Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

Never known for my technical wizardry, my first post of the year never found it's way to the Troutfitter web page (it can be viewed by Googling  "Angler 119's  Delaware River Fishing reports").  David at the Troutfitter has assured me that the way has been cleared for this and future efforts to appear in their usual place on their website. After an enjoyable week of bonefishing with long time friends the first week of April, my wife and I headed for home early Tuesday morning.  The traffic was relatively light and we arrived home about 3:00 pm on Wednesday. Drove down to the camp today to open things up and see if it was time to put my 28 year old hot water heater and refrigerator out to the curb.  Apparently the winter off did them both a world of good as the water was hot and the refrigerator cold within the first half hour.  Seems they are both planning on out lasting me. With the reservoirs filled to the brim, the releases have been steadily in...

From my vantage point here in the Florida Keys it's easy to believe that there are Hendricksons hatching on the Delaware and trout rising everywhere.  One of the blogs has already reported (in mid March) rising fish.  Sometime in the next couple of weeks there will be reports of Hendrickson sightings.  My log books tell me otherwise.  If the reservoirs are way down, the releases are at minimum levels, there is a prolonged warm spell and the sun is shining every day, I've seen good hatches of Quill Gordons by mid April. Although the reservoirs are close to spilling the releases have been cut back and warm sunny days have had fish rising to eat stone flies. With rain in the forecast there is a good likelihood of  increased releases and substantial run off which will keep the water temperatures down and probably push meaningful hatches back to about the last week of April. That may not be the way you remember it but 28 years of record keeping on the Delaware pain...

Stopped by the Troutfitter yesterday and talked with one of the regulars who gets down to the Delaware more often than most.  Lately he has found fish in the UEB  rising to olives and cahills.  Said it was hard to get around in the high water and that he was the only wade fisherman on the river.  Saw four boats go by the last time he was there. With both reservoirs running at maximum release it only takes a modest amount of runoff to make the whole system unwadeable. The Beaverkill was actually getting down to a reasonably good fishing level yesterday.  Then it rained.  As of 3:30 today (Thursday) all rivers are rising and will once again be too high to wade . On a positive note, the tribs all have good flows which will allow browns easy access to their spawning grounds.  If you see redds  (areas of  lighter colored gravel in riffs) avoid them so as not to disturb the eggs and do not fish for actively spawning trout.  The upper WB an...

It's now been a month since I posted the picture of the twenty inch brown that ate a cahill on the Big River.  Haven't caught another fish in the big river since.  In fact I haven't been able to get into the big river or almost any other part of the Delaware system for the last month.  Right now you can wade some of the Bk and a few spots in the BEB. My plans for tomorrow are to drive down to camp for the sole purpose of trying  to cut my lawn (it's been 17 days).  I washed my fishing vest last night and may not put it on again this season.  I'm a dry fly guy and the thought of putting everything back in the vest to fish pseudos on the BK or UEB at current levels is not a compelling one. As you well know both the WB and EB releases are maxed out.  This coupled with tributary runoff makes both streams virtually unwadeable.  The big river at something around 4,300 CFS is also unsafe for wading by even the most adventuresome anglers.  The BK...

Arrived back home in Syracuse at 9:45 last night from seven days of fishing on the San Juan river in Northern New Mexico.  Made the trip with another Troutfitter regular who had been to the San Juan several times.  His prior experience on the river was a huge help in the adjustment to what proved to be an entirely new and unique fishing experience. Being with a congenial companion also made the "re-hydration hour", meal times and fly-tying sessions a more enjoyable part of the trip. The San Juan is a tailwater  that flowed at between 850 CFS and 500 CFS during the time we were there.  The mile just below the dam is boat free and crowded with wade fishermen. The next three plus miles of river are floated daily by about twenty five drift boats.  They put in at 8:00 AM and take out at 4:00 PM.  I don't know if that is by agreement between the guides or is regulated by the N.M. Dept of Fish and Game.  The four and a half miles of "Quality Water" area is ...

With the Delaware system having been hit hard again by the frontal system that passed through the area yesterday wade fishing is out of the question.  If you want to throw streamers out of a boat into high turbid water be my guest. More rain is forecast for today. If you are in need of a fishing fix you might give thought to driving north to the Salmon River or one of Lake Ontario's other numerous tributaries.  The water level is good even after yesterdays rain and the rivers are full of fresh run salmon. It's sure to be crowded but judging by the number of broken rods being brought back to the Troutfitter for repairs, everyone is into big fish. If you stop at the shop on the way up Dave and Rick will fill you in on the latest reports.  As always they are well stocked with flies and equipment for the fall/winter salmon, brown trout and steelhead season on the lake Ontario tributaries. If all goes as planned by 7:15 am tomorrow morning I'll be on a plane heading for ...

My decision to take a trip out to the San Juan is looking better every minute. NYC has raised the release on the WB from 700 CFS to at least 1200 CFS (further step ups may well be coming).  Mother nature has also gotten into the act by dropping enough rain on the river system as of noon on Tuesday to make the entire system again unwadeable.  It will soon be too muddy to even be worth floating. With rain expected to continue for the rest of the day and more on tap for tomorrow it's time to look elsewhere for your entertainment. There will be no wade fishing before my trip departure on Friday and given the current weather pattern there may be no wade fishing for the foreseeable future. You have only to look back at the DRC blog's "catch of the day" pictures over the past couple of months to get a sense of the fishing.  This is not intended as anything negative about the DRC as they have top notch guides, there has just been too much water!  I haven't had a cha...