Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

Headed for home about 2:00 this afternoon when it had become clear that the the rivers would be blown out once again. It's 10:00 pm and all of the USGS  flow charts are still going straight up. The rivers will be high and muddy for several days and there is a strong probability that NYDEP will again max out the releases from both reservoirs in an attempt to create a flood mitigation void behind the dams. I may be in a tree stand bow hunting before I'm able to fish again. With regard to the question raised by Dennis, and Craig's comments about tippet - Have talked with a guide that uses 4x exclusively and catches fish.  5x is probably the most commonly used tippet. I'm a dry fly guy and  use  the Trouthunter 12 foot finesse leaders tapered to 5x and add three or four feet of 6x Cortland ultra premium fluorocarbon as a tippet. The Cortland tippet is pricy, a little bit stiffer than some, has good abrasion resistance and doesn't get a curl in it when you tie on a fly, ...

 If there was a bug hatch on the river system, one thing was for sure, A-119 didn't see it. It was windy but that wasn't even a good excuse. The wind was from the south at ten to twenty. The rivers run basically east and west so there are plenty of places where the hills let you get out of the wind - and I did. It was 78 degrees on the car thermometer and that is way too warm for fall bugs. They just never showed up. They cut back the release from Cannonsville by almost 400 cfs and it opened up much of the WB and some of the BR for wade fishermen. If any of you got into places where the drop in flow turned the fish on let us know 'cause I sure didn't.  The fishing- For me, was dreadful. Never cast at a rising fish. There were no olives, isos could be counted on one hand and the few white flies I saw never attracted a rise. The only salvation was that I was able to get five fish to come to blind casts. Three ate and they all stayed on to be netted. The best was a fat and...

Spent the afternoon and evening (3:00 to 7:30) fishing the BK with my gray haired old friend. No, we didn't stand shoulder to shoulder sharing a pool, that's not our way. We both set out with a plan to go east and to have dinner and perhaps a libation at the Riverside in Horton. Plans changed late when we drove into the parking lot at the Riverside and found it was closed. Adjourned to the Hancock Hotel where Ramona fixed a perfect, perfect Manhattan and served us up a couple of Bleu Cheese Burgers with fries. Talked about the days fishing (GHOF caught a beautifully colored 18 inch wild brown that was easily fish of the day). We also touched on the years we have spent fishing together, the good times we have shared and the friends we fished with that have made their last casts. Raised a glass to the memories and made plans to fish again tomorrow, (assuming the rain holds off). The fishing - With both branches high from the maxed out releases, most of the wade fishermen were on ...

 With the Beaverkill dipping below 500 cfs  today and the nighttime temps back down in the 50's, I decided to come down and try to get in a couple of days fishing before the next rain is predicted to fall (Wed., Thur. and Fri.).  Bought a BJ's roasted chicken, filled the car up with gas and took a leisurely drive down, arriving at 12:00 on the dot. Had lunch, got stuff put away and headed out about 3:00 hoping to find pseudos and rising fish. There were eight or ten cars in the "Jaws" parking lot at East Branch and about the same number at the pull off above barrel pool where there were a dozen of fishermen getting into their gear. I assume that there must have been either a fishing class or some other gathering going on. The fishing- By the time I found a place to fish and got my stuff on it was about 4:00, the river was in shade, there were pseudos galore, rising fish and fishermen throwing at them.  Walked a long ways, had rising fish most of the time and even fou...

If it were Hendrickson time I'd be on the river system fishing. The current water levels offer limited wading opportunities if, you are familiar with the area you want to fish and are comfortable wading at the current USGS gage levels.  But it's not Hendrickson time. Yes, there are still a few iso's, cahills, and white flies but the bread and butter fall flies are the pseudos. These tiny olives hatch in good numbers all fall but trout show a reluctance to eat them in high water. The present near maximum release rates from both reservoirs have pretty much eliminated the good fall pseudo fishing on both branches, the BE and the BR. If and when the releases are cut back to normal fall levels this should change but for now the best fishing opportunities appear to be on the BK and Willow. They are still a bit too high for good fishing  but if we avoid meaningful rain for a couple more days I'll be back down to give'm a try. Note to D.D. - EB is the East Branch below it...

As you've probably guessed, I'm back in Lafayette.  For dry fly fishing this time of year the outlook is bleak. The pseudos' like cold water and the trout like to eat them in slow moving  (low water) pools. We have high water and some of it is too warm. The outlook - the NYDEP has the release valves almost wide open with (I assume) the intent to create a void in both reservoirs to reduce flood danger in the coming months. When will the releases be reduced? Who knows. Certainly not anytime soon if it keeps raining. The fishing - Drifters are in their glory. Throwing streamers is the preferred method and in the off color WB it will probably produce some fish. If nothing else there should be a good number of big fish that come up to the fly and refuse it at the last minute with an impressive boil. If/when the releases are cut back and the water cools there will again be dry fly fishing, until then I'll be erecting tree stands, cleaning out the basement in Lafayette and yes...

Today, like yesterday, promised to be a hot one. As soon as the grass was dry, I mowed the lawn and then practiced with the stick and string. There is no doubt I'm better for the archery lesson I got last year but I still have my bad days and this was one of them. It was 80 on the porch when I quit and I was in no hurry to head out to fish. The weather forecast was for severe thunderstorms once again. Left camp with the knowledge that I probably wouldn't fish but that I might get a chance to see if the Beaverkill Angler had any G3 Guide waders or my DT4 line.  Arrived streamside just as two gentlemen were leaving because of the lightning. Sat for a few minutes and when the storm cell had gone past I waded in. Saw two rising fish, the first refused and the second ate (a 12 inch hatchery fish). There was a flash of lightning from behind the hill and my count never got to three before the thunder. Reeled it in at 4:38 and headed for the Beaverkill Angler. Walked into the shop just...