Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 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 conclus...

 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. 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.  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 the 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 eddy, trapped...

 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...