Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 Am sitting home watching the water levels SLOWLY recede. With three serious rain events in less than a week the ground is saturated and the tribs are going to be slow to recede. In addition the reservoirs are now at an above average level and the releases have been increased. I believe the releases are supposed to be cut back on September first but I don't have the FFMP plan here at home to check. With all the warm rain water it's hard to tell, but I believe the temp of the release from Cannonsville has been creeping up which would indicate that the cold water beneath the thermocline is about used up. If so, the sulfur hatch may soon be at an end. Frank wants to know about my reject flies. They are lasting proof of my ineptitude as a tyer. Once in a while I sort through them for ideas. Surprisingly some evoke pleasant memories of days gone by. Taylor - Right now I'm tying only duns and they don't work. Ed J. - Positioning yourself in the stream is often overlooked as a...

  The entire Delaware river system is high and most of it is not wadeable ( why is fishable ok and wadeable redlined?). Back to back rainstorms will do that to a river. Just to make it worse the east side of the system got another little squirt of water yesterday which was enough to set back its return to wader friendly levels. The high water has resulted in every wade fisherman trying to cram into the WB between Oquaga Creek and Stilesville.  We've all been there since mid-June and I for one am ready to fish elsewhere. With relatively good water temps the entire system is fishable, if only the water levels would drop. Today I broke one of my cardinal rules by fishing the same pool twice in the same week. Actually I fished it two days in a row and the results were predictable. Wednesday I hooked seven good fish and today I hooked but three. Instead of coming up and eating or refusing my fly many of the fish started up and turned away a good six inches to a foot below the fly. ...

 Today was, for me, full of unexpected surprises. After a quiet morning tying flies and doing a little yard work I set out for Deposit and the sulfur hatch. Got to the top of Lordville road, turned left on 97 and hadn't gone a quarter mile when out of nowhere a fawn bounded onto the road and started to walk across right in front of my car. Hit the brakes hard and rearranged everything in the car (thank goodness I didn't have a five gallon pail of apples this time). The fawn stopped on the solid yellow line, which probably saved it's life, and ran back to mom and the other two fawns. Yes, triplets. The next surprise was an Osprey that dove into the river about 50 yards upstream from where I was fishing and came up with a nice 15 inch trout. With the hatch waning, I waded to shore and walked out on the Deposit bridge to watch a Troutfitter regular fight and land a double (trout and algae). While I was on the bridge, another fawn ran across the road, (this is at 3:30pm in down...

 Not a pretty sight. River across the tracks is bright orange and is peaking (assuming no overnight rain), at 10,000 cfs. Had to go to the grocery store in Hancock so I took the drive up to Deposit. The river is both wade able and fishable from the Red Barn up in Stilesville. With no further rain it will be fishable down to Oquaga for waders by tomorrow. Unfortunately when you cram every fisherman who is spending the week here into two pools it looks like the Salmon River during the peak of the salmon run. If you aren't already here, wait a day or two. If you are here, know I didn't crowd in next to you. There were sulfurs on the water at about 2:30. Put the glasses on the river and saw two fish rise. Hopefully the bugs got going and someone caught a fish.  Me - I took my sulfur boxes out of my vest and tossed about fifty flies I'll never use into one of my reject boxes. Will tie a dozen brand spanking new ones either tonight or tomorrow morning.

 Last Tuesday, I somewhat reluctantly said the fishing was, for me, good. For the week I ended up having two very good days, two OK days and one stinker. This week has started off with another stinker. Why? Well for sure I'm partly to blame. Drove through  Deposit at 10:30, figured I had time to get the food in the fridge, put away the clothes, water the garden and get back up to Deposit in time for the afternoon sulfurs. I did (have the time), but like old people do, I dilly dallied and didn't get back to Deposit until 1:30. Last week that was a half hour before the hatch even started this week it was over, (assuming it happened). Rose three fish, hooked one and lost it (and the two pounds of algae that had built up on the line), in two hours of fishing.  Drove back to Lordville, harvested four tomatoes and one orange pepper from the garden, read the news on You tube and maybe dozed off for a few minutes. At 6:30 I headed up the PA side of the BR, hoping to find bugs and...

 Sitting back home in Lafayette, I'm thankful that yesterday's rain didn't add even more water to the rivers than it did. Weather service said that Hancock area had gotten 2 to 3 inches which would have produced major flooding. As things now stand I will be able to find some fishing when I return tomorrow. Jim N. wants to know if there is room for four on the Troutfitter's "Bench". I say the more the merrier but so far Dennis has not made good on his promise to schedule the event. Darryl - Wants to let drift boaters shoot the Mergansers. By the time the hunting season opens it's too late, the damage has already been done. I think everyone who buys a fishing license and fishes the Delaware should be allowed one "flock shot" per year.  John H. asked about tippet selection. I would definitely use 7X were it not for the algae. The build up on the leader often more than doubles the weight of the fish and I would have to spend twice as much time replac...