Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 With the weekend coming up it's time to take a look at where you should be and just as importantly when you should be there. Mornings - If you enjoy solitude this is the time to be on the river. Historically, I've done well fishing some of the areas where the water just gets too warm later in the day. Fish are always looking to eat, spinners, caddis, small olives and yes, tricos are on the menu.  Pick a spot away from the crowds, enjoy the beauty of early morning on the river and maybe catch a fish or two. Midday - So far this year I'm the last person on the planet to be giving advice on where to find the midday sulfurs. If you were to ask me where to fish, the best I can say is don't go where I go. Haven't been in one good afternoon sulfur hatch yet this year.  Yes, I've seen sulfurs and some feeding fish but nothing to compare to the evening action. Are the sulfurs hatching mid day? Well, on several occasions the water where I am fishing has been filled with

Spent the morning tying smaller sulfurs and polishing off the Monday and Tuesday crosswords and Sudoku's (they are the easy ones). Had lunch and about 1:30 I drove up Lordville Road on my way to fish the afternoon sulfurs.  About halfway up the hill there was a large rattlesnake dead in the road. It had been run over, probably last night.  Some road kills are accidental, others are by people that find joy in the kill. The timber rattlesnake population in NY is a small fraction of what it once was.  If  you chance to see one on the road, do your best not to run it over (they don't make any effort to get out of the way),  take a picture (from the car window), and let it live, they need all the help they can get to survive. In case no one has noticed, it's summertime. The Beaverkill is up over 70 degrees almost every day, the number of boats on the river is probably only a third of what it was a month ago, the DRC is showing more pictures of river flow graphs and mayflies than

 Jean and I left for home right after the Lordville fourth of July parade yesterday. There was almost no traffic heading west on 17 (no drift boats or fishermen in the river either) and north on 81. Both the east bound lane of 17 (heading to NYC) and south bound lane of 81  had traffic but less than a normal Sunday afternoon. Came back down today again in moderate traffic.  Don't know when most of the long holiday weekenders drove home. After taking two and a half days off  spending time with Jean, I was ready to atone for Saturdays embarrassing performance. Got to Deposit about two thirty and saw neither bugs nor risers in the long pool below the iron bridge in Deposit. My river friend Mike was fishing above the bridge which I took to be a good sign as he doesn't waste time where there are no rising fish. Drove down to the middle section of the WB and found a modest afternoon hatch of Dorotheas with fish rising to eat them. Put on the waders and fishing vest (how the vest can