Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

  Left for home this morning with a steady rain falling, and all graphs heading straight up. As I write this Oquaga is gushing 600cfs of mud, (up from 40cfs yesterday). The WB above Oquaga was muddy half way across at the town bridge at noon today, but the river should be fine down to Oquaga tomorrow. The WB below Oquaga is certainly at floating levels and can be waded by those who know the river. Clarity will be an issue. The Beaverkill is high and muddy and will not be wadeable tomorrow. The UEB can be waded at current levels but is probably too muddy. The BE will be too high for wading but will be floatable with water clarity again the big issue. The BR will be unwadeable and probably too muddy to fish.  Hopefully the One Buggers will shuffle the schedule and try to get the anglers on fishable water for Sunday. Streamers will no doubt be the fly of choice. If you are thinking of a day trip - reschedule. If you are here, join the rest of the wade fishermen above Oquaga. We b...

  In case you haven't noticed, there have been dandelions in bloom everywhere, and still the Hendricksons have not made a meaningful appearance on most sections of the river system. The only Hendricksons I've seen have been at Lordville the past two nights. I have assumed they were the remnants of a full blown hatch that took place during the standard 3:00 - 5:00 Hendrickson hatch period. The caddis, on the other hand, have been everywhere, in numbers that are hard to imagine. A couple of weeks ago I was looking forward to large sections of the river without boats. Thought there would be lots of fish that would be happily eating flies without a care in the world. We are still in April and it's evident that I was wrong, if we don't get enough rain to both fill the reservoirs and raise the level of the rivers, it's going to be a very difficult year fishing wise.  Why? At 1,250 cfs, on the BR, the fish are trying to avoid being concussed by oars and anchors. Anyone who...

  Today was not yesterday. That was evident right from the start. Chose a place a couple miles up river from yesterdays fish catching bonanza. Again, there were egg laying caddis and hatching caddis in good numbers, but the fish just didn't seem to want to play. You had to look for a rise, mark it, and then try to get within casting range. The wind was not a serious problem, but it didn't make accurate casting a walk in the park. Most casts were ignored, some refused and but five were eaten, all by rainbows, four of which came unstuck, (before reaching the net). Decided to look for greener pastures. Drove up to the BK and watched the water flow by undisturbed by bugs or fish. Drove back down the BE until caddis started hitting the windshield, parked, walked in, and started fishing to fish eating apple caddis. Hooked three fish right off the bat. The first came unstuck making me one for six. Thankfully the next two fish played nice and ended up in the net. Cleaned off my fly, lo...

After a day over on the Neversink, I was ready to try to find bugs and catch fish closer to home. The majority of the drift boats have been on the BR for the past week. In part because of the low flows on the other rivers, and in part because the lower BR is where the bugs have been hatching. I've seen bugs at Lordville the last few days, not what you'd call a hatch, but there were mayflies. Last night on my return from the Neversink, there were both caddis and Hendricksons on the water by the Lordville bridge. Talked with three fishermen putting in at Shehawken today, and they said they had caddis and a few Hendricksons on their float to Buckingham the day before.  I stopped at several places on the BE and the BK coming and going to the Neversink and saw no bug life whatsoever. There was also a notable absence of fishermen on both rivers.  As most of you know there is a progression of bugs whose hatch dates seldom vary by more that a week to ten days year to year. While the h...

  It's 6:54 and I am sitting down at the Lordville Estate with my first celebratory Perfect Manhattan of the season. The last ten days have tested my resolve, but a day like today purges a lot of early season frustration. For those new to the reports, I play a game with the trout each week. It's a win for me if I land ten fish in a day. It's a win for the trout if I don't. If I land 50 trout in a week I win no matter what. Until today the trout have had a perfect record.  Did the annual cleaning of the upstairs sleeping quarters this morning. Was done by 12:00, made sandwiches, packed the little soft cooler bag with the sandwiches, a Gator-aid and water, and I was on the road.  If you are a regular blog reader you know that my visit to the Neversink two days ago coincided with the onset of the  Hendrickson hatch there. Yesterdays drive- around the Delaware system required a double dose of my blood pressure medicine and produced but one fish. Where would you go? Arriv...

  Spent a delightful night in Lafayette with Jean who returned from a trip out to Ohio a few hours before I got back  from my journey to the Neversink. Arrived back at the Lordville Estate at noon today, had lunch, put the food and clothes away, and at about 1:30 I took off on another drive, hoping to find bugs hatching and fish rising somewhere. I  didn't.  At 3:00 I waded into the BR downstream far enough that I was hopeful that there would be either a few paraleps or Hendricksons on the water. The hatch never really got going very well, but there were a few bugs and in the hour I fished I saw about a dozen rises. Most of them were too far away to even consider casting to. Had decent luck with those that rose within casting range with two hookups, a refusal. The only fish landed was a hot 15 inch BR 'bow, my first of the year. There were more bugs than I saw two days ago but not nearly as many as I saw at the Neversink yesterday. I'll probably head over to the Neve...

  Met my neighbors little girl up by the railroad tracks this morning where she was looking for easter eggs. Later in the day I found three goose eggs out on an island in the Neversink that had already hatched. If you could find the goose eggs early enough, just one would do fine for an order of scrambled eggs or even an omelet for that matter, and the egg shortage problem would be solved. Headed down to Callicoon about 1:30 with the intention of seeing if the Hendricksons were hatching there. The bridge over the river is under repair and there is no access to the water upstream from the bridge. Even if there was, I would have taken a pass, as the wind was blowing white caps straight up the river. Asked the nice lady on Waze to show me the way to Bridgeville from Callicoon and she did, (on roads I'd never seen before). Pulled into a riverside parking spot as another angler was taking off his gear. He said there were some Hendricksons yesterday and a few so far today but he had to g...