Angler 119's Delaware River Fishing Report

Anyone looking for a report this morning was neither realistic nor aware of the circumstances. There was a wind alert with gusts between 45 and 50mph, and I had both the phone and internet shut off at the Lordville Estate on the 31st, (the shut off happened at 11:30am). Was marked present by Jean at our 5:00pm cocktail hour in Lafayette last night. With two stellar days of fishing in the memory bank, I should have been smart enough to say adieu, however, I sat on the back porch and watched three different bucks trying, (unsuccessfully), to get the local girls to dance, and just maybe the stars will once again align for an hour or two of dry fly fishing. The kitchen floor deeds to be washed, the gutters need to be blown out, the lawn needs mowing/raking, and I still need to say goodbye.

  Woke at 3:30 this morning and looked out at wind and rain. Arose at 7:00 and it was still windy and rainy. By noon the yard was covered with leaves and the rain and wind continued unabated. Am surprised at how little the streams have come up so far. The River Master dropped the flow from over 1,000cfs to 525 in anticipation of the rain and today cut the release back to a mere 200cfs so it looks like more rain is in the works. Unable to work outside and unable to clean out the stove, (I need the heat), I was bored enough by 2:00 to take a drive. Had little hope of being able to fish but the UEB has places where you can get out of the wind, so that's where I went. With the wind and rain you couldn't see rises on the EB even if the were any, but in some of the quiet pools on the UEB I was given assurance that the trip was indeed a folly. Turned around at the Corbett bridge and headed back. Was surprised on the return trip when the sun came through a sucker hole in the clouds and...

  Left for Lordville at 9:30 this morning with three tasks and the possibility of either deer hunting or fishing on the agenda for today. Called Vicky on the way down and got a pruning appointment at 12:30. Drove straight down to the Lordville Estate and mowed/raked the front and two side yards before the hair cut. That left the reseeding of the areas of the lawn destroyed by the grubs the only unaccomplished task. After the hair cut I stopped and chatted with Dave at the Troutfitter who was on his 220th straight day of work, (three to go 'til closedown). He told me Al C., a lifetime Delaware River fisherman, had a lights out day on the upper BR a few days ago with olives hatching and rising fish everywhere. The fishing - Left home  reasonably optimistic about the fishing. Why?  The WB release water is the warmest water in the system. It's been running at over 1,000cfs for ages, too high to wade most places and too high for most fish to come up and eat little olives. I've...

  With Jean and her sister off to visit her brother in Cleveland, the original plan was for me to stay down at the Lordville Estate until Sunday. With gale force winds on Thursday I worked all day getting the camp ready for closedown. Spent the morning Friday crossing items off the list, filled the car with another load for the transfer station and headed out with it about 1:30. From the transfer station I drove back up to the Bk which was 50cfs lower than two days ago, and stopped at a place three pools down from my eagle encounter of a week or two ago. Was in the pool no more than ten minutes when a couple of loud screeches announced the arrival of the eagle. Rose three fish that refused my fly and then hooked a 12 inch rainbow. Kept my eyes on both the fish and the eagle. When the fish was no more than fifteen feet away from me he started to splash on the surface, saw the eagle bend forward ready to take flight, gave the rod a stiff jerk intending to break the fish off, (once ag...

 Yesterdays fishing, (if you want to call it that), was no fun. Had a better chance of getting wind burn than catching a fish. With the forecast for today showing sustained winds up to 25mph, with higher gusts, I said no mas.  I've had a gallon of paint sitting on the porch since last May. Purchased it with the intent of painting the fly tying room, and today I did. The job went well, had on jeans that have "old" written in black magic marker under where my belt goes and it's a good thing I did 'cause I got a smear of paint on them. When I finished painting and cleaned everything up, I drove into town to get nuts and bolts at Bisbee's so I can put up another bluebird house, stopped at the Dollar Store to buy replacements for the shiny little pans that go under the burners on the stove, (the old ones are rusted out), and picked up a pound of butter and Gatorade at Tops. It's the biggest day of shopping I've done all year. On my return to the fishing cam...

  All I had to do was say I planned on giving the WB a try, and the River Master cranked up the release to 1,000cfs. To make matters worse the wind blew out of the north at between 10 and 20mph, (when the sun came out it blew 20 steady). Tied four Hebes, and then put away my fly tying equipment for the year. If you are a fly tyer, you know that it's a job that starts right after breakfast doesn't finish up until it's time for a late lunch at 1:00. If you don't tie flies, you wouldn't understand. This afternoon I mowed, and then planted grass seed in some of the places where the combination of no rain and an infestation of grubs left large areas of the lawn without a blade of green grass. At 5:00 pm the wind was still creating white caps on the river and twirling leaves around in mini tornadoes. Trusting that the wind would go down with the sun, I headed out to fish. I was way to early. In fact with the wind scheduled to blow at 15/25 tomorrow I might well have been ...