Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  It's not that Chris is prophetic, I just didn't realize that two weeks had gone by since the last WK&TL offering. I did sneak in a couple of quick  answers in regular reports but detailed answers to queries are long over due. Dennis as usual leads all commentators with questions. When blind casting I try to offer up what the fish are looking for even if it's a pseudo. However, if there are multiple flies on the menu I usually go with the most filling meal (it's easier for me to see and some fish are just suckers for a big fly. AJK unnecessarily defended polite and courteous drift boaters. I'm a wade fisherman as everyone no doubt knows, but in the twenty or so years that there have been boats on the river I've come full circle on my opinions of guides. Before proper etiquette evolved, I was not a fan, as a good many of them were rude and disrespectful to us waders. Today guides floating the river are almost all respectful of wade fishermen. What few uncomf...

  Well, the week is over and I'm glad. I'm going into quarantine just in case my week of losing fish is contagious. For the record, I landed 41% of the fish I hooked this week. Today I lost four of the five large fish I hooked (landed the three two year old's (10, 11, and 12 inches) with no problem.  Why did I lose so many fish? Believe it or not, I do give things like that some thought. For sure I lost five big fish this week because of errors I made, but it seems to me that a greater percentage of losses occur when fish have been heavily fished. The fish right now have been badly beaten up throughout the entire system. When they are tired from being caught numerous times, they often get downstream from you and just roll and spin which often results in the hook ripping out. The second reason for losing fish that have been caught numerous times is the manner in which they take the fly. Early in the year I have a lot of three knuckle deep hook removals. Right now the fish ar...

Today was the co-longest day of the year, tying with yesterday. As far as I'm concerned it could have ended much sooner. Stood in the BR with bugs on the water and nothing to even throw at, let alone suffer the indignity of being refused. Everywhere I've fished this week the fish have been between difficult and impossible to get to eat a dry fly, and, the fish I've hooked, have proven to also be difficult to land.  What's going on? Well, perhaps we've had it much too good for much too long. The river is full of big fish. People who are on the river with some regularity have all seen it. Bugs on the water and big fish slopping like hogs. It's over. The big bugs are gone and the browns have switched to eating fish. Sure, once in a while a big brown will get a craving for a sulfur or olive but most of the fish eating sulfurs and olives will be one to three year old fish (seven to fifteen inches). If you're up for the challenge it's a great time to be on the...

  Stay home this coming weekend and cross some items off your to do list and while you're at it think of something nice to do with the wife and kids over fourth of July weekend. Unless things turn around and the bugs start to hatch, (there should be good hatches of Invaria by now), fishing the Delaware is like having a root canal with novacane, it doesn't hurt but it sure isn't much fun. This morning I did what I tell everyone not to do. Went back to the scene of last nights thrashing, just to see if I could at least find out what they were eating, and I did. Got there about 8:30 and it was probably half an hour later before I saw the first rise. Within twenty minutes they were going just like last night. The good part is that I learned a couple of things. First, the fish were feeding on that little black caddis that filled up my car while I was putting away my gear with the interior light on a week or so ago. They are about 3/8's of an inch long and what trout love abo...

  Skipped the morning fishing as I had an appointment for a haircut at Vicky's Unisex Hair Salon up in Deposit. It's right across the bridge from the Troutfitter Fly Shop. If you're new in town and need your hair cut, give her a call, tell her I sent you and you'll get it for the Angler-119 special price of $8.50, (just be sure to leave a generous tip). After the hair cut, I stopped at the Troutfitter and got to talk with Dave and two long time Troutfitter Regulars from back in Syracuse (actually one of them was born and raised right in Deposit). Skipping the morning fishing because I had a hair cut appointment, brought back memories of my work days. Would call to set up an appointment for a will signing, (we went to elderly peoples homes back then), and the client would often say, "Oh, you can't come this week, I'm getting my hair done". By now you're convinced that, three paragraphs in, the fishing wasn't worth talking about, and this time yo...

  With a list of half a dozen items to cross off before departure, I was up early. Spooked "our fawn" who was walking around in the front yard at 5:30. An hour later Mom was in the back yard looking for him. Yesterday the doe walked by the kitchen window on her way to nurse the fawn. Each year the does make a reasoned decision to bring their new born fawns right up close to houses recognizing that humans are less of a threat than coyotes and bears. We have a fawn in our yard almost every spring. Usually I have at least one here at the Lordville Estate but the houses on both sides of me are occupied this year and each owner has a dog. The does know. No fawns being nursed in the yard this year. Having read last weeks comments and noted water temps and the predicted weather forecast, I felt the best place to fish this afternoon was on the WB. Did a drive around and found fewer boat trailers down river than the last two weeks, nine cars parked at the Hale Eddy bridge (it wasn...