Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  It's not easy being me, and it's certainly not easy being Mark. Yesterday was magic, today not so much. Yesterday the guide swung three times and hit three balls out of the park. Today, he never got a ball out of the infield. After a fruitless trip into a spot on the EB where the Hendricksons were done for the year and the fish had already eaten their fill of both Grannom and Apple Caddis, we drove over to a pool on the BK where the water was being churned into a froth by a pod of feeding trout. The only problem was that they were on the far side of the river across a deep channel and impossible to reach. From the BK we went to the WB where the Hendrickson hatch was just starting (2:45). We did exceptionally well on the fish that were feeding within casting range (Mark landed a beautiful 19 inch brown), but most of the fish that were dining on the Hendricksons were well back in a deep water pool  again well beyond our reach. As the hatch waned we drove upstream looking for a

Yesterday was (hopefully ) as bad as it gets. High water, clouds, a cold north wind, frost, no bugs and no risers. As if by magic, at midnight things began to change,  The NYC, DEP cut the releases on both the WB and UEB. The clouds went away, the wind forgot to blow, once again there was frost, but with cloudless skies and bright sunshine the water temps rose rapidly into the bug hatching zone, and the rivers became wade-able.  Mark, the N.C. bone fishing friend and South Holston fisherman, is back to get his boat after being flooded out of his fishing last week. Today, with the water dropping everywhere, we waded. Left the Lordville Estate at 11:30, ate lunch streamside while watching for risers. Before lunch was finished there were fish chasing nymphs and by the time we suited up and were fishing there were both bugs and rising fish. It was that way for the rest of the day. The fishing - During one frenetic period I hooked and lost seven out of eight fish I hooked, and never even th

 Left the fishing camp about 11:30 when a burst of sun sent the temp up to 58 degrees. Stopped at two places on the BE, hoping to find caddis. There were none. Reversed course and drove up to Hale Eddy, where the now cloudy sky, drift boats rowing by with sports sitting down, and the 43 degree water temp said forgetaboutit. Turned around again and drove east on 17 all the way to the Willow, where again there were neither bugs nor risers. During the drive I encountered rain squalls and the temp dropped from 58 to 52. Turned back west and drove the length of the Beaverkill, stopping at all my usual "look see" spots. At 2:15 there was a good paralep (blue quill) hatch on one of the famous BK pools that I have previously spelled wrong and gotten in trouble for naming. Sat there for twenty minutes and never saw a rise. In fact I never saw a rising trout until I took a long walk into a pool on the BE where I saw the same fish rise five times in an area about 30x50 feet. Never got a

  It's 6:00 pm on Tuesday night and I sitting out on the back porch with my PC and my PM for the first time this year.  The apricot tree blossoms are done, the plum and peach trees are in full bloom. Only the blossoms on the apple trees and red buds remain closed. The last two mornings we had heavy frost with temps in the high twenties. Not sure what that means for the apricots and plums. I am expecting company tonight. The last two nights two small does (yearlings I'm sure) showed up, one obviously pregnant, the other not. I was getting a little concerned that I hadn't seen the little yearling buck that was orphaned last year and spent the late summer and early fall bedding down in my flower garden and eating the drops from the peach tree. He also showed up the last two nights. They obviously remember me from last year because when I talk to them they come running right over to the porch expecting me to go out and shake some apples out of the tree. The blue birds have cons

  Went home Sunday to do a wash and get treatment for my windburn. With the Hancock air temperature at 28 and the water temps all around 41/42 this morning it was clear that we needed a bright sunny day to have bugs, and we got it. All rivers in the system got into paralep hatching temps and most were warm enough for some Hendricksons to appear.  The trip down 17  at 11:30, showed me enough boats along the WB and trailers at the take-outs to send me east. Had lunch and about one-thirty I headed out. Stopped at one of my "look-see" places on the BE where there were a few apple caddis hatching. This usually indicates that the seasonal Hendrickson hatch is well underway. Saw no risers.  Drove up to the Beaverkill where Troutfitter stickers adorned the first two vehicles I encountered,(Thanks Dave). Had no trouble finding two pools with no boats or wade fishermen. Just me and the wind. About three, the bugs showed up, mostly paraleps (every Hendrickson in the river had to have  h

