Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

As promised.  Jim N. - I use CDC for wings on everything but spinners. Never fish comparaduns or parachutes as I don't think they look anything like the real things (see the Magic Fly). Jack M. - There was no creative writing allowed in any of  the courses I took in college or thereafter. My high school English teacher Mrs. Haskins, (God rest her soul), not only patiently corrected my spelling but encouraged me to go to Duke University (she being from the south) and take up writing.   The isos first hatch in numbers around Memorial Day.  The heavy hatches move up through the river system rapidly over about a ten day period. The fish know when and where the hatch is taking place each day but it's hard to get them to talk. During the next two and a half months the isos can be seen sporadically hatching (as fishermen like to say)in limited numbers. About mid August the fall isos begin to appear on the lower sections of the river system. The colder the water temp, t...

 This is the time of the season when it is the hardest to write an interesting and informative fishing report.  Why? Because it's the same old, same old. By now you know when and where the sulfurs are hatching.  You know it's a good sulfur hatch this year and that there are rising fish from noon until dark with a slower period between four and six. You know there are tiny olives and brownies (just pick up a few and look), isos (don't even bother putting one on in the S.Z., the fish won't give it a sniff), and yes Green Drakes up where the water is really cold (you don't need your G.D.'s either - see isos above). So why am I writing?  Because if I don't the Orvis fishing report page sneaks up above mine and I have to scroll down just to see if anyone has written a comment. Read the fishing outlook (see above) and seek out water that isn't being pounded from dawn 'till dusk. Get away from the red barn, those fish may be the hardest trout on the planet ...

Needed a break from the Sulfur Zone so I did a split day. Tried to time my morning streamside arrival on the upper BR to coincide with the trico spinner fall.  There were a few tricos around but they never got the fish going. When I arrived the fish were practicing their splashy caddis rises.  I knew they were just practicing because there were no caddis to be seen. Usually an occasional caddis will emerge from one of the rise forms (the trout missed it) or you will see caddis in the air. This morning, nothing to be seen but splashy rises. The trout refused or ignored most of my offerings. Caught fish on a caddis, a spinner and an olive but none of the above was the answer. The good news was that there were lots of one and two year old rainbows up feeding. This bodes well for the future of the rainbow population in the BR. Returned to the fishing camp in time for a late lunch, did a couple of sudokus, a crossword puzzle, tied a few flies and maybe shut my eyes for a minute or ...

 It was my intention to try someplace out of the sulfur zone this morning. Put the tricos in my vest just in case and then stuff just happened. Had some phone calls to make, flies to tie, house cleaning to do and presto 7:00 am became 11:45 and you might as well have lunch and tackle some of the yard work. By 3:30 (I never was going to fish the midday sulfurs anyway) I was ready to go fishing.  Drove up to Deposit and was gabberflasted by the number of people in the river, some actually fighting fish. Didn't even bother with the red barn drive by, there were too many to count just standing on the iron bridge in town. All roadside pull-offs as well as the fisherman access lots were full of cars. The only number that was lower was the number of drift boats that rowed past me.   The fishing - Just driving along the river I saw at least half a dozen anglers with fish on and this was after the afternoon hatch.  Neither the fishermen, bugs or fish stopped. I had a run...

Left the Lordville Estate last Thursday to have dinner with friends of over fifty year who we first met on a First English Lutheran couples club (neither Jean nor I are Lutherans) canoe trip. Friday was spent doing the mowing around the ponds. Mario Andretti (Jean) cuts the yard crass but the edges of the ponds are no place for her two wheel turns around corners. With the temp in the 90's and the pond inlet dried up, the trout were in trouble.  Decided to run water down the overflow line from our artesian well to the pond for thermal relief. After a  trip to the local hardware store, one to Home Depot, and half hour of Youtube videos we replaced the leaking frost free outside spigot and made the necessary connections to run cold water down to the pond. Sunday I said no mas and headed for the cold water in the WB. The fishing - There are sulfurs, lots of them, and yes, if you are willing to take a ticket for the next available spot at the red barn (I'm not), there are fish to b...