N. asked about the sulfur hatch and if the "Sulfur Zone" was starting to come alive.  First of all, there are two different sulfurs that make up the bulk of the sulfur hatches on the Delaware River System. The Invaria is the larger one and it appears as early as the middle of May (some years even earlier down near Callicoon). It is one of the banes of my existence. I spend more time unsuccessfully  looking for the Invarias than any other hatch. I seem to have no trouble wading into places where great numbers of their empty nymph husks are floating by but being in the right place at the right time for the hatch seems to escape me. The hatch generally moves up stream but is temperature related so it can jump ahead and then reappear again downstream the very next day. The invaria are a good sized bug (t...