 The stage was set. The water's been a little too cold for a good Hendrickson hatch. But last night the temp stayed up in the mid forties. The sun came out mid morning and warmed the air up to 58 and the water up into the Hendrickson hatching range (except for the WB and UEB where the release water might well have been suitable only for paraleps). I don't know for sure 'cause the WB at 3,000cfs just isn't wade able. Left the fishing camp at 1:00 hoping to warm-up on the paraleps and then fish Hendricksons. Arrived at my destination 1:30  to find a Troutfitter regular suiting up with fish rising and Hendricksons already on the water. After a brief chat, I drove around to the other side of the river, walked down to the stream, saw a fish rise and on the second cast, he ate. By the time I landed the fish, cleaned off the fly and got ready to fish again, several things happened. First, the sun said adios, (perhaps forever). Then the wind began to blow (yet again), and this

 There have been days when both Jean and I have wondered what we were thinking to come back from sunny, warm Florida so early. Thankfully, this was not one of those days (at least for me). Got to the river at 2:00 (paraleps  usually hatch before Hendricksons), and the water was covered with them. There were a few of the size 16 olives mixed in and after 4:00 a few Hendricksons showed up. The fish ate like pigs at a troth. The only problem was the weather. The sun actually made a cameo appearance while I was enroute to the stream. The clouds quickly regrouped and conjured up some rain. The air temp reached the mid-fifties and the water where I was, got to 47.5 degrees. But the GD Hendrickson wind brought tears to my eyes. On every cast at 3:00 or 9:00, (12:00 being upstream and 6:00 being downstream), the wind took your fly and leader and did whatever it pleased with it. Finding where your fly landed was a challenge, instant drag (it was an upstream wind) was a foregone conclusion. The

 Started out at 2:00 today and headed over to the Beaverkill which was back up to over 1,400 cfs as a result of last night's rain.  Why? There had been Hendrickson's there the last two days and the water temp was at 46 degrees, (Hendricksons will hatch at 48), and there was a bank I could walk and fish. Got off rte. 17 at Horton and drove along the river, there were small mayflies hatching and a few fish rising. Couldn't set foot in the water anywhere.  Drove to my bank walking place and that's where I got lucky. No, not with fish. Have one of those white bottles of High N Dry flotant that I use on Hendricksons. It fits in the jacket pocket that I use for fly flotant but it's too tall to close the flap. Lost it once this year putting on my vest and thankfully found it in the grass when I returned to the car. Lost it again on Tuesday (had no clue where). Was walking along the bank looking for bugs and risers when I saw the little white bottle bobbing around in a back

 Change's keep on changing. Todays cloudy weather kept the sun from warming up the water. Air temp got to 62 on my car thermometer but none of the rivers got up to 50 today. Used up the two best high water pools yesterday and my first two choices today each had a pair of fishermen standing on their banks looking for risers. Had rising fish (4) in the third pool, caught a fourteen inch brown, felt but didn't hook a second fish and was refused by the other two.  Was lured over to the West Branch by DRC's glowing reports (not really) and by the fact that the NYC's DEP had shut down the Cannonsville release, which resulted in a somewhat more manageable wading level. It was a fool's journey, without the sun, even the reservoir surface water remained in the mid forties. There were a few paraleps, but no real feeding. Saw half a dozen fish rise once each, rose three fish, hooked two, and landed one thirteen inch rainbow. Clearly my wand is in need of a charging station. Wa

Was in no hurry leaving Lafayette this morning. Told Jean my plan was to start work on the fence replacement project, that I wouldn't be fishing today, and that my stay would be determined by if, how fast, and how much the rivers dropped. At present, even with today's drops nothing is able to be safely waded. On the way down I stopped in Deposit and chatted with "Mike the Cop" who was eying Oquaga, which was clear and dropping into a fishable level. Next stop was the Troutfitter where I hoped that a guide had let slip something about a pod of bank sippers that could be reached from shore. No luck there. Got to the Lordville Estate just before noon, unpacked the car, put stuff away and then attacked the lady bugs that have no problem getting in in the fall but can't seem to find their way out again in the spring. I mean them no harm, but the Eureka Dust Buster takes no prisoners. I emptied the bag outside and some dust coated Lady Bugs were still alive, hopefully t

