Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  The WNST won their first game and the sour cherry jam came out just fine. Time to answer some questions. Jack -  Says he has to clean algae off his little sulfur flies every third cast. Either Jack is very good at dodging algae with his dry flies or he is making two casts out of three with algae on them. I check before every cast. Seriously, the algae above Hale Eddy is bad this year. It is probably a good idea, given the pressure in the "Sulfur Zone" to give serious thought to fishing the last couple hours of the day down river where at least you can cast sulfurs without turning them into olives. Ed Smith - Wonders why the sulfurs are so inconsistent this year. So do I, and everyone else. Water temp is the biggest factor. The Doretha's like to hatch when the water reaches the low 50's, which depends on the amount of sunshine, smoke and rainwater. The number of bugs hatching and the length of the daily hatch I would suppose depends on how successful the sulfurs were...

  I'm home. Why? No, not because the fishing's no good, I'm no quitter. In fact I fished this afternoon up in Deposit in a hatch that was so good that it had fish up feeding for a good twenty minutes. The hatch intensity dwindled off and so did the feeding fish. There were bugs and occasional risers at least until I reeled it in at 2:30. Hooked and landed three fish and was refused by fourteen more. So why am I home on a Friday? It's sour cherry jam canning time, Jean bought the cherries and pitted them, and we canned the jam this afternoon. As of now all jar tops have "popped" (love the sound) and the first two batches have already set up. Everything looks good. Second reason I'm home is to watch the USWNT (soccer) play their first match in this years World Cup, tonight at nine. I don't watch TV (commercials drive me crazy) but soccer has blown off TV by playing two forty-five minute periods. They stop for nothing. TV has to cram all their ads into th...

  With all of the camp chores seen to by Wednesday I had no excuse for not heading up to Deposit for the afternoon sulfur hatch. I now have an excuse. Got there a little before two (the only good afternoon hatch I've seen went from 3:00 until 4:30) and saw sulfurs right away, several of them. The waxwings were out over the water eating every sulfur that hatched. The fish? Never saw a rise. Was on the way back to the Lordville Estate for the afternoon nap by 3:45. Was back in the car at 6:45 and arrived at a pool below the Barking Dog takeout just as the sun was going behind the hill. There were no bugs for the first fifteen minutes and then the sulfurs made their appearance. Not nearly as many as last night farther up river but enough to get some fish up. Hooked two of the first three I cast to and was refused by the third. Thought "Oh boy", that thought was dashed when at least the next ten fish I cast to ignored me completely. Over shot two fish, let both casts drift wa...

  Again opted out of the afternoon sulfur fishing in favor of mundane chores around the camp. When I looked at the clock it was just three and I waivered for a minute, then sat down and tied some of the sulfurs that worked so well Tuesday night. I needn't have bothered.  Left the camp at 4:30 and drove up to Deposit and circled the "Sulfur Zone". The busiest part was up around Stilesville although the river from Deposit down was much busier than Tuesday. Saw lots of wade anglers, and a marked increase in the boat traffic down to the Barking Dog takeout. There were still a few bugs at Stilesville and I did see a rising fish along the far bank. Saw neither bugs nor risers from Deposit to Hale Eddy. To be fair, 5:00 to 7:00 is the dead period between the hatches. Talked with anglers at Stilesville who said their were bugs and risers but very few fish hooked. Downriver at Barking Dog the report wasn't as rosy. The fishing - It started promptly at 7:00 when the sun went be...

  After yesterday's experience fishing the "afternoon sulfurs", I was in no hurry to go back. In fact, I decided that I would get the mowing done in lieu of fishing.  Also watered and staked up the tomatoes, tied a half dozen sulfurs, did the Tuesday crossword and sudoku and still had time for a nap.   About 6:00 I headed out,  with a desire to see both how many fishermen were on the river and where they were fishing. It didn't take long to find out. Drove up rte. 8 to Stilesville and there was a picket fence of anglers attacking the fish along the far bank from Cold Springs Brook all the way down to Butler Brook. To my delight, there was virtually no one below Butler brook. At almost 7:00, to my dismay, there were also neither rising fish nor hatching bugs. Stopped to chat with two river friends who were getting  ready to fish. Between the three of us there is over 150 years of flyfishing experience. What chance do the trout have? Gave thought to fishing f...

  Drove down this morning in a heavy blue haze as the smoke from the Canadian fires has again come our way. Arrived at Deposit at 1:15, not a bug to be seen. Continued on down to the Lordville Estate, put away the washed clothes and the food, put up the new hummingbird feeder (old one was hit by a falling apple tree limb during last weeks pruning and was cracked), made two sandwiches and headed back up to Deposit so I wouldn't miss the afternoon sulfurs. Spent over an hour driving around the "Sulfur Zone" looking for sulfurs and rising fish. There were sulfurs and fishermen from the Red Barn up to Cold Springs Brook. Not a lot of sulfurs and far fewer fishermen than were there yesterday in the high water. Saw a refusal to an angler's cast, which was the only  rise I saw until I actually put on the gear and waded into a pool The fishing - The afternoon just wasn't fun. Saw a few sulfurs and a few risers, got refusals from the risers and caught two seven inch trout....