Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 With a social obligation this evening (Thursday) I closed up the fishing camp this morning. Will probably forego a return trip until Sunday although it sure feels good standing in waist deep release water all afternoon. The fishing - There is no question now that the trend to smaller trout is real. The fish also get harder to fool on sulfurs every day. I fished for several hours on both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons with very few quality browns to show for my labors.  The rainbows continue to eat the sulfurs but the big browns have done less surface feeding during the day. Evening have found the browns back in action and I have been able to get some good ones to eat my flies. Will try to post a comparison showing the % of both browns and rainbows caught that are over 17 inches by month for May, June and July the last three years.  Don't need to tell you that you earn every fish right now. On the positive side you have no shortage of targets and every once in a while o...

 Noticed that the temperature gage  at Lordville soared up over 76 yesterday.  Thought it strange as the temp started out at around 66 and should have been fine. A close look at the USGS graph  shows the problem as the jagged line turns into a straight line mid afternoon and heads towards the sky.  The gage is broken and currently out of service (at a critical time I might add). There is a big surge on the way down which is designed to take care of today's predicted 93 degree air temp. Speaking of the surge, got caught on the wrong side of the river last night and was surprised by the fog, depth of the water and strength of the current coming across in the dark.  It also explained why both the sulfurs and fish quit early. Yesterday fishing in the Sulfur Zone water was a pure delight. Standing in 45 degree water beats an air conditioner every time. Catching, however, was another story. The fish have upped their game in the last week and refusals, for me, now...

 I'm sure you've all heard (or been) the angler with a fish on his line who hollered  downstream to his buddy "He took a size 18 olive cripple".  And, almost everyone within hearing distance begins looking through their fly boxes for an olive cripple of the same size. Come on, what did the trout really take?  He took a fly in his feeding lane that looked good and wasn't dragging.  Back in the day when everyone kept their ten fish a day, I cleaned many a trout and I looked to see what they  were eating. There ate every kind of mayfly that was hatching, their respective nymphs, a half digested black nosed dace, a flower blossom, a small strike indicator, a Japanese beetle and even a filter from a cigarette (more people smoked then). Fish don't live in a supermarket, they eat what is available. However, in todays catch and release fishing they have learned to be very, very careful about what they eat, that said, they almost never refuse a properly prepared and...