 It got up to 60 degrees today but without the sun there wasn't much improvement in the water temps. There was a downstream breeze that was a little troublesome at times, but the main problem was the lack of the sunshine needed to warm up the water.  The bugs (all kinds of them) wanted to hatch but the water was just a bit too cold. We had bugs from 2:00 until about 4:30, but not as many as yesterday and the bigger fish just weren't up. Yesterday our smallest fish was sixteen inches, today our biggest fish was seventeen inches. Yesterday we were well satisfied with both how we fished and what we caught. Today not so much. We ended up rowing out when both the bugs and the fish quit. Two other boats floated the same water we did. they appeared to be throwing at fish but we never saw them net any. Update Friday am. - - The outlook for the rest of the week looks grim. The rivers are blown out from last nights rain, not a bit of sun is expected to appear until Monday and rain is in

 My South Holston river friend, (one of only two people who will fish with me), (the other is currently on injured reserve), is up for a visit (he brought his boat) and today we floated. There might have been some question about where we chose to float (no one else launched where we did), but we enjoyed the fact that we never saw another fisherman, let alone another boat, on the river all day. The weatherman might well have gilded the lily a bit when he predicted a chance of showers and a high temp of sixty degrees. It rained all day, and the temperature peaked at fifty three degrees. When I read the forecast for the rest of Mark's stay (rain for the next four days) I was thankful that we got in the day that we did today.  How was our day? We sucked it up, paid an extra $5.00 to launch (didn't have the proper change), parked in the wrong place (got a note from the owner where we put in), never made it to the predetermined takeout place, and had a delightful day counting bugs (t

  It was a can't miss event. Motels were sold out two years ago at prices five times there normal rates. Traffic on I-81 near Syracuse was a solid two lanes of cars on both Saturday and Sunday all heading north into the "totality zone". Jean and I live in Lafayette which is just east of I-81. Originally we were in the zone and gave consideration to renting out rooms at rates high enough to take care our real property taxes and the balance due on our 2023 income tax return (don't believe everything I say). A week or so ago someone discovered that either the moon had shrunk or that the sun had gotten bigger and that perhaps a smidgeon of the sun would be peaking around the moon in Lafayette. We cancelled the rental idea and gave (brief) consideration to driving forty-five miles up 81 to our niece's house where a totality celebration was scheduled. In the end we decided to put two chairs out on the porch, each put on a pair of "eclipse glasses" that Jean bo

 With a week of below average temperatures, rain, and snow in the forecast it's hard to be enthused about the fishing prospects. We came home early in part because the record breaking warmth of winter gave promise of an early start to the dry fly fishing. Turned out the joke's on me. I've been able to get both the Lordville Estate and our home in Lafayette up and running and the winter detritus removed from both yards. There is a steady stream of migrating birds at our feeders and the blue birds are back in Lordville and in the process of deciding if they like the new house I put up or if they will use the slightly larger one they have nested in in prior years. It's spring for sure but the hoped for early start to the fishing season now seems to be just so much wishful thinking. UPPING YOUR GAME - Finally finished the book which is a recap of the 2022 season. I have shamelessly included your comments in hopes of encouraging those who contributed to buy the book. If you

  After being housebound for two days with ten inches of wet heavy snow on our long, winding driveway, I had no problem packing the car with items necessary to open the camp and heading for the Lordville Estate as soon as our shoveling and the bright sunshine got rid of enough snow to get the car to the bare, but salty road. The amount of snow on the ground steadily decreased until bare ground appeared at Castle Creek, (just north of Binghamton). Heading east, the trees on the tops of the hills were covered with ice and there was a dusting of snow on north facing slopes. By the time I got to the top of Lordville Road the sun was melting the treetop ice and the car was showered with ice and water for the first mile of the decent down to Lordville. All was well at the camp. The well pump turned on, there were no leaks in the pipes, and both the hot water heater and refrigerator went back to work without any complaints. Stopped at Lowes on the way down and purchased "pet screen"

 It's Wednesday night, a fire is going in the fire place, an empty Perfect Manhattan glass is washed and back up on the shelf, 30 shrimp netted from Zane Gray Creek ((did you know that Zane Gray (famous fly fisherman and writer of westerns) was a dentist and that his office is now a museum that you can visit on the Delaware River?)), have been consumed by Jean and me, prior to the three pieces of venison backstrap that traveled from home to Florida and back, an early spring snowstorm is raging outside and most importantly, we're glad to be back home again! With that season opening sentence, Mrs. Haskins has no doubt thrown in the towel and disavowed all responsibility for my literary malfunctions. Run on sentences she could handle, but my never before attempted "double aside" was apparently beyond the pall. I sent her a "Go Duke" banner with apologies and hopefully she will cool off before the fishing heats up. Our trip back home was uneventful. Started at 2