Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

 If you are planning on joining the hoards of fishermen expected to be on the Delaware system this weekend be prepared for the unexpected.  A river system that just two short weeks ago was too high to wade is now too low to float! NYC's desire for full reservoirs on the first of June coupled with no rain has led to a major reduction of flows. The fish, the wade fishermen and those still floating are all in the main channels making for less than ideal fishing conditions. The bugs - The Hendricksons, paraleps, grannoms and apple caddis are all but over on the freestones (the Willow, BK, EB and BR). If you choose to fish these streams you should find both the number of fishermen and drift boats greatly reduced from last weekend. Why? The are entering the Doldrums, that two plus week period following the initial bug burst when there is just nothing going on. Sure you may see a few caddis egg layers and one of the first March Browns but for the most part it's as if the fish got on ...

 While driving back to the fishing camp at 9:00pm tonight I ran over someone's rod and reel on that beautiful piece of highway running from Lordville to Equinunk.. Fortunately the rod was lying parallel to the traffic lane and I was able to straddle it.  Parked the car with flashers on, got out my flashlight and retrieved both the rod and reel.  Rod appears no worse for the experience. The reel has a gouge where it hit the pavement but appears to be in good working order.  There were two or three DRC trailers parked above the Lordville bridge earlier in the day and one of their sports might have lost the rod driving back up stream. If anyone knows whose rod it is please leave a comment and we'll see that it is returned.  When I predicted in the weekend forecast that the cutting back of the releases would produce a "bug explosion" on the WB and UEB, I forgot about one important factor in the equation, the sun. Friday and Saturday were overcast and cold, ideal fis...

 With the weekend coming up, thought it might be helpful to try to bring you up to date on river conditions. The freestones (BR, BK and BE) have all had Hendricksons for over a week. The Apple Caddis are hatching throughout the BE and I assume on the BR.  I haven't seen them on the BK. When the spills stopped on the UEB and the WB the water temps plunged and the hatches slowed. The reservoirs are now below the lip of the spillways enough that NYC will almost certainly begin to reduce the releases and when they do there will be a bug explosion on both the UEB and WB. The fishing - The BK and EB went from easy pickin's to - Why won't they eat my Hendrickson?, in less than a week. Why? The drift boats give no fish a free pass, they are all within reach. By last Saturday most of the fish I was catching had hook marks in their mouth.  By Monday the fish were reluctant to eat a Hendrickson. If you are fortunate enough to be on the UEB or WB "when it happens", it should ...

 Back when "The Opener" was April first, trout fishermen had something to look forward to.  Preseason trips were made to finger lakes rainbow spawning streams to check out "the run" and lines would be in the water on April 1st at the 5:00am starting time in hopes of catching one of the big spawners. Ice in the guides, you bet, but you were fishing again. Now that trout season is open all year long, there's no need to suffer the harsh realities of April in the northeast. Pick your spots, go on the nice days and wait for the bug hatches to get cranked up.   Good advice? Sure, but I remember that nine pound rainbow I caught in Salmon Creek on opening day fifty years ago, the dozen fish that ate my dry fly in junction pool on April 4th just two years ago, that April 14th over twenty years ago  when every quill Gordon in the red barn pool hatched and every trout was up eating them and April of 2012 when there were Hendricksons hatching April first and my fishing log ...

                                                    BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO Arrived back in Florida from the annual bone fishing trip on the 10th. Packed up and headed back north on the 12th. It’s the 16th and I’m in the process of opening up the “Lordville Estate”. It appears that the refrigerator and hot water heater (both entering their 31st year), may well out  last me as they both started up as soon as I plugged them in. Last fall when I wrote the “ Adios” page I said that my pen was running out of ink. At the time it was my feeling that the blog was becoming stale. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the high water from early July right through the end of the season left me with very few fishing options which in turn led to a dearth of new information to provide fodder for blog pages. The second possibility is that after seven years of writi...

Knew it was time before I got out of bed this morning. Was going to drain the pipes today but it was just so nice I decided to wait until tomorrow. Mowed the grass, washed the kitchen and bathroom floors, cleaned out the cupboards, had lunch, shot the bow and before I knew it, it was 2:30.  Didn't matter, fishing today was like the last day of the Tour de France (mostly ceremonial). I've been playing this game for a long time. Every day I thank whoever might be listening, for having a wife that lets me do the things I enjoy, as much as I want (well, she does control the weekend calendar). Also am grateful for having been raised by a father, grandfather and an uncle all of whom hunted and fished their entire lives. I got into bow hunting to save my hearing as all of the aforementioned were deaf as a post from firing guns without ear protection. Fly fishing? How lucky can anyone get, with no forethought I became addicted to a sport that lets you preform with reasonable competence...

Stopped on the way down at the Troutfitter in Deposit where Dave manually transferred yesterday's offering onto the Troutfitter page. He said he would look for tonight's and get it up where it belongs asap. Set out from camp about 1:15 hoping the pseudos would find the cooler water temps to their liking and hatch during their scheduled two to five slot.  They didn't.  Drove up and down the BK and Willow without seeing a rise.  There were a few bugs on the BK but apparently the bright sun and rather stiff breeze quelled any urge the fish may have had to rise.  Did pull into several of the DEC parking areas along the Willow in an effort to learn more about a beautiful stream. Have found good numbers of fish there when there are bugs enough to get them up. The fishing -  With the releases both still way above seasonal norms most wade fishermen have been fishing the BK and Willow.  The number of anglers on the Willow today was next to none. The BK's popular poo...