Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  Dennis asked about the differences between March Browns and Gray Foxes. It was such a good question that I'm going to do a whole page on it. D. Becke - BK is indeed the Beaverkill. G. Tarris - The little mayflies of which you speak are in all probability either blue quills or black quills. (aka paraleps). Both show up in the coldest water when Hendricksons refuse to hatch. When it gets impossible to get a fish to eat a Hendrickson, try a paralep as the fish have not had as many bad experiences eating paraleps and are quite often willing to eat one with less scrutiny. Ed S. - You had a great day if you add up the two stops on the Willow and the stop on the WB. I fished the WB the next day at your spot and did hook and land a 19 inch brown. Might well have been the one you caught the day before as he had very little fight left in him. Jim N. - You asked about fly boxes in my vest. Had to get the vest out and count. Two boxes of spinners, one box of Hendricksons, one box of olives, ...

  With the rainy weather and air temp hovering between 49 and 51, there was no need to leave the fishing camp early. At 3:00pm water temps in what is now, (for a week or two), the "Hendrickson zone", was well below the Hendrickson hatching threshold of 48 degrees. Drove from Stilesville down along the river to Hale Eddy without seeing a bug or a rise. There were quite a few boats, all with anglers sitting, hunched down in their wet weather gear, waiting for it to happen. At the game lands around 3:30pm, there were bugs, lots of them. Paraleps (they just love cold water) and big, size 16, olives, (perhaps Cornutas?). There were also lots of wade fishermen and boats, (11 cars at the upper game lands lot). Saw one riser in my allotted space. It was a big fish gulping olives. Moved into casting range, threw long, threw short, and finally put one on the money and he ate. He  took all but a couple of turns of fly line off the reel, then came back to about twenty feet from me, opene...

  Today, I'd had enough of the WB. The Armada is following the Hendricksons and caddis up the WB, the water is now at a decent level for waders and I just wanted to enjoy a little solitude, and I did. Before telling you about my day, I want to be clear that I have not had a single boat that went by me this season that was the least little bit discourteous. With the high water, I have had very few encounters with wade fishermen so far this year and no one has knowingly done anything that was even questionable etiquette wise, (hopefully everyone who has fished near me can say the same thing). Left the fishing camp about 1:15, and turned right, off  97 in Hancock and went east. Why? The March Browns and Gray Foxes have been hatching on the freestones, the pressure has been off the eastern streams for a couple weeks, and I wanted a day away from the carnival atmosphere that is the WB at this time of year. Stopped at three pools on the EB and caught fish at each stop, (note - "fish...

  For those of you waiting for my wild life observations, I've got next to nothing. One night last week I encountered a porcupine strolling slowly down state route 97, with no oncoming traffic, I managed to get around him easily. Five miles later a very young fox popped out of the grass on the side of an on ramp right in front of me. Fortunately he was startled by the car and hesitated while I also got around him. The Lordville fox has been dutifully carrying away everything in the fridge that is no longer suitable for human consumption. Have had no bear encounters and it's too early for the rattle snakes to be lying on Lordville road. That's all I got. When people ask me "Where you gonna fish tomorrow?", I tell them I have no idea. This is true. Won't step into a crowed pool so I never know exactly where I'll end up but most times I know if I'm going east or west out of Hancock. Yesterday I knew I was going to try to fish above the "barking dog...

  Yesterday was one of those days where magic happens. You pick the right pools, have them to yourself, the bugs hatch, and the fish act like they've never seen a fly with a hook in it. On top of that I landed almost all the fish I hooked. Today didn't start out quite as well. Was in the process of mowing the still wet yard (it was sorta dry and it was sunny and the bugs would start hatching sooner today and I wanted to get to the river) on a downhill diagonal run around one of the plum trees when the rear wheels spun and I ran smack dab into one of the poles that supports the deer fence around one of the plum the trees. I was out on the road by my car, in the process of reading the car manual to determine how to get the jack unfastened from the car and find where the jack handle was hidden, when  Ron Beck a river guide who was praised to the hilt by Jack McDonald just a couple days ago, drove by with Darren Rist another Delaware River guide. Within less than five minutes the ...

 Had the car packed last night except for the food that required refrigeration. Packed the food this morning and headed out at 8:00 for my yearly dose of liquid nitrogen at the Dermatologists. Was back on the road headed for the Lordville Estate at 8:57. When I left the house it was overcast and foggy. By the time I got out of the Doctors office it was bright sunshine and it stayed that way until I got down to about Marathon where I caught up with the clouds. We really needed the sun to warm up the water in the Deposit area if there was to be any hope of a Hendrickson hatch. Unfortunately the day was mostly cloudy with just enough periods of sunshine to get the paraleps hatching but where I was, the Hendricksons were no shows. The Bugs - Arrived at camp at 11:15, unpacked, turned on the heat, made a sandwich and headed out. Decided to drive up the PA side to see what if anything was hatching on the Big River (Glenn it's also called the Main Stem or simply the Delaware). Never got p...