Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  Got a late start this morning but it didn't hurt my fishing one bit. There were olive spinners over the riff and fish rising everywhere when I arrived at 10:30. An hour later when both the spinner fall and the rising were over, I had landed one 11 inch rainbow. The fish touched neither the spinners nor my offerings during their feeding frenzy.  Kept fishing and when I saw a rise and made a good cast, the fish came to the fly. Some said no thanks, but enough 'bows ate the fly, to make it by far, my best morning this year, (which ended at 1:30). It being a bright sunshiny weekend day, I was in no hurry to get back in action. Left the Lordville Estate at 5:30 and drove east on old 17 hoping to find a pool with fish and no fishermen. It wasn't really crowded but there was at least one car at every pull off downstream from the Cooks Falls/Horton exit on 17. Turned around and headed back downstream, stopping at a place with no cars that I last fished at least twenty years ago. ...

  Once again my efforts this morning resulted in the netting of but one fish, however, things were a lot different from my previous forays. For one thing, there were bugs hatching, not a good hatch of anything, but caddis, cornuta, isos and gray foxes enough to get fish up and feeding. Broke off two big fish, (when I say big, it's a fish of at least 17 inches and these two qualified easily), one on the strike when his head and shoulders came out of the water going away from me. The second was a hot 'bow who broke the knot between the leader (mono) and the 5x flora carbon when I failed to clear the line and it caught on the reel handle. Might have muttered the third most used word by fishermen, just after intermittent and sporadic. Now the good part, the refusals. I know, refusals are like track soup to a deer hunter, but that pesky NW wind was blowing straight upstream, and I had chosen  to fish a run where there were four separate channels of water each with much slower movin...

  Went home yesterday to say goodby to Jean. She flew out this morning on a six am flight to Ft. Meyers to visit our daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law. We left the house at 4:00am and I gave consideration to heading down to Lordvile from the airport. Aborted that plan (it's still legal in NY), and drove home and went back to bed. Actually got down to Lordville by 10:45 but was in no hurry to fish. The wind blew the car all over the road on the way down, the grass needed cutting, and I have failed to locate a single good hatch of Cornutas on my morning forays, (am averaging a single fish per a trip in the morning). Mowed the lawn, pruned some of the lower branches on the peach and apple trees, (to the dismay of the deer), and just maybe caught up on a little bit on last night's lost sleep.  At about 5:00 I was ready to go, drove east on seventeen all the way to Horton, stopping at numerous lookouts and seeing nothing but fishermen attempting to cast in near gale force win...

  It's 9:55pm, my Perfect Manhattan is sitting beside me along with chips and dip and I'm ready to write. Had to take care of the wet stuff first. Raincoat is hanging by the wood stove, vest is hanging over the back of a chair next to the baseboard heater, fly boxes are opened up on the table to dry, and my waders are hanging up on the porch. The waders sprung a leak in the right foot today and I need to get them dried out before they can be patched. Left the fishing camp at about 12:30 and basically just drove around until almost 4:00. Went up to Deposit where David at the Troutfitter was enjoying a quiet day. He said that the weekend was the busiest three days ever for the shop. He was waiting anxiously for the big brown truck as he was out of everything. When the UPS guy arrived, Dave went out to help the driver with the boxes and I took off for a tour of the river system. There was no one on the river. I  suppose some people have to work, and some need to do the wash after...

  Yesterday the fishing was limited to the UEB and the WB due to highwater temps in the freestones. Today the freestones were a go, opening up the entire system. Until, the thunderstorms hit early in the afternoon. They didn't disturb my nap one bit, but I knew there might be a problem when I went out on the porch and could hear Humphries Brook roaring. Checked the USGS flows and everything was going straight up. Decided to take a drive upstream for a look see.  Lordville was low and clear as was Buckingham. Thought there was a little color in the water upstream from Stockport, but wasn't sure. Drove down to the launch at Shehawken and the far side of the river was a raging sea of mud as was Shehawken Creek just downstream from the launch. Since the storm was mostly north of Lordville, I went no further. Turned around and spent the rest of the day (from 5:00 until 8:30), fishing at Buckingham and Lordville. The bugs - Finally saw some green drakes hatch while standing on the l...

  Left Lafayette about 9:30 in what looked to be a foggy, rainy day. By Binghamton I had clear skies and bright sunshine. Called Jean and she still couldn't see the tops of the trees. She had my olive kinda day and I had her walk with Pam day. Stopped at the Troutfitter in Deposit to exchange two leaders that I purchased by mistake. A month ago I grabbed three off the 12 foot 5x pin and put them in the fishing vest. Put on a new leader which was the right size but the other two were 10 footers. Dave said people put things back on the wrong posts all the time.  Said hello to the new cleaning person who is filling in for "five star" room cleaner Janet, (she is recovering from surgery). The new "girl" Maryann, was cheerful and seemed eager to please, but the sheets on the bed in the room she was working on just didn't seem to be as taut as when Janet makes the beds. If you see her try to give her some encouraging words. The afternoon fishing - Went out the wind...

  There have been a dearth of questions this year which cuts down on the need for my weekend Wind Knots pages. Some commentors have also been good enough to jump in with  answers so that the question is promptly answered. Thanks to those who have helped out in this manner. Thanks to Jack and Chris for their reports on the proposed repair work. Sounds like a much more sensible way to get to the desired water level without unduly affecting the fishermen and the local economy. Dennis wanted to know about the Partridge Trail on the BE. It's a trail that has been opened up along the river using the old railroad bed. It runs along Partridge Island. There is one good pool I know of on the side of the island near the trail but most of the success I've had there has been on the other side of the island. The walk along the old train track should be of interest to mycologists as whenever I've walked it, the areas on either side of the trail and the river bank have been covered with al...