Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 Well into my perfect manhattan I feel duty bound to give you a sobering report. I've been at this fly fishing sport a long time and with the possible exception of Adrian Lasorte I'm on the river more hours a year than anybody. I fish hard and try to use what I've learned over the 35 plus years I've fished the Delaware to help me (and you) be successful.  I've had a very good week, one in a long string of very good weeks. But, it's getting harder, much harder. I've used the DRC fish of the day photos as an example before, with the same caveat - they have good experienced guides - it's not their fault. Before you come, scroll down through the DRC fishing reports and look at the number of fish pics vs river flow graphs and may fly pictures. If you come (any you should) all fishing time during the day should be spent in the Sulfur Zone which you should now treat as ending at the barking dog  ramp.  Evening fishing (after the sun goes behind the  hill ) can ...

 Spent a long day on the river yesterday (Wednesday) and was so tired that I hit the sack without my Perfect Manhattan (you probably don't have to use caps on both words but if you don't capitalize Manhattan spell check goes nuts). Got to the river in time for the early sulfur hatch and where I fished, I was way too early. Peak of the hatch lasted about twenty minutes and all it really did was show me that yes, there were good fish in the pool. The rest of the four hours was spent working on the occasional fish that rose to take one of the sulfurs that hatched either before or after the apex of the hatch. Perseverance produced what would, in other years, have been a nice days catch but it was something of a grind.  Called a time out (I get two each half plus the TV timeouts) during which I ate my sandwich, was accosted by a member of the Deposit Men's Club for sitting in my car with the motor running and my foot on the brakes (brake lights were apparently annoying), while I...

 Talk about putting my casting recommendations to a test.  Yesterday I fished the red barn in a sneaky draft (10/15 out of the south with gusts up to 25).  Adrian was there guiding a long time fishing friend of mine and another sport. To say that finesse was removed from the game was an understatement. Saw a good bug hatch, lots of rising fish and both my friend and I hooked fish under difficult conditions that kept everyone else out of the pool. Later in the day after escaping two storms I walked a good distance to fish a fast run with a lot of structure. The sulfurs started about eight and the fish shortly thereafter. There were half a dozen fish rising along the vee downstream from a big boulder. Caught the fish in the slack water inside the vee, hooked and lost one of the two fish feeding on the near side of the vee but got only refusals from the fish feeding on the other side. Clearly have work to do on my casting. 2022 must surely be the year of the fox. Saw one at ...

 The two most important factors in catching fish on a consistent basis are your casting skills and the flies you use (more on flies later). If you can't consistently float a fly, drag free, down a fish's two inch wide feeding lane, you just aren't going to catch many fish. Last week I had occasion to watch two very good casters throwing tight looped 85 foot casts, presumably at rising fish. Actually stopped and watched the first one for a few minutes he was that awesome.  Both fishermen were fishing downstream from me about a hundred yards,  it was a little foggy the second night and I was otherwise occupied casting at the fish rising in front of me but you notice things and I noticed the first night angler hook (and lose) a fish,  Didn't see the second night angler catch anything. Simply stated, dry fly fishing success requires accuracy far more than distance. If you want to improve your fish catching you first need to improve your casting.  How? For starters, ...