Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

The first storm hit Lordville at 12;30 and it was a good one. The down spout on the back side of the camp got plugged (cleaned it last fall and again this spring) and water poured over the edge of the gutter, the back porch leaked both where I was supposed to fix it and in a new place (glad I waited). The PA side of the river was muddy from the creek in Equinunk but the river only bumped a smidgen. Doesn't matter, it's too warm to fish anyway. A little later a good one hit somewhere upstream of Deposit (Oquaga never rose a bit) and the river shot up 175 cfs. The east side of the system was untouched. At 6:00 I set out on a recon mission. Got as far as Hale Eddy where  the river was "stained"  the color of coffee with two creams. Turned around and drove back to the 191 bridge in Hancock where the water was gray. There was a good two hours before the dinner bell would be rung for the fish and I knew it was only going to get worse there so I set sail for the UEB just lik...

  After yesterdays effort in the hot, humid weather (morning, afternoon and evening ), for a total of  four fish, it was an easy decision to forego the fishing until evening. Besides I had better things to do, buy aqua seal, patch waders, mix up a batch of fly float, replace the Styrofoam in the Iso box, weed out the beat up flies from the sulfur box, and tie 2023 model perfect sulfurs to fill in the empty spaces, didn't even have time to do a crossword or take a nap. Tuesday I chatted with a river friend and Troutfitter regular who just happens to spend summers where he can sit inside and look out a big picture window onto one of the best pools in the river. He said days have been tough but there have been enough bugs in the evening to get a few fish up and that he has been "Doing OK". Well, doing OK is much better than most people have been doing, so I decided to give it a try, (no not at the pool where he was fishing, that's just not how the game should be played)....

  It's July, the hottest month for river temps, and a day of sunshine sent the BK to 76, the BR to 75, and the EB 72. The fish have had several warnings and most have no doubt made there way to thermal refuges. With even hotter temps expected tomorrow, a surge is on its way down to Lordville to keep the temp at 75 or below. It has been a good run but the freestones are done 'til fall.  The disturbing thing to me is that the WB is acting more like a freestone than a tailwater.  What fishing there has been is concentrated in the last hour of daylight. With the imminent demise of the freestone fishing, I have searched in vain for good daytime fishing and found next to none. There are fishermen to be sure, but most of the ones I saw were standing with the rod over their shoulder looking for a rise. Never saw an angler with a fish on. Never even saw a fish rise.   The fishing - Said good bye to the EB this morning. The water temp got down to 64 last night so I was on...

  Spent yesterday with family dodging rain showers and hiking the trail at Watkins Glenn. Today they are off to visit the other Grampa and I got a pass to fish. Drove down mid-morning on an empty Interstate 81. Both Deposit and Hancock streets were empty and even the world famous Lordville 4th of July parade was sparsely attended. Came away feeling that Fourth of July should somehow always be on a Monday or Friday. There were showers on the way down and the grass was wet on arrival. Had a sandwich, and was tying a few flies, waiting for the grass to dry so I could mow, when a good heavy shower passed through Lordville and postponed the mowing. Put the newly tied flies into one of the Troutfitter's little plastic containers that you get when you buy a dozen flies, and at about 2:00 I headed out to look for a place to fish. The freestones either were, (BK) or would soon be, (BR and EB) over 70 degrees and I deemed them out of play. Someday soon I will drive up Rte. 30 and check out t...

  Back when I first started fishing the Delaware in the late 80's, the release from Cannonsville reservoir was 45cfs for ten months of the year. From June 15th until August 15th it was raised to 325cfs. Additional flow was dependent on reservoir spill, runoff from the tribs and releases to meet minimum flow requirements at Montague. Because the 45cfs flow bared a significant portion of the upper river there were very few caddis above Hale Eddy. The ten months of low flow limited the rivers carrying capacity of trout. It also allowed the river to become much warmer much earlier in the year. How did this effect the sulfurs? During the 45cfs release era, the spring sulfurs (Invaria)  first appeared down in Callicoon sometime around mid May and worked steadily up the river system arriving in the water above Hale Eddy as early as the 10th of June. I often witnessed massive spinner falls usually around the 20th of June.. Back then I was unaware of the two different species of sulfur...